Potters & Sculptors
Meet the talented local potters who bring their creativity and passion to the art of ceramics. These artists shape the clay with skill and vision, enriching our community with their dedication to the craft.
Devi Murray
Devi is a ceramic artist based in Wilmington, NC. She graduated from Fayetteville State University in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts, concentrating in sculpture. Following graduation, she apprenticed with a production potter, trading work hours for a kiln and wheel. With this new equipment, she relocated to Newton Grove, NC, where she established her own studio and launched 27 Sisters Studio.
Devi's functional ceramics often feature images of human organs intertwined with floral patterns or octopus tentacles on everyday items. Her current sculptural work explores abstract representations of human anatomy, transforming them into creatures that embody emotional metaphors.
Jeff Williams
Jeff Williams, woodcarver and sculptor, was born near Salemburg, NC, the eleventh of fourteen children. He is a contemporary folk artist who began carving as a teen, putting his work experience as a carpenter and mechanic to use in crafting sculpture with chainsaw, chisels, and files. After making small carvings for himself, he began carving large figural sculptures, one of which was seen in his father’s yard by the collector Robert Lynch who encouraged him. Jeff currently lives in Salemburg.
Jeff Williams has been represented by many galleries and museums: Robert Cargo Folk Art Gallery, Tuscaloosa, Alabama | Renee Fatouhi Fine Art, East Hampton, New York | The Lynch Collection of Outsider Art, North Carolina Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, NC | African-American Folk Art from the collection of Dr. A. Everett James in 1991 at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee | Hickory Museum of Art, DISCOVER FOLK ART: Unique Visions by Southern Self-Taught Artists, Hickory, NC | NC Museum of Art - Signs and Wonders: Outsider Art Inside North Carolina, 1989 exhibit
A piece of Jeff's artwork