James and Linda Haggerty’s Collaborative Ceramics

“It’s great to see how Linda has taken a piece I’ve thrown and interpreted it,” said James Haggerty about his partner in life and work, Linda Haggerty. The two expert ceramicists have been working together in Santa Barbara since 1992, but both found their passion for the arts at young ages. James fell in love with ceramics at the age of 13 and even began collecting golf balls from Hope Ranch’s lake and selling them back to golfers in order to save money for his first kiln, which he got in high school. Linda attended UCSB with a focus in drawing and illustration but moved toward the world of ceramics by making tile work and soon vessels. The Haggertys work in their Mason Street studio to create vibrant and unique ceramic works of art with more than 4,500 different glaze recipes and a process called strike-reduction firing. “There aren’t many people who do this type of work, because the rate of failure is very high,” said Linda. “It is trial by fire with a tiny window of opportunity.”