Clyde Tullis

Colorado Springs, CO

(b. 1951, Colorado)

I was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO and had one art teacher from elementary thru high school, Archie Musick. He was a WPA artist and a member of the Broadmoor Art Academy. Of the school in which  drawing skills are the basis of all the arts disciplines, Archie taught us to draw along with everything else.

I did not become interested in ceramics until my sophomore year at the University of Colorado. Henry Mead was the instructor that introduced me to making stoneware pots, building and firing kilns and formulating and mixing clays and glazes. That was 50 years ago.

Upon graduating with a BFA, I moved back to the Springs, found studio space and went to work making functional pottery and teaching classes. I was an instructor at the Meadowfound Studios and Bemis School of Art as well as teaching workshops in various aspects of working with clay at art centers and the community college. With my wife at that time, I opened Raven Hill Gallery which featured the ceramic works from the region. I also started Mudlark Pottery and developed a national market for terra cotta bird feeders sold through stores and catalogs.

In ‘95 I moved Mudlark Pottery to Salida, CO where I lived and worked for 15+ yrs. Being a life-long skier and fly fisherman it was a perfect fit. During that time I continued the bird feeder production, developed Terra Cotta Majolica decorated functional ware and Raku fired decorative pieces. 

One afternoon as I was frantically glazing pieces for a show and into my studio walked Danna Clark, an accomplished painter from Denver. We had a mutual friend who told her she should look me up. We married about a year later. That was 22 yrs. ago. We sold the studio building and the bird feeder business and moved to Denver/LODO where I worked at The Dry Ice Factory Studios. With 9 other ceramic artists, the schedule for the electric kilns was busy, but they had a gas kiln, so I went back to my roots and produced a series of stoneware pieces which I have continued to this day.

I now live in Colorado Springs and we do what many retired people do – Make Art!