We were lucky to catch up with Nadia Tarzi-saccardi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Nadia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I am currently the director of Terra Linda Ceramic Artists, located in Terra Linda, San Rafael, California. For the past ten years, I have had the great joy of serving the community at large, including youth, seniors, and artists of all levels—especially those just beginning their exciting ceramics journey.
For several years, I have envisioned creating another studio that increases potential and offers something distinct for ceramic artists deeply rooted in their work. Recently, I embarked on establishing the CACM—Ceramic Art Center of Marin.
CACM is designed as a space for collaboration, experimentation, and discovery. I want it to be a nurturing environment where professional and seasoned ceramic artists can explore their ideas, push their boundaries, and feel supported by mentors and guest speakers as they take risks and evolve in their work. It will be a place for independent work, knowledge exchange, the sharing and discovery of advanced techniques, and mutual inspiration on both a local and international level.
CACM represents an opportunity for artistic growth, focusing on quality over quantity and fostering creative exchange. It’s a space where ceramicists can find the freedom and encouragement to grow as artists, discover new aspects of their craft, and contribute to something greater than themselves. This studio is dedicated to fostering all of that, and I’m excited to see what we can create together in this shared space.
Terra Linda Ceramic Artists will continue offering traditional classes for everyone, while CACM will be dedicated to aspiring professional and experienced ceramic artists.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I was born in Strasbourg, France, to a Swedish mother and an Afghan father, both deeply artistic and creative, who inspired much of my journey. After their divorce, I stayed in Sweden with my grandparents, where I first discovered clay at the age of three. Ceramics have woven in and out of my life since then, and by the age of 15, while in France, I fully reconnected with clay and was drawn to sculpture and handbuilding. Later, I explored pottery on the wheel. My father, Zemar Tarzi, was a fantastic archaeologist and art restorer. It was under his mentorship that I began doing restorations.
It wasn’t until I moved to California and met Susan Hontalas that ceramics became my full-time pursuit. Under her mentorship, I blossomed as an artist, working with many other mentors and teachers over the years. To me, a teacher instructs and imparts techniques, while a mentor guides, brainstorms with you, and brings out your best. While these roles can overlap, they offer distinct paths to artistic growth.
I began teaching as Susan’s assistant, co-teaching her adult classes and working with children. From there, I taught and managed programs at Mill Valley Potter’s Studio and Walnut Creek Art Center. In 2017, Susan asked me to take over her program, and since then, Terra Linda Ceramic Artists (TLCA) has thrived, winning Best of Marin for Best Art Studio and Art Educator from 2020 to 2024. The program nurtures artists of all ages and levels, with many earning awards and showing their work in galleries and private collections.
I am continuously inspired by my students, whether they are beginners just discovering clay or seasoned artists returning after a hiatus. I enjoy mentoring advanced artists, helping them solve engineering challenges or strategize their projects. Each artist’s vision is unique, and I strive to support it without imposing my own style. I try to instill the meditative quality of working with clay. The medium itself is a teacher, requiring you to be present with the clay, to have patience and the time to understand how it behaves under your fingers. Can you see with your fingertips? Close your eyes, feel your way, stay open to what is to come—and above all, be patient.
What I’m most proud of is seeing ceramicists break free, take risks, and find their voice. There’s nothing like demonstrating a technique and witnessing the diverse interpretations in the room. Curating group shows is especially rewarding, as it gives artists a platform to share their vision with the world while also challenging them to work within a deadline and a theme. That diversity of expression, enthusiasm, and community makes teaching ceramics so fulfilling.
It’s this love for the art of ceramics and pride in my students that led me to create the Ceramic Art Center of Marin (CACM). My vision is to offer a mentor-led program for independent and professional ceramic artists, elevating their craft to new levels. This is also a venue where I can begin to pass the baton, so to speak, to my advanced artists and encourage them to build the confidence to become mentors.
Our community is vibrant and diverse; we’re working together with a medium that’s millions of years old, composed of some of the same elements as ourselves—what a thrill!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
There is definitely something that fuels my creative journey. As an artist, my inspiration comes from everything and everyone around me—whether ancient or modern, visible or unseen, from the tiniest microscopic forms to the largest, most striking structures. I’m drawn to life in all its simplicity and complexity, its beauty and mystery. I love crafting large-scale versions of things that in nature are small, like flowers or shells. My greatest joy comes from working with porcelain on portraits, but when I’m feeling political or anxious, I turn to creating abstract, hard-edged vessels. I am still very much in a phase of exploration, and I hope to continue learning something new every day.
As a teacher, my mission is to build community, and in the process inspire and equip as many people as I can to help them find their own creative voice, to grow, and to express themselves. In a world where so much of our ancestral art has been or continues to be destroyed, looted, or lost, and where too many voices are being silenced, I believe it’s more important than ever to keep our creative traditions alive.
As ceramic artists, we are continuing a tradition of human expression that is both timeless and unique. We carry forward the stories, emotions, and ideas that might otherwise be lost, ensuring that our voices, and the voices of those who came before us, are not silenced but celebrated.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
What I find most rewarding as an artist is the creative process itself—starting with the spark of an idea and carrying it all the way through to the finished piece. Some ideas live in my mind for months, even longer, as I spend much of my time teaching rather than creating for myself. I’m grateful, though, that these ideas seem content to “hang out” in my head until I’m ready to bring them to life. Occasionally, I’ll jot down a middle-of-the-night idea in one of my notebooks, just in case it evaporates by morning.
I am fascinated by the diversity in clay bodies, and the many firing modalities one can chose, from low to high fire, Raku, pitfiring, salt, wood firing… The endless surface decoration possibilities, and knowing that anything can be fixed. I love testing new glaze combinations or working with bare porcelain.
But what I truly enjoy is navigating the challenges along the way—whether it’s solving tricky construction issues, planning ahead to avoid setbacks, or pushing myself to work with fragile or complex forms and, of course, the moment of opening the kiln and seeing that everything has survived intact. When the piece is sold, it’s the final confirmation that my work has connected with someone else, giving it new life beyond my hands. For me, that entire journey—from conception to completion—is the most fulfilling part of being an artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.terralindaceramicartists.com, CACM: https://cacm.studio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terralindaceramicartists/
- Facebook: TLCA: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063665195396
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadia-tarzi-saccardi-34916728
- Other: CACM: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566325461066&paipv=0&eav=AfZgXzclT5grl8AkEh1lofayeEbj99aLHSrBf_pSJh8Z4uEsuArxp5ArTVld__ZFDXw
Image Credits
Black and White pictures by William Wayland
Color pictures by Nadia Tarzi-Saccardi