About Fresh Throws

Hey, I'm Andrea!

By day, I'm an emergency medicine physician. I spend my shifts making fast decisions under pressure, staying focused when things get chaotic, and doing everything I can to take care of people in their hardest moments. I love that work, but after years of it, I realized I needed something that let me slow all the way down. Something quiet, physical, and completely different from the pace of the ER. That's how I ended up at a pottery wheel.

A friend suggested I try a class at Something Earthy Pottery Studio in Gaithersburg, MD, and honestly, I was hooked from the first session. There's something about centering a lump of clay and coaxing it into a shape that just turns the noise off in my brain. No pagers, no alarms, just my hands and the wheel. What started as a way to decompress after long shifts quickly turned into a real passion. I went from "I'll try a class" to "I'm at the studio every chance I get" faster than I expected.

Something Earthy has become a second home for me. The studio has this wonderful community of local artists, hobbyists, and curious beginners who all share space, swap glaze recipes, and cheer each other on when a piece comes out of the kiln looking better than you hoped. I've learned so much from the people there, and the encouragement of that community is a big part of what pushed me to start sharing my work beyond the studio walls. I now participate in the bi-annual Art on the Farm shows, where local artists set up and sell their work in a beautiful outdoor setting. Those shows are some of my favorite weekends of the year. There's nothing like handing someone a mug you made and watching them wrap both hands around it like they already know it's theirs.

Every piece I make is shaped by hand on the wheel, trimmed, glazed, and fired with a lot of care (and a little bit of crossed fingers, because the kiln always has the final say). I love making pieces that people actually use every day, the bowl your morning oatmeal goes in, the mug that makes your coffee taste a little better just because it feels right in your hand. If you're interested in a custom piece or just want to say hi, I'd love to hear from you!