MazAmar serves up beautiful, unique, functional art pottery from the high desert of Pioneertown, CA sent 'round the world since 2000 with Thomas Alban as proprietor. Joshua Tree Mugs, Heart Bowls, Labyrinth Plates, Wine Cups, Tiles and Wood Pots, all hand-made with love in the studio here on Mane Street by a dedicated team of artists and artisans, below.
Pioneertown welcomes visitors from around the world daily and features not only the work of Thomas, but several other local artists as well. The 'hours' sign is just a reflection of our 'Pioneertown Spirit.' During the current restrictions in place, we're pretty much here working, even though our store hours for now are Fri - Sun from 12-6, with the exception of holidays.
Come on in and look around, and find something special for your space.
Thanks for stopping by and let us know if we can help you find something!
Thomas Alban
Moving from Savannah, GA to Pioneertown, CA in the fall of 2000, Thomas began working with clay. The many forms and colors of the Mojave Desert would soon be organically represented in his work; for instance, the erosive forces of sun and wind on wood as demonstrated in his popular 'Wood Pot' series - a faux bois vase so compelling people often ask how he manages to fire glaze on wood.Also informing his palette? The layers of reds and rich browns emerging from old pieces of metal decaying in the sun over decades, contrasted with open blue skies of the high desert.
While he takes pride in the true functionality of his work, Thomas also tends to stray into new areas that are anything but ordinary. Being largely self-educated in the medium of clay, he’s not anchored to old-school thinking when it comes to form and function.
Each piece at MazAmar is unique and one of a kind, and each has found its way into the collections of his many clients from around the world, knowing the work will live on.
Geoffrey Fennel
Raised on a remote cattle/hunting ranch in northern Wyoming, Geoff discovered the natural world of some of the last wild areas in the Bighorn Mts. At age 17 he gave up hunting for photography. Geoff started his professional career as an Oxberry animation cameraman at 19 years old and a few years later attended the Experimental Film School at California Institute of the Arts under the mentorship of Myron Emery, Jules Engel and Ed Emshwiller.He would go on to work as a member of the team that pioneered the first Motion Capture production studio in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area. In 1999 Geoff left the film industry to begin his journey to find his own creative language using all the tools he had learned from his professional visual effects career.
For the last 15 years Geoff has created a large catalog of his photography, illustrations, paintings and experimental performance animations.His art has been inspired by his experiences in the high desert.
Jake Reiland
I discovered ceramics my sophomore year in high school, and from the first moment I set foot in the studio I knew it would be a class I would enjoy. By junior year I was set on making part of my living from ceramics.
I had fallen in love with the endless possibilities that ceramics had to offer, and I found myself spending any free time I had in the pottery studio. I wanted to try new techniques constantly as well as master others. I am now going on my fourth year as a potter and I love it more than ever.
Not long after I finished high school I was blessed with the opportunity to work as a production potter at MazAmar. Since I began working here my skills have grown exponentially and I could not be more grateful. Through pottery I have found a community of incredible people who strive to see each other succeed and push the limits of clay.
It is something I will do for the rest of my life.
Nikki Ilkanich
Nikki is from a small town outside of Cleveland, Ohio. She grew up loving to swim in the Chagrin River, to explore the forests, and to help her grandmother cook Hungarian food. She always appreciated the Hungarian porcelain her grandmother collected and looked forward to the holidays when special dinnerware was used.At 17, Nikki took her first ceramic class and although she didn’t think of it as a serious career path until years later, she couldn’t deny her growing passion for clay. There was something with her relationship to clay that motivated her each day and challenged her to present her ideas artistically. Nikki decided to continue on with her art studies at Ohio University, where she graduated in 2018 with her Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in ceramics.
Through her art making, Nikki aims to connect with her other loves: nature and her Hungarian heritage. Her past work was inspired by the Hungarian folk patterns that she would reconfigure to speak to her own identity and childhood memories a long time past. Recently, in the summer of 2020, Nikki moved from Ohio to the desert of Southern California.
Nikki is excited for her art to evolve with the new landscape she now resides in. She looks forward to trying new ideas that can still speak to her identity and upbringing.