Meet Dina Bredahl | Potter, instructor, mom and zookeeper

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dina Bredahl and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dina, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
My goals are to be an expressive artist through my work with clay, as well as a pottery instructor with a focus on kindness and creativity.

This is a new concept for me, thinking about goal-setting in an entirely new and different direction. I feel like I have met many goals in my first career, working with great apes and their caregivers at an amazing zoo, researching threats to wild orangutans and inspiring people to help save their habitat. https://www.cmzoo.org/conservation/orangutans-palm-oil/sustainable-palm-oil-shopping-app/

I have a busy and incredibly rewarding triple life at the moment.
1) I am the mom of twin teenage boys that make me laugh and make me proud of the wonderful people they are becoming.
2) I am so lucky to be able to share the unique personalities of gorillas, orangutans and other species…when people fall in love with an individual gibbon, for example, they are motivated to help save their wild cousins. Especially if we provide the tools to do something!
Segway to the third piece: Caregiving (with humans OR animals!) can take a lot of physical and emotional energy. Working with clay and spending time in a completely different environment has been therapeutic and life-changing.
3) Making pottery is a combination of so many wonderful and contradictory things! There are techniques which can be mastered which include precision and attention to detail. Yet the ability to unleash creativity is truly limitless. What clay to use? Will a piece be functional or decorative or both? Shape? Texture or carving? Which glaze(s)? Leave part of the piece unglazed? AND…I have only recently started teaching pottery. and I can’t believe how much I enjoy it.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have so much to learn about ceramics, many things I have not tried or discovered. That is why I refuse to settle down to one style this early in my pottery journey. I sometimes look at my portfolio and think that it looks scatterbrained or lacks continuity, However, I pride myself on creating pottery and art that is one-of-a-kind. There is a special thrill that I get when I try something new, or start carving a unique design that I’ve never seen before. Sounds corny to say this, but it’s true…the possibilities are limitless!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First we would visit Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs! The up-close experiences and beautiful mountain landscape are a must. For a unique half-day trip we would go to Bishop’s Castle. We would visit a few favorite restaurants and breweries like Smiling Toad, Amanda’s Fonda, Cerberus, Ivywild, Trail’s End and The Loop. We would attend the First Friday Art Walk, enjoying local artwork at places like Cottonwood Center for the Arts and Kreuser Gallery. For hiking we would go to the Incline or Helen Hunt Falls.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are many people that I am SO THANKFUL to. Two that I absolutely must talk about:

My husband Jason gave me a month of pottery classes in January 2019. Since then he has been the most encouraging and supportive partner I could ask for! Not many spouses would be fine with a pottery wheel in their living room.

My pottery instructor at Cottonwood Center for the Arts, Kris Saxton, has been so generous with his knowledge, tools, time, you name it. When our community studio closed during Covid-19, Kris rented me his pottery wheel so I could continue to create at home. When a group of his students wanted to take a huge leap and sell pottery at an arts festival, Kris not only lent us his tent and tables, but drove a long way to help us set up. Even more importantly, Kris has never once discouraged me from trying new things.

Website: www.potterybydina.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/potterybydina