James Whiting is a ceramics artist, teacher, and photographer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. For many years he lived in Japan, where his passion for ceramics developed; the Japanese aesthetic has greatly influenced his work. James’ current work is predominantly hand-built. Over the years he has worked with a wide variety of techniques — coils, slabs, nerikomi (layering colored clays), scraffito, inlay, pinch pots, wax resist and slip/underglaze painting, embossing, burnishing, sculpting/hollowing-out/re-assembling, among others — and he is always exploring new ideas and techniques. James genuinely loves helping others and the many aspects of teaching: explaining processes, problem solving, listening, and helping students realize their potential and do the best work they can.