Sarah Ortlieb is the odd potter behind all this nodding.

She is a teacher, potter, and poet. For the past eight years, using art and poetry, she has been assisting artists of all ages—from early childhood to senior citizens—who express a need to stabilize their lives and relieve stress.

“Pottery is an unexpected exercise in self-control and self-expression.”

In college, while studying to receive her B.A. in English and Creative Writing, Sarah enrolled into the Hartford Art School’s ceramics courses. Unexpectedly, throwing pottery became her center. She utilized it in her own thereputic way to relieve the stress of heavy course work, spending up to twelve hours in the studio on any given weekend—simply practicing, developing muscle memory, and, frankly, playing in the mud. Before graduating, Sarah carved a Wallace Stevens poem onto an oatmeal bowl and memorialized the final battle between Ahab and Moby Dick on a vase. Pottery had become a concrete expression of her educational experience.

​“I believe strongly in equal opportunity education as well as the importance of the arts in the life-long development of the individual. I aim to help others learn the communication skills they need, whether verbal or otherwise, to define and achieve success and happiness in their lives.”
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After years of teaching preschool and kindergarten, Sarah decided that pottery was her true calling, and decided down a new path of entrepreneurship and community service. She is currently completing the Rogers Park Business alliance GROW program to see Nodd Pottery to its real-life potential. Sarah also volunteers weekly for Project Onward on the South side of Chicago—another non-profit organization that assists mentally disabled artists by providing them with commissions that they can use to generate personal income. Much of Sarah's energy goes into creating opportunities and experiencing internal growth.