PERU, Vt. – Local potter Susan Kramer has spent more than three decades throwing clay in the Green Mountain State, selling her colorful, functional pottery designs at local shops and farmers markets.
Kramer grew up in northern New Jersey, and enjoyed many trips to Peru, Vt., where her family owned a second home. Kramer’s brother got a job as a ski instructor at Bromley Mountain, and after she was accepted into the art program at the University of Vermont (UVM), Kramer took a course in ski instruction and joined her brother as a part-time teacher on weekends. She became a full-time instructor after her 1988 graduation from UVM.
The 2025-2026 ski season will mark Kramer’s 37th with Bromley. Kramer is certified at the highest level as a U.S. Ski and Snowboard clinician, a Level 300 coach, and a Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) coach of alpine examiners. Kramer holds both a Master of Science in kinesiology, and a Master of Science in art education and ceramics. In 2015, Kramer published a book, “Be Fit to Ski: A Complete Guide to Alpine Skiing Fitness.”
Kramer’s first job in ceramic arts was assisting a potter in Warren, packing pottery for shipping. “I thought it was a huge compliment when she finally let me mix the glaze,” Kramer said.
Her second job introduced her to the benefits of working with an electric kiln, which operates at a lower fire temperature.
What began as an earnest pursuit of her passions resulted in an “unintended career path,” and possibly the most perfectly Vermont work-life balance imaginable.
“I am a master of two trades,” Kramer writes on her website, www.kramerpottery.com.
“In the winter months I close up the studio and head for the snowy mountains where I train ski racers, ski instructors, and coach the coaches.”
“In the summer months,” Kramer told the Bromley Outing Club (BOC), “I get down and dirty in my clay studio, making pottery that I sell at [farmers markets]. I also enjoy trail running, hiking, and road biking.”
Kramer admitted having two careers that flip-flop with the seasons has worked quite well for her over the years. She described the process of designing and producing pottery as “contemplative, quiet, and introspective.” Her studio is connected to her house, and as summer winds down and fall leads toward winter, Kramer said that is when she starts to miss being with people – just in time to shutter the studio and hit the slopes again.
Kramer calls what she does during winter months “hard fun,” and looks forward each year to getting back on the mountain with her Bromley family.
Six months of peaceful, creative expression, followed by six months of “hard fun…” What could be better?
Kramer described how each May she will “get a bolt of creativity” and try a new design, and she is not an artist who is precious about her designs. “One of the advantages of not being a year-round potter,” Kramer remarked, “is that I can change with cultural shifts and trends. If I try something new and it doesn’t work or sell, I don’t have to bring it back.”
Additionally, she doesn’t feel under constant pressure to produce. Each of Kramer’s pieces requires two firings, and can take three or more weeks to finish, especially in humid temperatures.
Kramer’s work is reflective of the places where she has lived and visited, such as the U.S. Southwest, Scandinavia, and Italy. Kramer spent her junior year of college as an exchange student in Japan, which heavily influenced her early work, and still plays a part to this day. Kramer draws inspiration from a myriad of sources, home design websites, television shows, architecture, and furniture design. “I’m like everyone,” Kramer said. “I do online shopping, I travel. I try to close my eyes and absorb things, and I discard a lot. You know the show ‘The Great British Bake Off’? I watched that show to see the different vessels behind the chefs. Because that’s what I make – vessels,” she stated.
Admittedly fascinated by how colors and shapes relate to one another, Kramer creates pieces that are designed to be beautiful and practical: mugs, plates, bowls, pitchers, and vases in bold colors and patterns, and clean lines. Kramer remarked, “I love how shape can form a background but still be transportive, invoking a certain place. I love to have people tell me, ‘This reminds me of the ocean, or this reminds me of the Southwest.’”
Kramer has managed a vendor booth every summer since 1997, at the West River Farmers Market in Londonderry. The market is open Saturdays, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., through Saturday, Oct. 11. Kramer also alternates weekends at the Ludlow Farmers Market on Depot Street, sharing a booth with a fabric artist. The Ludlow market is open Sundays, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., through Sunday, Oct. 12.