About Me

"The Grumpy Potter" name is a bit of an inside joke that I gave myself when joining a seasonal pottery show. It has very particular labeling requirements that include a two letter code for each potter. Those letters used to be based on the name of the potter, but as people left the show and new potters joined, old codes were recycled. I ended up with the code "GP" which I had to try to remember and being a potter who is often finds himself in "old man mode" I settled on "Grumpy Potter." Those who know me might argue that I'm not that grumpy, but those who have witnessed my grumpiness would say those people should be thankful they don't know me well enough yet for me to be grumpy with them....yes, we reserve our worst behavior for those we care about.

I'm Chester Winowiecki, a full time studio potter living in Whitehall, MI with my wife, the artist Cara O'Brien and our cat Gizmo. The greater part of my pottery output is functional pottery i.e. mugs, cups, bowls, plates, pitchers and the like. My ware is fired to Cone 6 (low stoneware) in an electric kiln with a combination of commercial and handmade glazes. I'd like to think that my style is simple and contemporary (maybe even Modern...which isn't contemporary any more is it?) but with elements that refer back to American and European traditions of crockery and simple functional ware.

I also make a number of musical instruments from clay (drums, whistles, horns, kazoos, udus and more) and from found objects and wood (Cigar box guitars, washtub basses, canjos). I've even had a whirl with electronic instruments. 
I get to play some of those instruments as a member of The Bearded Ladies Men, a duo of myself (Ukulele and vocals) and Adrian Schuster (Guitar and vocals). We play mostly at local open mics and an occasional paid gig purveying our brand of early 20th century Jazz & Blues and our own compositions in the same style.