An art teacher is quietly spinning, decorating, glazing and firing her way to renown on her Penn Township farm.

Christy Culp, an art teacher in the Deer Lakes School District in Allegheny County, creates ceramics, mainly in the form of unique and nature-themed plates and bowls, in an outbuilding she and her husband refurbished on their small berry farm.

Culp and her husband, Pete Broge, remodeled a barn into a distinct, rustic and comfortable studio and gallery.

While the studio has been in place for more than a year, the gallery was added and the work finished in December.

“I can do my work at home,” Culp said. “I don’t have to go to an art facility to do it.”

She said the studio is not a teaching space, and the gallery is open by appointment.

But Culp plans to hold events at the gallery to showcase her pieces.

“We had our first event there on Dec. 5 of last year,” she said.

The Armstrong County native discovered her affinity for pottery as a college student.

“When I was getting my art teacher training, I took ceramics courses and fell in love with it,” Culp said.

Her lucky students at Deer Lakes High School get instruction from her on pottery during their art classes.

The cups, bowls, plates, serving dishes, olive oil dispensers and other pieces created by Culp almost always carry a nature theme, which demonstrates her love for the fruit, flowers and critters on her farm.

“My signature pieces are blackberries and bees,” she said.

Culp hopes those who purchase her pieces don’t stick them in a china cupboard or prop them up on a shelf for viewing and dusting.

“It’s functional dinnerware,” she said. “My goal is for people to use and incorporate them into the everyday rituals of their lives.”

Culp has a large collection of coffee cups created by a wide range of artists, and every morning when she enters her studio, she decides which artist she wants to have coffee with and chooses that cup.

“Now my clients say ‘I enjoy having coffee out of your mug every morning,’” she said.

Culp creates her pieces on a potter’s wheel using red earthenware clay, decorates them with nature-themed images using colored underglazes, and fires them in her kiln.

A clear glaze is then applied and the pieces are fired again to created a smooth, glossy finish.

She said her kiln holds 40 to 50 pieces, and it takes about one month to fill the huge oven.

“The main thing about making pottery is I get to work with clay, which is a three-dimensional thing,” Culp said of her love for the medium.

She said each piece she makes is its own work of art which its user can interact with by quenching their thirst with a cup, feeding themselves with a bowl or plate, or celebrating a holiday with a serving dish.

Culp said museums are filled with pottery that tells the history of ancient civilizations.

“The pieces I make are future heirlooms. A beautiful cup or vase can be enjoyed today and passed on to many generations,” she said. “My hope is that people who choose to make my pieces part of the daily rituals will pass them on to people who will continue to enjoy them for many years.”

Mary Anne Andreassi, of Butler Township, saw Culp’s work at a few different venues, including Batch in Saxonburg, the Butler Art Center and the Indiana County Potters Tour.

She also has friends who have purchased Culp’s work.

“So I’ve known of her work for the past 10 years,” Andreassi said. “Her work is very beautifully crafted. Her forms, her cups and bowls and serving dishes are very well crafted.”

Andreassi, who also is an art teacher, knows how difficult it is to make a piece of ceramic pottery look beautiful while remaining usable.

“She definitely takes the functionality into play when she’s making her pieces,” she said.

Andreassi owns about 10 pieces of Culp’s ceramics.

“As someone who likes to cook and likes to eat, you can enjoy not just the surface and the decoration she puts on her pieces, but you can enjoy the physical form and the way you interact with it,” she said.

Most of Andreassi’s Culp pieces are cups and bowls.

“I really have a thing for those,” Andreassi said. “I use them for coffee, ice cream, my yogurt with granola, and soup. They’re just the perfect sizes.”

She also has two Culp serving bowls, one of which holds fruit and the other snacks for lunches.

“I also have a chip ‘n dip plate of hers that I love,” Andreassi said.

She is drawn to the pieces decorated with lemons and oranges.

“I just like the decorations she does with those and the color scheme is really, really pretty,” Andreassi said.

She also cleans her Culp ware in the dishwasher, as she feels it is sturdy enough for a machine washing since the kiln heats up to 2,000 degrees for 10 to 12 hours when the pieces are fired.

Andreassi hopes Culp continues creating her functional art for many years to come so she can add to her growing collection.

“I just think she is a great local artist in our area,” Andreassi said. “Her work and the work of a lot of her friends are great local craftsmanship.

“If people want to go out and support them, it would be worth your while.”

To view Culp’s work at her gallery, call 724-422-0851.