Barbara Noris discovered ceramics later in life, but her connection to clay began at the age of eight when she first experienced working with it. Although life took her in other directions, ceramics remained a quiet interest until, decades later, while living in Brooklyn, New York, she enrolled in her first wheel-throwing class.

During the COVID pandemic, Noris transformed her dining area into a home studio, teaching herself handbuilding through books and daily practice. After relocating to the California desert, the region’s distinctive light, textures, and landscape became an important influence on her work, Barbara Noris lives and works in the California desert, where she creates ceramic pieces inspired by the textures, forms, and quiet beauty of the surrounding landscape.