YARMOUTH — At 14, Alison Evans took her first pottery class. She realized she had a talent, and decided to pursue the art form as a career.

Twenty years later she is running her own small business, has a family and store front on Main Street.

“I knew then that I wanted to be potter,” Evans said. “It was important for me to be a mother and have my own business, and this allows me to to have both.”

Originally from New York, Evans moved a lot as a child. She spent time in Atlanta, Louisiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts and London. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998 and worked for artist Katy Schimert in New York for a few years before opening her first studio in East Boothbay.

Evans uses the ocean and the coast as inspiration for her designs, she said. Each item is hand molded and hand glazed, so each piece is unique.

When she was 16 and living in London, she said, she came to the realization that it was possible to make a living creating beautiful pieces.

“Walking by some of the stores in London opened my eyes to the possibility that I could do that and be successful,” she said.

In 2009, Evans and her husband Chris Fritz bought the space at 359 Main St., where she makes and sells all her pieces. They currently live in East Boothbay and commute, but hope to move to the area.

“I love the historic village of Yarmouth,” Evans said. “I love this town and how close it is to Portland. It is precious.”

Evans creates pieces that are “functional ceramics inspired by the sea,” she said. There are three major design lines: an oyster-shaped series, a round series and a razor clam series. She also makes teapots, mugs, vases, serving platters, bowls, cookie jars, condiment holders and garlic grinders.

Evans said she is on the right path.

“This is totally what I expected” at age 14, she said. “It’s a great place to be.”

Amy Anderson can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or aanderson@theforecaster.net. Follow her on Twitter: @amy_k_anderson

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Alison Evans, owner of Alison Evans Ceramics in Yarmouth, with 1-year-old Shea. Evans creates one-of-a-kind ceramics pieces inspired by the ocean.

Chris Fritz works on a piece of pottery before it is glazed and put in the kiln. He brushes on a layer of wax resist to the bottom of the bowl before the glaze is applied so that bowl won’t stick to the shelf in the kiln.

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