Fire Creek Clay

05/21/2026

Atomic Cowboy Photography caught the best photo of my buddy Marty! He visits every morning to grab breakfast.

This is Marty. He lives in my parents' yard in Lander, Wyoming and has the peanut situation fully under control.
Every morning when the peanuts go out, Marty is first. Not just first to eat, he is also first to cache. He works through a careful routine of filling up, stashing a private reserve in locations only he knows about, and only then does he let the rest of the flock know that breakfast has been served. By the time the others arrive, Marty has already secured his interests for the day.
Black-billed magpies are members of the corvid family, the same group that includes ravens, crows, and jays, and they are every bit as intelligent as their reputation suggests. Marty is proof of that approximately every morning.

05/21/2026

I think this is why I make the work I do.

To hold onto places that make us feel something. Places where the land quiets the noise for a while and reminds us how good it feels to simply exist beneath an open sky.

Out here, surrounded by deer moving through the brush, hawks riding the wind, and small lives hidden among the sage, it’s hard not to feel connected to something older and deeper than ourselves. The earth feels alive in places like this. Steady. Wild. Sacred in its own quiet way.

Red Canyon carries that feeling for me — a kind of joy that roots you back into the land and reminds you that you belong to it too.

05/16/2026

A week spent carving little pieces of the wild ✨

Five new designs slowly coming to life in the studio this week — wild horses running free, curious foxes, deer moving quietly through the brush, skunks and rabbits tucked among the sage, and butterflies drifting through blooming wildflowers.

Every line is carved by hand, one mark at a time, until the clay begins to hold movement, texture, and story. These early stages are always some of my favorite moments in the process… before glaze, before firing, when everything still feels soft, earthy, and full of possibility.

There’s something so grounding about spending hours carving the wildlife and landscapes that make me feel at home in the high desert. Clay dust everywhere and a very full heart over here 🤍

05/13/2026

After time spent carving, there’s always this moment where the surface finally clears and the design begins to show itself. The lines sharpen, the color settles into the clay, and what once looked rough and unfinished suddenly feels alive.
That’s what keeps me coming back to inlay work. It asks for patience, but it always rewards it.
Each piece carries a little of the landscape with it — layers of earth, texture, movement, and the quiet rhythm of making something slowly by hand.
Once this makes a run through its first firing, the wild iris will be painted by hand to become something truly unique and special.
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05/12/2026

Some pieces aren’t just installed…they finally come home.

Watching this custom tile move from sketchbook, to clay, to a lived-in space is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do. Every carved detail was made by hand with this home in mind, creating something deeply personal that can’t be replicated by factory tile.

Seeing this custom installation completed fills me with so much gratitude. Thank you for inviting my work into your home and allowing Fire Creek to become part of your story.

remodel

05/09/2026

This is my oldest son, Braedon Higby who has always had a hobby of snapping photos and has now turned it into a business. His website is slowly coming together, but could you...would you wander over to Atomic Cowboy Photography give it a follow, share, like if wildlife, sage steppe and open skies make your heart beat a little faster. Thank you!

I was mountain biking a dirt road outside Lander, Wyoming when I stopped to take a break. Turns out I'd stopped right next to this American robin, who had been perched on that fence post long before I arrived and had no particular interest in leaving.
Most people don't think of the robin as a wild bird. Backyard bird. Lawn bird. But out here in Red Canyon he was doing what robins in the rural West actually do; working the margins of grazing country, using whatever high ground is available, completely at home in a landscape most people pass through without looking.

The blue of a Wyoming spring sky against the orange of his breast. Available as a fine art archival paper print or aluminum metal print at the link below.

05/09/2026

Soon the hills will turn gold again… arrowleaf balsamroot rising through the sage like little suns after a long winter.

Just finished carving this new 4” tile inspired by the first blooms of arrowleaf balsamroot. In a few short weeks, the Wyoming foothills will be washed in yellow — a sea of wildflowers glowing against silver sage and spring wind.
These moments never last long enough, which may be why I keep carving them into clay. 🌼

If you're still reading...this is apart of something bigger coming at Fire Creek...hint, hint..so keep watching this space..click the follow button!

05/05/2026

They were ready for spring… Wyoming had other plans.” ❄️💙

A bluebird pair huddled together while snowflakes quietly covered the world around them.

Wyoming weather has been wacky this year. Warm sunny yesterday, snow and freezing temperatures today. And the Bluebirds are a bit confused.

Here is your reminder that even the gentlest things in nature learn to weather the unexpected side by side.

This beautiful pair will most likely end up finding their likeness on a pot.

05/01/2026