Orange Countian Jon Oakes was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in North Dakota. As a boy in the Midwest during the 1970’s, he had limited exposure to the arts. Sitting down at the potter’s wheel for the first time in a high school ceramics class, I immediately felt comfortable and knew he was meant to create art. He still works in clay, creating beautiful vessels using raku-firing techniques in addition to more traditional ceramics. He has recently added glass blowing to his repertoire.