Diana Denman is a potter, jewelry maker, and plant-lover. She has been creating her ceramic pots and jewelry since 1973, the same year that she and her husband, David, first sold herb plants at a local downtown business called The Plant Plant. They started all of their plants from seed, while homesteading a small abandoned farm on Cedar Creek in Howard County. Diana later ran a nursery in Lupus, Missouri, selling her plants and produce from a farm stand as well as to Gerbes Grocery store.
In 1978, she opened her pottery studio, Wolf’s Point Studio, in Lupus, Missouri. Next to “my wonderful son Devin, making pottery has been the love of my life,” she said. “I need to make pottery to be happy.”
Her pottery is “made of stoneware clay and is mostly functional for use in the kitchen and home.” It is fired at 2,200 degrees to make it microwave, oven, and food safe, she said. “I make all of my glazes from scratch.”
Diana is also a skilled jewelry-maker. “My grandmother got me started when I was a child. She would save her beads for me to re-string for her. Now I make lots of earrings using gemstone and vintage glass beads, and sterling silver or gold-filled findings.”
When Diana joined Columbia Farmers Market in 2000, Devin “sometimes helped me. These days he is very busy with his own life, but on occasion he will help me pack up.” She loves to go to the market. “To be a member is a great privilege. Columbia has a small-town atmosphere, and it is very much that feeling that makes participating as a member so wonderful.”
Her creative endeavors extend to “working with live plants. It’s very rewarding to see them grow, and to propagate them from cuttings or divisions.” She has always maintained a lot of houseplants at home, often using them to make impressions in her pottery designs. “When I joined the Columbia Farmers Market, I expanded my plant production to meet the market membership requirements.”
She is glad she did. “I now have a very good selection of houseplants and some basic perennials to offer at the market, as well as some cut flowers and cut foliage plants such as pussy willow.”
