John Benn and Colleen Gallagher

John Benn (American, born 1956); Colleen Gallagher (American, born 1951)

Ceramic artists and partners John Benn and Colleen Gallagher live on Harstine Island in South Puget Sound, Western Washington. They have collaborated for many years to create ceramic artworks for public spaces. In the 1990s they built two wood-firing kilns: a salt kin and a hybrid anagama kiln. They continue to use these kilns to fire their individual artworks.

John Benn studied at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Western Washington, and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Colleen Gallagher studied ceramics at Rutgers University in New Jersey and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. She teaches at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Western Washington.