We are husband and wife team, Mark and Eileen Hudak. We opened Throwing Mud Gallery in January 2011. Since then we’ve provided a friendly spot for people to create and buy beautiful handmade items.
Mark was required to take a pottery class in college for his art major and the minute he started throwing on the wheel, he was hooked. In 1977, he moved to Tacoma from Chicago to teach school, but pottery eventually became his full-time work. He enjoys making functional items that people use in their daily living. Working from his home studio, he sold his work at many of the fine arts and crafts fairs and galleries in the Northwest. His work is available at Throwing Mud Gallery.
Eileen is a Tacoma native and worked in the corporate world as a web developer until December 2009. While Mark is in charge of the pottery studio, Eileen manages the gallery, class registration, the paint your own pottery studio, and the business side of Throwing Mud Gallery.
When we’re not at Throwing Mud, we enjoy taking walks together around our Northend neighborhood, gardening, reading, traveling, and spending time with our family, especially our 3 grandchildren.
Our Staff
Jessica Ross
Jess has been working at Throwing Mud Gallery since October 2022. Before taking throwing classes and starting work here, Jess was focused on hand-built pottery. When not making pottery, Jess is an editor and enjoys reading and playing with the best cat in the world, Gator.
Bennett Shoemaker
Bennett started at Throwing Mud Gallery in June of 2024. She is a University of Puget Sound alumni and received her Bachelors Degree in Studio Arts in May of 2025. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, she has always drawn inspiration from the natural world around her. She fell in love with pottery at an early age. She enjoys the challenges that ceramics brings, the tactile nature of clay and getting to create the every day objects she uses.
Megan Kilen
Megan was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and has called Tacoma home most of her life. She fell in love with pottery during her first session of classes at Throwing Mud Gallery in 2013. Now, she enjoys sharing her love for pottery with others through teaching. Megan and her husband, Josh, have two children – a grown son, Sean, and their daughter, Evie, a toddler. When she’s not in the studio, Megan can usually be found with Evie, hosting tea parties and playing in the park. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, playing the piano, and reading.
