MUD WITCH

Viviana Matsuda is a queer Japanese/Mexican artist from San Francisco and the founder of MUD WITCH. Inspired by her late father, a ceramicist, Viviana first turned to clay as a way to process grief. She discovered that shaping earth with her hands was both grounding and healing. What began as a personal creative outlet has since grown into a thriving pottery practice and small production studio.Her work celebrates diversity in form and spirit, with pieces that are colorful, playful, and beautifully imperfect — some smooth, some rough, some chubby, some freckled. Viviana continues to do all of the wheel throwing herself, while also expanding her designs through casting to reach more people and keep space for new creations.In 2022, she opened MUD WITCH Studio inside Emotion Potion in San Francisco’s Mission District. The studio has become a welcoming hub for creativity, offering classes in wheel throwing, ceramic handbuilding, sewing, crochet, chainmaille, and paint & sip. Just a short walk from BART, the space invites the community to connect, explore, and discover the joy of making something by hand.