Washington Street Studios provides an affordable, fully equipped studio space for aspiring, emerging, and established artists to share their creative energy and knowledge in an environment designed to support the creative process.
Meet Our Instructors!
Instructor & Classroom Manager
Jenna Wiles
Jenna Wiles received her MFA in Ceramic Arts from Hood College in 2018 and later taught there as an Adjunct Instructor. Today, she’s the co-owner, Studio Manager, and Instructor at Washington Street Studios, where she teaches classes and helps create a welcoming, creative space for our amazing clay community.
She's drawn to simple, timeless forms — pieces that feel good to hold and easy to live with. Those small daily moments are her greatest inspiration. Teaching and community matter just as much; she loves welcoming people into the studio at any skill level, and finds something special in learning together.
Jenna lives in Middletown with her husband, Eric, and they share a love of good coffee, gardening, and making things by hand. When she’s not in the classroom, you can find her working in her home studio or out in her garden.
“I’ve always been drawn to working with my hands, especially when it means being a little closer to the natural world. Whether I’m in the garden, out on a trail, or traveling somewhere new, I find inspiration in color, texture, and the quiet details of everyday life. That connection to the earth naturally carries into my work with clay and also into my sculptural pieces, which are often inspired by the movement and forms of the ocean.”
Instructor
Sherri Fiolek
Sheri Fiolek holds degrees in both art education and art therapy, and has spent more than 22 years teaching in public and private settings. A proud Harpers Ferry resident, she shares her home with her family, two bunnies, and two cats who — as she puts it — "love to leave their hair in her clay."
At the heart of Sheri's teaching is a simple but powerful belief: creativity flourishes in a space free of judgment. She strives to create that space for every student, encouraging them to explore their own creative vision with confidence.
When she's not in the studio, you'll find her on a hiking trail, camera in hand, soaking up the natural world — probably with a coffee nearby.
In her own words:
"I have made a million mistakes so that I can help you make less!"
"I have so many creative thoughts that I can't get them out fast enough!"
Instructor
Annette Verna
Annette has degrees in Studio Art and Art History. She started teaching ceramics to adults in 1997. She enjoys instilling confidence in students to pursue their creative endeavors. She finds satisfaction in seeing the wheels turn and watching people get excited about what they make.
The effect of time in nature is the primary inspiration for her work. She is fascinated by formations in landscape. Details such as cracks, crevices in layers of rock, scars and imperfections, crumbling and decay, plant life gone to seed or at the end of its season are what she finds beautiful. Clay is the perfect medium to express this, created by the continuous cycle of change. She creates simple forms and surfaces using low-fire clays and fires using the primitive pit fire technique. “Clay and fire my partners and we make objects together.”
Annette is a member of the Over the Mountain Studio Tour, a juried group of fine artisans in Jefferson County, WV. She is active in the local arts community as a member of the Jefferson Arts Council and the Berkeley Arts Council. Her work has been exhibited in several juried exhibitions including the Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, MD; the National Juried Exhibition at the Delaplaine Arts Center in Frederick, MD; and the Best of West Virginia Juried Exhibition at Tamarack in Beckley, WV. Annette is originally from Rochester, NY and now resides in Charles Town, WV.
