Chuck Koucky, an award-winning studio potter, began making pottery in 1971 under the instruction of Dick Leach at Albion College, Michigan. He obtained his BA in fine art (Pottery and Printmaking) and decided to pursue pottery as his career. In 1976 he purchased a farm in northern Michigan and built his first studio where he and his wife Nancy lived and worked. Chuck took a break from production pottery from 1986-2001 when they opened their Art Galleries, Koucky Gallery, in Michigan and Florida. During this time however, Chuck taught workshops in raku, stoneware, and kiln building. He was “Artist in Residence” at Collier County’s Gulfcoast High School (Florida) and a guest speaker at other schools in the area.

Early in 2001 Chuck and his wife Nancy began thinking about once again getting back to their own creations. At the encouragement of friends who lived in Matlacha and Bokeelia, Florida, Chuck and Nancy began to explore the possibilities of attaining this goal on Pine Island. They found the perfect property in which they have combined their home and pottery studio amid a tropical paradise creating a unique and creative atmosphere in which to live and work.

In 2018 Chuck received a gift of the cigar-box style guitar. As he learned to play it he became interested in making them himself.  Subsequently, the garage of the house was officially converted to a woodshop where he makes his unique guitars and ukuleles.  

Nancy received her BA in Art History from the College of Wooster in Ohio. After marrying Chuck in 1978, she began her career in art as a weaver, weaving items for the home and women’s fashions.  However, when Chuck and she opened the art galleries, she gave her complete attention to running the two galleries. 

In 2004, after Hurricane Charley, Chuck and Nancy made the decision to close their galleries and live on Pine Island year around.   At this time, she began her new career and passion in Graphic Arts as an animator.  This grew and evolved over the years and she became the Art Director for an international magazine from which she retired in 2019.  However, she continues to free-lance designing books, magazines, and marketing collateral for small, independent authors and businesses.   

In 2019, Chuck surprised her with a gift of a wood lathe. She enjoys turning small projects in wood and resins in her free time. The tactile qualities of turned and sanded woods enchant her as do the depth and color of the cast resins. She finds working in the woodshop a delightful respite from her computer.

When Chuck is not creating or teaching, his love is sailing. He is a licensed captain and a certified American Sailing Association Instructor. To learn more about his sailing visit PineIslandSailing.com