Stephanie Hope Welden

Stephanie Hope Welden, 93, passed away on May 17, 2026, at Salemtowne Retirement Community in Winston-Salem, NC.

Stephanie grew up in a creative family. Her mother was a painter of portraits and landscapes in oils, and her father was an industrial designer who designed the Rever Copper and Brass cookware. She attended the National Academy of Design in New York City, where she took oil painting classes. She went on to Columbia University, where she received a BS degree in Fine Arts. She then took a degree in Library Science and worked for twenty years for the New York State Library in Albany, NY, retiring as State Law Librarian.

She continued to paint in oils and has found much inspiration in the scenery of the North Carolina coast and mountains. She started with thumbnail sketches on pieces of paper taped to cardboard in order to figure out the composition. She may have taken the ideas from several photographs she has taken and combined them, involving colors and form, abstract relationships, and patterns. The instructor who made the biggest impression on her at the beginning of her career was Robert Philipp, who taught at the National Academy in New York City.

Her ceramic education includes many workshops and membership in the Albany Ceramic Institute, where she attended classes for several years and sold her work through their gallery. An intensive course taught at Alfred University, the nation's best-known ceramics school, was a great help in giving her the essentials for setting up her own studio.

Welden's work was all fired in an electric kiln to temperatures over 2,000 degrees. It is called stoneware pottery and is oven-proof, dishwasher-safe, and lead-free.

Most of Welden's work was glazed with the wax resist technique. She glazed the pot once with a base glaze, then painted on the design in wax. When she glazed the pot again, the second glaze would adhere to the wax, so that a pattern appears on the finished piece. The wax burns off when the pot is fired. The shiny finish of the glaze combination gives her work the wet look of freshly thrown pottery.

She has sold her work in craft fairs and through Main Street Gallery in Blowing Rock, NC, where she was a member for 20 years and showed pottery and oil paintings, and Doe Ridge Pottery in Boone, NC, where she showed pottery and paintings.

Per Stephanie's wishes, there will be no formal services.

Hayworth-Miller Silas Creek Chapel is respectfully serving Ms. Welden.