Next to the word “craftsman” in the dictionary should be a photo of Nick Corso. He and his family live on a one-and-a-half acre property on a mile-long road filled with potholes with just two houses on the entire road in Roxborough, one-tenth of a mile from Forbidden Drive and Valley Green. Everywhere you look in the storage sheds behind their house are wall-to-wall pieces of beautiful pottery of all shapes and sizes, in all stages of creation. 

Corso, 42, is a one-person pottery operation. Every piece he sells is handmade by him, and the photos on his website do not do his creations justice. “I design and create each piece to be functional, artistic and fun,” he said. “I hold my pottery to the highest standards of craftsmanship and quality. My work incorporates the thousands of years of tradition that came before me and blends that tradition with creativity and function in today's world.”

Corso grew up in Baltimore and attended a community college, but his considerable skills as a potter (he also does impressive masonry work) are self- taught. “I'm not a big believer in education,” he said. “I had some bad teachers. Everyone I knew who went to art school never practiced art as a profession.”

For Corso, art is more than a profession. It’s a passion.

“After high school I started making pottery with other guys in the area,” he recalled. “I got really into it quickly. I set up a kiln in my parents house. I took my work to craft shows and sold them. They were not exactly supporting me. My mom wouldn't let me have a pottery wheel. ‘Too messy,’ she said.”

Pottery, the process of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures (600 to 1,600 degrees in a bonfire, put or kiln to give them a hard and durable form) is one of the oldest human inventions, originating before the Neolithic era, according to John H. Lienhard, author of “The Engines of our Ingenuity.” 

Corso uses gas, electric and wood-fired kilns. He is particularly inspired by the work of potters of past generations. “The quality of the craftsmanship of pottery made 1,000 years ago easily surpasses that of today,” he said.

While working in a pizza shop (which he did for five years, starting in high school), Corso found fellow potters in the Baltimore area and worked in studios, exhibiting his creations in about six to eight craft shows a year. After meeting and marrying Rachel Kriger, a native of Mt. Airy, the couple moved to Philadelphia 10 years ago, to be closer to her family. 

That is when they purchased their current house, which was on the market for only two days. 

“This is country living in the city,” said Corso. “It is essential for me. We lived in a rural area in Maryland, and it took a lot to move me to Philly.” Both houses on their secluded road were previously owned by famed classical music composer Vincent Persichetti. 

Because the Corso residence is so rural, it is visited often by raccoons, foxes and deer, among other critters. Corso has taken out lots of invasive plants and planted paw paw trees instead. There is also a large chicken coop on the premises. “We have them for the eggs,” said Nick. “We do not eat those chickens.” In fact, his wife, Rachel, has never eaten a piece of meat in her life.

After their children — Evan, now 5; Ayla, 7, and Maayan, 8 — were born, Corso started a masonry business to supplement his income but he continues to create, and to sell his pieces.

“This is my showroom,” he said. “I put a sandwich board out in front of the house on weekends, and it can get busy. I guess you could say I am lightly established.”

For more information, visit wissahickonpottery.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com