All Fired Up
Liz Winchell '91

By Kimberly Hildebrandt

Liz (LMK ‘91) knows what it is like to be told she can’t do something. She also knows what it is like to get all fired up about a dream and make it a reality. Liz came to Landmark in the late 1980s like many others; a smart young women with dreams, but struggling to read and succeed in a typical classroom.

Even though learning was a challenge, Liz says that she holds many great memories from her years at Landmark. Her art teacher, Mr. Muirhead, inspired her to pursue art. Another teacher, Mr. Dudley, showed her grace and humor. Headmaster Broudo showed care and acceptance. Through these models, and many others, Liz learned how to believe in herself. She spent two summers and three school years at Landmark School, graduating in 1991.

The relationships and support from Landmark are still important to Liz today and have helped her get through many challenges. After Landmark, Liz went onto college. She got knocked down many times and was told she wouldn’t be able to succeed because of  her learning challenges. But Liz had a dream of being an art teacher. She graduated with a degree in education and art. But the path to working in a traditional school was not the one for Liz. She began working in a paint your own pottery studio. She instantly fell in love with the process of opening art to the wider population. Liz worked in the studio for four years, and being from a family of entrepreneurs, readily identified how improvements could be made. So when the studio came up for sale, she bought it! With classes, summer camps, enhanced programing, and employee training , Liz is able to realize her dream to be the teacher she has always wanted to be. Her studios (she now owns two!) are a fusion of education and art, two things Liz had always set her sights to do. 

Liz lives in Vienna, Virginia  and owns two paint-your-own pottery studios called “All Fired Up”. She and her husband have a 19 month old daughter, Julia.

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