Julianne Herz Smith’s mother just wanted to keep her young daughter busy during summer vacation.

Little did she realize those childhood art classes would shape Smith’s future.

“My mother would sign us up for a lot of activities, like ceramics classes at the junior museum in Palo Alto,” Smith recalled. “She always kept our ceramics on her shelves in the kitchen.”

Years later Smith, a retired nurse, created Diggins Dirtworks, a line of high-fired, hand-thrown pottery named for the Dutch Flat property she shares with her husband, Eric Smith, a retired anesthesiologist.

Diggins is a term that refers to the dry, treeless embankments carved out by hydraulic mining. Smith’s small wooden studio and kiln are located in such an area, though the trees have long since grown back.

Smith often integrates elements from her garden and the surrounding forest into her work, whether it’s using a cookie cutter to emboss oak leaves on vases, impressing weeds into a dish or rolling a pinecone over ceramic mushroom caps to create natural-looking spots.

“My parents developed in me a lifelong appreciation of nature,” said Smith, whose father was a biologist and professor at California State University, San Francisco. “My parents enjoyed hiking and camping. We went to Yosemite a lot and every summer on our vacations, we visited California State and national parks in the western U.S. Eric is a real outdoorsman, too.”

Just like Mother Nature, Smith has learned ceramics can be beautiful, but unpredictable.

“The greatest thing is that you never know how (a piece) is going to turn out,” she said. “Every time you open the kiln, it’s a surprise.”

Smith gravitates towards earth-toned blues and green glazes, but the shade and depth of those colors depend on the environment and placement of pottery inside the kiln.

The most rewarding part of the process can also become the most frustrating. Smith’s favorite glaze, an ocean color called “Jensen blue” has inexplicably started bubbling. She’s not sure why, nor is the supplier.

“I just love it. It’s such a pity,” she said. “But I’m trying to develop other glazes. Hopefully I’ll get something good.”

Diggins Dirtworks pieces may vary, but all are functional – whether as dishes, vases, flower pots or garden décor. And because they’re fired at temperatures of 2,000 degrees, most are oven, microwave and dishwasher safe.

“I’m into utilitarianism – things that are useful as opposed to fanciful designs,” Smith said. “I have a lot of serving bowls. I made our youngest son a whole set of dishes.

Of course, they’re not your typical set.

“People are always asking if I can make them a set, but things don’t come out of the kiln the same way twice,” she said. “All the pieces are going to be a little different.”

Smith’s customers don’t seem to mind. Her ceramics stole the spotlight at last year’s Colfax Garden Club and Art Tour, and since November they’ve been flying off the shelves at the ARTisan Shop, the Tahoe City gallery of nonprofit North Tahoe Arts.

“Julianne was in our Holiday Arts show and her work was by far some of the most popular,” said Karen Ellis, executive director of North Tahoe Arts. “She drove up several times to bring new work to fill in where previous pieces had sold. I finally asked her if she could just leave a box of work that we could pull from rather than having her drive up each time…There’s a great deal of variety in her work, and usually something for everyone.”

It’s that variety that keeps Smith going, even when her best glaze bubbles or her favorite color starts coming out differently.

“You never know what you’re going to get – and every now and again, you’ll get something really top-notch,” she said.

For more information about Diggins Dirtworks, go online to digginsdirtworks.com or call 389-2325 to visit Smith’s home studio.