Genevieve Vanzandt grew up in Southeast Michigan. Working at her family's cake bakery in her youth gave her a desire to work with her hands. Learning to sew and design her own clothes at a young age gave her a sense of artistic identity. She would later go on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western Michigan University. She has been a resident artist and studio manager at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, as well as a long-term resident artist and instructor at Odyssey Center for Ceramics. She has assisted workshops at Penland School of Craft and Haystack Mountain School of Craft. Genevieve is currently working from a studio at The Russell Industrial Center in Detroit MI.

The forest, the sea and the garden are places that I draw inspiration from. The mysterious qualities and parallels of these ecosystems within the human experience are the source of my subject matter. They are ingrained in stories from the beginning of time. Mythical fantasies are often set on a dark path to the forest, set in a marvelous garden, or based in our fascination with the other worldliness of the sea. We can look at these myths as poetic ways to find significance in our lives. We are rooted in these natural places that somehow have escaped our daily lives. Humans are able to find a sense of tranquility when they retreat to the woods, dig in the garden, or when gazing across the ocean. These environments give us the ability to look inward and find subtle answers to life’s questions.