Brenda Tarbell earned a BFA in Ceramics from Ohio State University in 1973. She also studied ceramics for a summer at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada before moving to Cincinnati to teach pottery in exchange for studio space at the Clifton Earthworks. Brenda has lived and worked in Cincinnati since 1974. She is a member of the Clay Alliance of Cincinnati.

Brenda has received a City of Cincinnati Arts Grant. A Summer Fair Foundation Grant made a trip to study with Curtis Benzle at La Meridiana in Certaldo, Italy possible. She has received two Artworks commissions, one of which is an installation at the Cincinnati Convention Center. The Mercantile Library in Cincinnati has her work in their collection. She shows and sells her work locally and regionally.

Brenda teaches in addition to her work as an artist. She has been a participant in The Artist Reaching Classrooms program, ARC, of the Taft Museum of Art. In this program artists share their work with AP art students in in the Cincinnati area. She also teaches workshops locally, including the course “Creating Biomorphic Forms in Clay” at Queen City Clay, in Cincinnati. This was a one week intensive course for arts educators.