Stephen Earp received is B.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Iowa in 1986. Earp served a traditional two_year apprenticeship under Richard Bresnahan at St. John's Pottery in Minnesota. Earp worked in Nicaragua, Central America, as Ceramic Technician for the craft support organization Potters for Peace. He also worked as Master Potter at Old Sturbridge Village. Earp has taught wheel throwing and glaze chemistry classes at several pottery centers throughout central Massachusetts. In 2007, Earp was included in Early American Life Magazine’s Directory of American Traditional Crafts.

Earp offers workshops and demonstrations of the redware tradition. Based in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, Stephen Earp Redware is the natural outgrowth of years of study and practice in the ceramic tradition.

Said Earp, "Today, most pottery is made using materials from around the world obtained through catalogues. In contrast, redware potters of the past made phenomenal works simply by relying on the materials they had available around them. The attitude, ‘what can I do with what I have?’ greatly appeals to me. It helps foster a sustainable approach to both working and living. To me, making pottery is not just about the forms themselves; it’s about the community I live in, its history, and what it has to offer today: the soil, the people, and the beautiful and utilitarian objects that come from the interaction of these.