Obituary: Lisa Bonarrigo Bruni
Lisa Bonarrigo Bruni, Portland’s Ceramic Pioneer and Community Builder, Dies at 65
Portland, Maine – Lisa Bonarrigo Bruni, a longtime resident of Portland, an artist, teacher, entrepreneur, and beloved community member, died at her home on Oct. 8, 2026, surrounded by her family. The 65‑year‑old, who first arrived in Portland in the early 1980s, is survived by her husband, Chris Bruni; their children, Andrew, Abigail, and Jordynn; and their granddaughter, Aurora.
Bruni was born on Feb. 4, 1961, and grew up in Pembroke, Massachusetts, and Thomaston, Maine. She studied ceramic arts at Alfred University in upstate New York and spent a year living and studying in Japan, experiences that deepened a lifelong devotion to clay and craftsmanship. In Portland she began teaching ceramics from a second‑floor apartment on Washington Avenue, and the small classes grew into what would become Portland Pottery—an expansive studio, school, gallery, and supply shop that is now one of the Northeast’s largest ceramic supply operations.
Alongside her husband, whom she met at Bruni’s Market on Munjoy Hill, Lisa expanded Portland Pottery over nearly three decades, creating a space where students, teachers, working artists and beginners could learn, work, and find community. She also co‑founded Portland Pottery Café, Clay Farm and Lena’s Italian Comfort, blending her passions for art, food, teaching, hospitality and gathering. In addition to her creative pursuits, Bruni built and managed a thriving real‑estate portfolio, applying the same instinct for opportunity and value to properties as she did to her other ventures.
A devoted mother, Bruni and Chris raised their family while traveling extensively with their children, fostering a childhood of curiosity and exploration. She spent years sailing Maine’s coast and enjoyed a summer residency at a family cottage in Harpswell, always keeping the ocean close. Bruni was also a gardener who grew fruit, vegetables and flowers, and she took pleasure in cooking for friends and family, believing that food, like art, brought people together.
Friends and students describe Bruni as generous, demanding, funny, opinionated and fiercely involved in the lives of those she loved. “She could be generous, demanding, funny, opinionated and fiercely involved,” one longtime student recalled. “She believed in making things, feeding people, teaching people, taking chances and expecting people to use what they had been given.” Her passion for teaching and creating left an enduring legacy in Portland’s arts scene.
Near the end of her life, Bruni said she was “going on vacation.” The family remembers her as someone who, even in her final days, imagined herself still being herself, just somewhere else, traveling to places she had not yet seen and reconnecting with people she missed. “That is how we like to think of her now: off on her next trip,” her husband told reporters.
Funeral services will be held at the new Conroy‑Tully Walker Funeral Homes, 300 Allen Avenue, Portland. Visiting hours are Sunday, Oct. 11, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The family invites those who wish to honor Bruni’s memory to visit her memorial page at www.ConroyTullyWalker.com.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to either the Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine or the Adoptive & Foster Families of Maine (AFFM). Bruni’s life—spanning art, business, family, travel, gardening, and community—will be remembered as a testament to the power of hands‑on creation, generosity, and connection.
