When I was teaching a workshop at Clay by the Bay in San Francisco, a couple ceramic artist and a designer got together with me to talk about what it would look like for ceramicists to team up with designers to help promoter ceramic work. Our two artist were Forrest Middelton and Erin McGuiness and our designer was Lane McNab. All three of our guests work in and around the Bay area.
May 22, 2018•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 424
Brooke Peiffer is a lifelong Michigan resident. Brooke recieved her BFA from Michigan State University, where she discovered a love of clay. Brooke's functional work is inspired by the richly textured forests, plants, and beaches of her home state, whereas Brooke's sculptural work stems from her own internal narrative. Brooke passes her love of clay on to her students, as a teacher of high school ceramics for the last 16 years.
May 17, 2018•50 min•Ep. 423
Todd Wahlstrom lives in Whitingham, Vermont with his wife, and potter, Aysha Peltz and their two daughters. Aysha and Todd share a detached studio building a short walk from their home. Todd’s work time is split between making and selling pots and operating StudioPro, a small manufacturing business designing and producing throwing bats and other tools for potters.
May 15, 2018•47 min•Ep. 422
Lyndsay Meiklem Dean is, The Vegan Potter. Lyndsay discovered her passion for clay the moment she sat down at a potter’s wheel more than two decades ago. Lyndsay is the owner of Meiklem Kiln Works, which for the past 15 yrs, has offered community clay and art classes to all ages. Lyndsay is a full-time-working potter and instructor who is passionate about sharing her love for the medium with others. Her work can be found in more than a dozen retailers in the US, Canada, and as well as in Lyndsay...
May 10, 2018•57 min•Ep. 421
Cornelia Carey has served as the executive director of CERF+ since 1995. She is the co-Chair and founding member of the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response, an initiative to improve emergency preparedness and response in the arts sector. Before her tenure at CERF+, Cornelia ran programs supporting artists and cultural institutions at the Vermont Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She has served on boards and review panels for foundations, state arts ...
May 08, 2018•58 min•Ep. 420
Maryan Pelland is a former professional writer. She went over to the clay side six years ago and never turned back. She and husband/partner, Dan, a photographer/engineer, make work in their home studio, work in a community studio, and publish an online magazine for potters
May 03, 2018•49 min•Ep. 419
Bob Lansing is a contemporary traditional potter of the Dinē Nation. Bob's pottery is thrown on the wheel and then coated with layers of colored slip. Each piece is etched with Bob's designs that help express traditional stories with a contemporary flare.
May 01, 2018•50 min•Ep. 418
Kameron Robinson is the Director of East Side Studios, an art studio in Anderson, Indiana that focuses on workshops, studio spaces, and community engagement. Through his work at East Side Studios, Kameron develops original artwork, teaches ceramic workshops, invests in the studios artists at the space, and works on community initiatives.
Apr 26, 2018•52 min•Ep. 417
Sebastian Moh was raised on a small farm in Batu Pahat, Malaysia. Sebastian's first exposure to the actual shaping of raw clay was in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Sebastian had witnessed a demonstration on the wheel and it planted the seed. From that point Sebastian paid close attention to the ceramic arts. Eventually Sebastian was able to move to the United State to attend school where he received a degree in product design and had the opportunity to take ceramic classes as an elective. Aft...
Apr 24, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 416
Troy Bungart is a multi-talented artist. His first love is working with clay. Troy likes to start out with a simple form and then add texture and images. Troy's love of clay is also expressed in his love of the tools used for making pottery. His handmade wooden tools are works of art in and of themselves. Troy's also makes custom brushes that are perfect for making gestural markings on his work. And best of all, Troy is my friend.
Apr 19, 2018•53 min•Ep. 415
While at NCECA I had the privilege of sitting down with this group of Scandinavian potters to talk pots. Maud Andersson, Helle Bovbjerg, and Daneil Gillberg talked about how Scandinavian potters approach clay differently from American potters. It is an interesting conversation of differences. Maud practices her ceramics in Sweden, Helle does her ceramics in Denmark, and Daniel does his clay work in Sweden. Between the three of them, they represent the three countries that make up Scandinavian re...
Apr 17, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 414
At this year's NCECA Pittsburgh I sat down with a group of potters that had put on a room show to talk about what it was like to put on a room show. Now a room show is not part of NCECA, but it is a side thing that happens during NCECA in a hotel room. So that was going to be the point of the conversation. As we got into this we ended up spending a significant amount of time talking about what it is like being a part of the woodfire pottery community. The participants were Denise Joyal, Chris La...
Apr 12, 2018•50 min•Ep. 413
Victoria Christen is a studio artist and instructor of ceramics at the University of Portland. Victoria uses mark making to infuse meaning into the objects she makes. All her work in this show—from the deconstructions of found objects to the functional and sculptural ceramic pieces—emphasize the potential of human gesture and touch to express memories, emotions, and moments. Using ink and brush, fabric and thread, glaze and clay, she captures the joy of a young boy’s bird egg collection, the mel...
Apr 10, 2018•57 min•Ep. 412
Shannon Holt is a creative director exploring reductive form on a potter’s wheel in her Portland, Oregon workshop. Her work is created under the brand of ESO ESTO. Drawn to clay in 2014, Shannon immersed herself in its foundations and has been riding the tension between her design training and the expressive immediacy of this medium ever since. Typically a form is discovered while working on the wheel, then refined through iteration until it feels complete. Guided by the allied attributes of For...
Apr 05, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 411
Carol Barclay is a self taught studio potter, selling since 1981. Carol entered an outdoor art show and was delighted to sell out within 2 hours. Carol is a former competitive volleyball player, teacher, and avid gardener. Working with clay is deeply satisfying for Carol because of the physicality of the process and the possibilities.
Apr 03, 2018•59 min•Ep. 410
Tom Kemp is back for another appearance on The Potters Cast. Tom has been potting for six years and got really serious in June 2017 when he quit his job to work full-time with ceramics. Tom's background is in lettering and calligraphy where he has developed the use of the 'square-edged' brush which Tom still teaches around the world. It's also the tool Tom uses most to 'write' on his pots.
Mar 29, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 409
Hannah Lenhart is a recent graduate of Fairmont State University where she both a BA in Ceramics and Sculpture and a BS in Business Administration May of 2017. Since graduation Hannah has been working and living in the beautiful hills of West Virginia in her home studio where she has been busy preparing her studio space, stocking inventory, and transitioning from being a student to starting a small business. Hannah's ceramics career began when she took her first ceramics class her second semeste...
Mar 27, 2018•58 min•Ep. 408
Levi Yastrow is a Chicago based potter who earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. He is currently a teaching artist, ceramics studio technician and member of the Teaching Artist Advisory Board at Marwen, soda monitor and teacher at Lillstreet Art Center and an instructor at Penguin Foot Pottery.
Mar 22, 2018•41 min•Ep. 407
Justin Donofrio grew up in Santa Cruz, CA where he was introduced to pottery at Cabrillo Community College. Justin then joined the vibrant Colorado community of artist in 2013 in the Roaring Fork Valley where he continued his clay education with the support of Anderson Ranch, The Carbondale Clay Center, and The Studio for Arts and Works (SAW). Justin remained in Colorado to complete a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from CSU Fort Collins in 2016. Justin is nationally represented in galleries throu...
Mar 20, 2018•55 min•Ep. 406
Ben Gaboury, of Scrimshaw Pottery, is a New England artist who grew up in Massachusetts, and received a fine arts degree studying ceramics in Portland, Maine. After developing skills for wheel throwing, he began experimenting with combining the 2 dimensional with 3 dimensional by adding illustrations to his pieces. He began thinking of his vessels as a canvas rather than just functional objects. Immediately he began portraying imagery that told stories. Never living far from the ocean, Ben saw s...
Mar 15, 2018•49 min•Ep. 405
Sunshine Cobb is back on The Potters Cast and she wrote a book, Mastering Handbuilding . Once I discovered the book was out, it was time to get Sunshine on the show again to get the inside scoop on her book and an update since Sunshine's first visit on the show . Sunshine's new book is full of beautiful pictures depicting examples of her masterful handling of clay as she explains the process of the craft of handbuilding functional wares.
Mar 13, 2018•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 404
Joel Cherrico is back on The Potters Cast for another conversation. This time Joel spends some time talking about the power of chasing goals, finding an audience, and an award that he is helping to sponsor. Together with The American Craft Council, Joel is hosting the Emerging Pottery Business Awards. The goal is the find artists whose work and business embodies talent, passion, and business skills.
Mar 08, 2018•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 403
This is a little different. The feature guest is Chef David Mork who is going to be talking about the Kiln to Kitchen show. It was a discussion with David that kicked off the idea of furthering the Farm to Table movement by getting the tableware to be made from local potters.
Mar 06, 2018•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 402
Ryan Reich teaches ceramics and serves as the Visual Arts Chair at Valencia High School in Placentia, California. Two of his star ceramic students, Moriah Ritchie and Masey Park, stayed after school with Ryan and talked clay over Skype with Paul. This was an fascinating conversation about the passion for ceramics as seen from both sides of the desk- The teacher and the students.
Mar 01, 2018•55 min•Ep. 401
Katie Marks lives and works in Seattle, Washington. Clay is a life long passion for Katie and she feels so fortunate to be able to do what she loves for work. Katie has been creating things since before she can remember starting with play-doh, moving to polymer, and now finally with ceramics. Katie took three ceramics classes at her local community college in 2008 but it wasn't until after Katie acquired her first potters wheel in 2010 that she attended the University of Youtube. Katie says, "Yo...
Feb 27, 2018•45 min•Ep. 400
Adam Chau received a Masters in Design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work combines digital technologies with traditional studio ceramics; recent writings on this topic include Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics Technical, and Studio Potter. He has lectured and demonstrated across the United States, including the NCECA Fablab. He has worked internationally, notably at Atelier Ted Noten in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. As a curator, he has produced exhibitions for Clay Art Center, The...
Feb 22, 2018•46 min•Ep. 399
Tim Kowalcyck makes another appearance on The Potters Cast. Tim's last guest appearance was way back in October of 2016 in episode 254 . Back then Tim was working multiple jobs and making his "cardboard" cups as a side hustle. Now Tim is full time as a maker of his ceramic creations. In this episode Tim talks about what it took for him to make the transition.
Feb 20, 2018•59 min•Ep. 398
Erin and Jason Hall, owners of Alberta Pottery (Greenville, SC), are full-time artists creating studio pottery and sculptural ceramics. Jason earned his BFA from Clemson University; Erin a BA from Stetson University and MFA from Clemson. They work in stoneware, fire gas reduction, and exhibit nationally at juried shows.
Feb 15, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 397
British potter, Kate Malone is studio potter, ceramic artist, and judge. Kate is known for large sculptural vessels and for being a judge on the popular BBC2's The Great Pottery Throw Down . Her work richly glazed with bright colors. After leaving the Royal College of Art, Kate began working in the South Bank Craft Centre. On display in a number of public locations, Kate's work is also highly sought after for private collections.
Feb 13, 2018•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 396
Shilpy Gupta was born with an artistic bend of mind. Early childhood saw her putting her thoughts on canvas. During her stay in the U.S, she came across a Pottery exhibition and enrolled herself for a class. From then on, she has never looked back. Shilpy has developed a fully equipped Pottery Studio in her house, and has been creating beautiful art pieces for the last 15 years.
Feb 08, 2018•1 hr•Ep. 395
