Brenda Lee Barron is passionate about sharing her love of clay. Brenda loves to make functional items (wheel and handbuilding) to be used at your table whether it’s a meal for 1 or a gathering of 21. She is drawn to minimalist design because Brenda wants what you’re serving to be showcased on the white speckled plates, platters and bowls. You’ll sometimes find a touch of gold or a funky rim on her work.
The preferred printing supplier for potters everywhere! SmallDogPrints.com
Retirement doesn’t mean recluse it just means different opportunities. Would you agree with that?
Yes, one hundred percent I would agree with that. Retirement for me is doing things at my own pace, when I want to whether that is doing pottery every day or every other day.
What does a day as a potter in retirement look like?
So a perfect day look like getting up in the morning, making my espresso, journalling for a little bit. Then I have to play Wordle and then I go for at least a half an hour walk. I can walk along the river here which is absolutely beautiful and then I come back and go downstairs and do some making. I take lunch whenever I need to and head back down. Maybe sit outside for a bit depending on the weather and time of year and then wrapping up the day with relaxing and spending a lot of time scrolling on Instagram getting some inspiration as well.
If that is a perfect day, how often does that take place in a week or a month?
I would say in a week three or four days. Because I also have throw in the days when I leave the house to go to the pottery guild to do my teaching as well. So that is part of a perfect day as well. That is one or two days a week that I am doing that.
So you are not not working, you are just working exactly the way you want to work.
Correct. And there will be days where I will do nothing. Maybe clean my kitchen instead of pottery. That’s no fun.
How do you know what to say yes to and what to say no to in order to keep life the way you want it?
So right now the volume of what’s coming at me is manageable and the two opportunities that have recently presented themselves are two area, two paths that I would like to follow. So I said yes. I also, when I say yes, I have to feel it in my body. That may sound woo woo but the yes, I have to feel the yes inside of me. Sometimes I will think on it for a little bit and sometimes the yes will come right away. So I I do a little soul searching to make sure it aligns with myself.
You mentioned teaching classes, as you are at this stage of life do you find it more pressing to be a mentor?
Yes, I do. It feels good to give back and the guild where I work wheel throwing is the most popular thing. Everyone want to throw on the wheel. And my mission is to make hand building just as popular as the wheel throwing. So it feels good. And I like to see the creativity that people have that they don’t think they have.
When Shyama Golden would find herself disappointed as a child, her parents would often respond with “too bad, so sad, maybe next birth.” Invoking reincarnation and the possibilities of an alternative life, this phrase continues to reinvent itself in Golden’s practice.
On view next month at PM/AM, Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth presents a collection of lush paintings filled with surreal details, earthly textures, and a recurring blue-faced character. As with earlier series, the artist invents a vast, magical narrative that flows through each of the works, this time as a four-act performance.
“Bevis Bawa Garden, 1936” (2025), oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches
The mythical storyline unfolds with a collection of diptychs comprised of a large-scale scene and a close-up companion offering another perspective. These pairings visualize a sort of alternative past for the artist as she explores the inexorable twining of personal agency and larger forces like fate and collective experiences that shape our identities.
In Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth, Golden opens with her blue-faced alter ego named Maya, a rendition of the Sri Lankan folklore tricksters known as yakkas. Dressed in a fur suit, the character lies in the roadway, her chest split open to reveal a bright red wound. A bag of oranges is littered nearby.
The counterpart to this titular work is a self-portrait of the artist barefoot, posed against the rocky roadside. She stands atop cracked pavement while oranges spill blood-red juice on the ground. Introspective yet invoking the universal, the pair grasps at the tension between unexpected violence and death, whether metaphoric or real, and the ability to find resilience in the face of adversity.
Golden’s series continues to unravel as a series of contrasts. She considers fame, erasure, and where freedom resides within the two, along with the notion of sole creative geniuses mistakenly thought to operate outside the whole. And in “Mexican Texas, 1862,” the artist tackles the porous, if not arbitrarily drawn, boundaries that tie us to states and nations and ultimately, change over time.
“Stories of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” (2025), oil on linen, 72 x 36 inches
In addition to her oil paintings for this exhibition, Golden is collaborating on an animated video project with her husband, the director Paul Trillo, who will build an AI model trained exclusively on Golden’s paintings. Given the hesitation by many artists about the role of artificial intelligence and intellectual property, the pair is interested in confronting the issue from the perspective of influence and the myth of the lone genius. Golden writes:
Many artists who are canonized are actually working in a style that they didn’t invent but that was part of a movement arising out of their time and location. AI is deeply unsettling to artists in the West because we romanticise the artist as a singular figure, who is only influenced by one to three other clearly defined artists, giving them a lineage of artistic inheritance and perceived value.
Golden also ties this idea to “the clout needed to command a price for our work,” which she suggests is simply another narrative device in the act of self-mythologizing.
If you’re in London, Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth runs from May 23 to July 1. Find more from Golden on her website and Instagram.
“Mexican Texas, 1862” (2025), oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches“A Myth of My Own Creation” (2025), oil on linen, 66 x 48 inches“You Seeing What I’m Seeing” (2025), oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches“The Sound of One Bird Colliding” (2025), oil on linen, 24 x 30 inches
From Faber-Castell Polychromos to Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils: reviewing their characteristics to create realism art
In this episode I compare popular brands of colored pencils – Polychromos vs. Prismacolor. I look at their advantages and disadvantages drawing with them for many years. I also share what papers work best with these professional colored pencils.
Peggy Quinn specializes in the creation of exquisite, one-of-a-kind, and limited quantity production craft pottery. Peggy’s unique pieces blend functionality with elegance, enhancing both living spaces, and everyday living. Each creation is meticulously handcrafted, showcasing Peggy’s expertise as a skilled potter and her unwavering passion for the art of pottery making.
The preferred printing supplier for potters everywhere! SmallDogPrints.com
There’s a saying, Know your audience. Do you know the audience that is going to be at this upcoming show?
Yes, I do for the most part. It’s going to be college educated women and that is my market.
How does that inform your actual making then?
You know, it really doesn’t inform my making, per se because I make what I want to make. I have accepted some commission things but they are only for really good friends, because it’s not what I want to do. So what I make is what I want to make and what I found is that’s my market.
Does photography come into play for doing sales in person? For advertising and getting the word out? Is it important for you to take photos?
I take a picture of my booth. Some shows want a booth shot. But all my photography is done in my studio. I just have a cheapy little background fade with dark on the top and light on the bottom. I use a little device that when I am photographing I take it out and when I am not photographing I put it away and it is my work table.
Do you plan your booth so it has good presentation?
I have four folding shelving and they look good and professional. And then I put up a table and a little stand on the table but mostly I use the edge of the table for my workspace because I need a place for my bags and I need a place for my cash box and to wrap stuff in bubble wrap. I have to have it be practical and presentable.
How do you spread the word for the show?
A good show like this is going to send you out a package , a media package. And they will give you logos and things to fill in your information and send that out to your people. I will put it on Facebook and on Instagram and I am starting to work on an email list.
Do you take time after a show to evaluate how it went? What went well and didn’t go well?
Well I try to add up what did best in sales. And I may make some notes but I wish I was better about that. (laughter) I kind of have it in my mind what works. It really would be best to write it down.
Brenton Duhan grew up between North Carolina and Kandern, Germany–home to two distinct and rich pottery traditions. Brenton studied at Brown University and RISD in Providence, practiced museum exhibit design in DC, and gave tours and made ceramics in New Orleans before moving to New Haven, Connecticut. Brenton is currently maintaining a ceramic practice while studying architecture at Yale University.
The preferred printing supplier for potters everywhere! SmallDogPrints.com
How important is predesigning in making a successful piece?
I would say almost everything I make has been sketched out beforehand. In some way that is the architect in me. So I always start with a sketchbook and that moves into either a paper mock up or an actually clay mock up. And then the final piece eventually.
How would you define a successful piece?
I think a successful piece is a piece that someone wants to live with, wants to have in their lives, and maybe also wants to pass down to someone else in their life after they are gone.
Are there elements to design that are critical to a good piece?
I would say obviously the most important thing is that it functions well, but that function can be determined by you. Maybe it’s a silly function or for me I love making lamps and all you have to do is make sure it lights up. Or with a candle holder, make sure it holds a candle.
Do you welcome critiques on your work?
Yeah, I honestly wish I had a forum or a place where I could get more constructive feedback, I would say. In a style, like an architectural pin up like I get in school because Instagram is not the same, you know. People are very friendly and nice the majority of the time but also they are not able to give you the dedicated time to talk about your piece for thirty minutes. And I think that is really important when you are trying to improve what you are working on.
How has your architectural studies influenced your making?
I think right now my time is spent in architecture so much of the time that when I actually get to the studio I have to be productive. So it’s made me way more productive and I made a lot more designs because of it. So I think it’s a matter of the design process that I learned through architecture and I am excited to make something quickly because buildings take a long time to design and ultimately construct.
Your handles fit your work so well. Do you pull your handles or form your handles?
I love this question. I do both. I start by forming them from a lug of clay that I pinch mostly to get the taper that I like and then It’s a quick dunk in water and a few pulls just to make sure I smooth it out so it feels nice in the hand. And that gets attached to the body of the mug and once it’s attached I further shape it, I dip my finger in the water and shape it with my finger.
Understanding and use of geometry and geometric construction has been a staple in art and architecture for centuries. All ancient churches, domes and palaces have a thorough understanding of geometry and geometric design to reveal the ethereal beauty of the Universe. We can notice a repetition of geometric shapes in nature, mainly in flowers and plants. Realistic drawing starts with understanding and sketching of a big geometric shape to get the right proportion, form, perspective and scale of any object you draw. It can be a difficult task to start drawing complex geometric shapes in the beginning. Therefore, we need to slow down and spend some time drawing basic geometric forms like rectangles, circles, squares, and triangles by using a ruler and a compass. Next, we begin learning how to draw more complex geometric shapes like pentagons. So below you’ll see how to draw a pentagon step-by-step. Moreover, you’ll discover why the pentagon’s shape is such an incredible part of math.
How to Draw a Pentagon
A pentagon is a shape with five sides.
This illustration shows a perfect geometric construction of a pentagon.
Step 1. Draw a cross. Start with a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing in the middle.
Step 2: Draw a circle. Use a compass to draw a circle with its center at the crossing point of the lines. Don’t change the compass size after drawing.
Step 3: Measure the side. The side of the pentagon will be slightly longer than the radius of the circle.
Step 4: Make arcs. Without changing the compass, put the compass point where the circle meets the horizontal line. Draw arcs above and below the circle.
Step 5: Draw the center. Find the middle point where the lines cross (the bisector) and mark it. Use the compass to draw an arc from the top of the circle down to the horizontal line. This makes a shape called a golden ratio!
Step 6: Use the compass. Keep the compass the same size and put it in the middle of the bisector. Draw an arc from the top of the circle to the horizontal line.
Step 7: Draw the arcs. Using the same distance to make four more arcs without closing the compass. Put the compass at the top of the circle and draw arcs where the last arc crosses the horizontal line.
Step 8: Complete the shape. Go around the circle using each arc as a center for the next arc.
Step 9: Draw the pentagon. Finally, draw lines from each point where the arcs meet to make a pentagon shape. Voila! Your pentagon is complete.
Don’t worry if you don’t get a perfect pentagon on the first try. You can keep repeating the process until you get a hang of it. Also, get yourself a good compass that holds the precise width and doesn’t slide on your page. To make the process more fun, you can outline and color the pentagon shape with some Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils.
The use of a Pentagon in Architecture & History
One famous building with a pentagon drawing shape is the Pentagon building in the United States, where the Department of Defense is located. The Pentagon’s shape helps use space well and makes it easy for people to move around inside.
The pentagon originates from the Greek words “penta,” which denotes five, and “gon,” which means angles. Pentagon is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon.
Ancient Eastern Orthodox church in Athens, Greece
Greek and Roman architecture relied heavily on rectangles, squares, and circles for their structures. These shapes were favored for their simplicity, stability, and the ease with which they could be constructed. Pentagons, while mathematically understood by these civilizations, presented challenges in large-scale building due to the need for precise angles and calculations. So while the Greeks and Romans liked how perfect and beautiful the pentagon was they preferred using rectangles and squares in their architectural designs. The majority of temples, houses, and public buildings were rectangular including the Parthenon in Athens. This allowed for efficient use of space and strong, load-bearing walls. Often used for courtyards, public forums, and some temples, a square provided a central and symmetrical space. A signature element in Roman architecture, the circle was used for grand structures like the Pantheon’s dome. The Romans mastered concrete construction, which allowed them to create vast, circular spaces.
Rose Window featuring some pentagon-like flowers, Cathedral in Vienna. Photo: V.Winters
The pentagon shape was used in some Medieval construction of pentagonal tracery windows and churches interior space design. We might stumble upon some Gothic architecture with pentagonal rotundas and towers, like ‘Pillars of light’ in the Saint Mary’s Church in Freistadt and the tower of the Clarissine Church in Bratislava. Examples of pentagonal tracery windows can be seen in the Notre Dame of Paris, Saint Gereon Church of Cologne and the Notre-Dame of Nürnberg. (Source: Pentagons in medieval architecture, September 2018. authors: Krisztina Fehér, Balazs Halmos, Brigitta Szilágyi).
Cathedral of Prague, Photo: V.WintersChurch’s exterior detail showing the pentagon shape, Metz, France, photo: V.WintersPentagon shape shown in the book “Islamic patterns” by Keith Critchlow. You can get this book on Amazon although it’s an old one and is out of print. Some retailers sell it as a used book.
Finally, the pentagon in Islamic art and architecture serves as a building block for geometric creations based on circles. In some Islamic geometric art, particularly the “girih” style prominent in Iran, the pentagon can be a component for creating complex, interlaced patterns. These patterns showcase mathematical principles and divine beauty through repetition and symmetry.
You can see the pentagon shape in contemporary art and craft as well.
Mathematical Explanation Of The Universe’s Construction
Math helps us find and connect to beautiful patterns in nature. With its five sides and unique angles, a pentagon is a wonderful example. We can notice the pentagon shapes in flowers and plants, like in the ‘morning glory’ or sliced okra. Math is a unique language that helps us understand the hidden workings of cosmos where the pentagon appears in natural and man-made things. Math gives us exact measurements and calculations essential for building solid structures, designing rockets, and creating new technologies. Geometric constructions seem to be the epitome of a divine beauty expressed in mathematical language of numbers, circles and lines.
Where To Learn About Math Tutoring
Fortunately, people can get easy access to math classes online on websites like Brighterly without attending a physical classroom. Brighterly is an online platform with tutors who are experts at providing tailored math lessons to your kids. They offer individualized, fun and flexible learning experience for children.
If your child struggles with math and needs help in math tutoring, online math lessonsprovide children with great opportunities to study mathematical concepts on your terms.
The article is written by Veronica Winters with Jessica Kaminski.
If you’re familiar with the Japanese art of wood joinery, you’ll likely find kumiko equally intriguing. The traditional craft emerged in the Asuka era between about 600 and 700 C.E. and similarly eschews nails in favor of perfectly cut pieces that notch into place. Intricate fields of florals and geometric shapes emerge, creating a decorative panel that typically covers windows or divides a room.
A video from The Process, a YouTube channel exploring various manufacturing sectors and hand-crafted techniques, visits the workshop of Kinoshita Mokuge. Viewers are welcomed into the meticulous, labor-intensive process of producing elaborate, interlocked motifs. Japanese Arts also offered a glimpse into this art form a few years back during an equally calming visit to Kurozu Tetsuo’s studio.
DonKatz is a blind potter based in Los Angeles, California. Don became blind due to bacterial meningitis in 2001. After waking up from a month-long coma he had to relearn to walk and feed himself and adjust to his sightless reality. What began as an introductory pottery course at The Braille Institute of Los Angeles, has now become Katz’s obsession. Don’s ceramics teacher once told him as he struggled on the wheel that “you are stronger than dirt,” words he lives by today. Don appreciates feeling the clay take shape on the potter’s wheel and how the touch informs the form. He enjoys creating unique handmade functional and decorative ceramic objects.
The preferred printing supplier for potters everywhere! SmallDogPrints.com
What does a day in the studio look like for you?
A day in the studio depends on what I am working towards but like anybody else we have to get the clay ready. Typically I am working at getting better on the pottery wheel and working on building my craft, is my direction at the moment.
Do you have a making schedule?
I do not have a making schedule. I am more at the mercy of what I feel like making. I don’t want to have a making schedule because then I am going to loose the joy of what I do pottery for which is to be creative and use whatever ideas I have in my mind. If I am told to do one thing or make something specific that kind of takes the joy our of it and it feels like a job and I am trying not to make it feel like a job. otherwise it will become less interesting and stressful and not enjoyable.
The clay is so wet and fragile on the wheel, how do you know that the shape is the shape you want when you can’t see the shape that you are throwing?
This is the biggest challenge of all of it. Is exactly like you say, you don’t know when to stop so either I check a lot, which I am really bad at stopping to check or I overspin it and it collapses. There’s that balance of finding when to stop. That’s my biggest challenge. Sometimes I will set a timer to stop. Because otherwise you can just go crazy and keep going for hours. And sometimes we like the form and we ‘ve made and sometimes we don’t so we just scrap it . But right now my big goal is working on tall cylinder because I hate asking to fill a glass of water so I am working on getting height on my cylinders.
Do you trim your work?
I should. (laughter) I mean I used to when I first started and I was going to membership studios and I was much better about trimming my work. Now I don’t because I have become lazy about trimming and I think it would probably look better if I trimmed and made more conscious effort depending on what I am trying to do.
What is a challenge in the studio that you are loving chasing down?
Oh, I love the challenge of throwing. I still think it is a challenge and I have not become proficient expertise at it and I don’t think I will for a number of years. So I love that challenge and that part of the pottery process.
When you are not in the studio what do you do for fun?
The studio is fun for me but my favorite thing in the world is to have a nice meal out in the world. I am a Foodie with a capital F. So yes, I do like good food. So I took my love of food and my past experience and my enjoyment of ceramics and we are going to try and combine the two and at some point my dream is to create all the plateware that I use and to have a dinner party and I’ve made all the recipes for it as well an have a dinner party with that is my ultimate goal at some point. And I am constantly working on my Blishware. Blind friendly dishware that helps keep the food on the plates. Stand by for a few years.
On artist sensitivity, jealousy, self-doubt, failure, work and dreams
As artists we experience a wide range of emotions. All people have them but we tend to feel them much deeper. In this episode I share my thoughts about artistic sensitivity, jealousy, self-doubt, failure and work. I also tell you how I’m learning to dream big as a creative. I hope this is helpful to you if you feel stuck or unaccepted for who you are. Dive into the world of visionary art and explore the emotions and beauty behind art creation.
Maria Loram is a ceramic artist, born in Russia, and is now based in California. Art has been Maria’s lifelong companion, and despite a detour into linguistics at Moscow State University and a subsequent move to LA, she has now built a career in private tutoring. Maria’s core fascination with art’s power to explore and understand the world remained dormant yet undiminished. The turning point came with a divorce, which serendipitously guided Maria back to art, Eastern philosophies, and meditation practice. In 2022, a pottery wheel from Facebook marked the rebirth of her artistic journey through the medium of ceramics. Diving into classes and workshops led by renowned ceramicists like Tortus and Moondobang, Maria has embraced the endless possibilities of shape, texture, and color.
The preferred printing supplier for potters everywhere! SmallDogPrints.com
Do you see yourself as an artist?
Yes.
As you see yourself as an artist and you are working with ceramics what is it that allows a piece to be elevated to art?
I think it is a wonderful question that I don’t quite know that answer to but I would like to. I think first of all, if it’s sculptural or nonfunctional I think it’s a lot easier to call it art, while I would love the functional ceramic pieces to be called art and I think if there is a deep concept in it or some kind of unique way of executing the idea and the functionality of the piece then that is considered to be art.
So it’s the why behind the work that makes it elevated?
I think the difficulty of this question lies not in what the object is but what art is and what craft is. The definition of the word art and craft and I think it kind of reveals the very deep subjectivity of the term art. Because abstract art doesn’t even have to have the why behind it, but it’s the lack of why that makes it art.
Why do moon jars capture your heart?
I think subconsciously it’s the aestheticists and the perfection of the spherical shape. But I do put a lot of meaning to it and I connect it to the cosmos and the non-duality. I like space and all the objects there are round and spherical and made by the gravitational force. And at the same time the non-duality and the idea that all the vessels are vessels, they are carrying something, but they are empty to begin with and there’s the surface that different, but the vessels are still similar. If that makes sense.
How important was the summer residency that you just did?
I think it was very important. It gave me a lot of actual skills in working with wild clay and forage materials as well as wood firing. I think it just connects to my philosophy and to my approach to ceramics and to the materiality of it really deeply. So I am going to continue all of it.
Where do you the journey of ceramics going for you?
I think about it a lot. I think ceramics for me right now is not only the object. It’s the whole field with which I can express myself in various ways. It could be an online course. It could be a local business like the actual community studio. I could be a book about glazes. It could be so many different things, but I hope that I will work through my objects in different directions. One is interior design based and decorative and the other one is what could be called art. So something very innovative and unique. It’s far but it’s getting there.
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