برچسب: artist

2024 Emerging Artist | Marian Daper

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Marian Daper | Episode 1056

Marian Draper is a vivacious personality who is passionate about the Ceramic Craft. Originally from Rome, NY, Marian is a graduate from Rochester Institute of Technology where she earned her bachelor’s degree in studio arts. Marian is currently located in Asheville, North Carolina completing a residency at Odyssey Clayworks.

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How has the publication impacted you as an artist and a maker?

Yeah so for starts I have been contacted by several galleries to have opportunity to put work in a show there. Which is huge. Also having the pressure of the award behind me it was a good impact in that it forced me to get my act together as an emerging artist and really focus on important things whether it be my website or Instagram or having enough work to have multiple shows going on at the same time.

What is something that surprised you that you didn’t expect to see happen?

Something that I didn’t expect from that award to happen was probably I felt like overnight there was at one point I woke up with 400 more Instagram followers and I was like, Oh my Gosh, I almost doubled my Instagram followers in one night. It was such a surreal moment, I had pretty bad imposter syndrome where I was like, Okay this is the big kid league. But that really surprised me, I did not expect that at all.

How do you think having that on your resume will impact your future work?

So having it on my resume while it’s really a wonderful accolade and I am so excited to have been chosen for it, it’s something I don’t want to be like, Oh I received this award, everything will come to me. I am hungry for it. I want success and while this award is so wonderful it’s not the only thing that is going to get me there. So for my work it was definitely the fire under my butt I needed but now I have to keep the flames going with my own ambitions and things that I would like to achieve.

What do you listen to while you are making?

So, it depends on the day. I am a big T Swift fan so I listen to Taylor Swift just about every day. I have really gotten into podcasts lately and recently I have been listening to a podcast called the Ancients which is about historical happenings and things like that from Ancient times, big history nerd over here. So that has been really lovely and moving to the south has fostered a love of country music for me that I didn’t know that I had. So I usually have folk music or country music on rotation as well.

When you are teaching are there things that you hold back that you kind of hold for yourself?

Never. If my students have a question that I know the answer to regardless if it’s in my own practice or not I will give them the answer with my full heart and with all the knowledge I have to give them. That is one of the most beautiful things about the ceramics community I feel like it’s a very welcoming and giving community in terms of knowledge and creating and all of those good things. I have been given a lot of good information and I want to share that with others.

In a year, when you are done where you are how are you going to keep the community aspect alive?

So obviously there are several different avenues that you can do that in right. After I leave Odyssey I will probably head to a different residency or a graduate school. With that being said to stay connected to the people at my current studio email, social media, all that good stuff is a great way to stay in touch with them.

Book

Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger by Lisa Donovan

The Boy in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Contact

mariandraper.com

Instagram: @mariandraperceramics

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29/04/2025
Nerikomi Artist | Victoria Rickson

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Victoria Rickson | Episode 1063

Victoria Rickson is a Canadian ceramic artist based in San Francisco, specializing in nerikomi. With a BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design, Victoria transitioned to pottery post graduation, mastering the technique of colored clay as a member of community studios. Victoria’s work balances precision with spontaneity, creating one-of-a-kind, color driven pieces.

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I am curious about how you as an artist structure your day?

I have a full-time job so my day is that I wake up and I work all day and then I itch to go down to my basement to work on pottery and I do whatever task I have until 9 pm when it is time to go to bed.

Do you have a way of slowing down your making process so you are not dictated by your clay as your clay wants it to be done?

I think the process is pretty slow on its own. I work in phases. I’ll do the phase where I make the clay and then I will make the block and then on a long weekend or weekend I will say, This is my building weekend. And I will spend all weekend making cups, vases, and plates. So I can monitor all week in the evenings that it’s drying well. And then the next week I am sanding and preparing for the kiln. It’s sort of like I go through each phase when I have the time.

When you are working through problems in your work who do you tend to reach out to to get answers?

I ask my boyfriend a lot. It’s not like it’s a technical answer. I think most of my problems are composition and when it’s a technical answer I love a good google.

Are you interested in exhibitions, in showing your work in actual juried shows? Is that a thing you wish to do?

Yes, that’s my biggest next goal is to get into more official competitions and shows. I am working on pieces that are a little larger, a little more gallery focused at the moment, to work towards that goal.

Do you have shows that you are currently applying for?

Not right this second. There are maybe three or four in the last six months that I made work specifically for and then just chickened out and ended up not applying. I think I am close. I am doing the research and preparing myself mentally but I haven’t actually done the applying yet.

Is social media a struggle or a blessing for you?

So far, it’s a blessing. It’s helped me find a community. It helps me get feedback on my work when I am not showing or selling that often. I don’t mind making, a lot of what I do I make reels to share my knowledge and I think that really helps me build my community.

What is the biggest challenge of working in Nerikomi?

Patience. To expand upon that I think each step of the process takes so much focus and attention and could go wrong at so many points, that having patience with yourself, things are going to go wrong. Try again. That’s kind of key.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in Nerikomi?

It’s weirdly just some of what I just said. It’s patience. It’s understanding that the first thing you make is probably going to crack into a million pieces or you are going to hate it. It takes time to learn every step and you just kind of have to stick with it.

Book

Nerikomi Thomas Hoadly

Contact

swimmer.studio

Instagram: @swimmerstudio

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27/04/2025
On artist sensitivity, jealousy, self-doubt, failure, work and dreams – Veronica Winters Painting

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.

You can read the essays here: https://veronicasart.com/can-you-just-do-on-artistic-inspiration-self-doubt-and-work/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtAqRHKRdac

Subscribe & rate this podcast on Spotify and Apple | Show your support for the podcast: here | Host: Veronica Winters, MFA | veronicasart.com

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Posted in Art blog, Art PodscastTagged contemporary art, hooked on art podcast

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26/04/2025
An Artist From Russia Living in LA | Maria Loram

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Maria Loram | Episode 1071

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.

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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.

Book

ceramicmaterialsworkshop.com

Contact

loramceramics.com

Instagram: @loram.ceramics

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26/04/2025
An Artist in Toronto | Tamara Solem Alissa

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Tamara Solem Alissa | Episode 1077

Tamara “Solem” Al-Issa is a Syrian/Filipina Toronto-based sculptural artist with a focus on conveying preservation of time. Solem’s work pulls from memories of the architecture and practices within SWANA and Southeast Asia through exploring familiar shapes, colours and textures from these regions. The Deep Blue series presents hand-built traditional shapes in a custom mixed cobalt blue which is a colour that evokes a familiar sense of nostalgia and wistfulness. In the SWANA region, the colour blue (particularly turquoise) is known to have mystical and protective qualities.

SPONSORS

You can help support the show!

Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com

For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com

The preferred printing supplier for potters everywhere! SmallDogPrints.com

What is the clay body that you use in your work?

I use a commercial clay from Tuckers pottery supply in Toronto and it’s called mid-white. So it’s pretty standard cone 6 stoneware.

Why did you choose to make your own recipe for your underglaze?

I guess I just couldn’t find the right blue. There’s so many blues but non of them fired right especially with the texture. A lot of underglazes have a lot of flux in them. Which make it shiny so I don’t really love that.

I noticed that you get a lot of press attention. Do you seek it out?

God no, not at all. I never sought out that attention. I mean obviously I am grateful to have it. Yeah, I guess they just like the blue. It’s kind of come out of the blue. (laughter)

How important is social media for you getting your work out in the world?

Yeah, so it’s just Instagram that I use but it is very important. And I wish it was less important but these days it’s kind of hard to separate art form social media. It is my portfolio so you have to stay relevant and keep up, you know, make reels and connect with my audience.

What is a shape or a piece that you are trying to master at this point?

I think it’s called a fluted shape with a really thin neck on the wheel. A big base with a really long, thin neck that you could barely put a straw through. That’s what I have been trying to perfect. Just for fun.

Book

Panegyric by Guy Debord

Contact

solemceramics.com

Instagram: @___solem

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22/04/2025
Ep 146 Being an Artist
In today’s art podcast we’re going to chat about the highs and lows of being an artist. Whether you create art for fun or are selling your art we all have our ups and downs. We’re going to share some of those today:

Subscribe: iTunes | Stitcher | Spotify | Amazon Music | RSS

Learn to paint in a realism style to a professional level in a year

This podcast is sponsored by Evolve. Evolve can teach anyone how to paint in a realism style to a professional level in a year. They offer online lessons, support and also provide the materials you need. To find out more sign up for a free masterclass at https://kickinthecreatives.com/evolvewebinar

Highs of being an artist

Buying new tools and materials

Planning some time in the art studio

The feeling of excitement you get when you are starting a new piece

The feeling you get when the painting is going really well

The excitement of entering a competition

The anticipation of approaching a gallery

Revealing your finished piece on social media

Watching other artists create work, either on YouTube or in a book

Learning something new and getting a buzz out of it

Making connections with other artists and potential buyers

When someone buys an original or print

Lows of being an artist

The realisation that the new tools you bought didn’t have magical powers

Realising because you procrastinated and allowed yourself to be distracted, the time you had planned to spend on your art has slipped away

The feeling of frustration you get when a piece isn’t going well

The disappointment you feel when a piece is rejected from a competition

The disappointment you feel when your art doesn’t sell

Your social media post revealing your finished piece gets little or no engagement

Comparing yourself to other artists and realising that you can’t emulate what they are doing

When you go through a phase when nothing works or when you feel like you are going backwards

The cost of getting things framed for exhibiting when it might not sell

When loads of people say they love a piece of art and several ask about pricing, but then no one buys

Support us on Kofi

This week’s creative question

Q. What has been your biggest high of being an artist, and what has been your biggest low?

The best answers will be read out on a future podcast.

You can Tweet us your answers @KickCreatives or let us know in the Facebook Group, which by the way if you haven’t already joined, I highly recommend that you do! We will put the question up there and also on the Facebook page… and of course, on our Instagram page @kickinthecreatives.

If you have any suggestions for the podcast or our challenges please feel free to get in touch.
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19/04/2025
Artist website backlinks [Broken method] How do I get them?

4. All links must come from Art related websites

Would you rather have a link from a curator’s blog or a beauty magazine? It will have more value if it’s related to art or the subject matter. For example, if you are a feminist activist artist fighting for equal rights with your art, the backlink doesn’t need to be from an art site. The link can be from any website article about politics, social studies, or legal studies.

5. Ask for DoFollow link

Even if it is not as important as before, ask or check for a DoFollow link. A NoFollow link isn’t great. You can use Seography links checker for free.

Links from Social media

Links from social media do not provide any value for your SEO. The only benefit they provide is traffic to your website. Search engines like Google will not consider the links if they are from a social media post or story.

Links from galleries

Links from galleries are great, but few galleries will agree to link. After all, they are the middlemen. They could potentially lose business if they embed a link to your website. You must convince them or switch to a more open-minded gallery partner. And if you have a catalog of prices on your website, you must be on the same page as your galleries. You could not price your art cheaper on your own site than on the gallery’s.

6. Search Your Niche

Whatever visual expression you are making, someone else in the world could have been working in a similar direction. When you search for your kind of art, you can also find out what others are doing and how they are perceived. For example, if you are in abstract art, search for the galleries and artists in this niche. Contact them, and learn from them. Search for Google Image to learn how people view abstract art in this country or language. It might inspire you in many ways.

9. Be social

Would you like to be a reference in your niche with many great links? You can’t do it all by yourself. You need to connect with others who share the same interest. “The Internet is a table for two.” However, we tend to forget that they are real people on the other side of the screenwriting to request a link from us (and vice versa). Forget about links for one moment. Ask about the person you are contacting, his/her projects, future plans, and even life stories. Invite him/her for a video chat. Once you establish a human connection, everything else should just unfold naturally.

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18/04/2025
“Okku/Beyond the Light” by Artist Shuto Okayasu

A selection of paintings, drawings, and ceramic sculpture from artist Shuto Okayasu’s first solo exhibition. Born in Japan and currently based in New York, Okayasu’s work reflects a mix of eastern and western sensibilities and multicultural interests. Recording both mundane and transcendent aspects of urban living, Okayasu references a variety of sources including film, hip-hop culture, Nihonga (traditional Japanese painting), woodblock prints, manga, anime, and abstract expressionism. The title, “Okku/Beyond the Light”, is inspired by a line from poet Tanikawa Shuntaro, another important influence who similarly explored the cosmic in everyday life.

“Okku” is a Buddhist term that represents a length of time too long to measure or comprehend. Today the word conveys a sense of reluctance toward doing something because it feels tedious or bothersome. The merger of tedium and sublime eternity offers a nice summation of Okayasu’s recent works. “Okku/Beyond the Light” is currently on display at Plato gallery in New York until May 11, 2025.

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15/04/2025
Alvarez WERC street artist – The Shapeshifter Muralist W3RC

Wynwood Miami – Collaboration with Gera Lozano – Feb. 2015

WERC influences and statement

He is all about duality: Mexican and American, ancient and modern, street and gallery. His work uses symbols, showing Mesoamerican mythology with the vibrant colors of graffiti. It’s also rebellion with roots, a mix of cultural identity and artistic defiance…

… an excellent example of the contradictions in street art:

Borders vs. Identity

Alvarez grew up in the shadow of the US-Mexico border, a boundary that shaped his artist statement. His work reflects the blurred lines of cultural identity. His murals embody the immigrant experience—hybrid, evolving, never fully belonging to one side or the other. He paints in a language of shifting forms: human-animal hybrids, vibrant chaos, and symbols of transformation. Like his influence Alejandro Jodorowsky, who also lived in Mexico, he explores the surreal and the spiritual, painting his way to merge them.

Ancient vs. Contemporary

Another of his defining contradictions is how he fuses the past with the present. He channels Mayan and Aztec imagery but presents it with color, movement, and the rough texture of urban life. He doesn’t simply reference history—he layers it onto the city’s walls, forcing the past to confront the present. His murals feel alive, as if the spirits of ancient civilizations are pushing through concrete.

Nature vs. Civilization

Then there’s the theme of transformation: Shapeshifters dominate his work, reflecting psychological conflict and survival in a world that demands assimilation. Graffiti is a kind of shapeshifting, moving from outlaw expression to mainstream acceptance. But where does that leave artists like WERC? Can you stay subversive when the institutions you once defied now fund your work?

Rebellion vs. Gentrification

Graffiti as rebellion vs. street art as a commodity. WERC is part of a generation that saw graffiti move from an illegal act to a celebrated art form. Keith Haring and Basquiat made that leap decades ago. Later on, Street Art became widely popular with the explosion of social media.

Now, corporations commission murals. Cities designate “legal walls,” and then there’s the gentrification problem. Murals, often meant to represent local culture, can accelerate displacement and boost real estate. The line between authenticity and co-option is thin. Street artists who once spoke for the people are now decorating neighborhoods that no longer belong to them.

WERC’s art carries meaning, but is the meaning enough? As immigration policies tighten in the US, will his work still be relevant?

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15/04/2025
An Ikebana Artist and His Student Sow an Unconventional Approach to Flower Arranging — Colossal
“I want to explode the idea of beautiful ikebana,” says Kosen Ohtsubo, one of the foremost conceptual artists working in the Japanese tradition.

Since the 1970s, Ohtsubo has been unsettling the ancient art of flower arranging. Incorporating atypical botanicals like cabbage leaves or weaving in unconventional materials like bathtubs and scrap metal, the artist approaches making with the mindset of a jazz musician, a genre he frequently listens to while working. Improvisation and experimentation are at the core, along with an unquenchable desire for the unexpected.

Detail of Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves

An exhibition at Kunstverein München in Munich pairs Ohtsubo with Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham who, after discovering the ikebana icon’s work in a book in 2013, became his student. Titled Flower Planet—which references a sign that hangs outside Ohtsubo’s Tokorozawa home and studio—the show presents various sculptures and installations that invite viewers to consider fragility, decay, and the elusive qualities of beauty and control.

Given the ephemeral nature of the materials, photography plays an important role in most ikebana practices as it preserves an arrangement long after it has wilted. This exhibition, therefore, pairs images of earlier works with new commissions, including Ohtsubo’s standout orb titled “Linga München.” Nested in a bed of soil and leaves, the large-scale sculpture wraps willow with metal structures and positions a small candle within its center.

Similarly immersive is “Willow Rain,” which suspends thin branches from the ceiling. Subverting the way we typically encounter fields of growth, the work is one of many in the exhibition that seeds questions about our relationship to the natural world and the limits of human control.

Flower Planet is on view through April 21. Explore Ohstubo’s vast archive on Instagram.

Detail of Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves

Kosen Ohtsubo, “Willow Rain” (2025), 800 basket willow branches, metal frame

Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham, “Corruption”

Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham, “Penny Waking up from a Dream” (2025), carrot, Chinese long bean,
reflecting sphere, Japanese woven bamboo basket

Detail of Christian Kōun Alborz Oldham, “Penny Waking up from a Dream” (2025), carrot, Chinese long bean, reflecting sphere, Japanese woven bamboo basket

Detail of Kosen Ohtsubo, “Linga München” (2025), 300 Basket willow branches, candle, metal frame, plastic and metal ties, scrap metal, soil, various flowers and leaves

Kosen Ohtsubo, “怪芋III / Strange Callas III” (2025), Calla lily, willow, custom-designed iron box
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14/04/2025