برچسب: Clay

The Potters Cast | Pottery | Ceramics | Art | Craft : A Return to the Original Clay Podcaster | Brian R Jones

Brian R. Jones grew up in Syracuse, NY and is now an artist living and working in Portland, OR. He has been a resident artist at Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, ME and The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA. He has earned degrees from The New York State College of Ceramics (BFA) and Southern Methodist University (MFA). He was a presenter at the Utilitarian Clay VI: Celebrate the Object at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in September 2012. In 2013, Jones was selected as an Emerging Artist by the National Council on the Education in the Ceramic Arts.

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05/05/2025
World Building With Clay | Gabs Conway

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Gabs Conway | Episode 947

Gabs Conway is a sculptural ceramic artist based in Missoula Montana. Having grown up in Missoula, she was excited to return – as she relentlessly considers it home – after earning her BFA at the University of Wisconsin – Stout. Gabs’ work stems from the playful, mundane experiences of living. She explores relationships, such as that of siblings, friends, and lovers. Interested in creating forms for the reflection of human experience; asking the viewer to consider their appreciation of life, and to humble the adornment of our physicality. Gabs remains curious of the inherent biological responses of living, and what it means to exist together in an ever changing world.

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What do you think of other people suggesting about what and how you should be making your work?

Firstly I hate it (laughter) but it’s not your work, it’s mine.

Instead of telling you how to do your work what is a supportive way for people to talk about your work?

I think just saying, This is what I think this is what you are doing well. It would be interesting to see this. But not so much saying, Do this.

How important for you to have a supportive community around you for you as a maker to be confident that you are going in the right direction?

I don’t know if I lean on my community to tell me that I am going in the right direction. I think I am going based on how I am feeling about what I am making.

What do your folks think of this journey you have been on?

My dad was definitely a potter. I know that they are both supportive but I think they both have their moments of wondering exactly what it is I am doing.

Do you believe that teaching workshops is a critical component for your personal growth, to be giving away your knowledge to others?

I think that I love teaching. I love teaching. I think that they are giving me a lot of information as well. Working with kids is absolutely unreal. But I think just having the opportunity to talk to other people and how they can build things is awesome.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I like to garden. And I like to take my dog to the park and I like to go to gymnastics with my dad.

Book

Stiff by Mary Roach

Contact

gabsconway.com

Instagram: @gabsconwaymakesdirt

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04/05/2025
Setting Intentions to Make A Clay Career | Cheri Downey

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Cheri Downey | Episode 1032

Cheri Downey, a ceramic artist originally from Northern California, is currently live in Huntsville, Alabama. Cheri began working with ceramics in 2014 in high school classes. Cheri has had home studios since after college and has owned a commercial studio for the last year in Tennessee. Cheri focuses on dinnerware sets, mugs, and luminaries.

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How do you go from dreaming to doing?

It all starts with really simple steps and it think it starts with buying your wheel used. (laughter) Just starting really small and getting connected with a local studio, setting up a little home studio, and figuring it out as you go. I don’t know how else to explain it.

How significant is belief? How significant is it to believe you can do it?

I guess it’s less so belief but more so passion for me. So figuring out how passionate you are about something leads to that belief. I feel like all this started with a little bit of imposter syndrome. Am I really an artist? Did I really just make this mug? But I don’t know, it just takes practice and it just takes time and it takes commitment and I think what drives that is passion.

What kind of safety nets did you have in place in case it all fell through?

That’s a good question. I honestly don’t know if I had a safety net. I mean, my husband works full-time. He’s an engineer. He made enough, let’s say, to pay the bills. What I made was anything outside of that. My safety net would probably have been to go back into the mental health field if this wouldn’t have worked out.

Is it important to be ready to pivot? To test and pivot?

I think one hundred percent, yes. Because the tides are going to change at any moment in my opinion. For all careers but especially, I think, for pottery. You kind of have to take the next opportunity as it comes.

I’m curious. What is your dream developing into next? Another way to say this is tell me what it’s going to be in five years?

This is something I am still thinking on doing as well. Well, this might not be a super short answer, Paul. (laughter) I will try.

Give us the nutshell.

Have you ever heard of Mid-South Ceramics in Nashville?

It sounds familiar.

It’s a super large pottery community. Multiple potters rent out spaces. It’s just awesome. It’s incredible. Well the eventual goal, maybe not five years, maybe more, would be pretty much to have a miniature Mid-South in maybe Huntsville or where ever we end up in the next five years. And what’s cool about that is Jordan also has that dream so there maybe a partnership there in the future. That’s all I will say about that.

Book

Art is a Way of Knowing by Pat B. Allen

Contact

cherceramics.com

Instagram: @cher_ceramics

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02/05/2025
Fiberglass In Clay! | Anton Sidko

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Anton Sidko | Episode 1053

Anton Sidko, a Moscow-based ceramic artist with a background in Chemical Engineering and medical research, began his pottery journey in 2011 as a hobbyist. Anton has exhibited his work in ceramics and contemporary art shows since 2021. In 2023, Anton invented the PORFIR method for shaping ceramics.

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How do you put the slip on the fiberglass?

I tried to dip it but the brush works better.

Does all the fiberglass have to be covered with slip when you put it in the kiln? Can you have any loose fiberglass without any clay on it?

I didn’t try it but the temperature of melting is about cone 07 and it will be melted away and you just find thin dust.

How long does it take once you brushed on the slip before you can start working with it?

It really depends on the surrounding conditions. It takes maybe one to five minutes. It just depends on the temperature and moisture. If you use plaster it will be extremely fast. If you use plywood it would be a bit more time.

How do you cut the clay?

Well actually I cut the fiberglass before it. So I cut the fiberglass and make patterns. And then cover the patterns with porcelain and after that I combine it in construction.

Is the clay, when it’s fired, stronger?

No. It’s not stronger because the exact composition of clay is still the same. Just the size and shapes are different. You know the most stable structure is a sphere of course.

Have you come up with any more unique approaches to ceramics?

Well, I may mention one. Full body candles.

Book

The Craft and Art of Clay by Susan Peterson

Contact

Instagram: @anton_sidko_ceramics

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29/04/2025
A Journey Through Clay And Life | Eli Akins

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Eli Akins | Episode 1054

Eli Akins of Waldo Street Pottery is a mostly self taught ceramist in downtown Atlanta, GA, with a focus on large bonsai containers. “Finding a voice within a rigid set of parameters while making art for other artists is the challenge with Bonsai Pots”.

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

How did you grow after the diagnosis?

Coming out of what I refer to often as a fever dream which was a couple of years of those brain tumors causing a lot of problems. I couldn’t believe the energy that I came back with. I started walking slower, thinking slower, everything was slower and I just came out of it with a ton of energy and a ton of drive. And I have been in this studio every day, when the sun comes up it’s that time.

This is a little tongue in cheek but how is clay better than the music industry?

I can speak only to myself and I am just doing my own creative thing, but instead of supporting others with their creativity I am supporting myself with my own. I think that’s what’s satisfying about it.

How many hours a week do you spend time in the studio?

Fifty or sixty hours I think. I am in the studio a lot, I love it. I live across the street from it. I walk to work every day. I walk home for lunch and come back and work until the sun goes down.

Do you have a specific style of Bonsai that you like to make your pots for?

Not necessarily style because I appreciate all of the styles. What I really appreciate the most is deciduous trees and broadleaf evergreens. Pines and junipers don’t really speak to me like maples and elms and beech and hornbeams do. I appreciate trees that drop their leaves in the winter time.

What do you typically have on coming over the speakers in your studio?

A lot of Grateful Dead. Live Grateful Dead shows. What I have learned from that that is they have made thousands of shows and in my lifetime I will make thousands of pots. None of their shows are perfect but they all have a little bit of magic in them. I don’t think any of my pots will ever be perfect but hopefully they have a little bit of magic to them.

What’s your other hobby?

Other hobbies? Bonsai! A lot of time if I need a break I just go outside and prune or water or feed the trees or whatever I need to do. So Bonsai is a big one and I have a wonderful support group of friends that I like to take breaks and go see a show and go hang out and have fun and have a good time together.

Book

Theo of Golden By Allen Levi

Contact

waldostreetpottery.com

Instagram: @waldo_street_pottery

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29/04/2025
Clay With Large Class Sizes

Class sizes have been an issue this year. I know that others have it worse, but a large class size is a large class size. Students do better in smaller classes…FACT! We have four 2nd grade classes all at 25 students each. We have four 4th grade classes now(as of a week ago), but my special area team voted to keep the old schedule to avoid having a split planning time(I did not vote to keep the old schedule), and have the three 4th grade classes at 31, 31, and 29 come to specials. It is a struggle to restructure lessons and manage supplies when classes are large. Just 5 to 10 more students than “normal” can really through the balance of a class off. I have managed to do the coil pot lesson with 2nd grade, but there is more of a “rush” on my end of things in prepping for before class & firing. I also feel like my flying through clay!!! How do you all handle large class sizes? What are your biggest classes?(I’m coming at this from an elementary perspective.)

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14/04/2025
Clay As A Hobby In San Francisco | GiAnna Orangio

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GiAnna Orangio | Episode 1114

GiAnna Orangio is a hobby potter based in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Her brand, Evil Eye Pottery is a collection of vases that she creates on the pottery wheel in her home studio. GiAnna shares her ceramic journey and creations on social media (links below).

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

How has the community studio helped you grow as an artist or as a potter?

I think one the best things you can do is observe others. The other day I watched my instructor assemble his teapot and it took like an hour, every little piece, but now I know how to do that and I didn’t know before. I think just observing other potters is wonderful.

You mentioned one of the things that drew you to ceramics was the demonstrations on Instagram. Is that still a source for inspiration for you?

Absolutely. I love following other potters. It’s so cool to see what people create. Whether it’s really beautiful, precise pieces that they produce in large quantities or one really stellar piece that would serve as work of art. I do it every day.

How much time are you able to devote to being in the studio a week?

On weekends I will spend both Saturday and Sunday for hours and hours in my home studio. In class right now I do maybe four hours a week on Wednesdays three or fours hours. It just depends on the week.

How has working with clay impacted your relationships?

I mean it’s a fun conversation starter that’s for sure. I think for a long time I didn’t really have a hobby that really defined me. I think my work defined me. In so many ways people associated me with my job. So now when I am meeting new people I don’t just talk about my job when I am introduced to someone I talk about my favorite hobby. That’s what I am truly passionate about.

What has you excited in the studio right now? What can you not wait to make?

You know, I have avoided making a big moon jar for a really long time. I think I am very scared of them for some reason. Probably because I have attempted a few in the past and they have flopped. But I am going to a big demo by Moon Do Bang and I am excited to go to the demo and watch him do some of the biggest moon jars I will probably ever see and it is going to be very cool to learn from someone who is kind of known for that.

Book

Fly Girl by Ann Hood

Contact

evileyepottery.shop

Instagram: @evil_eye_pottery_

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14/04/2025