The Potters Cast

Nine years ago Tiffany Saw touched clay for the first time and instantly fell in love. After spending years in NYC community studios learning to throw, Tiffany went to Jingdezhen, China to refine her carving techniques. Tiffany is inspired by traditional Chinese and Burmese imagery and loves spending hours carving her pots!

Born in Montreuil (France), in 1987, King Houndekpinkou is a Franco-Beninese ceramist based in Paris. As the face of a rising generation of artists from the African diaspora exploring global possibilities, King works in France, Japan and Benin, while exhibiting his work internationally.

Located in a small studio on the Pacific Coast, Skeletal Dropkick is owned and operated by a single human. Skeletal Dropkick's inspiration is found in horror movies, old monster movies, folklore and years spent as an angsty teen-punk-goth in the 80's. Exact proof that it was not just a phase.

Jon Schmidt is back on the show to give us an update on his life and to talk about his new book, Practical Pottery. And the amazing thing is that while we were talking we looked up his book and found out that his book is a best seller on Amazon... and he had no clue that this had happened!

Christian Morris is a multidisciplinary artist from Pittsburgh, Pa. Christian received his BA in art from California State University Channel Islands in 2016 and has since been building his practice as a studio potter in Pittsburgh, Pa. His study of jazz and blues improvisation influences Christian's ceramic style. Christian is always seeking new methods in which to articulate layers of nuance and depth through his work.

Kamila Jaremko says that art has always been a part of her. Kamila spent many years in theatres as a makeup artist, at the same time she created countless body painting projects. Now Kamila's attention is focused on ceramics and studying production design in Los Angeles. Kamila is passionate about setting goals for herself and she strives to achieve them. Ceramics was meant to be a relaxing hobby for Kamila to break away from reality. In time, her love for ceramics persuaded her to pursue it professionally. Kamila is a member at Echo Art Studio, and her goal is to open a studio herself.

Mostly a self-taught potter in Southern Africa, Antoinette Badenhorst obtained permanent United States residency for herself and her family because of her "extraordinary ability in the field of ceramics". While in Africa, Antoinette taught ceramics in her studio, workshops in schools, and she also trained potters. After Antoinette and her family moved to the USA, the artist was not allowed to earn an income, so she kept herself busy with training of local potters, who allowed her to create work in their studios. Once she obtained working visas for herself, and her children, and specifically after she was rewarded with a green card for her and her whole family, she resumed teaching in her own studio, while she was doing volunteer work in schools, libraries, churches, and other community related programs.

Life was very different for Sally before she discovered clay. She lived a slow and simple life on a beach in a remote Indonesian village where the rhythm of the tides punctuates the day. A camera was her artistic choice, working as a lifestyle and food photographer throughout Australia and Bali. She began her ceramics study in Japan, and was then awarded an internship at Gaya Ceramics Art Centre in Bali. Clay became her focus, and she returned to Australia at the end of 2017 to set up a studio in her hometown of Busselton.

Kiefer Floreal is a 23 year old potter who was born in Kenora, Ontario. Kiefer's work is inspired by the traditional Japanese art form, Gyotaku. After experimenting, Kiefer found a method that left detailed fish prints displayed on his pots. Kiefer prides himself on printing fish that he catches locally and legally.

For over twenty years Sophie Moran has set up studios in sheds, shops, potteries, and warehouses around the northern suburbs of Melbourne and is currently based in a collective, creative space in Brunswick. Sophie calls myself an urban potter as there is usually concrete beneath her feet and her clay comes in a bag. Sophie explores notions of nurture, individuality, and community in what she makes, while maintaining that primary functional purpose.

Craig Underhill's slab-built vessels are essentially three-dimensional canvasses for his richly abstract painting and marking. Craig's work demonstrates his resourceful interpretations of landscape, space, and texture of our changing environment. Born in Scotland, Craig studied ceramics at Harrow College, and then at Portsmouth Polytechnic. After a long period of teaching part time in further education Craig has now relocated his studio to Cornwall.

Nick LaPointe has been making pottery for a handful of years and focuses mostly on functional ware. Nick enjoys the texture created from carving into clay and experimenting with combining glazes.

Amy James is from Minnesota but currently lives in Oklahoma. Amy has been artistic her entire life and started doing pottery in 2013. A year later Amy joined the Air Force. She loves traveling and the outdoors and has been fortunate enough to travel the world and live in different parts of the country while in the military. All this travel and working in the Air Force has also helped to fund Amy's ceramic equipment and college.

Anna Moszczenska fell in love with clay when she took a pottery course a few years ago. From then on Anna loved working with clay. For her working with clay is like an unintentional process, and Anna has learned to accept it as an instinctive method. Ann is drawn to abstraction as a way to uncover and express her feelings and emotions. Anna expresses herself by creating different forms and shapes using a different clay body and applying colourful slips. Anna is inspired by abstract and surrealistic paintings. She works primarily by making coiled vessels and slab work.

Asa Maestas found clay in high school in Santa Cruz, CA. Daisy Maestas found clay in a small college in Michigan and it forever changed the trajectory of their lives. Asa and Daisy met while pursuing their passion for clay in Phoenix, AZ. Now, they collaborate in clay and life as the King and the Flower. They focus on creating intricately hand carved functional ware as well as miniature pottery. Married in 2016, Asa and Daisy seek to enhance their skills with clay, share their love for the art and reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Liz Cohen first experienced working with clay while getting her undergraduate degree in Studio Art from Georgia State University. Liz moved to Denver, CO after school and has been slowly growing a small batch ceramics business outside of other full-time jobs. Liz currently works out of her home studio making functional ware with decoration inspired by mid-century modern design.

Hana Karim grew up between painting studios and pottery wheels in the Western part of Slovenia where her parents encouraged her to see that ceramics could be a business, a passion, and a form of artistic expression. This sense of progression felt natural, as Karim uses jewellery-making techniques as a way of giving definition to the bowls, cups, and plates of her homeware line. Karim's sensitivity to her creative process has taught her to work organically and in line with her feelings, rather than forcing herself to create something that she will come to dislike. Karim's evasion of structured routine urges perpetual curiosity and exploration - in both her ceramics and in her personal life."

Amy Sunshine Burnham is a Pacific Northwest artist who works diligently to balance many roles in her life. Amy has built a career and a life navigating the triad of her roles as mother and wife, full-time high school ceramics educator, and potter. Amy's personal explorations in clay are always inspired by process. Amy's work is most often represented by colorful and functional explorations in agateware and the intensity of anagama woodfiring process.

Born is Sioux Falls, SD, Britton Thorp is a ceramic artist and chef. He received his BFA (2008) from Ohio University and is currently a Graduate candidate at Syracuse University. In between, he was a resident artist at The University of Arkansas and Michigan State University. Britton's current studio practice includes functional pottery, virtual design, photogrammetry and curated dining experiences.

Lillie Turner is in love with clay - not a guy named Clay, as her husband's name is Jeremy, but clay, as in pottery clay. Lillie's first exposure to pottery was in 2015, at a community club taking 6 nights of wheel throwing classes. Throwing on the wheel did not come easy and is still a struggle somedays to center the clay, pull up the wall, and make pieces that match in shape and size, but she does not give up easily! The community pottery club in town allowed potters 24 hours access to the studio which was great for a newbie who was very enthusiastic. Many hours were spent at the wheel- but Lillie had a keen interest in learning all aspects of pottery, so she volunteered to load kilns, maintain kilns, which gave her great experience early on. The next big step was to learn about glazes, with the approval of the club Lillie organized a 3 day glaze workshop with John Britt from North Carolina, which was incredible, but quite advanced as Lillie had never even mixed a glaze before- but that did not intimidate her- she bought a kiln, and set up a small studio space in her garage- and started glaze testing. The more glazes Lillie made, the more she wanted to learn about glaze chemistry. Lillie found a fantastic online workshop for cone 6 glazes taught by Matt Katz of Ceramic Materials Workshop, which is an in depth course of over 50 lessons to work through at your own pace. Lillie jokes that she is now trying to learn chemistry at the age of 41 years old- as she was homeschooled from grade 6 onwards and never took chemistry. Lillie's business is called My Lil Shop Canada- as she is not just a potter- she is an entrepreneur of many things, including soap making, and beekeeping which compliment pottery so well- the soap sells nicely with pottery soap dishes, and Lillie makes beeswax tea light candles for pottery candle holders, and honey pots as special gifts. Recently Lillie has started to focus on making serving trays and dinner plates as cooking is a huge passion of hers. In 2009 Lillie left her career in banking to go to Culinary school, as she had always wanted to learn the tricks of the trade and become a better cook, as she and her husband love good food! Lillie became a full time potter April 2020 after selling a wholesale skin care company she owned for the past 7 years, and is loving doing something she is really passionate about- being creative, and making pottery for people to enjoy for many years to come! She sells most of her work through ETSY, as well as sells her work wholesale to a handful of stores in British Columbia, and one in Nova Scotia.

Jesse Golden owns and operates J.G Clay working to create ceramics to inspire. In 2019 he left his marketing career for a 5 month 'Ceramic Sabbatical' where he participated in residencies, home stays, and studio visits throughout Asia. He is a maker at heart and loves to inspire his student's creativity.

Lissa started her professional journey with clay working in the studio potteries of Kolonyama in Lesotho and Mapepe Craft in Henley-on Klip. Lissa has owned her own craft shop and worked in a non-profit organization giving therapeutic outreach pottery sessions to vulnerable people. Lissa sculpts figuratively, lately focusing on themes exploring her own childhood in South Africa. She is also a production wheel thrower and teaches pottery lessons to adults and children in her Hout Bay studio in Cape Town. Making for the film industry has been an exciting new departure. She recently made lamps and idols for the Troy series and 'smashables' for Warrior 2, both filmed in South Africa. She is now producing online workshops via private YouTube videos on different techniques to reach a worldwide audience. Lissa studied Social Anthropology and African Languages at the University of Cape Town and studied Ceramic Science at the Witwatersrand Technikon. She is a second-generation potter.

Chris Burch found clay, albeit by accident, back in the fall of 2013. Chris's mother used to do slip casting and always referred to her work as ceramics. When Chris enrolled in Ceramics I in college, he thought that's what he'd be doing. To his utter surprise, Chris had actually registered for a wheel throwing class. It was all over once Chris had his hands in the clay!

Hamish Jackson is a potter from England, started potting at Winchcombe Pottery in the Cotswolds. Hamish got married to his lovely American wife Lauren and moved to the states six years ago. Since then Hamish has completed a four year apprenticeship under Mark Hewitt and now is now headed off to USU for grad school.

Donna Gardner Stiar fell in love with pottery at age 57 when she signed up for a wheel throwing class. Seven years later, Donna now handbuilds and hand paints fun, happy, and whimsical pieces that focus on making people smile!

Jim Fazio started his career as educator after graduating from Illinois State University in 2012. Jim has been teaching for the past seven years and currently teaches Ceramics at a public high school in Illinois. "Ceramic Jim" started as a YouTube channel in March of 2018. Its original purpose was to provide support and enrichment opportunities for Jim's ceramics students but as his passion for video grew, Jim rediscovered his first love: Ceramics. Jim specialize in colored porcelain. Though not a full-time studio potter, Jim is making pots and is doing so with intent and precision and is producing quality work of which Jim is proud of.

Supatra Marsh is the maker behind BLANK EARTH Ceramics. Supatra's pottery takes inspiration from Asian ceramics and traditional handmade processes. Supatra specializes in 'kurinuki', the Japanese art of making slowly, carving pottery from a lump of clay to produce unique, one-of-a-kind pots.

Tom Guell of BlueGuell Pottery is a hobby potter living on the farmland of rural Wisconsin. Like many other hobby potters, Tom is trying to find the balance of juggling a full time job, spending time with his family, building a small pottery business, and pursuing other hobbies.

Diana Kersey is a visual artist working exclusively in clay, from small studio pieces to large architectural installations. Diana's public works have been commissioned by the City of San Antonio, VIA Metropolitan Transit, The San Antonio River Authority, and the City of Harlingen. Diana just completed a large private commission (over 650 square feet) for a new office tower in San Antonio, Texas. Diana earned an MFA in ceramics from Washington State University in 1997, and a BFA in drawing from Texas Tech University in 1994. She serves on the faculty at Northwest Vista College and owns and operates Kersey Ceramics LLC.

Steve Irvine decided on his 16th birthday to spend his life as a potter. After 3 years as a ceramic major at Sheridan College Steve started his full-time pottery business at age 21 in an old church on the Bruce Peninsula in S. Ontario in 1974. Functional and one of a kind pieces sold through galleries and shops. This past year Steve has changed directions in his work from cone 10 reduction to cone 6 oxidation.

Michelle Ettrick's ceramic sculptures and vessels present stories and memories about her childhood, family, and her time and struggles as a homeless and disabled person. Michelle uses surface imagery to function as a diary to record people, places, and events. Drawings, Sgraffito, screen printing, and laser decals are used to create the portraits and or narratives on the surfaces to start conversation among the viewers. Weather Michelle draws flowers, animals, or people their is a story or memory on why she chose the drawing.

Stephen Phillips was born August 2, 1988 and raised in the small town of Crawford, MS. His pursuit for ceramics began when he attended EMCC. He received his B.F.A. in ceramics from MUW in 2013. In 2015, Stephen established Stephen's Potter House Productions, a small studio space in his hometown.

Jaimie Gusman Nagle is a poet and potter living in Kaaawa, Hawaii. Jaimie has an MFA from the University of Washington and a PhD from the University of Hawaii. She is the author of the book of poems, Anyjar (Black Radish Books, 2017). Jamie makes functional art under business name Icky Love Pottery in her garage studio and teaches workshops (when there isn't a pandemic) when she isn't mom-ing to her two little kids.

Enas Satir is a Sudanese artist, based in Toronto, Canada. Enas' work is often inspired by the beauty and complexity of her country, Sudan. Enas' work revolves around issues of Africanism, racism, and offers a critical lens on socio-cultural attitudes.

Taylor Robenalt attended Southern Methodist University for her BFA in bronze casting and stone carving. Taylor then discovered her love for ceramics and decided to study at the University of South Florida to receive a post baccalaureate. Taylor received a graduate assistantship at the University of Georgia where she accomplished her MFA in ceramics in May 2011. Currently Taylor is employed by Ringling College of Art and Design and has taught at State College of Florida, Auburn University, and Columbus State University as an adjunct ceramic professor.

Emily Armstrong grew up on Long Island, New York and moved to Portland Maine in 2011. Emily graduated from the Maine College of Art in 2015 with a BFA in Ceramics. Emily currently works out of a community studio (Running With Scissors) and works full time in Portland's booming restaurant industry.

Dustin Gimbel is a Sculptor and a landscape designer with over 20 years in the field of horticulture. Dustin's current exhibition SCULPTURA BOTANICA at Sherman Library and Gardens combines a lifetime passion for plants and a more recent obsession with ceramics. Dustin started working with clay in January of 2016. Dustin has a home studio in Long Beach CA.

William Duvall is a potter originally from the east coast. William moved to Seattle after college and turned his basement into a studio. Then William started bringing his work on the road!

Christian Bailey is a dirty hairy potter in the piney woods of south Mississippi, with a BFA in Sculpture and MaED from the University of Southern Mississippi. Christian shows high school students the wonders of art. Christian's work is a smorgasbord of layers, functional, sculptural, color, imagery, and process.

Not Work Related is the ceramics brand of Sarah Hussaini. Trained as an architect, Sarah wanted to create pieces that represented a departure from the stoic nature of the architecture office. She built NWR to be explorative, flexible and playful, with the idea that the objects in your life should incite happiness and maybe even a smile.

Carragh Amos is from Auckland, New Zealand. Carragh holds a BFA Hons from Elam School of Fine Arts. Her practice moves between fine art and functional craft, with pieces influenced by historical pottery of the wider Asian region. Current work celebrates process, labour, and action through hand-built ceramics.

Jenny Pope enjoys the company of animals in life and in artwork. Invasive, endangered, and mythic animals uncurl from Jenny's imagination in the form of woodcut prints. Most of Jenny's prints are "color-reduction woodcuts" which means she takes one block of wood, draws an image onto the block, carves, then prints. Each printed color comes from carving away the previous layer so when Jenny is finished, all that is left of her wood block is the last color that was printed. Jenny can never remake an image unless she re-carves a new piece of wood. The prints are very limited edition, not a typical Kinko's reproduction. Jenny's ceramics are all handbuilt, handpainted, and carved. It was natural for Jenny to go from carving wood to carving clay. And, it's much softer. Jenny has always had an entrepreneurial spirit and loves having a woman-owned business. Jenny feels lucky to be able to share her work and ideas with you.

Visual Artist Leah Smithson and Specials Procedures Technologist, Channing Smithson, partnered together to found the creative collaborative CLSS Studio. Leah and Channing strongly believe that purposeful art and design improves our lives. Leveraging both Leah's many years in the arts field and Channing's medical experience, they use their distinctive perspectives, through fine art & ceramics, to transform environments into spaces that nourish inspiration, because genuine, passionate people can change the world.

Tyler Lansing am an artist. Tyler's journey is not to conquer the mountain and reach the summit. That aspiration is a tremendous amount of effort for an evanescent sensation of accomplishment. Tyler finds his inspiration in every step of the journey. Embracing his connection with the earth as a Diné. Tyler is the remnant of an enduring and resilient people. His journey is to share his story and creations with you.

Noam Rosenberg is a clay & ceramics Israeli artist. Noam earned his BFA from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem with honors. Nowam owns the NORO brand - common art Inspired by nature, urban environment, & architecture. Noam's love for gardening and the flora world influences his work and his experience as a visual designer enriched his art work with attraction to aesthetics, beauty, and patterns. In his Instagram account Noam demonstrate the processes of creating his works

Kabir Syed started his ceramics practice 23 years ago, studying with Kirk Mangus and Eva Kwong at Kent State University, following a year teaching English and living in Gwangju, S. Korea. Kabir started throwing while simultaneously training in Mental Health Counseling. Dealing with painful trauma and the darker side of the human spectrum compelled Kabir to engage in the meditative and therapeutic process of making wheel thrown functional ceramic pottery, simple forms for use on the table/in the home. Kabir was introduced to wood firing and clay making at the same time and the immersion into atmospheric firing and ceramic exploration was established. In 2004 Kabir attended a month long International Wood Fire Residency in Goshogawara, Japan, working with artists from the USA, Canada, South Korea, Greece, Spain, and Japan. While Counseling full time and teaching part time, Kabir found time to complete 2 week-long intensive summer workshops every year and managed to sporadically make pots and wood fire at least 2-3 times a year. In 2011 Kabir decided to pursue an MFA in ceramics, which he completed in 2014. Also that summer he participated in a workshop at Peters Valley firing the large anagama there under the direction of Simon Levin and Bruce Dehnert. As full time Associate Professor in Pan-African Studies, he currently maintains a studio practice at Ohio Ceramic Supply and fires a local wood kiln with a group of Ohio artists at least 4-5 times a year. In the years since getting his MFA, he has moved into mold-making and slip casting as well as electric firing. The experience of seeing the commercial end of the ceramic process is slowly, but surely, becoming an area of intrigue and wonder.

Maria Stone is a Richmond-based artist focused on creating functional and decorative ceramic wares. Instead of throwing pottery on a wheel, Maria's work is created using rolled slabs of clay or by pinching and molding by hand. Maria adorns each piece with intricate free-hand illustrations and carvings.

Bojana Kolarevic is a Montréal, Canada based ceramic artist focusing on creating simple imperfect objects for everyday use. Bojana's background was in interior design, but pottery has become the light in her life and became her obsession.

Caleb Zouhary was born and raised in northwest Ohio, where he first discovered his passion for clay in high school. After receiving his BFA in Ceramics at Ohio University, Caleb pursued post baccalaureate studies at East Carolina University and worked as an artist in residence at St. Petersburg Clay Company, primarily focusing on soda-fired functional pottery. Under the instruction of Elmer Taylor, Caleb received his MFA in Ceramics from the University of North Texas in 2014. Caleb's graduate thesis explored the relationship between functional pottery design and food presentation, and it was during this time he began to experiment with layering glazes and resists, techniques which have persisted in his work and continue to be the foundation of his signature abstract surface designs. With support from his wife Casandra, Caleb owns and operates a community retail pottery studio and spends much of his time working in his personal studio in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

As a die-hard ocean lover, clay provides a way to pay homage and respect to the source of Avesha DeWolfe's inspiration and the place that refuels her. Through form and surface treatment, Avesha's work reflects a life-long enchantment with the ocean and rocky beaches of Maine, where she grew up. In Scotland, where Avesha lives now, the enchantment continues. Avesha's work is constructed out of soft slabs of red, mid-range clay. Building pots this way requires mindfulness and an active slowing down of the mind in order to examine every angle, curve, foot and rim. Nothing in the process of making a pot is taken for granted, every element of every piece is a considered choice. That consideration creates pottery which calls out to be held and offers space for mindful moments of self-care. Those moments add up to a life well-lived.