The Potters Cast

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.

Justine Riley is an artist exploring with thread, clay, paper, poetry, and books. Justine lives in the last house on a country road with her husband and son. Justine artistic path began in Florida when Justine signed up for a ceramics class at the local community college. There Justine met Josh, fell in love with pottery, and found the clay community. A few years later Justine and Josh moved to Kentucky, where they now have home studios, chickens, a garden and a creek where their son digs for rocks.

Meghan McCrone currently lives and creates in the mountainous, oceanside town of Squamish British Columbia. Muddy Marvels Pottery is a bright studio nestled into Meghan's beautiful garden. Over the past 5 years Meghan has invited budding potters to assist her and learn the full spectrum of what it means to be a potter. She herself was an apprentice in Whistler for Vincent Massey and feels it is her turn to give back, encourage and inspire those just starting their pottery journey. Meghan graduated from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Ceramics and since then has participated in countless shows, markets, and galleries. Meghan continued to UBC and obtained her BEd. She has been teaching art in schools throughout BC for over 15 years and currently is teaching at the Squamish Waldorf School. In addition, Meghan also offers regular month-long pottery workshops in her home studio. She loves to collaborate with other creatives and encourages inquiries for special or wholesale orders.

Morgan Loehr is a potter based in the heart of San Francisco. Morgan loves to get lost in the details and focus on creating colanders and berry bowls. Morgan really enjoys the repetitive process that piercing requires!

Minoo Sayyah Sina started pottery at an art workshop initially as a hobby which grew to be a fundamental part of Minoo's life. At first Minoo stared wheel throwing and then handmade pottery became her favorite, especially pinch, slab, and recently kurinuki. After working with various clay, Minoo passed her glazing course and then molding. Minoo loves making pottery and does it with love and passion. Minoo's work is unique, simple, and imperfect.

Melissa Weiss is a studio potter in Asheville, NC. She has been working with clay for 15 years. She makes her living selling her one of a kind handmade functional pottery online, at shows and teaching workshops.She makes her work with various techniques mainly carving in the Kurinuki style, coil building, slab work and wheel throwing. She digs and makes her own iron rich stoneware from clay she digs on her land in the Arkansas Ozarks. Melissa has not had a formal education in ceramics. She is self taught with the guidance of many other potters.

Abbie Preston Edmonson is an object maker and entrepreneur living and working in Houston, Texas. As the owner and designer of Box Sparrow Studio, Abbie creates ceramic functional works. Abbie is a graduate of Valdosta State University in Georgia, receiving her BFA in Studio Art in drawing, painting, and ceramics.

Paul Lyon's ceramic art has always been influenced by nature and the textures found in our environment. Paul is consistently intrigued by the numerous imprints objects can leave in his clay forms. Paul's inspiration comes from rocks, wooden tools, handmade poking sticks, stamps, and his all time favorite... his daughter's beads. Paul is continually experimenting with throwing forms on the potters wheel and then manipulating the clay. Currently Paul is investigating the affects of gravity on his blue glaze and how it puddles and pulls over the textures he has created. Paul is amazed how it can transform into a one of a kind unique creation, imitating nature.

Krista Cameron has been passionate about pottery for over 16 years and has a Diploma in Ceramics from St. Lawrence College and has been participating in regional exhibits and sales since 1998. Krista's current studio is found near Charleston Lake nestled among the rocks and pine trees, a beautiful setting which she endeavors to capture in her art. Krista has been showing in Eastern Ontario since 2000. Krista sells her work at The Green Gecko and Casual Living. Krista teaches pottery at her Charleston Lake, Ontario studio and in Brockville at Hilltop Studio.

Makoto Fujimura (b. 1960, Boston) is a leading contemporary artist whose process driven, refractive "slow art" has been described by David Brooks of New York Times as "a small rebellion against the quickening of time". Makoto is also an arts advocate, writer, and speaker who is recognized worldwide as a cultural influencer. A Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 2003-2009, Fujimura served as an international advocate for the arts, speaking with decision makers and advising governmental policies on the arts. Makoto is also launching the Kintugi Academy. Makoto uses Kintsugi as an metaphor mending.

The knowledge Frank Eagar has gained through not only producing art, but teaching art, and has broadened his knowledge regarding how and why art has been produced through the centuries. As a ceramic artist all of Frank's pieces from a simple cup to a sculpture are a small representation of both himself and his experiences. Teaching art has given Frank the privilege to increase others knowledge and appreciation of art, by showing and teaching the depth of being that goes into the creation of individual pieces. As a ceramicist, Frank believes in producing both functional as well as sculptural pieces. The beauty and simplicity of functional ware is timeless, and yet still carries the fingerprint of its creator long after he is gone. Frank also enjoys making 3D ceramic sculptures. Though these are a more complex representation of Frank, he enjoys creating these pieces from birdbaths, to fountains, even to a figurative sculpture because of the versatile qualities of the clay. Frank always enjoys experimenting with shape, pattern, color, and form in my pottery. Currently, the distortion of basic shapes and play upon its actual or created lines either in a whimsical or obtuse manner are a recent creative focus of Frank.

Laurence André is a french potter living and working in Manigod, a small village located in Northern French Alps. Laurence settled her studio in the old walls of an old cheese dairy farm. Being into clay for 10 years now, working a white clay on the wheel or on plaster molds, Laurence is happy to imagine and produce small batch of tableware ceramics, slipware decorated one-of-a-kind pieces with folk patterns, flowers & animals that form merry different collections. Laurence is a self-taught, learning through experience - which she in turn is passing on during clay workshops in her studio.

Teppi is the creator of The Perfect Apron. Teppi wanted a better answer to cleaning and keeping her hands dry. Teppi's creation is the best solution to staying clean and dry during all pottery sessions! Teppi made sure that The Perfect Apron is eco friendly so it eliminates the need for paper towels. It can also be used for cooking, grading, and other messy tasks!

Hannah Shipway has worked as a professional potter for the past five years. Hannah has her own studios in Oxford, England, and also in Dorset on the South Coast of England. Hannah makes wheel-thrown, functional tableware in small batches, all of which are sold exclusively from the iconic Albatross Cafe in Bristol.

Brandy Green & Michelle Castro | Episode 615 Today is a special release day. Instead of releasing two episodes on Tuesday and Thursday, The Potters Cast is releasing both of this week's episode on Tuesday. As a result of NCECA 2020 conference getting canceled this year, the normal process of NCECA having a dedicated time of having the candidates for the Director at Large and the Student Director at Large share about what they would bring to the position and then to answer questions from the audience wasn't available. These two episodes are the replacement platform to allow these fine candidates to share their stories. In this second episode we are going to dedicate this to the position of Student Director at Large. These two candidates, Brandy Green and Michelle Castro, will be the second to go.

Today is a special release day. Instead of releasing two episodes on Tuesday and Thursday, The Potters Cast is releasing both of this week's episode on Tuesday. As a result of NCECA 2020 conference getting canceled this year, the normal process of NCECA having a dedicated time of having the candidates for the Director at Large and the Student Director at Large share about what they would bring to the position and then to answer questions from the audience wasn't available. These two episodes are the replacement platform to allow these fine candidates to share their stories. In this first episode we are going to dedicate this to the position of Director at Large. These two candidates, Simon Levin and Cat Traen, will be the first to go. A little about the process. I invited all four to schedule an time with me. The recordings were done on a "first come, first served" basis. And then they were put together in the same manner. I hope you enjoy these conversations.

Shae Bishop earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. Shae's artwork explores the relationships between ceramics and textiles. Shae has been a resident artist at The Archie Bray Foundation, Red Star Studios, and elsewhere in the US, as well as in Indonesia, Turkey, and Hungary.

More than anything else Lucy Ernst is an environmental artist. Lucy started out sculpting with bones and 'dead things' and then moved into clay when she discovered the idea of wild clay. With her work Lucy wants to force people to open their eyes to the environment around them, to the wild things, and to change how they see their world, their everyday!

This year's NCECA that was slated to take place in Richmond, Virginia had to be cancelled as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. In this bonus episode of The Potters Cast the executive director, Josh Green and a few of the board member, Board Steward Rhonda Willers, Current President Holly Hanessian, and incoming President Elect Pete Pinell all got on a conference call with me to tell their story of how NCECA is doing. After the introductions we talked about three things- How they came to their decision and its impact, what is going on currently and in the future with NCECA, and how we as a community can help.

Ryan Ball is a Twin Cities, Minnesota based potter originally from Louisiana. Working mostly in midrange white clay, Ryan produces a wide range of functional wares. Ryan pulls from a decade of production studio experience, employing colorful glazes of his own design over soft, inviting forms decorated with slip textures.

Isaac Shue is living a life of clay! As a teacher, Isaac is teaching our next generation of ceramicists by day and then working the studio life by night! Amanda Fungue color and plant lover and is seeking fun, small-batch pottery and art! Together they have collaborated together to make some amazing work. In this conversation we talk about the ins and outs of collaboration.

Ryan Rakhshan. Teacher, glaze designer, and kiln technician. Ryan occasionally makes a pot just to make sure his glazes and kilns are working.

Hector Kriete's life and art has been a path of breaking boundaries that are formed by rules and expectations. As a Latino immigrant from Colombia, Hector grew up with the mindset that financial stability was the primary goal in life. But on the inside, Hector always had a strong desire to create art and a need to be surrounded by nature. Hector spent his teenage years in Southern California trying to assimilate and suppress his true self. When Hector started accepting who he was and rediscovering himself through his roots, Hector's soul was nourished and his creativity was sparked. Hector started doing ceramics when he was a child in Colombia. When he moved to the States, Hector focused on his drawing skills, but soon felt constrained by the overwhelming amount of rules imposed by one of his high school teachers. Hector rediscovered ceramics through a teacher who allowed him to experiment and create without strict direction. This freed Hector to discover a world of unlimited possibilities. Another inspirational teacher in college taught Hector the value of making mistakes and not being afraid to take risks. Hector has learned that the best things can often come from not having expectations and allowing a co-creative process with the medium.

Dawn Klinger is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts focused on Ceramic Sculpture. Dawn has been working with clay for 30+ years, beginning in her freshman year of high school, where she fell in love with the medium. Pursuing art was not her original goal but as she began taking classes in college the positive feedback and support from her professors led her to realize, this was where she felt most at home. Dawn began her career in the early nineties teaching art and participating in art festivals in southern Florida, finding success in her ceramic sculpture and fulfillment teaching ceramics to a variety of populations. Dawn took a break from pursuing this path in 2003 to raise her children but always kept her hand in the medium. In 2015, after a move to southern Oregon, she decided to take her sculptural background in handbuilding and apply it to functional ceramics. From there, Tagliaferro Ceramics was born. Working out designs in her garage, over the course of a year Dawn created the initial pieces that would form the base of her dinner and serving ware collections. In 2016, Dawn partnered with a local woodworking company to open a boutique in Ashland, Oregon featuring her ceramics and his northwest hardwood cutting and serving boards. The pair were naturally aligned with simple, organic style focused on letting the material speak and minimizing embellishment. Tagliaferro is named after Dawn's maternal grandfather. Most of Dawn's childhood was spent in the care of her grandparents and it was by her grandfathers side, at his basement workbench, that she learned to create with he materials around her. The concept of family and sharing food together is at the core of Tagliaferro Ceramics and she choose the name to honor hers. Dawn continues to evolve the business, creating a website in Feb. 2019, running the Ashland boutique and most all, refining and creating new designs in her creekside studio.