Sarah Jaeger on the desire to create meaning through hand made objects

This week on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Sarah Jaeger. Known for her highly decorated porcelain pottery she has maintained a studio in Helena, MT since 1987. Her functional pottery has been exhibited widely and she has taught workshops throughout North America.

Before becoming a potter Sarah studied literature and this early influence is reflected in her eloquent writing about the hand made. "Despite the material abundance of our culture, it seems to me that we have been impoverished by the disjunction of beauty and handwork from utility that accompanied the industrial revolution and the hourly wage. When time became a commodity, it no longer made sense to make mere dishes by hand, and yet, as the jeweler and writer Bruce Metcalf has said, "handwork makes meaning, not just physical things."

In the interview we talk about the human desire to create meaning through hand made objects, as well as her love of pattern and volume, and the early days when she would skip class to spend more time in the clay studio. For more information on Sarah's work please visit www.sarahjaeger.com.