Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Ryan Wilson Kelly. He works in both clay and papier-mache to make figure sculptures and vessels that are theatrically staged within narrative scenes. In this interview we talk about the influence of puppetry, essentializing facial expressions, and how humor can be an entry point for narrative sculpture.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Cassils. Their performance-based work often utilizes physical force and exertion as a metaphor for struggle and survival. In our interview we talk about creating pieces that are in dialogue with past artists, the role the audience plays as observer within a performance, and how they use their body as both a material and tool in their work.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with curator and scholar Paul Greenhalgh. His recently published book Ceramic Art and Civilisation establishes a historical through line linking four transformative eras into a larger history that explains how ceramics helped civilizations flourish. In our interview we talk about the great aesthetic transformers (Mediterranean classical era, the Middle East, China, and the modern era), how museums structure the public’s understanding of history, and why skill remains an important aspect of art history.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Juan Barroso. His ceramic forms are decorated with finely painted pointillist images of family members and objects that link to childhood memories and immigrant narratives. In our interview we talk about taking the “handyman” approach to art making, how pointillism stands as a metaphor for labor, and how art is a conduit for expressing emotion.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with curator and scholar Wendy Gers. She has curated numerous international exhibitions including the First Central China International Ceramics Biennale in 2016 and the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale in 2014. In our interview we talk about the dynamics of curating, her award-winning exhibition Post Colonialism?, and how ceramic studios might join the Green movement by applying best practices for environmental management.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Mark Shapiro. He is a noted potter and author of ceramic history based in western Massachusetts. In this interview we focus on his research into Thomas Commeraw, one of the most important potters working in New York City in the early 1800’s. We discuss the iconic Oyster jars that are attributed to his studio, his political and religious life within the African American community, and his participation in a tumultuous colonial project in Sierra Leone.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Natalia Arbelaez. Her terracotta sculptures often involve figures interacting with one another or conveying emotion with their facial expressions. She draws from her Colombian family’s immigration story to tell a larger cultural history of hybridization that is a result of migration. In our interview we talk about activating ceramic objects through performance, and the research and art making she has been doing around artists of color in museum collections.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Brett Kern. His ceramic sculptures of dinosaurs and spacemen are tied to his love of collectable toys and pop culture nostalgia. In our interview we talk about making slip cast molds from the inflatables he creates, dealing with flippers who buy his work to resell on eBay, and his recent exhibition The Lost World. The yearlong exhibition at the Erie Art Museum featured sculptures of Rocky, E.T., and other 1980’s icons rendered in a Hellenistic style.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Masa Sasaki. His functional pots are decorated with vibrant color schemes emphasizing motifs of deer, one-eyed aliens and punctuation marks, forming a cryptic biography for the viewer to decode. In the interview we talk about the meaning behind his symbols, how previous professions helped build skills for his ceramic career and developing a market for his work.

Noted Navajo sculptor and ceramic artist Christine McHorse died earlier this week. She was born in 1948 in Morenci, Arizona and started working full-time in the arts after attending the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe in the 1960’s. At the school she met her husband Joel and learned to make ceramics in the Pueblo style from his family. After more than two decades selling at the Santa Fe Indian Market, she transitioned into a style of sculptural vessels that drew national and international acclaim. In our interview we talk about shifting her work into the fine art world and developing her forms in micaceous clay and bronze.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Jessica Putnam Phillips. Jessica creates objects that are decorated with depictions of women in combat situations juxtaposed against floral patterns from historical dinnerware. She uses the pairing to question and contrast the role women play in both domestic and public service. In our interview we talk about using art to personalize military experience, how creative work can help service members deal with stress-related disorders, and ClayShare, an online ceramic education platform that she founded in 2017.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Mandy Kolahi. She co-founded POT, a community studio in Los Angeles, to create a safe space for artists of color and other marginalized groups to work in ceramics. In our interview we talk about how the founding principles of equality guided the growth of the studio, how they have pivoted their programming since the pandemic, and how studios like POT can break the opportunity cycle for the next generation of artists.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Larissa Warren. She is based in Tamborine Mountain in southeast Queensland, Australia where she uses the Nerikomi process to make ceramic vessels that reference geological strata. In addition to her ceramic practice, she has been researching the raw clays that are native to her surrounding area and the potters that have used them dating back to the 1940’s including the Morris sisters, Doris Aagaard, and Frances Carnegie. In our interview we talk about searching for raw clays, the history of past generations of Queensland potters, and the impact these women had on their rural mountain community.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Jason Sandy. He is a modern-day mudlark searching the foreshore of the Thames River in London. In our interview we talk about the history of London as a riverside city, the wide variety of objects that are found in the anaerobic mud of the Thames, and what these objects tell us about the eras they came from. We also discuss his newly published book Thames Mudlarking: Searching for London’s Lost Treasures.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Deb Schwartzkopf. She recently released a best-selling book on ceramics titled Creative Pottery. In our interview we talk about writing the book, using templates to help construct asymmetrical shapes, and using bisque molds to make multi-part ceramics forms. We also discuss how she shifted to teaching online as her home city of Seattle shut down due to COVID and how she has implemented diversity, equity, and inclusion training into her small business.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Kate Roberts. Roberts often uses unfired clay to create sculptures of topiaries, gates, and landscapes that feel both ancient and temporary, like they might slip out of existence right before your eyes. In our interview we talk about the influence of literature on her work and the risks and rewards of building site-specific installations.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with George Rodriguez. He creates ceramic sculptures decorated with vibrant low relief patterns that explore themes of personal identity and community building. In our interview we talk about the influence of the Bonderman Travel Fellowship, which funded his travel to twenty-six countries, and how this shaped his understanding of culture. We also discuss the logistics of building large ceramic sculpture, how adornment can initiate sacred space, and his exhibition La Flor, El Nicho, y sus Memorias (pictured above), which was recently on display at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Natania Hume. She is a potter and educator who splits time between teaching at a private school in Massachusetts and making pots in her studio in Vermont. In our interview we talk about selling small batch wholesale ceramics through home stores, looking for subtleties of color and form within minimalism, and using daily rituals to find work/life balance.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Marty Gross about the Mingei Film Archive. We talk about how a gift from Bernard Leach in 1975 started him on a decades long project to collect and restore videos surrounding the Mingei movement. In our interview we also talk about his methods for digitizing reel to reel films, understanding the impact of D.T. Suzuki on Soetsu Yanagi, and how these videos reshape the way we think about Shoji Hamada and other Mingei leaders.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview about the Studio Potter with Jill Foote-Hutton and Jessica Detweiler. Established in 1972 the Studio Potter has been active in documenting American studio ceramics. In our interview we discuss the move into a digital format for the journal and the opportunities this presents for the organization. We also discuss equity in organizations, nonprofit funding options, and the Grants for Apprenticeship program.