Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an anonymized interview with one of the founding members of Craft Equity. The group has developed a platform for sharing stories of inequity in the craft field. In our interview we talk about the value of anonymity for people reporting abuse, the role social pressure plays in holding institutions accountable, and how empathy can create change in the community.

Earlier this month Adam Yungbluth passed away at his home in Morehead, KY. Adam was a generous teacher, husband, and maker, who was always ready to laugh or offer a tidbit of clay wisdom. Today’s episode is a re-airing of our 2016 interview featuring Adam and his wife Melissa. At the time they lived in St. Petersburg, FL and our interview focuses on their experiences in the local art scene and their love of comedy podcasts.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Sarah Pike. Her hand-built teapots, vases, and mugs have a soft angularity reminiscent of the tin objects from which she has drawn influence. In our interview we talk about redeveloping a sense of touch after a hiatus, making stamps to create repeating patterns, and building a bustling online business from her home in Fernie, BC.

The LA-based couple are artists and co-hosts of the podcast Vessel: Art as a Doorway. In our interview we talk about their creative practices in ceramics and painting, as well as their forays into digital art and NFT’s. We also discuss the genesis of their podcast, which delves into the intersection of creativity and the brain.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Brendan Tang. As a Gen X artist, he describes himself as being from the remix generation using the concept of hybridity to blend historical influences with current technology in his multimedia sculptures. In our interview we talk about the Joss paper tradition and his recent exhibition “Reluctant Offerings,” which features a full-scale Ford F-150 made from watercolor paper and wood that is a burnt offering to ancestors. We also discuss blending Ming Dynasty forms and mechanical techno-pop elements in his much-acclaimed ceramic series Manga Ormulu.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Kaitlyn Brennan. Based in Merrickville, ON, she makes a line of terracotta pottery decorated with vibrant floral patterns and pop imagery. In our interview we talk about avenues for Canadians to learn ceramics, wholesaling to Canada-made shops, and her love of roller derby. In addition to her studio practice, she is the director of the Gloucester Pottery School, which offers ceramic classes in the Ottawa area.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Julie Moon. A multi-talented maker based in Toronto, Moon makes sculptural forms approaching the human body from different perspectives. In the past she frequently sculpted the figure but now makes more amorphous forms that become canvases for geometric patterns. In our interview we talk about her time working in fashion, how to balance vibrant colors, and letting a work in process evolve over time.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Magdolene Dykstra. Her raw clay sculptures depict a shifting biosphere of cells morphing to fill the environment they inhabit. The work highlights both the micro and macro effects of overpopulation and centers around the question “What is the role of the individual within the horde”? In our interview we talk about the concept of Polyanthroponemia, building large scale works with press molded parts, and using ceramic pigments for works on paper.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Martina Lantin. Over the past twenty years she has explored many facets of terracotta pottery, drawing from Italian Renaissance maiolica and Persian slipware. In our interview we talk about her passion for terracotta, developing patterns under and over glazes, and stewarding the acclaimed ceramics program at the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Amy Smith. Her porcelain pots are decorated with female nudes delicately drawn with slip inlay. The translucent glazes pull the cobalt out of the inlay accentuating the movement of hair, hips and other aspects of the pose. In our interview we talk about the emotive power of the drawn figure and how running and movement influence her work.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Adrienne Eliades. From her Vancouver, Washington studio she makes highly decorated functional pots that draw from mid-century modern patterns and aesthetics. In our interview we talk about developing confidence as a teacher, using die-cut stencils, and her role as program coordinator for Idyllwild’s Hot Clay summer program.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Janet Koplos. A noted critic and writer, Janet has published over 2000 articles and essays since she started writing about art in 1976. From 1990 to 2009 she was senior editor at Art in America and has authored numerous books, including her most recent What Makes a Potter: Functional Pottery in America Today. In our interview we talk about the role of the critic in our time, the key to editing other writers’ words, and documenting the lives of over fifty potters for her book.

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.