Wood Fire Potter | Emma Smith | Episode 94

Posted on March 19, 2015March 18, 2015 by Paul Blais

Emma Smith | Episode 94

Emma Smith grew up in a town house complex in Burlington, ON where the parking lot acted as a playground for the neighbourhood kids, and the snow piles at the end of the driveway were exceptional opportunities for fortress building and burrowing. In 2008, she spent a year in rural Thailand where she learned to build relationships and experience the world through touch, taste, movement, and dreams.

After returning to Canada, her desire to encourage community and experience led her to pursue a career in the functional arts. A graduate of the Sheridan College and Fleming College ceramics programs, Emma creates humble artwork for everyday use. Her objects encourage the gathering of peoples and the sharing of a meal, by providing delight in the ordinary and unnecessary.

Emma’s work has exhibited at The Gardiner Museum (Toronto, ON), MADE Gallery (Toronto), Craft Ontario (Toronto), The Clay Studio (Philadelphia, PA), Carnegie Gallery (Dundas, ON), and The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery (Waterloo, ON).

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Old School | Mark Goertzen | Episode 93

Posted on March 17, 2015March 16, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Mark Goertzen

Specializing in gas fired glazed ware to cone 10 and one of a kind wood fired vessels, Mark Goertzen has worked as a professional potter since 1989. He started in clay at Bethel College, Kansas in the mid 1980’s, and has been happily learning more about it ever since.

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Dear Human | Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell | Episode 92

Posted on March 12, 2015March 12, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell | Episode 92

Dear Human is the creative studio founded by Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell in 2009. After meeting at a residency in Denmark, Jasna and Noel immediately began working on ideas together and haven’t stopped since. The studio works in various artistic domains that include public space projects, product design, and applied arts. Their collaboration is rooted in common beliefs and ideas and supported by the strengths that each bring to the table—Noel’s material expertise and attention to detail and Jasna’s improvisational sensibility and explorative nature.
Their work draws inspiration from working in new environments, experimenting with materials and collaborating with other designers, architects, and artists Dear Human projects offer an alternative perception to overlooked everyday landscapes by revealing the hidden potential of places and objects, hoping to inspire consciousness and curiosity.

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Ceramic Artist | Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk | Episode 91

Posted on March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk | Episode 91

Pepijn van den Nieuwendijk studied Graphic and Typographic design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, The Netherlands (Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag).

After graduation Pepijn focused more on illustrating and painting. This was the beginning of Cirque dextraordinaire or what later became his alias and studio name Cirque de Pepin.

Pepijns circus, as a metaphor for a place where anything can happen.

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Saving the History of Potters | Debra Sloan | Episode 90

Posted on March 7, 2015March 7, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Debra Sloan | Episode 90

Debra Sloan did a self-directed apprenticeship from 1973-79. Later she attended Vancouver Art School 1979-82. Debra has taught, adjudicated, and presented at many symposiums, most recently in Romania. Now she serves on arts Boards, is represented in 6 LARK publications, she exhibits nationally, internationally, attended 3 international residencies, and most recently at the Leach Pottery, UK. Debra works mainly as a figurative artist, but started as a potter.

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A Story to Tell | Jennica Kruse | Episode 89

Posted on March 3, 2015March 6, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Jennica Kruse | Episode 89

Jennica Kruse is a ceramic artist living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her BFA from the University of Minnesota and graduated Summa cum Laude in 2011. She also studied ceramics in Cortona, Italy in 2010. She is a Resident Artist at the Northern Clay Center where she teaches and works as the Materials Technician.

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Inspired by a Dad | Ryan Archibald | Episode 88

Posted on February 26, 2015March 2, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Ryan Archibald | Episode 88

Born and raised in Illinois, Ryan Archibald received his BFA from Southern Illinois University in 2013 and continued his ceramic education in Minnesota as the Northern Clay Center Anonymous Potter Studio Fellow. Ryan now resides in Minneapolis where he maintains a studio, teaches beginner wheel-throwing classes, and works for a production pottery.

Here is the Piece Ryan’s Dad made that in turn inspired Ryan’s current work

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Inspired by Nature | Kathy Pallie | Episode 87

Posted on February 24, 2015February 23, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Kathy Pallie | Episode 87

As a commercial artist, Kathy Pallie worked with many different materials creating 3-dimensional objects. When Kathy retired, she put her hands into clay and has been exploring this exciting, tactile medium ever since.

Kathy’s artwork is inspired by Nature, by the unlimited variety of textures, patterns and energy she finds in her natural surroundings.Continue reading→

A My-Way Approach | Ginny Sims | Episode 86

Posted on February 23, 2015February 23, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Ginny Sims | Episode 86

Ginny Sims is interested in objects and the surrounding sensations in a home that trigger memory and emotion. Exploring homes and observing family patterns has been a fascination of Ginny since childhood. She finds a lot of inspiration for the work that she makes in the relationships between objects and their owners, and the somewhat overlooked power of the presence of certain objects and how they made their way into our lives. Ginny creates objects that echo a sense of history and thoughtfulness, but also that of loss and abandonment.

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Going Thin- Translucent Thin | John Shirley | Episode 85

Posted on February 19, 2015February 18, 2015 by Paul Blais

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John Shirley | Episode 85

John Shirley works in bone-china. Most of John’s work is decorated with soluble salts which have a tendency to permeate the surface of the work adding subtle watercolor effects and creating an ethereal quality. John is a fellow of Ceramics Southern Africa and a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.

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