Author Archive: Paul Blais

Wellness For Makers | Missy Graff Ballone | Episode 961

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Missy Graff Ballone | Episode 961

Missy Graff Ballone is the author of Wellness for Makers: A Movement Guide for Artists! Missy’s mission is to motivate and empower creatives, like you, through education, mindful-living, and movement! Missy combines her unique backgrounds as an Artist, Yoga Instructor, and Licensed Massage Therapist to make information about the body accessible to artists everywhere.

This simple wrist stretch is a great way to counterbalance overuse issues for many ceramic artists. Wedging clay forces the wrist into extension and the force of the movement adds a lot to the load. A counterbalance stretch can work wonders.

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A Philosophy of Teaching | PJ Hargraves | Episode 960

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PJ Hargraves | Episode 960

PJ Hargraves is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is currently teaching, technician-ing, and maintaining an active studio practice in Northeast Ohio. PJ holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and loves making playful and joyous pottery, and sculptures.

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She Makes Instruments Out Of Clay | Melissa Hyatt Foss | Episode 959

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Melissa Hyatt Foss | Episode 959

Melissa Hyatt Foss is an instrument-maker, musician, and educator. Melissa developed her career as a performer and teaching artist for 12 years in Argentina, and is now based in Baltimore where she continues to create projects exploring Pre-Colonial musical instruments of the Americas and their applications in contemporary art and music.

Below are a sampling of the flutes Melissa played on the show.

Deer Whistling Bottle

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Making More Than A Living Wage | Brooke Knippa | Episode 958

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Brooke Knippa | Episode 958

Brooke Knippa is an avid maker and lover of nature. Brooke grew up on the Front Range of Colorado but was eventually called east by the Atlantic Ocean, making her way to the wilds of Maine where she currently resides. Brooke is a full-time ceramicist, bringing joy and whimsy through her functional art.

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Handing a Fishing Pole Instead of A Fish | Sondra Elder | Episode 957

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Sondra Elder | Episode 957

As a self-taught artist, Sondra was not able to truly devote time to her creative journey until after retiring from her life in the business world. Her journey has taken her to study with Spanish, Austrailian, English, and American ceramic artists to develop her skills. With her pottery, her chosen medium is porcelain because its strength and delicacy learn to live in harmony. It is her perfect canvas to display the beautiful zinc-silicate crystals that can only be created through normally destructive fire. These naturally occurring phenomena inspire her never-ending desire to artistically harness their capability on the backdrop of her forms – which equally exude both capability and femininity.

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Decades Doing Clay | John Tilton | Episode 956

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John Tilton | Episode 956

John Tilton was a graduate student working toward a Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Florida when he was introduced to clay as an artistic medium in 1968. John subsequently took up Ceramics as a profession, earning his M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of South Florida in 1972. John has gone on to teach classes in Mathematics at the University of Florida and in Ceramics at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL. John has been an independent studio artist since 1972. In 1978, he moved into a spiritual community, where he and his wife, Anne, still live and maintain their studio.

 

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Woodfire Talk | Denise Joyal | Episode 955

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Denise Joyal | Episode 955

Kilnjoy Ceramics is owned and operated by Denise Joyal. Denise is the adjunct Professor of Ceramics at Wilson College and a graduate of Hood College with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Ceramic Arts. Like sunlight passing over the landscape, fire and soda vapor flow across the wares of Denise’s work adding warm colors and permanently illuminating the vessels’ surfaces.

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Bonsai Pot Maker | Roy Minarai | Episode 954

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Roy Minarai | Episode 954

Roy Minarai began experimenting with making glazes and soon found that he enjoyed the process of making, testing, tweaking, and layering glazes as much as he liked making pots. Not long into making Roy was contacted by a leading expert in bonsai ceramics Ryan Bell, whose blog japanesebonsaipots.com is the largest most comprehensive database of potters marks, as well as wealth of information on bonsai ceramics. Ryan became a huge encouragement and soon asked about doing an interview. The rest is history.

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Systems For Potters | Jeanette Stevens | Episode 953

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Jeanette Stevens | Episode 953

 

From a young age Jeanette Stevens’ infectious positivity and enthusiasm has been at the heart of both her career and personal life. Throw in Jeanette’s fascination with organisation and passion for all things creative, it’s no surprise her career path and hobbies have been varied! From Master baker & cake decorator to aerobics instructor & accountant, Jeanette’s heart settled in the fabulous world of bridal, as Managing Director of global business selling designer wedding dresses to bridal shops. Sometimes the best things in life are the unexpected. When 2021 brought intense challenges navigating a business through covid lockdowns, Jeanette received a surprise birthday gift from her husband of a potters wheel, where she discovered incredible calm & stress release in a hobby that had been on her bucket list since a child. Six lessons later and hours of Youtube binge watching and she is totally addicted and passionate about Clay. In two short years she has built a home studio and documented her journey on Instagram and You Tube, having the best time ever in her happy place.

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Keeping Tests Going | Eric Ordway | Episode 952

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Eric Ordway | Episode 952

Eric Ordway is a potter and teacher currently living and working in Columbia, MO. Eric makes wheel-thrown and altered pots that are finished in high, atmospheric kilns. Eric’s work is influenced by his blue-collar roots, his interest in spirituality, and fantasy. Eric recently was nominated as a 2023 Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly.

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