Having a Heart to Grow the Clay Community | Merle Lambeth | Episode 285

Merle Lambeth | Episode 285

San Diego potter, Merle Lambeth, is known for her delicately folded thin slabs of clay,use of textures and green glazes. Each piece shows her attention to detail and finishing. Merle’s training is mainly through attending workshops. She splits her time between creating new work and managing Clay Artists of San Diego, a non-profit clay organization.

Continue reading

A Vulnerable Conversation of Life as as Artist | Jen Fontenella | Episode 284

Jen Fontenella | Episode 284

Jen Fontanella is a ceramist in Overland Park, Kansas. She makes brightly colored contemporary pieces for the home and garden. Everything is made in small batches honoring the art of handmade. She’s a California native, a mother to a two-year-old, an ethnic food junkie and a craft beer enthusiast.

Continue reading

A Teacher’s Journey | Mike Flower | Episode 283

Mike Flower | Episode 283

Mike Flowers

 

Mike Flowers 1Mike Flower is a potter and teacher in Los Angeles, CA. Primarily an educator, his days are largely spent running a thriving high school studio that sees 200 students daily. He also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member at Cal State University, Dominguez Hills. His ceramic work is mostly utilitarian.

Continue reading

A College Students Is Building Her Business | Sage Cortez | Episode 281

Sage Cortez | Episode 281

sage-cortez

sage-cortez-1Sage Cortez is the hands of Hand & Fire Ceramics. Sage is a designer, ceramist, and craftswoman focusing on perfecting qualities of hand within functional tableware. Sage’s work is intended to bring life to any table it is brought to–to be a refresher in a world of casted, symmetrical, and manufactured goods. Currently Sage is finishing up her BFA as a sculpture major in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. It is important to Sage that all her materials are locally sourced, food safe, and well made to provide you with the best quality to her ability. Hand & Fire is Sage’s inspiration towards being creative every day; whether it be clay or flour, Sage always has her hands in something.

Continue reading

A Life of Change | Laurie Goldstein | Episode 280

Laurie Goldstein | Episode 280

laurie-goldstein

laurie-goldstein-2Laurie Goldstein is a potter who is in love with ceramics, with function, with beauty. Laurie is a mother to two great kids and a wife to a great guy named Guy… Laurie was born in NYC and when she was 8 her family moved to Israel where Laurie grew up, went to school, served her 2 year compulsory army service, and got her BFA in set and costume for theatre. Laurie then returned to the states for studies at NYU and then Alfred University. Then back to Israel where Laurie started her studio 22 years ago and has been working away happily since.

Continue reading

In Between and On the Way | Chris Lively | Episode 279

Chris Lively | Episode 279

chris-lively

chris-lively-9Chris is a ceramic artist living in Virginia He has been a ceramic artist for 14 years Chris is married to his wife, Jordan, who is also an artist and they have a 4 month old baby, Cambrie. He recently publish an article titled “Winter Blues” in Pottery Making Illustrated

Continue reading

Keeping Isolation at Bay | Leilani Trinka | Episode 278

Leilani Trinka | Episode 278

leilani-trinka

leilani-trinka-7Leilani Trinka is a ceramic artist, born and raised in Hawaii but now living in Singapore. She works exclusively in porcelain and specializes in creating hand built objects with a functional approach. Her work is made from textured slabs, is generally small in scale, is highly detailed and meticulously crafted. Leilani is enthused by pattern and inspired by both the manmade and the natural worlds. She produces work that brings her joy and makes her smile.

Continue reading

Making a Job for Yourself | Elaine Fallon | Episode 277

Elaine Fallon | Episode 277

elaine-fallon

elaine-fallon-1Elaine Fallon trained as a potter in Thomastown Pottery Skills course in Co Kilkenny. Elaine is now 45 years old, mother of 3, and a puppy. Elaine’s husband is an architectural photographer and after the recession they jokingly set up what they call Brookwood Enterprises. (Brookwood is the name of the road they live on!) Donal moved from his studio from the city centre and built a studio next to Elaine’s pottery. So Donal and Elaine have a very busy house with work, studio assistants, children, and everyday life mixed altogether. 
 
Elaine makes functional wheel based work mostly in porcelain stoneware. Elaine lived in New York in her early twenties and used to take the train to Kew Gardens to splash around in a studio called the Potter’s Wheel which still exists today! Continue reading

A Mug Club | Sarah Wolf | Episode 276

Sarah Wolf | Episode 276

sarah-wolf

Sarah is a ceramic artist in Portland, Oregon. Sarah’s business, Wolf Ceramics, is just over a year old. Sarah found ceramics in high school and had a healthy clay obsession throughout college in eastern Washington while working on a degree in geochemistry. Sarah’s initial years after college were spent traveling, farming in the San Juan sarah-wolf-91Islands, and climbing in the Cascade Mountains. Sarah couldn’t bring herself to get a real job in the field of geochemistry, and after seriously considering and then scraping the idea of architecture school, Sarah came back to clay.

Sarah decided to go back to school for ceramics and studied at the Oregon College of Art and Craft, where she hatched the idea for her business. A year and half ago, Sarah entered a matched savings grant program with Mercy Corps Northwest that supports new businesses. The funds from this grant came in August of 2016, kickstarted her business into a new space, and helped fund the purchase of studio equipment. Now that Sarah has a space of her own, she is taking on larger wholesale accounts with local businesses and eager to collaborate with other local businesses and crafts people!

Continue reading