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Matthew Schiemann | Episode 235
Matthew Schiemann is a second-generation potter that grew up watching and helping his dad create ceramic works. This early exposure taught Matt to appreciate the handmade object and eventually to choose the field of ceramics for himself. He received his Bachelors of Arts in Sculpture and Ceramics from Ashland University in 2005 and his Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2009.
While in graduate school, Matt worked as Harris Deller’s personal assistant and as a Teaching Assistant for the wheel throwing and industrial design courses. During this time, he began building his own body of work focused on functional pottery fired in atmospheric kilns.
After graduating from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Matt was accepted as an artist in residence at the St. Petersburg Clay Company. Shortly after being accepted as A.I.R. Matt became an adjunct professor at Eckerd College for PEL program’s ceramics department. In October of 2010, Matt became co-owner/director of the St. Petersburg Clay Company.
Sarah Thompson works with porcelain and throws it mostly on her potters wheel. Sarah hand paints botanical motifs on the surface of each pot, and then glazes them in her own colors. Sarah’s work is functional ceramics.
Robert Piepenburg was born in Detroit, MI and received his Bachelor’s, Master’s degree and MFA degree from Eastern Michigan University. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, three Michigan Council for the Arts Creative Artists Grants and an Outstanding Teacher of the Year award from Oakland Community College. His works appear in public and private collections from the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Ian F. Thomas is an installation artist living in Slippery Rock, PA and works at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. Ian holds a BFA from Slippery Rock University and an MFA from Texas Tech University. Ian received additional training at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovakia, and The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China.
Risa Nisimori has been working and teaching ceramics at her studio, N.Y. Togei Kyoshitsu in New York City. Risa studied proper wheel throwing in Japan, but Risa’s preferred method is Nerikomi, using different mixed clays and creating new and interesting patterns.
Lauren Gallaspy received her BFA in ceramics at the University of Georgia in 2005 and her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2007. From 2009 to 2012, Gallaspy served as co-director and owner of Trace Gallery in Athens, Georgia alongside artist, educator, and collector Andy Nasisse. In 2013, she was recognized by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts as an Emerging Artist in the field. Additionally, she was one of 25 artists awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Painters & Sculptors Grant for 2012. Her work has been featured in Ceramics:Art & Perception, Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics Now, Clay Times, Lark Book’s The Best of 500 Ceramics and 500 Cups, Rocky Mountain Artists, and the recently published Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist’s Guide to Glaze and Color. Gallaspy has exhibited nationally and internationally in over 60 group and solo exhibitions since 2007, including in the highly publicized “State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now” at Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas. Lauren was an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts from 2012 to 2015 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She is currently a long term resident at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana.
Herrick Smith is a current MFA candidate at Fort Hays State University. Smith enjoys wood and soda firing as well as casting various metals. His ceramic work focuses on vessels while the cast work is abstracted and organic. After graduation Smith hopes to teach college ceramics and/or sculpture.
Nikki Mizak is a potter in North Carolina who makes functional pottery featuring hand painted animals and slip trailed texture. Nikki finds inspiration in nature so Nikki features chicken in much of her work. She has a real talent at capturing the individual chicken’s personalities on her pots. 
Emily Free Wilson is a ceramic artist and entrepreneur in Helena, Montana. She runs her pottery business Free Ceramics and the Studio Art Center, with her husband Matt Wilson. In 2014, Emily and Matt purchased an old funeral home and have converted into an art center. Emily recently retired from 10 years as the gallery director at the Archie Bray Foundation.
Rachel Donner is a full time potter living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She grew surrounded by art and history in the small town of Taos, NM. Rachel studied ceramics at the University of Northern Colorado and went on to do a few residencies and assistantships before settling back in New Mexico, for the time being.