Cook on Clay | Robbie Lobell | Episode 77

Posted on January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 by Paul Blais

Robbie Lobell | Episode 77

Robbie Lobell lives and works on Whidbey Island in Northwest Washington. Lobell is the co-founder, designer, and maker of Cook on Clays high-fire flameproof cooking pots. Cook on Clay, committed to sustainable local economies and food systems, collaborates with farmers, chefs, home cooks, and restaurants across the country. Lobell’s pots reside in kitchens and on tables across North America and beyond. Her work is featured in magazines and books about utilitarian pottery, cooking vessels, and making pots.

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“Ceramics Isn’t Art.” Wrong! | James Seet | Episode 76

Posted on January 15, 2015January 15, 2015 by Paul Blais

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James Seet | Episode 76

James finds it essential to tell stories through his art. As an art director, he uses ceramics as a canvas by incorporating illustrations into his work. He has a flair for theatrics and adopts a whimsical style that is sometimes satirical, which he hopes will tickle emotions and generate conversations.

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Marketing and Selling Pottery | Ben Carter | Episode 75

Posted on January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Ben Carter | Episode 75

Click the Picture and You’ll be Redirected to the Purchase the Course

In today’s art market, artists have to be more than just makers. Artists are marketers, sales people, web designers, and so much more. THINK BIG! is a six week series of interviews with successful ceramic artists, art agents, dream clients and book editors. The series is designed to help you build the skills you need to expand your creative business, learn some tricks of the trade, and think beyond the traditional methods of reaching your market. Click here to register today, or give the e-course as a unique gift for your creative loved ones.

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I Choose Clay | John George Larson | Episode 74

Posted on January 8, 2015January 8, 2015 by Paul Blais

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John George Larson | Episode 74

John George Larson is a painter and wood fire ceramic artist from southwest Minnesota. He discovered clay at age fourteen as a means of expression and as an alternative way of exploring fundamental physics. He has studied at Utah State University and under contemporary ceramist Oh Hyang Jong in South Korea. John fires an Anagama kiln and maintains his studio in Milan Minnesota. He uses Porcelain and Native clays with other indigenous materials to create his works which can be found in national and international collections.

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A Carefree Approach to Marketing | Re Jin Lee | Episode 73

Posted on January 6, 2015January 5, 2015 by Paul Blais

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Re Jin Lee | Episode 73

Re Jin (RJ) Lee’s company, Bailey Doesn’t Bark is a Brooklyn based design studio offering functional ceramics made by hand by RJ since 2008.

RJ was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil to South Korean parents. This combination of cultures has had a great influence in RJ’s design aesthetics.

After receiving a BA in Fashion Design and design certificates from Central Saint Martins, London College of Design and Istituto Europeu di Design, RJ moved to Los Angeles, CA to pursue her career in fashion design and styling.

Through fashion and a move to New York city RJ discovered her passion for home and product design. Like RJ’s Brazilian and Korean heritage, fashion has had a major influence in her design aesthetics and also the way she creates and presents her collections.

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Big Boy Pottery | Nicholas Bernard | Episode 72

Posted on December 30, 2014December 29, 2014 by Paul Blais

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Nicholas Bernard | Episode 72

To Nicholas Bernard, form is everything. Nick stretches clay to make canvases for decoration. Texture, pattern and color are successful additions when the shapes are impeccable. My inspirations are many, from the classic forms of antiquity to the simple, graceful pots made by indigenous peoples and the work of modern studio potters. Nick’s current body of work deals mostly with simple clean form. Handles and other flourishes are being added again after a four year hiatus. Dramatic color and subtle texture accentuate what Nick hopes is a mastery of the traditional vessel form.

Nick makes earthenware, with layers of textured slip, colored slips and oxides. Multiple gas or electric firings in oxidation to cone 03 or approximately 2000F.

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A Testing Artist | Isaac Patmore | Episode 71

Posted on December 25, 2014December 28, 2014 by Paul Blais

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Isaac Patmore | Episode 71

Isaac Patmore has his arts practice split across many facets of creative production. A full time arts worker, working At Monte Lupo as a manager in the creative arts. Aiding people with disabilities to design, decorate and create ceramics for sales and exhibitions.
Isaac’s personal arts practice is split across the work he makes to fire in wood kilns and work for the electric kiln. These two different finishes of the work still show the hand of the maker and comfortably sit together as a complete body of work.

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A Nurturing Artist | Alice Ballard | Episode 69

Posted on December 18, 2014December 22, 2014 by Paul Blais

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Alice Ballard | Episode 69

Alice Ballard maintains a studio in Greenville, SC where she teaches part-time at Christ Church Episcopal Middle School. She also taught at the SC Gov. School for the arts for 10 years, along with workshops at Penland, Arrowmont, Odyssey and for the American Crafts Council Southeast. Collections include the Renwick Gallery (DC), Mint Museum (NC), Resen Cermic Collection (Macedonia), state art collection in TN and SC. She received a Fulbright to study in India and an SCArtsCom Individual Fellowship Grant. Represented by Blue Spiral 1 (NC), Hodges Taylor (NC) The Tao Evolution (Hong Kong)

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Building Relationships for Building Business | Kip O’Krongly | Episode 68

Posted on December 16, 2014December 16, 2014 by Paul Blais

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Kip O’Krongly | Episode 68

Kip O’Krongly earned a BA from Carleton College in 2001 and continued her ceramics education in studios across the country before returning to Minnesota as the Northern Clay Center Fogelberg Fellow, Materials Technician, and then Anonymous Potter Studio Fellow. Kip has been featured as a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist, on the cover of Pottery Making Illustrated, and was the Best in Show winner of Strictly Functional Exhibition in 2011. She exhibits work and teaches workshops across the country, is included in a number of ceramic publications and was awarded a $25,000 McKnight Artist Grant in 2014. O’Krongly currently maintains a studio in Northfield, Minnesota.

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An Artist Staying Current | Frances Palmer | Episode 67

Posted on December 11, 2014December 11, 2014 by Paul Blais

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Frances Palmer | Episode 67

Frances Palmer has been making ceramics since 1987. Frances was trained as an art historian, yet has always made work with her hands. First as a printmaker and now as a potter and gardener. Frances loves the process of changing ideas into form. She doesn’t make or grow things to hold onto them, but rather to send them out into the world for others to live with and enjoy. Her handmade ceramics are functional art – dishware or vases that can be used on a daily basis. Each piece, no matter how large or small, is considered and individual.

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