Tales of a Red Clay Rambler: A pottery and ceramic art podcast

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Giselle Hicks. After reading Elaine Scarry’s On Beauty and Being Just, Hicks has embraced the decorative function of her minimalist vessels, focusing on a quest for personal beauty. In our interview we talk about her experience selling through interior designers and how her transition between sculptural and functional bodies of work helped her cultivate a new audience.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Scott Barnim. Based in Dundas, Ontario, Barnim has been a potter for over 40 years. His studio production now includes lines of decorated stoneware and reduced luster ceramics. In our interview we talk about running a successful studio pottery, understanding luster ceramics, and learning from Alan Caiger-Smith.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have a panel discussion with members of the Hamilton Potters Guild. Emma Smith, Greg Voison, Melissa Schooley and Scott Barnim talk about their experience being potters in the Ontario region and the benefits of being in a guild. We also talk about building a wood kiln on a land lease property, following trends versus “selling out” your aesthetic, and how the rising cost of housing affects potters.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Paul Briggs. During his multifaceted career Paul has been a professor, minister, and artist. While in the ministry he became engaged with social justice work, which influenced his recent body of work “Cell Personae.” The collection of sculptures deals with the effect mass incarceration has on black lives. In the interview we talk about Csikszentmihalyi's research into flow states and how social justice, spirituality and art inte

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview that Kate Fisher conducted with ceramic artist Mikey Walsh in 2014. The interview is part of Fisher’s interactive project, “Both Artist and Mother”, which addresses the issues working mothers face as they navigate their lives. In the interview they talk about dealing with the “shouldness” of time management and advice for women who desire to blend familial and career goals.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Kate Fisher. Her recent body of functional pottery draws from a visual analysis of her domestic landscape, including kid’s toys, tools and other familial paraphernalia. In the interview we talk about the parallels between endurance sports and potting, the types of support working mothers need to be active in their studios, and her ceramics outreach project “Both Artist and Mother.”

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have a live episode featuring Amanda Salov, Iva Haas, Seth Charles, and Amanda Bury. The panel share their experience being resident artists and developing a career in ceramics. In the interview we also talk about how to write a successful application, managing long distance relationships with friends and family, and what makes a good residency. The discussion was taped live at Central Washington University as part of the Residency Reflections exhibition.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have the final episode of a miniseries featuring current resident artists at the Archie Bray Foundation. In this episode Stuart Gair, Kyle Johns, and Kelly Stevenson talk about transitioning to full time studio work after graduate school, pushing themselves to take risks in the studio, and the value of working at the Archie Bray Foundation.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have the second in a series of discussions with current resident artists at the Archie Bray Foundation. In this episode Richard James, Kelsey Duncan and Iva Haas talk about building a character study for figurative sculpture, the choice to improvise or not in the creative process, and how making art can shift the maker’s world view.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have the first in a series of discussions with current resident artists at the Archie Bray Foundation. In this episode Jessica Brandl, Yoonjee Kwak and Christina Erives talk about using humor to shape their aesthetic, creating narrative works that relate to the personal mythologies of their families, and their experience as resident artists in academic institutions and art centers.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Brenda Quinn. Her vibrant functional pottery explores the line between hard and soft through the blending of architectural and floral elements. In the interview we talk about how a childhood phobia led her to practice mindfulness, methods for generating pattern, and helping her students understand the value of handmade goods.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Matt Wedel. He uses a gestural sculpting style and vibrant glazes to create ambitious large-scale works around the themes of the figure, landscape, and what he calls “Flower Trees”. In the interview we talk about keeping up with the speed of his imagination, understanding color and surface, and the place of ceramics in the art world.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have Linda Christianson’s closing lecture from the Cultural Confluence Wood Fire Symposium, held in Helena, MT in October 2018. She talks about the human preoccupation with fire and how that is being replaced by the back lit screens of modern technology. She also addresses problems that face the field of wood firing including gender inequity and resource depletion.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have a panel on nonacademic paths for learning wood firing featuring Robin Dupont, Jody Johnstone, Scott Parady, Martin Tagseth, and Tara Wilson. The panelists discuss a wide range of personal experience from Johnstone’s time in a traditional Japanese apprenticeship to Parady establishing his Cobb Mountain Art & Ecology Project to teach wood firing and ecology.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have a panel on education featuring John Neely, Matthew Blakely, Pascal Geoffroy, Sandy Lockwood, and Linda Lid. The panelists discuss how they came to learn wood firing and the current status of the firing technique in educational institutions in Australia, the United States, and Western Europe.