Clay Week 2020 Play List
For this year’s Clay Week I’ve created a playlist with classic episodes that support the daily topics of this year’s schedule. To participate in this year’s Clay Week events, including Clay Week Open Studio visit www.clayweek.org.
Monday- Making & Using
On the topic of using handmade ceramics I have a 2013 interview with Sarah Jaeger. Known for her highly decorated porcelain pottery she has maintained a studio in Helena, MT since 1987. Before becoming a potter Sarah studied literature and this early influence is reflected in her eloquent writing about the hand made. "Despite the material abundance of our culture, it seems to me that we have been impoverished by the disjunction of beauty and handwork from utility that accompanied the industrial revolution and the hourly wage. When time became a commodity, it no longer made sense to make mere dishes by hand, and yet, as the jeweler and writer Bruce Metcalf has said, "handwork makes meaning, not just physical things." In the interview we talk about the human desire to create meaning through hand made objects, as well as her love of pattern and volume, and the early days when she would skip class to spend more time in the clay studio.
Tuesday- Teaching
On the topic of teaching I have a 2015 interview with Walter Ostrom. One of the early adopters of earthenware Majolica pottery in North America, Walter has been a major influence on generations of ceramic artists. Through his almost forty year teaching career at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design he upheld functional ceramics as a conceptually rich medium that deserved equal footing in academia.
Wednesday- Sharing
On the topic of sharing I have an 2018 interview with King Houndekpinkou. King is a Franco-Beninese artist, based in Paris, who makes sculptural vessels that are covered with rich amorphous surfaces created by layering slips and glazes. In 2016 he started the Terra Jumelles project matching pottery centers in Se, Benin with partners in Bizen, Japan. This sister city format aims to create cultural exchange between two regions with abundant historical and contemporary ceramic activity. In our interview we talk about the influence of video games, animism and rituals, and Japanese ceramic culture.
Thursday - Thinking
On the topic of thinking I have a 2014 interview featuring Kristen Kieffer, Michael Kline and Julia Galloway. The wide-ranging conversation looks at current trends of that era in ceramic design, the effect of the internet on the way we see design, the pressures on young artists to succeed, and dealing with the restless personality of the artist.
Open Studio Friday through Sunday - Outreach
On the topic of outreach I have a 2018 interview with Vicki Grima and Stephen Creech. The focus of our discussion centers around nation-wide open studio events that bring the public into ceramic artist’s studios as a form of outreach and education. The Australian Ceramic Association started their open studio in 2012 and provided the model for which Clay Week is based.