Podcast #17

Garth Johnson seems to be in a lot of places at once, and is somehow always at the point of convergence where art and ideas take place. Early on in Lincoln, NE he was involved in the local music scene, where he met friends who would later on connect him with LA comedy. Garth also has a life in acaedmia in Eureka, CA and is still able, no, make that willing, to keep connected to other, seemingly disparate non-academic movements (craftivism, Maker Faire, DIY). Garth is interested in the connections between people, material, and the importance of making. He’s written extensively about ceramics and craft and still manages to make his own work. The only thing that impresses me more than Garth’s ability to juggle so many things at once is the fact that he sees the ceramic world much differently than most who are invested in it: that there ought to be a lot less hand wringling about our place in the larger art world, that we are stronger than we think, and that we need to look outside of ourselves to really make creative inroads when it comes to concept and execution. He drops a lot of things to check out in this conversation, keep a notepad and pencil ready and check them out later on.