I met Matt Ziemke last year in Philadelphia. He is a guest artist-in-residence at The Clay Studio, and when we met he had just come out of graduate school. We actually sat down and talked on mic for a podcast interview, but decided to throw it out. It just didn’t work, didn’t feel right, and listening back to it confirmed my sense during the conversation. Part of that could’ve been my skill as a host/interviewer, the time of day, the environment, but I felt that Matt might’ve been in a head space that was mostly taken up with working his way out of the post-graduate school fog that some of us have gone through. He came to visit Portland back in January, and we talked about that time when working is just about getting oneself through a stage of life, his stance on being political within his work, and the water fight that takes place in the mid-West and mountain states. Enjoy!

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Victoria Christen is a Portland, OR potter and a friend. We had a great talk back in December at Vic’s home and we covered quite a bit of material. She took a somewhat indirect road to making pots and being a potter, which we get into. She had an idyllic childhood in Montana and was raised in an environment of making, creating, and exploring.  Her work reflects her upbringing, and in Victoria’s own words: I come from a tradition of seamstresses. As a young girl, my grandmother designed and sewed clothing for families at neighboring homesteads. My grandmother’s skills passed to my mother, who sewed all our family clothes, and then to myself. As a ceramic artist, my process is not so different than that of my mother and grandmother. Like them, I transform my ideas into patterns cutting, folding, and joining various pieces to create a physical object. Enjoy this episode, it’s a good one!

Jonescast #26

Ginger Lukas is an artist from the mid-West, by way of Baltimore, who I met briefly in Philadelphia at The Clay Studio while we crossed paths as resident artists. She has since moved back to Wisconsin and has continued to make work and decorate cakes (we get into that during our conversation.) Ginger was generous enough to let me interrupt her while she set up a show here in Portland. We get into expectations, anxiety, and growing up with the internet. Enjoy!

Sunshine Cobb is a potter currently working at The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT. She seemed to appear out of nowhere (maybe it just seemed that way from my perspective) and was on magazines, in galleries, and presenting workshops. I met Sunshine at Arrowmont for Utilitarian Clay back in September and I found her sweet, smart, easy to talk to, and focused like a laser. We talk about her beginnings in ceramics, establishing a career and a life and the balance between the two, and the reality of limits. I really enjoyed our conversation and I look forward to seeing her work move forward in the future.  Listen to the podcast here. Enjoy!

Podcast #24

I met Amy Halko in Dallas, TX back in 2005. She has since moved to Northern California where she lives and makes her work. Amy is a founding member of the Dallas Pottery Invitational and shows work nationally. We were able to catch up recently in San Francisco and we talked about boredom, drive, and isolation, among other things.

Podcast #23

Deborah Horrell is a Portland based glass artist. She hosted me at her studio and our conversation revolved around her beginnings as a ceramic artist and the move she made to glass. We also talked at length about the importance of grief as a catalyst in her work. She was as open and articulate about her experiences as an artist and as a person on this earth as anyone else I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to. The conversation we had is one of my favorites. If you get the chance to see her work in person, go.

Deborah received her MFA from the University of Washington in 1979. After working as a ceramist for many years, Horrell participated in the Pilchuck Glass School’s visiting artist program in 1994. A residency at the Bullseye Factory followed in 1996 permanently changing the trajectory of her career. The artist has shown her work, both ceramic and glass, in museums and galleries throughout the country.

Podcast #22

Mary Barringer received a BA in art from Bennington College, apprenticed with Michael Frimkess, and has been a studio artist since 1973, making both sculpture and functional pottery. Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently at AKAR (Iowa City), the Signature Shop (Atlanta), and at the World Ceramics Expo in Korea. She has taught at numerous art centers and universities including Ohio University, the Boston Museum School, and Penland School of Crafts. In addition to her studio work she has written and lectured on ceramic history, and was named editor of Studio Potter journal in 2003. She lives in Shelburne Falls, MA.

Heidi Preuss Grew is a ceramic sculptor and educator from Salem, OR. She’s been teaching at Willamette University since 1999 and keeps a vital studio practice. Heidi’s been a visiting artist across the US and has strong ties both artistically and familiallly in Germany. We talk about her growing up with a German mother and American father, her beginnings as an artist, and her experiences as an educator. Good talk!

Lisa Conway is an artist and educator in Portland, OR. Her highly textured work reminds an audience of the body while referencing plant life. Lisa teaches ceramics at Clark College, where she is also the head of the ceramics department. Our conversation veered off into several directions, from the nuts and bolts of teaching (fascinating stuff to me), the life/work/studio balance, and working with galleries and exhibition spaces. I’ve known Lisa for a while now, and I am very glad to have her on the show. Enjoy!

Podcast #19

Andy Paiko is a Portland glass artist. He’s also getting recognition as someone who is pushing the limits of concept within a traditional craft field. Andy’s work stretches the notion of both what a functional object is and what it can be made out of: a glass hammer, a seismograph that wouldn’t survive the earthquake it measures, a spinning wheel that is more fragile than the material it processes. His use of material and concept betrays a simple irony between the two and pushes the work’s impact onto a more poetic level. Andy’s also a down to earth guy who doesn’t get too far ahead of himself. I hope you enjoy our conversation!