Tales of a Red Clay Rambler: A pottery and ceramic art podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Camille Dungy is an award-winning poet, writer, and host of the podcast Immaterial: 5,000 Years of Art, One Material at a Time from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In our interview we talk about Immaterial and their approach to art and story telling. We also talk about her passion for gardening, and her most recent book Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden.

This episode also features an excerpt from the Immaterial episode Stone: Making and Breaking Legacies. To hear the rest of that episode follow and subscribe to Immaterial on your favorite podcast app. Many thanks to Metropolitan Museum of Art for sponsoring this episode of the show.

My upcoming book The Complete Guide to Low-Fire Glazes for Potters and Sculptors has its official release on September 10 and is now available for pre-order. Get your copy today on Amazon or where ever fine books are sold.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the following sponsors:

Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org

Michiana Pottery Tour www.michianapotterytour.com

The Rosenfield Collection of Functional Ceramic Art www.Rosenfieldcollection.com

Cornell Studio Supply www.cornellstudiosupply.com

Bray Clay www.archiebrayclay.com

Christi Ruffin is an avid collector of ceramics, and by that, I mean she is obsessed. I recently got to visit her home in Charlotte, NC and hold many of the pieces that make up her collection of over 3,000 pots. In our interview we talk about forming relationships with artists, insuring and documenting a ceramic collection, and how the pandemic helped accelerate her collecting habit. To see the collection you can follow Christi on Instagram at pottery.addict.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the following sponsors:

The Rosenfield Collection of Functional Ceramic Art www.Rosenfieldcollection.com

Cornell Studio Supply www.cornellstudiosupply.com

Bray Clay www.archiebrayclay.com

Today on the show I’m joined by Brian Kakas and Lisa Giuliani for a discussion about the changing landscape of ceramic education. In the interview we talk about demographic shifts and closures in higher education, craft school education, and helping an arts community survive after a core institution downsizes its ceramics program. This episode was taped in front of a live audience at the NCECA conference in Richmond, VA. I’d like to thank Cole Collier for running sound for the event and NCECA for coproducing this episode.

Hey Red Clay Rambler fans, this month we are celebrating twelve years of the podcast! We just launched a fund drive and I need your help to support the upcoming season. Please take a minute to visit www.talesofaredclayrambler.com/donate to give through our PayPal portal, or become a sustaining member at patreon.com/redclayrambler. To thank our new Patreon supporters we have merch, including t-shirts, hoodies, posters, and more. Thanks for listening and being part of the Red Clay Rambler community.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the following sponsors:

The Rosenfield Collection of Functional Ceramic Art www.Rosenfieldcollection.com

Cornell Studio Supply www.cornellstudiosupply.com

Bray Clay www.archiebrayclay.com

Australian ceramic artist and educator Merran Esson passed away last week. This episode features a rebroadcast of our 2013 interview where we talk about learning to trust one's inner voice, capturing the passage of time within an object, and her role as the head of ceramics at the National Art School in Sydney, Australia. For more information on Merran, including the upcoming memorials that will be honoring her life, please visit www.merranesson.com.

This week we wrap up our More than a Maker series with an interview with Michael McCarthy. He is a potter and instructor at the Austen Riggs Center, a residential psychiatric hospital and treatment center located in Stockbridge, MA. In our interview we talk about art making within the mental health treatment paradigm, how decreasing expectation can lead to creative breakthroughs with students, and his path to being a potter. We also discuss building community in Western MA and creating colorful glazes in a wood kiln. For more information visit www.mccarthypottery.com.

More than a Maker is made possible by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, proud sponsors of wellness for makers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is focused on building healthier communities through strategic investments to improve population health, increase access to care, and to make healthcare more affordable for all. For more information please visit www.bcbsmt.com.

On this week’s edition of More than a Maker we talk to Sarah Petty. Both a trained artist and acupuncturist, I talk with Sarah about her path to creativity and the healing arts. In our interview we talk about building skills as an artist, the training and methodology behind integrative medicine, and how the pandemic helped spark a new way of making in her studio. For more information visit www.sarahpettyart.com.

More than a Maker is made possible by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, proud sponsors of wellness for makers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is focused on building healthier communities through strategic investments to improve population health, increase access to care, and to make healthcare more affordable for all. For more information please visit www.bcbsmt.com.

On this week’s edition of More than a Maker we talk to John Doran. In our interview we talk about The Big Blue Sky Initiative, a multipart plan to address mental health in the state of Montana including suicide prevention, treatment for addiction, and other resources for mental health. John is the Divisional Vice President of External Affairs at Blue Cross and Blue Shield Montana.

More than a Maker is made possible by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, proud sponsors of wellness for makers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is focused on building healthier communities through strategic investments to improve population health, increase access to care, and to make healthcare more affordable for all. For more information please visit www.bcbsmt.com.

This week we continue our series More than a Maker with an interview featuring Bakersville, NC artist Will Baker. He is known for his beautiful atmospheric fired pottery, along with his kiln building skills which have taken him all over the eastern U.S. In our interview we talk about dealing with burn out through a variety of mindfulness practices, as well as the theory of flow states. To see examples of his work, visit www.williambakerpottery.com.

More than a Maker is made possible by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, proud sponsors of wellness for makers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is focused on building healthier communities through strategic investments to improve population health, increase access to care, and to make healthcare more affordable for all. For more information please visit www.bcbsmt.com.

This week on the podcast we start our series More than a Maker, which focuses on the intersection of mental health and creativity. In the first episode we have Mac McCusker, a ceramic artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. They make sculpture and vessels that provide social commentary on the rise of Bathroom Bills and other issues surrounding the LBGTQ community. In the interview we talk about addiction and art making as activism. To find out more visit www.macmccuskerceramics.com.

More than a Maker is made possible by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana, proud sponsors of wellness for makers. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana is focused on building healthier communities through strategic investments to improve population health, increase access to care, and to make healthcare more affordable for all. For more information please visit www.bcbsmt.com.

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I talk with Mark Warren. He is one of the cofounders of Haand, a porcelain tableware manufacturer in Burlington, NC. In our interview we talk about his path from the studio to the factory, the importance of paying a living wage, and how Haand shifted towards direct sales during the pandemic. For more information visit www.haand.us.

Today’s episode is brought to you by the following sponsors:

The Tales of the Red Clay Rambler is made possible in part by Studio Potter. Their Grants for Apprenticeships Program is now open for applications. The program offers five $10,000 grants to support year-long apprenticeships in studio pottery. Applications are due June 1st and more information can be found at studiopotter.org/apprenticeship-grants.

For the past 100 years, AMACO Brent has been creating ceramic supplies for our community ranging from underglazes to electric kilns, and they have no plans of slowing down. www.amaco.com

Skutt Ceramic Products has been manufacturing equipment for potters since 1953. Their KilnMaster Touchscreen controller offers a sleek, smartphone-like interface that is intuitive and packed with powerful tools that allow potters to easily program, diagnose, and remotely monitor their kilns. www.skutt.com.