I am reminded that ceramics discourse is a continuum.
In Robert Harrison’s “Robert Archambeau: Teacher, Mentor, Colleague, Friend,” a heartfelt tribute to Archambeau, we see mentorship's relational power in the field and the lasting influence of the adages our teachers impart.
In Jack Troy’s “Book Review: Chris Staley’s Teaching Art & Life,” Troy reflects on his longtime friend and fellow educator. Drawing on sixteen lectures delivered at Pennsylvania state universities, Staley has devised a text that invites us to consider how teaching extends beyond the studio and into how we move through life.
Lastly, Mark Hewitt and Simon Levin engage in a razor-sharp dialogue surrounding Jacque Adams’s pilsner cups, which Hewitt selected for the Juror’s Choice Award at the 2025 Strictly Functional Pottery National. Their exchange raises questions of formalism, who determines aesthetic value, and the legacy of “Yanagi’s Criterion of Beauty,” popularized through Yuko Kikuchi’s essays, including “A Japanese William Morris: Yanagi Soetsu and Mingei Theory.” Is it ‘mudslinging’? You decide. For me, this is precisely what Studio Potter is about: making room for disagreement, critical inquiry, and the kind of exchange that keeps our field thinking.
Across these contributions, I see ceramics discourse as an ongoing conversation - one shaped by the people who teach us, the ideas we inherit, and the questions we are willing to ask of one another. As editors, writers, artists, and readers, we are all participants in this continuum. What we do today builds tomorrow.
Read more of this month’s issue, and consider making a tax-deductible donation to sustain Studio Potter’s editorial work and keep the conversation going. Our year-end annual appeal runs from November 17 through December 31, 2026. Join us as we work toward our $15,000 fundraising goal.
- $40,000 will support Studio Potter’s current programming, expand organizational capacity, and springboard new initiatives.
- $19,200 will support an increase in author honoraria.
- $9,600 will support author honoraria for a full year.
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Your comrade in clay,
Chenoa Baker
Executive Director and Editor, Studio Potter
P.S. Also, you may be thinking, you've missed a day or released the journal a day late. In fact, this is on purpose. We are shifting our monthly publication date to the first Monday of the month, to curb the start-of-the-week blues and to give our editorial team some reprieve. Please mark your calendars, look out for it in your email inboxes, and log in to the website on the first Monday to view our latest contributions. Stay tuned for our next month’s issue!