Error message

  • Notice: Undefined index: und in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Warning: Use of undefined constant sidebar - assumed 'sidebar' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Undefined index: und in eval() (line 8 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in eval() (line 8 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in eval() (line 8 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Warning: Use of undefined constant sidebar - assumed 'sidebar' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in eval() (line 8 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Undefined index: und in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).
  • Warning: Use of undefined constant bottom - assumed 'bottom' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in eval() (line 6 of /home/u0kg4n9w5x3b/public_html/studiopotter.org/modules/php/php.module(80) : eval()'d code).

Table of Contents - Generation

4 | In This Issue

5 | Editorial

6 | Iteration

BY SEAN O’CONNELL

O’Connell discusses his experience as the 2009 “Salad Days” Artist-in-Residence at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and how the grueling repetition of this challenge helped evolve his decorative vocabulary. Read More.

10 | Building a Legacy

BY REENA KASHYAP

Kashyap shares the story of her greatest accomplishment: transforming the modest Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York into a flourishing nonprofit arts organization that will serve her community for many years to come.

15 | Open Door Policy

BY MARTINA LANTIN

Lantin reflects on how the open-ended philosophies of her first ceramics mentor, Michael Thiedeman, and the sense of community in his classroom shaped her own career as a potter and professor. Read More.

18 | Source Material

BY JONATHAN KAPLAN

After a long and successful career in ceramics, Kaplan reflects on how his relationship with two former employees revealed how he may use his knowledge and insight to guide future generations of artists. Read More.

24 | The Power of Observation

BY SUSAN CROWELL

Crowell discusses the methods and mindset of her mentor Jean Noble Parsons, and how Parsons’ instruction taught her, and many others, to observe and understand both their art and themselves.

26 | Reflections on Legacy

BY JAMES WATKINS

Watkins discusses how his memories of his childhood in the 1950s and 60s, raised in an inventive and frugal African American family, influence his ceramic aesthetics and methods.

30 | Generations in Faenza

BY PATRICIA HUBBARD-RAGETTÉ

Hubbard-Ragetté discusses the evolution of practices at the Ballardini School for Ceramics in Faenza, Italy, from its founding by Gaetano Ballardini in 1916 to the present.

36 | A Generational Undertaking

BY SOPHIA KING

King shares how her life, relationships, and understanding of the world have been shaped by her upbringing as a second-generation ceramicist.

38 | Catch and Release

BY STEVE HEINEMANN

Heinemnn discusses how his evolving processes involving templates and molds have allowed him to discover new possibilities for ceramic form.

44 | Making Bad Work

BY JOCELYN HOWARD

Howard reflects on her struggle with perfectionism during her graduate school studies, and how learning to accept her “bad work” has allowed her to become a more authentic and honest artist.

48 | Throwing Off-Center with Mr. Strawn

BY CAROL KLIGER

Kliger discusses how a demonstration on throwing off-center in 1970 opened the door to many years of experimentation and realization, culminating in a broader understanding of what is possible with clay.

52 | Towards an Aesthetics of Digital Clay

BY DEL HARROW AND ANDY BRAYMAN

Harrow and Brayman discuss the digital technology that is beginning to emerge in studio practice, how it is currently affecting the creation of ceramic forms and surfaces, and the future formal and aesthetic possibilities of such technology. Read More.

62 | Finding a Place

BY STACY SNYDER

Snyder discusses how working within the parameters of a set allows her to find a “middle ground” in her pottery, a place where both the familiar and the unfamiliar can be joined to express a specific feeling.

66 | Worth More than a Glance

BY SUE GRIER

Grier reflects on the career-long process of understanding how the combination of her cultural history, personal style, generational influence, and the passage of time has shaped her identity as an artist.

70 | Thinking About Contemporary Pots

BY SEQUOIA MILLER

The transcript of a lecture given by Miller at Northern Clay Center’s 2013 American Pottery Festival, discussing the changes experienced in the field of studio pottery over a fifteen-year period.

74 | Field Report

BY SUNSHINE COBB

Despite achieving relative success and recognition in her first fifteen years in the ceramic industry, Cobb discusses her continued struggle to find a way to turn her artistic endeavors into a sustainable career. Read More.

78 | Erik Gronborg: Pop Goes Materiality

BY GARTH JOHNSON

Adapted from a talk given at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in Portland, Oregon, Johnson discusses the career, perspective, style, and influence of Danish-born sculptor and ceramicist Erik Gronborg.

86 | The Beginner

BY DANIEL HARRIS

Harris discusses his initial belief that fired clay forms are lifeless, how that belief evolved to recognize the relationship one pot shares with the next, and how his current crumbling clay form project reflects this progression of thought.

88 | Remembering Angela Fina

BY MARY BARRINGER

Barringer pays tribute to the life and career of Angela Fina, a potter and teacher who is fondly remembered for her hard work ethic, attention to detail, aesthetic hunger, and curious mind.

90 | Val Cushing: Teacher and Potter

REPRINT FROM VOL. 31, NO. 2

This article, titled “Mentoring in Art School,” was originally published in 2003 in Studio Potter Vol. 31, No. 2. It has been reprinted to commemorate the life and career of Val Cushing, one of the most influential teachers of the late twentieth century.

93 | Coming Up

94 | Underwriters