To make a living through the sale of pottery is a challenging and charged endeavor, particularly in areas where the cost of living threatens to outpace the wages of most. I am always interested to hear how artists are able to make this career work—and
in this issue, we focus on Working Potters and those who center their practices on pots. For some, the switch to full time came after years of balancing other jobs and studio time. For others, determination and momentum to keep making and selling
enabled them to pay the bills through their craft.
Working Potter Ani Kasten has been a professional potter for the past 24 years, following an influential apprenticeship with Rupert Spira in the UK. One particular lesson from Spira stuck with Kasten and continues to guide her practice: “Well, here
is what you must do: you must go to the studio every day, make as much work as you can, and sell it.” A simple directive.
Working Potter Maria ten Kortenaar has also been working as a full-time potter for 24 years, after pivoting from a career in physiotherapy to art. Based in the Netherlands, Kortenaar has focused on growing connections and community internationally in
order to reach customers in other markets as she has found they are more receptive to ceramics. She shares that decisiveness has been key to her success.
Haakon Lenzi’s agateware tumbler.
This issue’s Studio Visit provides a glimpse into Jeremy Randall’s career trajectory from teaching to now co-owning a community studio and gallery in Skaneateles, New York. Kate Mothes discusses the whimsical, historically inspired vessels
of Ginny Sims. Erin Shafkind presents the decades-long career of Holly Walker, whose bright, geometric pots (shown on this issue’s cover) are a treat to behold, tactilely and visually. Haakon Lenzi, a potter in East Harlem, New York, shares
his process for creating multi-colored, faceted agateware vessels out of porcelain. Abbey Peters, this issue’s Spotlight artist, describes how an incident with a customer at a floral shop and regulations on reproductive healthcare informed a
recent series of vessels.
This decision to be a potter, as I mentioned above, is one that is loaded. Jennifer Ling Datchuk touches on this in her CLAYflicks’ Talking Clay interview with Simon Levin: “Whether you choose to make work that challenges or confronts hegemonic
systems of power or if you wanna be a potter, that is still very political because we live in a country that doesn’t financially support artists.” She goes on to describe how being an artist is often one hat of many worn by those pursuing
their work, one poignant point among many in a conversation on censorship and the role of the government in public art in response to a White House executive order that brought an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum under scrutiny.
Additionally, if you’re a subscriber within the US, this issue will have arrived co-mailed with Studio Talk, a supplement to Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated. This special issue includes Q&A conversations
with nine ceramic artists who invite us into their studios and share their processes. As an editor, I look forward to Studio Talk every year—it’s full of personal insight straight from artists, which I love reading and sharing
with you. If you don’t receive this issue in print, you can read the articles on our website: ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramics-monthly-issue/Studio-Talk-Process-and-Perspectives-in-Clay-25 after May 27. Enjoy!
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To make a living through the sale of pottery is a challenging and charged endeavor, particularly in areas where the cost of living threatens to outpace the wages of most. I am always interested to hear how artists are able to make this career work—and in this issue, we focus on Working Potters and those who center their practices on pots. For some, the switch to full time came after years of balancing other jobs and studio time. For others, determination and momentum to keep making and selling enabled them to pay the bills through their craft.
Working Potter Ani Kasten has been a professional potter for the past 24 years, following an influential apprenticeship with Rupert Spira in the UK. One particular lesson from Spira stuck with Kasten and continues to guide her practice: “Well, here is what you must do: you must go to the studio every day, make as much work as you can, and sell it.” A simple directive.
Working Potter Maria ten Kortenaar has also been working as a full-time potter for 24 years, after pivoting from a career in physiotherapy to art. Based in the Netherlands, Kortenaar has focused on growing connections and community internationally in order to reach customers in other markets as she has found they are more receptive to ceramics. She shares that decisiveness has been key to her success.
This issue’s Studio Visit provides a glimpse into Jeremy Randall’s career trajectory from teaching to now co-owning a community studio and gallery in Skaneateles, New York. Kate Mothes discusses the whimsical, historically inspired vessels of Ginny Sims. Erin Shafkind presents the decades-long career of Holly Walker, whose bright, geometric pots (shown on this issue’s cover) are a treat to behold, tactilely and visually. Haakon Lenzi, a potter in East Harlem, New York, shares his process for creating multi-colored, faceted agateware vessels out of porcelain. Abbey Peters, this issue’s Spotlight artist, describes how an incident with a customer at a floral shop and regulations on reproductive healthcare informed a recent series of vessels.
This decision to be a potter, as I mentioned above, is one that is loaded. Jennifer Ling Datchuk touches on this in her CLAYflicks’ Talking Clay interview with Simon Levin: “Whether you choose to make work that challenges or confronts hegemonic systems of power or if you wanna be a potter, that is still very political because we live in a country that doesn’t financially support artists.” She goes on to describe how being an artist is often one hat of many worn by those pursuing their work, one poignant point among many in a conversation on censorship and the role of the government in public art in response to a White House executive order that brought an exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum under scrutiny.
Additionally, if you’re a subscriber within the US, this issue will have arrived co-mailed with Studio Talk, a supplement to Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated. This special issue includes Q&A conversations with nine ceramic artists who invite us into their studios and share their processes. As an editor, I look forward to Studio Talk every year—it’s full of personal insight straight from artists, which I love reading and sharing with you. If you don’t receive this issue in print, you can read the articles on our website: ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramics-monthly-issue/Studio-Talk-Process-and-Perspectives-in-Clay-25 after May 27. Enjoy!
Must-Reads from Ceramics Monthly
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