Ceramics Monthly Articles (Simple)

Working potter Justin Rothshank’s passion for collaboration fuels projects with fellow ceramic artists and potters, and even led to several playfully decorated pieces painted by his children.

After a career as a technical translator, Didem Firat embarked on a new career as a potter. She embraced the opportunity to leave behind the precision required in translation and to explore the organic, loose, malleable qualities of clay.

Assisting other artists and art centers and working part time in clay-related jobs to earn a living helped Yesha Panchal define her goals, refine her work, and then take the leap into life as a full-time artist.

Transferring the creativity and curiosity that he used to engage middle school students to his career as a full-time potter has helped Rich Brown to seek out new learning opportunities, engage and grow his audience, and weather unexpected obstacles.

Along with selling thrifted vintage home décor, Lakyn Bowman creates pots that are inspired by the colors, surfaces, and forms of vintage wares.

A compact, organized studio behind Mitch Pilkington’s house in what was formerly a loft and stables provides space for creation of her expressive coil-built vessels.

When Loren Lukens mentioned he was planning to sell his studio and gallery, Deb Schwartzkopf knew it would be a great location for the educational facility she and her team at Rat City Studios had been discussing.

Images from current and upcoming exhibitions.

Traditional glazing tongs are perfect for simultaneously dipping the inside and outside of a pot or for grasping the top of a pot to dip upright.

In Ceramics Monthly’s annual focus on working potters, several artists share the decision making, acquired skills, and planning—both long and short term—that enable them to earn a majority of their income from their studio practices.

Stephanie Galli describes the development of her work and career since being featured as an Emerging Artist in 2017.

Information on submitting work for exhibitions, fairs, and festivals.

These glaze and terra-sigillata recipes from Ruth Easterbrook, Megs LeVesseur, and Taylor Mezo accentuate red clay bodies at low-fire and mid-range temperatures.

The unique surface of Gelli printing plates allows for silk-screened underglaze images to be transfered onto bisque-fired ware. Shawna Pincus shares her process.

When used in small amounts of 0.25–2%, bentonite will have a similar ability to suspend dry ingredients in a glaze as occurs with the use of 10% kaolin. So, which should you use?

Abstraction is central to my practice. The pieces I make result from abstracting marks, textures, surfaces, and forms that, together, create a new interpretation of things I see and experience.

Whether it is pigeons paired with bananas or poodles with beach balls, I try to approach all of this in a humorous, even childlike way. In the end, the goal is to create objects that bring joy and lightheartedness to everyday life.

I contribute to this as a maker and as an educator. I’ve spent the last nine years teaching ceramics at various art centers and institutions and value education as a powerful tool to shape our culture.

Makers have the opportunity to help heal, however, by manifesting ideas and emotions into the world through physical objects that transcend time, culture, and language.

I am always looking at the physical beauty and interesting forms and textures in the natural world: plants, animals, humans, cellular life, and inanimate objects.