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Raheleh Filsoofi is a multi-media artist who utili

Raheleh Filsoofi is a multi-media artist who utilizes ceramics as an integral and often central element in her work. She was born and raised in Iran during a time of revolution and war. Feeling stifled and repressed by the laws of her land, she decided to emigrate to the US in order to pursue her artistic career. Hoping to have more freedom to use her voice and express herself. This was not her initial experience. However, the experiences of childhood and of coming into her own as an artist and person in a country rather less welcoming than one might hope have greatly influenced the direction and tone of her work.
When I started researching Raheleh’s work I (Jeanette) was immediately drawn in. Visually the lines of her work are very clean and pleasing. Sometimes creating simple, universal type forms, and other times more elaborate and decorative shapes that eco back to her heritage. What drew me in further were the titles. I love how she titles her work. Simple phrases or words that sound poetic and somehow manage to convey the weight of emotion that she wants the audience to feel.
One such work was an installation called “Only Sound Remains”. I watched the video she created of herself entering and interacting in the space dedicated to this piece (link to video in bio) and found myself wishing I could experience it first hand. Sound is another element she often uses in her work, and with this piece she had created several lidded vessels, each containing a different recording that could be detected filling the inside of the pot, but when the lid was lifted became clearer, inviting the listener in, sparking curiosity and feeding exploration. It is the way she awakens multiple senses which allows her to bridge the gap between cultures by creating an elementally human experience. And the elegance of her work makes the viewer want to interact, learn, and become aware rather than shy away from the issues being presented.
Check out her website (link in bio) and follow her on Instagram @rahafilsoofi you’ll be all the richer for it!

Sam Chung is a second-gen Korean-American ceramic

Sam Chung is a second-gen Korean-American ceramic artist and educator who makes pottery that reframes ceramics from a more modern, and cross culture point of view. He was born in Minneapolis and received his BA from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and his MFA from Arizona State University where he now works as a Professor of art. In his current work, he references traditional Korean cloud motifs and pottery shapes whilst also using a more modern touch through his vivid, graphicly painted imagery. “I am interested in the way in which clouds represent a phenomenon that is constantly in flux," he said. "Their nature to morph and adapt is similar to the way in which I relate to my own floating sense of identity. These cultural references are intended to serve as an anchor to point towards my own ethnic lineage, but also question my perception of belonging within or outside of it.” His work combines the areas of art and design as well as exploring the metaphorical role of ceramics.
My daughter, Daphne, once again picked an artist from our list to research and write about. She didn't realize she was selecting one of my favorites and as I read her first draft, I related some fun stories, history, detail about his work and so on. She looked at me and said "do YOU just want to write about him". I sheepishly replied no, that she was doing a fine job, but secretly, of COURSE I did. I've been a Sam Fan for a LONG time. Back when NCECA still had a silent auction, I was bidding on a teapot he had donated and ultimately ended up with the winning bid. That teapot is in my mom's collection. Sam has a clear style and voice, as Daphne described, but he also continually explores. I remember one time he even ordered a dark clay body to experiement with...such a departure from the beautiful porcelain pieces for which he is known...Sam is also one of the kindest and most generous people I know. He has a strong committment to give back to the field and help the next person along, both in his instruction and mentorship of his students at ASU and also during his time as DAL of NCECA, especially his work with Emerging Artists. And of course, he is an exceptional artist.

For decades, we have sought out fun gifts with oth

For decades, we have sought out fun gifts with other “normal” uses that also make great clay tools. This citrus peeler does well being used as a rib on the wheel, it works well with smoothing surfaces, making a foot, compressing rims, carving designs and even imprinting! We think they might become your favorite studio mate! Where will your tools take you? (Or where will they wander on their own?). Get yours free with every order!

I met Jen Chua when she was an MFA Candidate at

I met Jen Chua when she was an MFA Candidate at University of Hawaii. She also was elected the Student Director-at-Large of NCECA and that was where i got to know her. One of my fondest memories was when we were in Portland for a board meeting and Jen had discovered this amazing viewtnamese restaurant called Luc Lac and she introduced me to it. It was my first experience with Vietnamese food and culture, and it is still one of my favorite restaurants world-wide. Jen is a bright, intelligent, funny, friendly dynamo of a person. Although i recall seeing some images of her work during our time together on the NCECA board, I mostly got to know her as a person. I continue to connect with her on facebook and her updates are generally some of the highlights of my weeks. She could be a standup commedian, or a writer, maybe...she wrote some amazing, authenic and personal articles for the NCECA blog (links in bio), both during and after her service. But in addition to these things, Jen is an artist. Her ceramic work is generally part of a mixed media installation, or used in a performance art experience. My favorite of these is Always Petal by Petal, which is comprised of delicate feathery porcelain petals (on first sight, you might not expect that they are even clay), thousands of them, i think, are laid out on a large glass disk, light from above, and then a shadow casts on a large disc below. It's breathtaking, even just in images. About this work, Jen says "Always Petal by Petal is a meditation upon the nature of productivity, and the nuanced relationship between effort and value. As part of this investigation on what “counts” as work, I have been repeating a single small gesture: one hand gently presses into the other with a minimal amount of porcelain, leaving a faint impression of a simple, discrete act. An accumulated mass of thousands of delicate porcelain pieces created through the same soothing, repetitive process, Always Petal by Petal is an affirmation that small actions can have big impact."

Bill Strickland changes lives. I had heard about

Bill Strickland changes lives. I had heard about him long before I really got to *MEET* him. He was honored by NCECA in 2012 for his life's work with Manchester Craftsman's Guild. A couple years later, he sat on the panel of the inaugural NCECA roundtable conversation following Theaster Gates Keynote. And I had heard numerous stories of his work but it wasn't until 2017 that I got to shake this man's hand and share a bit of time with him. I suspect we really only had maybe a 5 or 10 minute conversation, but it was a much deeper impact than the brevity implies. Bill Strickland is not best known for his pottery. He first was exposed to pottery in high school and he fell in love with it so deeply (he claims it saved his life) that he admits to skipping most of his other classes in order to make pots, and in fact he only passed high school because he had enough thought to give the pottery to the teachers of the classes he cut. He went on to go to college and graduated cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh. So while he is a skilled maker/artisan/craftsman, it is his vision, his leadership, his lifelong management of and commitment to MCG that have been his main mark on our industry; He is known for his inspirational qualities. As someone in a similar orbit of clay, he is particularly motivational to me. I have a constantly floating word cloud of his lexicon, including: dignity, beauty, possibility, hope, honor, solution, deserve, expectation, everybody, world-class... I strongly encourage you to listen to his ted talk (link in our bio) about two of his major life projects, including Manchester Craftsman's Guild (which he actually founded while working toward his dual bachelor's degrees at U of Pittsburgh), which was "built in a tough neighborhood where peoplehave been given up for dead, and if you want to involve yourself in the life of people who have been given up on, you have to look like a solution and not the problem" If listening to this speech doesn't affect your outlook on life....well, i don't know how to end that sentence because i can't imagine that it won't. Bill Strickland....mentor, role model, inspiration, advocate, artist.

*edited to correct pronouns and properly capitaliz

*edited to correct pronouns and properly capitalize Black*. Maya Vivas is a vocal member of the Portland Queer and Trans artist community. This multidisciplinary artist focuses their own recent ceramic work on handbuilt sculptural forms. Maya’s work is rooted in the intersections of Black, femme, & queer identity. The “Black” series is an alluring yet disturbing array of wall sculptures constructed entirely of black clay that embodies ‘blackness’ as a commodity for white consumption (exhibited early 2017). “Radical Emergence: Dissected & Articulated” was the next solo exhibit for Maya. This exhibit featured all porcelain work with gold luster accents… as Maya subtitled it, “an exploration in adaptation, sensuality, and abundance.” Their description of this at the bottom of the series gallery photos on their website are too impactful to paraphrase or condense for this platform. I encourage you to visit mayavivas.com/gallery and look at the images of her work and read their own words. The very first piece in that gallery, Fruta de mi Obra (Fruit of my Labor) looks like they freeze time in the instant that a tornado starts to form, but that’s my midwestern interpretation of it. This piece is what made me delve deeper into Maya’s art. Their handbuilt and thrown-and-altered clay sculptures capture movement in a way that I haven’t seen very often, especially while maintaining such an ethereal beauty. Two years ago, Maya partnered with Leila Haile (a tattoo artist known for work on melanated skin) to open Ori Gallery to celebrate and feature artists who identify as QTPoC (Queer Trans People of Color). In addition to their rotating exhibits they’ve also offered free and low-cost workshops and classes on life drawing, grant writing, tattoo history, and direct political action through art. The gallery is a way to recognize, honor, and amplify African Queer and Gender Non-Conforming activists and artists throughout the years.
~ Anne M Bracker

I’ve known Vijay Paniker for a lot of years now.

I’ve known Vijay Paniker for a lot of years now. He is the technician at Shimpo, so we (this is Dave) were bound to meet at some point. Over the years, we’ve worked through wheel problems, shared drinks at NCECA, and laughed about quite a few things. In all the time I’ve known him though, we never really spoke about his work. I was certainly familiar with it, but I never took the time to really dig into his art. I am so happy that I did. Vijay graduated from Northeastern Illinois University with a BA in Studio Arts AND a BS in Anthropology. During his time at Northeastern, he also completed an internship in Zoology! He taught ceramics at the Brickton Art Center, and the Oakton Community College in Park Ridge, IL., and has been in numerous shows throughout the midwest. Vijay’s work incorporates many different styles. His functional pottery pays homage to greek forms and proportions but also references the subtle beauty of the classic Asian aesthetic. I like how he melds the two ancient styles together in a way that becomes very modern. My favorite work of his, though, is his Trompe L’oiel teapots. They remind me of these old oil cans that my grandfather had in his garage. The surfaces he achieves are so convincing, I just want to pick them up to make sure they aren’t made of old metal. Some of his work is actually flat. I’ll leave it up to you to discover which ones for yourself. (links in the bio) I recently asked him about his work. To paraphrase his answer: “I want to highlight that things aren’t always what they seem”. This led to a conversation where he shared stories from his past, and about his family. Things that helped shape him into the person he is today and informs his art. These stories served as a wonderful reminder of how personal art is. It's easy to analyze a piece on its own merits, but I think that the true value of art is discovering how it connects us with the people who made it. Through their work, artists tell us about the world around them but they also tell us a story about themselves. @vijaypaniker @cedarshedceramics

Xiem Rollers on sale! $10 each.

Xiem Rollers on sale! $10 each.

Courtney M. Leonard is an indigenous artist from N

Courtney M. Leonard is an indigenous artist from NY. She has travelled and lived all around the world, but ultimately calls Long Island “home”. Her work is diverse, utilizing mixed media, video and audio in addition to ceramic pieces which are beautifully crafted and perfectly able to stand alone, but who’s message is strengthened and deepened when set in her immersive installations. When I (Jeanette) started looking at her work I was first struck by how different and versatile it seemed. From paintings to pots, ceramic objects that look as if they’ve been pulled from an archeological dive to multi media installations that give the viewer the feeling of being submerged in the ocean, each part or piece is given intense attention and can appear vastly different from it’s surroundings. This I imagine stems from her varied education, or as she put it in an interview with the podcast Art Beat Conversations, “different ways of learning”. Starting formally at the Institute of American Indian Arts in NM where she was able and encouraged to explore her heritage and historical techniques, to Alfred University which was far more technical and competitive, to the Rhode Island School of Design where students were given the freedom to determine their own path and measures for success. As I continued looking at the work and reading/listening to her talk about her work and her lifelong experiences it became very evident that her ties to the ocean and her heritage as a descendent of whalers were the ropes that tied everything together and flow through each work of art. When speaking on an NCECA pannel at the 2019 NCECA called "The Art of Radical Mentorship" she talked about how she doesn't choose to simply give you, the viewer, what is comfortable or expected from an indigeonous artist. Rather she is asking you to stick around and find out more. Have a conversation. She clearly has a message to impart, but rather than abruptly and dramatically tossing it in the face of the viewer the work calmly invites you to come closer, look closer, question and wonder.
@courtney.m.leonard

Dolan tools on sale this month! Shop.brackers.com

Dolan tools on sale this month!
Shop.brackers.com or click from this video

I learned about Sharif Bey first from NCECA. At

I learned about Sharif Bey first from NCECA. At the 2016 Kansas City conference, the demonstrating artists were actually duos of a mentor and their former student. David MacDonald selected Sharif Bey to share the stage with him. I was previously unfamiliar with him or his work but the images he provided to NCECA for promotional purposes were really cool. In particular, the necklaces he makes using different colored raw clays struck me and I remember looking forward to seeing them at the conference and hopefully touching them, as the surfaces were so inviting, smooth and silky sheens from burnishing, smoke fired, I think, but the contrast of edges and points against the supple voluptuous vessel portion of each "bead" on the necklace is so inviting. Of course, as is so often the case, NCECA passed in a whirlwind. Post-conference professional and volunteer obligations pushed his work to the back of my mind. Then in 2018, he was included in the Renwick Invitational. A really excellent video was created for this and posted on YouTube (link in bio). I finally got to hear him talk about his work and that was when I REALLY got hooked. He spoke about pinch pots and that crunch for time that he felt as an instructor who can often be pulled in many directions. Work that is "time-sensitive" doesn't fit his lifestyle. Rather than go without making, he adapted...the small individual pieces can be completed in about 2 -3 minutes. Further, each of the beads signifies a letter in a word, and those words make sentences and ultimately conversations. This led me to another video created by Syracuse (where Sharif Bey teaches). In this video, he speaks more about the roots of his work. A sculptor who evolved from a world of pottery and vessels, he recognizes that much of his inspiration comes from play, which he does not see necessarily as frivolousness. While "pontificating" (he actually used that word in this video and my little vocabulary-loving heart swelled) about the meaning and importance of "play" he describes it as not only the "negotiation between self and community but also between physics and imagination. " And I still want to touch those beads.....

One of the better known artists of the Harlem R

One of the better known artists of the Harlem Renaissance was Selma Burke. She is more widely known because it was her bas relief of Franklin Roosevelt that ended up on the dime. But well before then, she discovered "wild clay" on the banks of the North Carolina river near the home where she and her 9 siblings grew up. She spent time in Europe studying sculpture twice. The impact of this experience was evidenced in what I believe is one of her most interesting works, "Frau Keller," a portrait of a German-Jewish woman during the rise of Nazi Germany. At that time, she returned to the United States and earned her MFA from Columbia University. One of her more well-known works was a bronze bust of Duke Ellington. She also sculpted Booker T Washington and Mary McLeod Bethune, as well as dozens of lesser-known subjects. She referred to herself as the people's sculptor. She was also committed to social activism, education and anti-racism. In the 1940s, she founded her own school of Sculpture and also an Art School in New York City, then an Arts Center in Pittsburgh PA. She also used her notoriety (along with a conditional donation of a bust of a local doctor) to gain public library access for Black children in Mooresville NC. I wonder how her life must have influenced her work, not just in the obvious choice to sculpt famous (and not famous) Black people, and not how her formal education and her time spent in Vienna and Paris influenced her, but I also wonder about her choice to leave her studio and drive a truck for a factory in Brooklyn during WWII. She is quoted as saying during times of war, "artists should get out of their studios". Her work is described as exploring human emotion and full of symobolism. She must have been a very interesting and complex woman with many stories about PEOPLE. I loved reading that FDR wiggled too much when he sat for her sketches and she had to ask him to sit still...and he did. I am tickled by the image of this. She lived to be 94 years old and seems to have remained active throughout her life. She sculpted her last monumental work when she was 80 years old...a bronze statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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