Joe Robinson is the co-owner and steward of the historic East Creek Anagama wood fired kiln. Nestled on 20 acres in Oregon’s coastal mountains, East Creek is a community art studio and retreat. Joe will share news about the upcoming NW Wood Firing Conference in June 2020, which is being organized by the East Creek team.

Julia Kofman is a full time ceramic artist. Julia works in her home studio in Ramat Gan in Israel. Julia was born in Moscow, and in 2018 she moved to Israel with her husband and children. Julia is selling her works twice a week in Nachlat Binyamin Artists Fair of Tel Aviv, which is a famous street market of handmade, supported by municipality of Tel Aviv.

Lukas Easton is from Homer Alaska. Lukas recieved his BFA from the university of Alaska anchorage. Lukas is currently teaching at the Rochester institute of technology and is an independent designer for Jenggala in Bali Indonesia. In the summers Lukas works in Alaska commercial fishing and this fall will be attending Alfred university for graduate school.

Focusing on fragility and subtle strength, Rhonda Willers creates art with repetitive forms and markings reflecting on memories and nature through diverse materiality. Rhonda is the author of Terra Sigillata: Contemporary Techniques. Rhonda studied at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls (BFA) and University of Nebraska-Lincoln (MFA). Rhonda is a studio artist, author, mother, and NCECA Board Steward located in Elk Mound, Wisconsin.

Originally from Hamburg, Germany, stencil artist Anja Bartels discovered pottery making while living in an intentional community in Virginia. Passion ignited, Anja returned home to study in the German Ceramics Guild, which honed her skills in a way much different from the typical experience in American art schools. With a strong focus on craftsmanship and technical skill, Guild training provided Anja with the groundwork for making a quality product paired with the practical experience of working with a master potter for three years. The apprentices must engage in all aspects of the business, including marketing, sales, accounting, and production.

Anja’s nautically themed porcelain employs several different techniques including slip trailing, sgraffito (a technique where underglaze is painted onto greenware and a design is carved back through, revealing the clay body underneath), poured and sprayed glazes, and a unique resist technique used in the making of her beautiful urchin bowls. These bowls are thrown and trimmed on the wheel, then several thousand small slip-trailed spikes are applied using a surgical bulb while she listens to audiobooks about shipwrecks. Anja’s personal aesthetic and process are consistent and highly developed, reflecting her upbringing in a port town and her love of ships and the ocean. It is as if her pieces were born in the sea.

Sharrel Paul was born and raised in a suburb of Boston, MA, but moved to California in her mid-20s. Sharrel decided to move back home in 2013 when she was diagnosed with stage 3/4 metastatic melanoma. Sharrel discovered ceramics in 2014 when she decided to take a class at a local studio as a form of “art therapy” while she was undergoing treatment. Sharrel fell in love with making functional pieces very quickly and then started her journey on Instagram to be able to sell her work and crocheted items.

Benedicte and Jerome Leclere recently left Brooklyn to find a better life balance and spend more time making ceramics. Relocating upstate New York near Woodstock, they just launched their brand called l'Impatience. Both originally from France and always on the look out for new objects to create, the name refers to the eagerness and expectation behind every project (pronounced ‘Lum-puh-see-unce’’). Their style is mainly defined by their tableware collections, elegant and minimalistic, that people can simply appreciate every day. They also enjoy making unique pieces such as vases and bonsai pots, a jewelry collection or even limited clothing items.

We get a real treat in this interview! We head into the classroom of Jerm Wright and spend time with the teacher, and two of his students, Jack Butler and Gage Clisby. This is a great insight into the high school classroom and what the ceramic program is like. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I enjoyed it.