Shae Bishop earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. Shae's artwork explores the relationships between ceramics and textiles. Shae has been a resident artist at The Archie Bray Foundation, Red Star Studios, and elsewhere in the US, as well as in Indonesia, Turkey, and Hungary.

More than anything else Lucy Ernst is an environmental artist. Lucy started out sculpting with bones and ‘dead things’ and then moved into clay when she discovered the idea of wild clay. With her work Lucy wants to force people to open their eyes to the environment around them, to the wild things, and to change how they see their world, their everyday!

This year's NCECA that was slated to take place in Richmond, Virginia had to be cancelled as a result of the covid-19 pandemic. In this bonus episode of The Potters Cast the executive director, Josh Green and a few of the board member, Board Steward Rhonda Willers, Current President Holly Hanessian, and incoming President Elect Pete Pinell all got on a conference call with me to tell their story of how NCECA is doing. After the introductions we talked about three things- How they came to their decision and its impact, what is going on currently and in the future with NCECA, and how we as a community can help.

Ryan Ball is a Twin Cities, Minnesota based potter originally from Louisiana. Working mostly in midrange white clay, Ryan produces a wide range of functional wares. Ryan pulls from a decade of production studio experience, employing colorful glazes of his own design over soft, inviting forms decorated with slip textures.

Isaac Shue is living a life of clay! As a teacher, Isaac is teaching our next generation of ceramicists by day and then working the studio life by night! Amanda Fungue color and plant lover and is seeking fun, small-batch pottery and art! Together they have collaborated together to make some amazing work. In this conversation we talk about the ins and outs of collaboration. 

Ryan Rakhshan. Teacher, glaze designer, and kiln technician. Ryan occasionally makes a pot just to make sure his glazes and kilns are working.

Hector Kriete's life and art has been a path of breaking boundaries that are formed by rules and expectations. As a Latino immigrant from Colombia, Hector grew up with the mindset that financial stability was the primary goal in life. But on the inside, Hector always had a strong desire to create art and a need to be surrounded by nature. Hector spent his teenage years in Southern California trying to assimilate and suppress his true self. When Hector started accepting who he was and rediscovering himself through his roots, Hector's soul was nourished and his creativity was sparked. Hector started doing ceramics when he was a child in Colombia. When he moved to the States, Hector focused on his drawing skills, but soon felt constrained by the overwhelming amount of rules imposed by one of his high school teachers. Hector rediscovered ceramics through a teacher who allowed him to experiment and create without strict direction. This freed Hector to discover a world of unlimited possibilities. Another inspirational teacher in college taught Hector the value of making mistakes and not being afraid to take risks. Hector has learned that the best things can often come from not having expectations and allowing a co-creative process with the medium.

Dawn Klinger is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts focused on Ceramic Sculpture. Dawn has been working with clay for 30+ years, beginning in her freshman year of high school, where she fell in love with the medium. Pursuing  art was not her original goal but as she began taking classes in college the positive feedback and support from her professors led her to realize, this was where she felt most at home.  Dawn began her career in the early nineties teaching art and participating in art festivals in southern Florida, finding success in her ceramic sculpture and fulfillment teaching ceramics to a variety of populations.  Dawn took a break from pursuing this path in 2003 to raise her children but always kept her hand  in the medium.  In 2015, after a move to southern Oregon, she decided to take her sculptural background in handbuilding and apply it to functional ceramics.  From there, Tagliaferro Ceramics was born. Working out designs in her garage, over the course of a year Dawn created the initial pieces that would form the base of her dinner and serving ware collections.  In 2016, Dawn partnered with a local woodworking company to open a boutique in Ashland, Oregon featuring her ceramics and his northwest hardwood cutting and serving boards.  The pair were naturally aligned with simple, organic style focused on letting the material speak and minimizing embellishment.  Tagliaferro is named after Dawn's maternal grandfather.  Most of Dawn's childhood was spent in the care of her grandparents and it was by her grandfathers side, at his basement workbench, that she learned to create with he materials around her.  The concept of family and sharing food together is at the core of Tagliaferro Ceramics and she choose the name to honor hers.  Dawn continues to evolve the business, creating a website in Feb. 2019, running the Ashland boutique and most all, refining and creating new designs in her creekside studio.

Abby is a production potter specializing in wheel-thrown homewares. "From my heart to your home".  After a long career as a professional photographer, Abby began pottery 2 1/2 years ago and found peace and healing in the quiet solitude of working with her hands. Abby began her career in Salem, MA and is (at the time of this publication) is in the process of relocating to Duluth, MN where she is moving into her first dedicated workshop and studio space.

For years Annelies Callewier has invested in the small family in knowledge, experience, workshop and equipment. From Annelies' perspective, life is too short to master the whole trade. Each potter learns all the necessary things of the trade to be able to earn his or her bread and specializes in a specific work. Annelies' passion in recent years is the serial production of utility pottery.