Clay Commons

I realise now that episode 1 of season 1 also started with the institution of ‘school’ in some ways , but oh well, at least I’m consistent!  Ep 1 is talking about craft schools, mainly, but also what it means to have a craft education. What’s it for? What has it missed out? What does it promise?  In the US, many of craft schools were made possible through the GI Bill, a state fund from the mid 40s...

Episode two is about DOING THE WORK y’all! And that means slowing down, decentring yourself, centring the community, challenging the status quo and constantly reflecting on your organisational structures and being open to your blind spots. This conversation flits between Watershed Centre for the Ceramic Arts in northern rural Maine and Black Hound Clay Studios in Philadelphia. And whilst the conce...

So, this one doesn’t really mention clay, but allow me some poetic licence and imagine for a moment that clay is also land (which it is). I’m ashamed to say that the Land Back movement was not something I’d really engaged with or had even heard of much before this season. This is the battle for indigenous nations and people to get back land that’s been stolen from them. And yes, this is meant lite...

Episode 4 is about positioning this work within traditional practices and rooting it in grassroot, activist, community organising. Speaking to Les Monarcas de Barro (the butterflies of mud), this amazing organisation talks to me about immigration, South American pueblo ceramic traditions, and the disconnect between ideas of land and earth, and our Western understanding of ceramics.  So many of our...

VIVA LA REVOLUCIÓN! Let’s end with a bit of hope and imagine together what we might build together. If we start to shift our creativity towards communities and away from capitalism. It’s a long road ahead, but we’ve got to start somewhere!   In this final episode, we talk about the importance of spaces to gather and talk about ideas. There’s lots wrong with universities, but they did give us a spa...

I'll let this one stand on its own - a little something from my current phd, to end on an intent for the future.   To You and Clay and Beyond.

Until next time! This is a beginning, a jumping off point, a carrion cry to all those interested in clay as a force for good. Keep following, keep listening, lots more to come. @clay.commons

It’s finally here! Welcome to the second season of Clay Commons! I’ve gone for something a bit different with this one so let me explain a bit.  I maaaaay have mentioned the incredible few months in Summer 2022 that I spent travelling up and down the East Coast of North America, visiting craft schools and ceramic studios. Why? Because the idea for the Clay Commons came out of the rising number of...

In conclusion to the first season of Clay Commons, we hear again from some of the contributors of other episodes, as well as a few new voices. We’ve heard a lot about the issues facing individuals and the ceramics discipline at large, and in this episode we go a bit deeper into potential solutions and how this work can feed out into the wider society and change our education systems. Clay Commons...

We’re already over a year post the murder of George Floyd, and the global reckoning this atrocious act sparked, but really, how much can we say has changed? This podcast has taken a while to come out, so we’re not as up-to-date as we could be, however, the issues we speak about in this episode are long standing, and universal. Ceramics, especially in the UK, is often the territory of the white mid...

In Episode 4, we’re meeting some amazing people who are literally transforming lives in very real and tangible ways. It might seem ludicrous to think that a previously incarcerated person, or an undocumented immigrant, or someone forced to use foodbanks to feed their children might have any use for clay, but we meet people in this episode who prove otherwise. Going back to America, we hear from tw...

Episode 3 is out and we’re delving deeper into the role of the artist in society, and specifically clay as a tool to support those in mental health crisis, with disability and those effected by dementia. There’s a long history of art therapy and I’m sure plenty of science to back up what we, as artists working with vulnerable communities, witness – that clay and the arts are good for the soul and...

Leading on from themes of education and the decline in university courses in Episode One, Episode Two looks at alternatives to formal education and the rise of open studios and independent art schools. We meet some of the leading pottery studios in the UK who are challenging traditional economic models and providing university standard training for a wide demographic of people. Setting this agains...

In Episode 1 we ask the question: where has all the clay gone? In the UK, we've gone from a kiln in every school and over 30 BA specialist courses to just 2 in the space of about 30 years. Speaking to veteran educators who have lived through this decline in HE education, we track the reasons for this against rising course fees and the general shifts in university models, and discuss what this...

Clay Commons: A podcast about community ceramics and clay as force for good Clay Commons is a six-part podcast hosted by artist and educator Eva Masterman, launching in August 2021, with a new episode released weekly. Join Eva and a host of artists, educators and activists exploring what community ceramic practice is, and how it might offer alternative solutions to arts education and create new sy...