Clay in Color

Today, on Clay in Color , we chat with Ryan Flores. He creates bountiful sculptures of vegetation in a psychedelic array of glazes. In our interview, he talks about vegetation as an extension of his formal exploration of the figurative, the relationship between beauty and spectacle, and his love for working exclusively with clay and glaze. We also discuss how geography has affected his practice, t...

Today, on Clay in Color , we chat with Murjoni Merriweather. She creates stylized figurative sculptures that celebrate Black beauty. In our interview, she talks about her unconventional approach to sculpting and materials, mainly using synthetic hair and glitter, and the evolution towards producing successful mixed media pieces. We also discuss staying open to learning new things, positive residen...

Today, on Clay in Color , we chat with Roxanne Jackson. She creates fantastical sculptures that combine beauty and horror. In our interview, she talks about finding beauty in unexpected places, her fascination with sci-fi and horror imagery as a way of reconnecting with nature, and her background as a river guide. We also discuss her fruitful time alone in her new home during the COVID-19 pandemic...

Today, on Clay in Color , we chat with Syd Carpenter. She creates sculptures that center the geopolitical history and social mobility of Black farmers and gardeners in America. In our interview, she provides affirmations and advice on not ignoring our creative impulses, deciding to become artists, and continuing to make despite challenges. We also discuss how gardens and the drive to tend the land...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Maya Vivas. They create sinuous sculptures that are "moving but not moving" and behave like autonomous bodies. In our interview, we talk about Vivas's background as a performer and how that influences how they work with ceramics, the swirling language that has become signature to their work, and their clay performances. We also discuss how they center play and...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Joel Gaitan. He creates personified earthenware vessels that mirror his friends, family, and himself while drawing from the ceramic language of early Mesoamerican ceramics. In our interview, we talk about how Gaitan found his way to ceramics and how he rethinks museological displays as a celebration. We also discuss growing up in a religious household, how he...

Angelik and Alex are back for a new series of Clay in Color!  Season three features eighteen interviews with emerging and established artists of color who are shaping the field of ceramics today. New episodes drop every other Wednesday starting November 15th.

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Kristy Moreno. She creates badass femme and nonbinary figures in clay and paint to examine the bonds between social, political, and personal narratives. In our interview, we talk about ideas of futurism, 90s television superheroes and supervillains as inspiration for her characters, and her practice as a form of building community and achieving survival. We al...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Ashwini Bhat. She creates abstract and organic sculptures that reflect on self and place. In our interview, we talk about rituals in her life and practice, having a nomadic lifestyle before moving to California, and the joy of stillness. We also discuss her passionate pursuit of understanding the natural environment around her and the role of collaboration in...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Chanakaran "Punch" Semachai. She creates boldly colored and patterned vessels and sculptures of dinosaurs that poke fun at the human condition. In our first international interview, we talk about how isolation as a graduate student in the United States prompted her to develop her signature dinosaur characters, her "everything but the kitchen sink" attitude abo...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Grant Levy-Lucero. He creates vessels as canvases for paintings of signs around Los Angeles of recognizable products. In our interview, we talk about his first time visiting Seoul, how he started working with clay, and finding a form and imagery that would make his art accessible. We also discuss his start in the fashion industry and trying to diversify his pr...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Beth Lo. She creates sculptures and vessels that reflect her Chinese American experience through the motif of children. In our interview, we talk about childhood as a crucial moment for imagination, turning to cute imagery of children at a time when "macho" aesthetics were considered superior and how raising a child influenced how this motif evolved. We also d...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Roberto Lugo. He creates portrait vessels of Black and Brown icons that incorporate graffiti and Hip-Hop iconography and references to historical ceramics. In our interview, we talk about making Lugo's legacy about giving back to his community and making ceramics a more accessible medium to combat systemic racism. We also discuss the risk in portraiture, anxie...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Anina Major. She creates ceramic sculptures, mixed media installations, videos, and performances about the relationship between self and place from a Caribbean diasporic lens. In our interview, we talk about how she developed the language of plaiting in her vessels from traditions of straw weaving in the Bahamas and her love of materials. We also discuss guilt...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with George Rodriguez. He creates lavishly adorned figurative sculptures that aim to build community. In our interview, we talk about the charged history of the "decorative," how he sees flowers as an accessible motif, and the pleasure of decorative surfaces. We also discuss the universality of his work and working towards more immersive experiences. We end our cha...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Karla Ekatherine Canseco. She creates grotesque sculptures that explore identity, home, and the body. In our interview, we talk about the Xoloitzcuintle (hairless dog) as a guide in Mexican mythology and in her personal life, ideas of return and nostalgia, and using and reusing matter as a signifier of sentimentality and the different moments of time. We also...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Melvino Garretti. He creates mixed media sculptures and paintings that reflect his pursuit as an "urban and suburban anthropologist." In our interview, we talk about his thoughts on why his work is having a moment, his artistic process, and his role as a collector. We also discuss making art about the Black experience but through a universal lens, his interpre...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Jolie Ngo. She creates 3D-printed ceramic vessels that bridge the past and future of ceramics. In our interview, we talk about how she became interested in the vessels as her go-to form and her excitement and trepidation coming into her next venture, furniture-making. We also discuss the influence of digital platforms on her vision of world-making, the vessel...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Bony Ramirez. He creates mixed media paintings and sculptures of Black and Brown figures that represent the diversity of contemporary Caribbean life with the underlying tension of colonialism and its effects. In our interview, we talk about Ramirez's life before and after his "big break" in 2020 and the emotional toll of his journey towards becoming an artist...

Angelik and Alex are back for a new series of Clay in Color! This season they bring you conversations with young professionals and established artists of color who are shaping the field of ceramics today. New episodes drop on Tuesdays starting August 16th.

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Yvette Mayorga. She creates ceramic sculptures and acrylic paintings that resemble delectable cakes and pastries that subversively critique the idea of the American Dream. In our interview, we talk about Mayorga's discovery of Rococo excess through Catholic decorativeness, embracing rasquachismo through unexpected materials and strategies, and her intentional...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Linda Lopez. She creates playful ceramic sculptures of dust that, while abstract, recall both living creatures and inanimate objects. In our interview, we talk about Lopez's parents' role in instilling a sense of wonder and animism in her and how it has influenced her practice. We also discuss the evolution of her "Furries" and how she does not back down from...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Diana "Didi" Rojas. She creates ceramic sculptures of brand-name shoes, from sneakers to high heels. In our interview, we talk about seeing her shoe sculptures as portraits of the wearer and a reflection of social media-driven consumerism. We also discuss the resourcefulness of her practice and how collaborations with brands have informed and supported her wor...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Amia Yokoyama. She creates clay sculptures and animations that explore reality from the lens of internet world-building. In our interview, we talk about the richness of fantasy as a space of creativity and expanding preconceived notions of reality, especially in the digital landscape. We also discuss her pursuit of fluidity in both her ceramic and animation wo...

Today on Clay in Color , we chat with Sydnie Jimenez. She creates ceramics of Black and Brown figures with distinctive attitudes and personal styles. In our interview, we talk about taking up space and wanting to create accessibility while protecting the figures and whom they represent. We also discuss her unconventional, creative process and how subconsciously her friends and family influence her...