Talking Clay

During the season one finale of The Shot Callers podcast, launched in 2022, hosts Virgil Ortiz and Justin Paik Reese, both celebrated ceramists, marveled at all they’d accomplished in 12 episodes. “You realize how small the world really is,” said Ortiz. “Like, you build a community. And then all of a sudden, everybody is firing together, taking that extra time to go try to visit each other. I think it’s really cool how it brings everybody together and makes everybody relax and not take each other so seriously.”

Ortiz and Reese—who became real-life friends in 2021 while artists-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (The Bray) in Helena, Montana—drink cocktails virtually with guests that have included artists Simon Levin, Michelle Wen, and Kensuke Yamada. The tone is intimate and convivial, with lots of shout-outs and personal tales, much like a tantalizing party conversation. The two expect to return for a second season.

The brain and technological brawn behind The Shot Callers—along with the seven other podcasts that make up the Brickyard Network, which is part of The Bray—is producer Ben Carter. A New Jersey–based ceramic artist and former Bray artist-in-residence, he has hosted his own podcast, Tales of a Red Clay Rambler, since 2012.

“I had for years wanted to make a network of podcasters,” says Carter. “The struggle people have with podcasting is not talking to people—it’s the editing.” In 2021, Carter, himself a deft editor, reached out to Steven Young Lee, then The Bray’s resident artist director, with a proposal. To his delight, Lee suggested running the podcast network through the foundation, with all the attendant financial support. The Brickyard Network launched that year.

Each podcast illuminates a different aspect of ceramic making. Trade Secret, hosted by Adam Chau, addresses contemporary issues such as working with galleries and using technology, while Clay in Color, hosted by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy and Alex Anderson, focuses on artists of color and their work. For Flux Sake, hosted by Kathy King, Matt Katz, and Rose Katz, answers “burning questions” about clay, glaze, and other materials.

The podcasts complement The Bray’s pantheon of offerings—residencies, studio space, classes, galleries, and exhibitions—and its goal of “promoting, celebrating, and sustaining the ceramic arts.” Given the foundation’s remote location outside Helena, the podcasts reach people who’ve never been there.

The Brickyard Network is a pleasure to dip into, even for listeners who don’t spend their days shaping clay. “I think people want positivity,” says Carter. “And they want control. If you sit down at the wheel with clay and you are mindful, you can feel a sense of control. You get all the happy juices that come from creativity. You get endorphins and dopamine from making a new form, all this positive feedback. A good podcast can give you that secondhand by listening to other people talk about their experience of being creative.”

Jennifer Vogel is a contributing editor at American Craft.