Clay Commons

Eva Masterman
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Arts

The Clay Commons Podcast explores the how, why, where and with whom of making with clay, a material that has formed the foundation of our contemporary global cultures and is the ultimate social binder and leveler.   Hosted by Eva Masterman, an artist and educator with nearly 20 years experience of working with clay and across creative education, we delve into the increasingly interdisciplinary and diverse landscape of clay practice and independent ceramic learning and ask: what do we need to thrive into the future as makers and a community? Tune in for expanded conversations about all things clay: from how and why we make, to creating more sustainable practices, the ethics and accessibility of running studios and teaching new generations of makers, to the social impact of using clay in wellbeing and community spaces. 

  1. 4h ago

    S3, Episode Five: Oren Shoesmith

    I’m so grateful to be able to share this conversation with our final board member, Oren Shoesmith.  Oren is a Cornish artist and writer living in Scotland. He works in an entangled way between clay, poetry, performance and film and his practice centres around unruly lands and bodies, finding paths of liberation through boglands, claylands and gender borders. Currently his research is focused on industrial histories of extraction, land dispossession, and re-imagining devotional earth-based practices. Oren brings an embedded connection to clay which offers an invitation to explore and connect to a form of material spirituality that I feel is often missing from our contemporary lives and which I find deeply nourishing. I can’t wait for you to share his wisdom and thoughts through this conversation.  https://www.orenshoesmith.co.uk @orenshoesmith

  2. 5h ago

    S3, Episode Four: Simeon Featherstone

    I'm thrilled to introduce my long-time friend and critical craft and community guide, Simeon Feathertstone, who's a repeat offender at The Clay Commons and has been a guiding voice since its inception. Simeon is currently Associate Lecturer, University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins, & Curriculum Lead for Ceramics at Morley College, and he also has a long established career as the co-founder of Parasite Ceramics an organisation that primarily produces collaborative public clay projects that focus on promoting community values, co-creative partnerships and sense of identity. Both with Parasite ceramics and as an artists-facilitator in his own right, Simeon has created numerous ceramic artworks and public realm projects throughout the UK though national and local organisations for diverse audiences and communities. We got into it during this conversation discussing how to navigate formal and informal spaces of learning, the social value of clay and material knowledge and how we pass on that knowledge maker to maker.   https://simeonfeatherstone.co.uk @simeonfeatherstone

  3. 5h ago

    S3, Episode Three: Carla Wright

    This time we’re meeting the wonderful Carla Wright, an artist working in ceramic sculpture, sound and wall-based works that explore community architecture and shared spaces of gathering. She also runs her own community interest company and ceramic studio in Bexhill-on-sea in south England is called Common Clay, so we’re closely linked by name as well as practice! We’re both deeply invested in clay as both an artistic material and a means of connection and commonality and I’m thrilled to have her understanding and care behind The Clay Commons. This conversation is a rich dive into what it means to run accessible ceramic spaces that cut across class and physical barriers, practical musings on how we pay ourselves as artists and facilitators and even a bit about tuning into clay time and embracing slowness. https://carlawright.co.uk/ https://commonclay.co.uk/ @common.clay @_carlawright

  4. 5h ago

    S3, Episode Two: Isis Dove Edwin

    We're starting Season Three with four episodes introducing our Non-Executive Board at The Clay Commons, four amazing artists working across a broad spectrum of clay and ceramic practice: Isis Dove Edwin, Carla Wright, Simeon Featherstone, and Oren Shoesmith. The Clay Commons is a communal effort and I'm so grateful to our board for helping guide us and am excited to give our listeners more context and lived experience as to why we started this journey and what we hope to achieve. We’re starting with Isis Dove-Edwin, a wonderful artist who came to clay as a second career and has developed a practice of sculptural vessels that explores clay as a material of agency, power and resistance for people across the Black African diaspora, alongside a collaborative practice with artist Leonora Lockhart, called 2nd Shift, which is researching and creating opportunities around being an artist-mother. We had a wonderfully enriching conversation about the challenges and inspirations of bring an being an artist mother, matrilineal knowledge, and non-linear journeys into clay.  https://ideceramics.com/about-1 @isisdoveedwin @the_2nd_shift

  5. Oct 6

    Reintroducing The Clay Commons Podcast

    We're back!  The Clay Commons Podcast is back and relaunching Season Three with a new look, new guests, new format and a new membership at www.theclaycommons.org. In this episode, our host Eva Masterman reintroduces the concepts, practices and communities behind The Clay Commons and lays the ground for our future plans.  The Clay Commons Podcast is an entry point to a new membership programme and community supporting the development of ceramic learning, engagement and practice across an increasingly interdisciplinary and diverse landscape. We've got some amazing conversations lined up that provide a space to exchange knowledge and resources on current issues, build relationships and collaborations, grow audiences and solve challenges with peers. Join us to explore the why, where and with whom of clay practice and join a growing clay community that is working towards a thriving, clay-centered future.

  6. 11/06/2023

    Outro: Until Next Time

    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

  7. 11/06/2023

    A Manifesto: To You and Clay and Beyond

    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.

  8. 11/06/2023

    Episode 5: The Leaky Boat of Capitalism

    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 space to get together and talk about things that we cared about, deeply, over time. How many other places in society can we do this? Clay studios, that’s where!  Let’s face it, zoom isn’t going anywhere, but the importance of face to face organising cannot be forgotten. Holding spaces for community and discussion is even more important as our governments come for drag story time and police our reading lists. How we might start to create these spaces with values at their core, where we start to practice ways that challenge capitalism and the capitalistic ideas of extraction and exhaustion and individualism that we’ve been indoctrinated into? Definitely not tying myself to Marx, but he did suggest that as capitalism emerges as a failed economic system, the failed state would erupt into violence. He also said that we must go through capitalism to get to the other side, and that this violence would be an indicator that capitalism was in its death throws. …Seen any violence lately? At a point when it feels like a kind of Russian roulette as to which will do us in first, war or climate catastrophe, surely it’s time to start imaging and enacting what might be on the other side?   Contributors: David Raileanu, director of Red Ink Community Library  https://www.redinkri.org/thestory Liz Welch, director and founder of Anyhow Studio https://www.anyhowstudioprovidence.com/ Clay Commons was written and produced by Eva Masterman, editing supported by Travis Roush. This podcast was supported by Newcastle University, and the Northern Bridge AHRC Consortium. Artwork created by Kelly Jade Audio credits: -       "Ambience, Children Playing, Distant, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org -       "Ambience, Seaside Waves, Close, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

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About

The Clay Commons Podcast explores the how, why, where and with whom of making with clay, a material that has formed the foundation of our contemporary global cultures and is the ultimate social binder and leveler.   Hosted by Eva Masterman, an artist and educator with nearly 20 years experience of working with clay and across creative education, we delve into the increasingly interdisciplinary and diverse landscape of clay practice and independent ceramic learning and ask: what do we need to thrive into the future as makers and a community? Tune in for expanded conversations about all things clay: from how and why we make, to creating more sustainable practices, the ethics and accessibility of running studios and teaching new generations of makers, to the social impact of using clay in wellbeing and community spaces. 

Information

  • Creator
    Eva Masterman
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Clay Commons
  • Show Website
    Clay Commons

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