web01.fireside.fm Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:25:54 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Sustaining Craft - Episodes Tagged with “Pottery” https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/tags/pottery Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:00:00 -0400 Sustaining Craft started in 2016, when Elizabeth Silverstein, a writer, found herself discouraged after a move and a divorce. To find a little encouragement for herself and others, she decided to talk to people building businesses in creative fields. en-us episodic The stories of those making a living with their art, craft, or passion. Elizabeth Silverstein Sustaining Craft started in 2016, when Elizabeth Silverstein, a writer, found herself discouraged after a move and a divorce. To find a little encouragement for herself and others, she decided to talk to people building businesses in creative fields. no craft, art, small business, local business, creative business, stories, storytelling, content, marketing, business stories, creative, art business, craft business, passion, passion business, painting, writing, drawing, henna, woodworking, animals, opera, singing, music, welding, metal work, books, novels, flowers, floral arrangement, photography, photos, nonprofit Elizabeth Silverstein hello@hewandweld.com Episode 26: Chris Swasta: Hearing in 3D https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/26 fb4dc1f0-ab20-45ca-b3c4-8e2a901b9545 Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:00:00 -0400 Elizabeth Silverstein full 3 Elizabeth Silverstein Chris Swasta created 6,000 pieces for a collaborative exhibit at the Thea Foundation scheduled for April 3. The show was postponed until 2021. He's been a full-time potter for the past six years and he teaches pottery at the Arkansas Arts Center. 17:06 no In 2016, when he came back to Little Rock, he found a job at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. “My old high school teacher was working with me and she was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been following you throughout your college years. I know you started doing pottery. Have you heard about the art center?’ And I was like, ‘No, what is that?’ And so I went there the next day.” He signed up for classes with Kelly Edwards. “I walked into her class, and I wasn’t going to leave,” Chris shared. “I was going to make something before I left. That’s how it started, and I’ve been there ever since.” Now, Chris teaches an afterschool program for students ranging in age from 10 to 18, and he’s a part of the work-study program at the center. And after hearing a Radiohead song, he made 6,000 pieces over the past six months, crediting his creative drive to synthesia. “Anything see, anything I hear, I visually relate it to a 3D form,” Chris explained. “This installation is inspired by a song.” Read the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/ Find out more about Chris: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rollinghillspottery/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rollinghillspottery/ Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends). Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/ Facebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft Find more from Hew & Weld: Website - https://www.hewandweld.com/news Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/ Special Guest: Chris Swasta. coronavirus, COVID19, creative, potter, pottery, exhibit, artist, central Arkansas, Arkansas In 2016, when he came back to Little Rock, he found a job at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. “My old high school teacher was working with me and she was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been following you throughout your college years. I know you started doing pottery. Have you heard about the art center?’ And I was like, ‘No, what is that?’ And so I went there the next day.”

He signed up for classes with Kelly Edwards. “I walked into her class, and I wasn’t going to leave,” Chris shared. “I was going to make something before I left. That’s how it started, and I’ve been there ever since.”

Now, Chris teaches an afterschool program for students ranging in age from 10 to 18, and he’s a part of the work-study program at the center. And after hearing a Radiohead song, he made 6,000 pieces over the past six months, crediting his creative drive to synthesia. “Anything see, anything I hear, I visually relate it to a 3D form,” Chris explained. “This installation is inspired by a song.”

Read the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/

Find out more about Chris:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rollinghillspottery/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rollinghillspottery/

Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
Facebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft

Find more from Hew & Weld:
Website - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/

Special Guest: Chris Swasta.

]]> In 2016, when he came back to Little Rock, he found a job at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. “My old high school teacher was working with me and she was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been following you throughout your college years. I know you started doing pottery. Have you heard about the art center?’ And I was like, ‘No, what is that?’ And so I went there the next day.”

He signed up for classes with Kelly Edwards. “I walked into her class, and I wasn’t going to leave,” Chris shared. “I was going to make something before I left. That’s how it started, and I’ve been there ever since.”

Now, Chris teaches an afterschool program for students ranging in age from 10 to 18, and he’s a part of the work-study program at the center. And after hearing a Radiohead song, he made 6,000 pieces over the past six months, crediting his creative drive to synthesia. “Anything see, anything I hear, I visually relate it to a 3D form,” Chris explained. “This installation is inspired by a song.”

Read the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/

Find out more about Chris:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rollinghillspottery/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rollinghillspottery/

Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
Facebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft

Find more from Hew & Weld:
Website - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/

Special Guest: Chris Swasta.

]]> Episode 7: Adrian Quintanar: Throwing Colorful, Functional Pottery https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/7 84e9a617-37ec-4fcb-9890-dd9fefdc8fba Tue, 04 Sep 2018 16:00:00 -0400 Elizabeth Silverstein full Elizabeth Silverstein Adrian Quintanar had always wanted to pursue some sort of creative career. He earned a music scholarship, then worked as a ceramicist in a dental lab for twelve years. After a move to Louisiana from Fort Worth, Texas, to support his wife while she earned her PhD, then a move to Arkansas, Quintanar earned his BFA in Photography and became the artist in residence at the Arkansas Arts Center for 2018. He's now experimenting with colorful clay to create unique pieces for his 2019 show. 26:05 no Crafting a single piece of pottery can take up to three weeks. There’s the design stage, then the piece is created on the pottery wheel and must dry completely before it goes into the kiln. “If that moisture, as it leaves the clay, if it is rushed, it will crack in the kiln,” Quintanar explained. “It has to be bone dry, that’s what we call it when all the moisture is out of the pot. That takes days.” The firing takes a few days, and then the pot is glazed and fired again. The kilns at the arts center are massive and can fit a couple of thousand pieces. With about 200 students and teachers creating throughout the week, it still takes time to fill the kilns. Now, Quintanar is working on his end-of-residency show and experimenting with colored clay and colorful slips. “I want the show to be really bright and colorful,” Quintanar shared. “I’ve been making my own clay and mixing up my own slips, which are colorful slips that are applied on the surface.” Slips consist of clay with water added and can be painted on a piece of pottery. Quintanar has been focused on experimenting for four months and has found some trial and error in the process. “I’ve had a lot of failures recently, after the firings, losing the colors,” he explained. “I could show you tons of tests of little white cups that are supposed to be purple and pink and blue. … I really finally think I’ve come upon a direction that might work. I haven’t so much thought about the forms yet. Like I said, I want it to be functional. So, of course, there will be bottles, jars and cups and possibly bowls. But there’s so many design elements to choose from, so I need to do a lot of brainstorming and drawing and sketching for those things, but I think it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be really colorful if it all goes well.” Special Guest: Adrian Quintanar. pottery, artist, art, craft, artist in residence, craft podcast, podcast about creative business, artist stories, pottery stories, sustaining craft Crafting a single piece of pottery can take up to three weeks. There’s the design stage, then the piece is created on the pottery wheel and must dry completely before it goes into the kiln. “If that moisture, as it leaves the clay, if it is rushed, it will crack in the kiln,” Quintanar explained. “It has to be bone dry, that’s what we call it when all the moisture is out of the pot. That takes days.”

The firing takes a few days, and then the pot is glazed and fired again. The kilns at the arts center are massive and can fit a couple of thousand pieces. With about 200 students and teachers creating throughout the week, it still takes time to fill the kilns.

Now, Quintanar is working on his end-of-residency show and experimenting with colored clay and colorful slips. “I want the show to be really bright and colorful,” Quintanar shared. “I’ve been making my own clay and mixing up my own slips, which are colorful slips that are applied on the surface.”

Slips consist of clay with water added and can be painted on a piece of pottery. Quintanar has been focused on experimenting for four months and has found some trial and error in the process. “I’ve had a lot of failures recently, after the firings, losing the colors,” he explained. “I could show you tons of tests of little white cups that are supposed to be purple and pink and blue. … I really finally think I’ve come upon a direction that might work. I haven’t so much thought about the forms yet. Like I said, I want it to be functional. So, of course, there will be bottles, jars and cups and possibly bowls. But there’s so many design elements to choose from, so I need to do a lot of brainstorming and drawing and sketching for those things, but I think it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be really colorful if it all goes well.”

Special Guest: Adrian Quintanar.

]]> Crafting a single piece of pottery can take up to three weeks. There’s the design stage, then the piece is created on the pottery wheel and must dry completely before it goes into the kiln. “If that moisture, as it leaves the clay, if it is rushed, it will crack in the kiln,” Quintanar explained. “It has to be bone dry, that’s what we call it when all the moisture is out of the pot. That takes days.”

The firing takes a few days, and then the pot is glazed and fired again. The kilns at the arts center are massive and can fit a couple of thousand pieces. With about 200 students and teachers creating throughout the week, it still takes time to fill the kilns.

Now, Quintanar is working on his end-of-residency show and experimenting with colored clay and colorful slips. “I want the show to be really bright and colorful,” Quintanar shared. “I’ve been making my own clay and mixing up my own slips, which are colorful slips that are applied on the surface.”

Slips consist of clay with water added and can be painted on a piece of pottery. Quintanar has been focused on experimenting for four months and has found some trial and error in the process. “I’ve had a lot of failures recently, after the firings, losing the colors,” he explained. “I could show you tons of tests of little white cups that are supposed to be purple and pink and blue. … I really finally think I’ve come upon a direction that might work. I haven’t so much thought about the forms yet. Like I said, I want it to be functional. So, of course, there will be bottles, jars and cups and possibly bowls. But there’s so many design elements to choose from, so I need to do a lot of brainstorming and drawing and sketching for those things, but I think it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be really colorful if it all goes well.”

Special Guest: Adrian Quintanar.

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