The Podcast
Grab a drink in your favorite cup and join us for the party. Ryan Myers and Rachelle Miller are potters from the Midwest that love hanging with fellow artists. We will be having lively conversations with our guest potters where we talk about life, art, and making pottery while we get a little altered.
Listen on –
Rachelle Miller
When asked to describe her work, Rachelle Miller refers to it as "little colorful microcosms." As a mom, visual artist, and art instructor, Miller melds clay in the same way she weaves together all aspects of her life: with texture, color, and layering.
While her pieces may begin—and often remain—strong individually, Miller contends that each singularity is part of a bigger community. Her pieces form a relationship once together, and she takes great joy in seeing the ways they can interact.
Miller uses the potter's wheel and hand-building techniques to create her work. She also uses printing, etching, layering, and multiple firing methods to achieve the surfaces she desires.
In 1996, Rachelle Miller received her BA in art with a ceramic’s emphasis from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. After graduation, she spent four years working as a production potter for Rockdale Union Stoneware, Rowe Pottery, and Lakeside Pottery. Since then, she has returned to school to receive her teaching license and a Master of Education. Currently she is a full-time studio artist and a part time ceramic instructor at Madison College.
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Ryan Myers
Ryan was raised on cartoons and comic books, superheroes and villains. He grew up around Native American artifacts and American antiques where he learned to appreciate the intimate qualities of aged objects: the textures of rusty iron and crawling paint on old furniture, and even the musty smell of ripened books and magazines. Things that come with embedded narrative and a worn history have always surrounded him, and therefore, influence him. He is attracted to nostalgia and drawn to the curious — to something unusual but familiar — to something that creates a linkage across time.
Toys, Latin American ceramics, architecture, our human relationship with the environment, and the American folk face jug tradition started by early American potters, influence his work. From the very beginnings of mankind, civilizations have produced figurative works in clay. The work tells us about those peoples’ everyday lives, hopes, fears, struggles, triumphs, and cherished deities. The figure in art has limitless possibilities and is a subject matter that everyone can relate to.
Many of the objects he creates join the realms of sculpture and utility. He is not always concerned with “pretty”, though he does believe that form, color, and shape are important. The notion of function in his work is important as well but is not the primary focus. His vessels are created using a combination of thrown and hand-building processes. Many pieces are fired multiple times to achieve his desired effect. Each object carries its own story and history that is created as the viewer relates to that vessel and uses it in their daily life.
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