Tales of a Red Clay Rambler: A pottery and ceramic art podcast · Ben Carter

Lisa Naples on embracing change in Grounded in Gold

·50 min·20 clips

The ad fades into a studio question. The guest talks about moving familiar stories into animal figures, and suddenly the clay has more air around it. The timing matters. In November 2020, a clay studio show could only take six masked visitors at a time, so the gallery turned into a slow gathering instead of a crowded opening. She picked structure over spectacle. Half-hour Saturday visits, repeated through the six-week run, let people stay with the work and finish the conversation. Every slot filled. What looked like a limitation became the format she says she would choose again over one big opening. The animal figures gave people a way in. They could talk about feeling, memory, and recognition without having to force it. Then the conversation moves inward. Asked about sharing so much personal vulnerability, she does not reach for a polished artist statement or a tidy theory. She says she does not know. The answer finds its footing through spiritual practice, sanghas, and a belief that people are less separate than they think. That belief makes the risk feel smaller. Fear of judgment shows up elsewhere in her life, she says, but not around showing an internal process through the work. The craft stays tied to ethics. Clay is not only about making objects here. It holds questions that might be useful to someone else. The tone is plain and close. The passage works because the honesty feels offered, not performed.

As heard by us

A reflective pottery conversation where animal forms, gallery limits, and personal vulnerability open onto community and self-inquiry.

This episode moves past studio process and into animals, vulnerability, and the practical work of showing art in public. A clay show in November 2020, with only six people allowed in the gallery at a time, stands out as a clear example of how artists still make room for…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want clay talk that turns into a conversation about change and connection.

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