Archived Articles

  • The I’m fine. Project: Exploring the Self Image

    The artistic process is one that draws on the whole person, rummaging through the depths of emotion and memory, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes painful, emerging in a thing of beauty.  For central Pennsylvania friends Maureen Joyce and Carrie Breschi, the cathartic value of working with clay has become a life mission.  Through heartbreak and the circumstances of life, these women have come together to offer healing workshops to people seeking emotional wholeness amid life’s inevitable challenges.  I’m fine. uses the creation of human masks to explore the self.
  • Potter Robert Deane: An Intimate Approach

    While all artists have a personal relationship with the materials of their craft, potters share a special bond with clay that spawns a visceral connection to the earth.  Southwestern Pennsylvania Potter Robert Deane brings this intimate dynamic to his work – in the clay he digs and refines, in the collaborative projects he undertakes, and especially in the philosophy of his teaching practices.  This Media, PA artist teaches adults and children at the Wallingford Art Center outside of Philadelphia.
  • Standard Ceramic Acquires Sculpture House Ceramics Division

    Florida-based Sculpture House is a business with a long history in the greater New York area that traces a century old history through the tutelage of two families.  By the end of this summer, Standard Ceramic’s Turnbull family will become the third line of craft-oriented businessmen to extend part of that tradition.  Standard will acquire the Ceramics Division of Sculpture House as Bruner Barrie, the company’s CEO, moves closer to a full retirement.

  • Eberle Studios: Developing Artistic Vision

    Pittsburgh artist Ed Eberle is well-known in western Pennsylvania and around the world.  With a career spanning over 50 years, Eberle works in a variety of media, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, and installations, but most recognizably with ceramics. His porcelain vessels and sculptures often feature abstractions, geometry, and detailed figurative painting with terra sigillata used both as “gesso” and “paint.” To further a legacy in fine art ceramics, Eberle and family are now opening artist studios and open studio workspaces in Homestead, near the Waterfront shopping center. 
  • Blair Meerfeld and The Art League School of Alexandria: Community of Inspiration

    When Blair Meerfeld left a solitary Colorado life as a studio potter in 2009 to accept a position at a thriving East Coast art school, he had no idea how radically his life would change.  As the Chair of the Ceramics Department at The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia, Meerfeld oversees over 1,400 students a year in a program that has continued to grow under his stewardship.  In a position that he thought he would keep for a year or two before returning to his independent artist’s life, his days are filled with constant interaction with students, faculty and administration.  Yet it was not until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all operations at The Art League that Meerfeld was able to reflect on his experience and fully appreciate the importance of human interaction in the creative process.
  • A Layered Approach Dual Exhibition: Brian Peters and Philip M. Soucy

    Two Pittsburgh artists will bring their work to ClayPlace@Standard for "A Layered Approach," a joint exhibition this coming October.  Philip M. Soucy and Brian Peters share a similar technique of stacking clay coils but have a vastly different approach to the method.  Soucy’s organic works are built by hand; Peters’ precise pieces are created using a 3-D printer.  Each reveals a respect and affection for the material and creates pieces that challenge our ideas about humanity’s history of building and altering its environment.
  • The Power of Clay: Abbie Kasoff and Say It With Clay

    When New Jersey ceramicist Abbie Kasoff was tirelessly working to build her human services non-profit organization Say It With Clay in the early 2000s, she was driven by her determination “that clay would do for others what it did for me.”  In love with the medium since her high school years, Kasoff returned again and again to working in clay, seeking the healing and transformative mental state that is called “flow.”  She came to understand the power of clay as a means of communication, a way to express feelings and ideas and to revisit them in a finished product – in a “second-stage give-back.”
  • Ceramixer: Growth Through Community

    Talon Smith sees the world through the lens of community.  For over a decade, this Pittsburgh potter, who identifies as non-binary, has developed their artistic vision and technique within the network of fellow artists and mentors.  “I’ve had an idea for a number of years now,” they say, “of creating a network of potters in Pittsburgh where people can talk and share and get answers to their questions.”  Talon’s friend and fellow potter Katy Ostronic of Katy Lynn Pottery joined Talon, along with other friends and colleagues, to refine the vision which has evolved into a group they are calling “Ceramixer.”  Like a social mixer, the group meets regularly at different venues and features a variety of topics.
  • Saturday Workshops Scheduled at Fireborn Studios

  • Fireborn Studios: Paired for Success

    Pittsburgh institution Fireborn Studios is launching a new series of workshops at their Southside studio.  Owners Dan Vito and Donna Hetrick are potters, educators, and business entrepreneurs who have thrived in a partnership and marriage for over three decades, a veritable success story in how to carve out a life as working artists.
  • Standard Ceramic Expands Technical Department

    Potters and distributors who call Standard Ceramics are familiar with Julie Hregdovic, who has offered expert help from our Technical Department since 1986.  We are pleased to announce that Lindsey Pauline, who came to Standard in July of 2020, will be joining Technical Director Julie Hregdovic in the Technical Department as our new Technician.  This expansion reflects Standard’s commitment to quality control and customer service and will ensure that all customers and distributors will have a timely and expert response to their queries.
  • NC Potters Conference: Korean Influences