Jonathan Kaplan | Studio Potter

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Jonathan Kaplan

Jonathan Kaplan has worked as a production potter, university educator, ceramic artist, as well as a professional mold and model maker, ceramic designer and a manufacturer. He has written extensively for Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Ceramics Technical, Ceramics: Art and Perception, and Studio Potter. His work has been featured in the Lark Books series, including “500 Vases,” “Best of 500 Ceramics,” and “500 Teapots”.

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Reshaping the Paradigm: The Art of Learning by Doing

How do we learn to make ceramics? We can easily identify our skills, but how do we quantify our knowledge? Skill and knowledge are two entirely different entities with differing vocabularies, yet they are intimately entwined.

Variables in Raw Materials: A Report on Contaminated Clay

There are two inherent and consciously feared occurrences in producing ceramic works in a studio. The first, within our realm of control, is poor or unsuccessful firing. The second, out of the potter's control, is bad or contaminated raw materials.

Retrofit: A Solution for the Stacked Brick Door

The demands of studio production necessitate that the potter's time be spent as profitably as possible on those tasks at which he is most skilled.

Burnout

After fifteen years of making pottery, I decided it was time to stop. It has been well over a year now since I made that choice, and although my life has changed greatly during this time, there has not been a day in which I have not thought about pottery or my previous business.

Financial Considerations Notwithstanding

I am often reminded of the opening scene in the movie Out of Africa: as the camera pans over spectacular country, we hear, in a voice-over, "I had a coffee plantation in Africa." That simple statement resonates quite strongly with me.

Source Material

In his Life Cycle Completed, developmental psychologist Erik Erikson uses the term "generativity," referring to the task as well as the responsibility of establishing and guiding the next generation.

Let’s Talk About Building(s) . . . Architectonically Speaking

Those pivotal years studying the physical structure, history, and construction of buildings, as well as architectural design philosophy, were the beginning of a journey to find my own voice in ceramics.

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