Dahlias, chrysanthemums, and hydrangeas, oh my! These lovely porcelain blooms are part of “Wallflowers”, a series by London based ceramicist Vanessa Hogge. The detail is gorgeous, and the reason …  “she takes an instinctive, visceral approach to each piece, painstakingly sculpting every petal and anther by hand so that no two flowers are identical.” Ahhh, hundreds of handmade petals! I wish I had that kind of patience, but, I do not. No, I choose to spend that kind of time staring at work like Vanessa’s. Happy first day of May!

Gasp! This is the absolutely gorgeous ceramic work of Korean artist Yunhee Lee. The detail, the gold, and of course my weakness, portraits of women. Here is a description of her work, found on Gallery Huue’s {Singapore} website:

“Lee calls herself a collector: collector of common stories around her, regarding people’s insatiable desires, fears, anxieties and the cure they search and find to overcome them. She takes note of these ‘curing processes’ and bring them to life with her hands using clay as a medium. Layers of variously sized units and the splendid patterns and colors have created a beautifully delicate and refined artwork that has come to define Lee’s artistic style.”

Beautiful.

This post is filled to the brim with so much amazing work, AND such an interesting back story! From a dairy farm, to art school, to working in flooded basements to selling huge installations in New York. Yep, Molly Hatch has seen it all. Of course, so has Molly Hatch Studio. That’s right, she has a few lives happening at once. No.1 commercial artist designing ceramics for companies like Anthropologie, The Land of Nod, Target … No.2 Fine artist creating huge, detailed, amazing installation work … No.3 Mother to a sweet six year old girl. I’m not sure when she sleeps, but she claims she does. You can listen right up there under Molly installing one of her ‘plates as paintings’ pieces,  or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, a few of her pieces that you might recognize {and that Mick might like, since they’re blue!}

Ahh, the teacup mug. And that vase… I need that vase!

Next, stepping back a tiny bit, these were a few of the pieces in her show at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia a year after completing her MFA {2010}:

Ah, yes… back where it all began!

So during that time there was a lot of hard work, and not a lot of money. I loved this story… not the poor part, but the hard work part… oh, and that very well-timed email she got from Anthropologie. She’s been working with them for years now, and here are a few of my recent faves:

Clearly, I’m going to need that unicorn mug. And the dachshund.

So, from functional pieces that can be found on shelves in lovely stores around the world, to breathtaking installation art that hangs in galleries and museums around the world. This is the piece she was talking about that is permanently installed in the lobby of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta:

Ooh, I would love to see that in person!

Now, If you happen to be in New York you could pop by Todd Merrill Studio, the gallery Molly’s been working with for the last few years. Here are just some of her insane fine art pieces:

My process is detail oriented and takes thousands of brushstrokes to paint each of my cube vases for @toddmerrillstudio Here is a short time lapse of the first layer of three in hand-painting one side of my smallest cube vase. #mollyhatchstudio #toddmerrill #painting #porcelain

A post shared by Molly Hatch (@mollyhatchstudio) on Nov 30, 2016 at 4:40pm PST

Right?! Oh my word – so much talent in one person.

And finally, you’ll be happy to know that Molly’s no longer working in a flooded apartment basement {wearing rain boots with her supplies in tubs}, now she works HERE:

What the wha! Gorgeous and so well-deserved. Here’s to being an “opportunistic optimist”, and saying yes to all of the amazing things that come along with that outlook. Thank you so much to Molly for sharing her story – the good, the bad, the hustle, all of it. Thank you as always to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode, and thank YOU for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Molly Hatch Instagram / Molly Hatch Studio Instagram
2. RISD
3. Museum School, Boston
4. Kathy King, Ceramics 
5. Miranda Thomas, Pottery
6. Michael Cardew / Ara Cardu
7. Rebecca Louise Law episode
8. University of Colorado 
9. Betty Woodman
10. Beth Lipman
11. Bennington Art Museum
12. Land of Nod, Molly’s collection
13. Studio images via Molly’s home tour on Apartment Therapy

So many of my favorite artists in one spot, all working toward the same goal. Yep, in honor of International Women’s Day, Uprise Art and the artists featured {just a few shown here} are donating 100% of proceeds from this online exhibition, titled “For the Greater Good”, to Planned Parenthood. Brilliant, beautiful. #Resist

See all of the available originals in this show right here… 100% of proceeds!? Amazing.

Fierce but fragile … beautiful, elegant, porcelain creatures by American artist Crystal Morey. Here are her words about why she creates what she creates:

“As a species, we sit at a pivotal moment, faced with monumental questions leading to difficult, uncertain answers. My figures exist on this frontier, absorbed in their own feelings of stress, anxiety and ambivalence. Sculpted from the silken white earth of porcelain, I see these delicate figures as containing power – as modern talismans and precious telling objects. They are here to remind us of our current trajectory and potential for destruction and downfall.” 

{Thanks to ceramicist Amanda Smith for pointing me to this lovely work}

Oh, mon Dieu! This is the porcelain work of French artist Juliette Clovis. Butterflies, flowers, and spiky growths! Here is part of her statement about this body {pun totally intended} of work:

“… [Juliette’s] women are completely transformed into hybrid beings, mixes of history, myths and chimerical dreams. The female bodies are invaded by a profusion of wildlife and flora elements, evoking a nature that is both soft and worrying. Like a Hitchcock-inspired scene, we can almost hear the noise of the jungle: the flapping of a bird’s wings, the slither of a creeping snake or the croak of a frog.”

Yes! The moment I saw that bird-covered bust, I have to admit… it gave me a little Hitchcock shudder! So glad I didn’t see any snakes in her portfolio.

“Everything Must Go” … eventually, yes, I suppose so. This beautiful, nostalgic, and kind of funny series of collaged ceramics {love!} are the work of San Francisco based artist Jeremiah Jenkins. Are they fragile? …

“This is a series of commemorative plates, made from broken commemorative plates. Each one is a fragile idea, breaking and gilding highlights the beauty within that fragility.”

Yes. Very. Jeremiah has a show on right now, until February 25th, at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco. Go, and then email me and tell me how fantastic these pieces are in person! Thank you.

I need this wardrobe. Sure, this might just look like a bunch of simple sweaters, jeans, and one very patriotic shirt… until you find out that they’re porcelain! But wait, there’s more. If you want to add a bit of pizazz to your look… copper and nickel plating your hats and shirts is the way to go. Gah! I love this series by LA based artist Ry Rocklen so very much.

Wow. Ceramic shards transformed into beautifully bizarre {very sharp} botanicals. I’ve written about Israeli artist Zemer Peled‘s gorgeous work before, but I just had to post about her current solo exhibition, titled “Nomad”. The up-close photos of Zemer’s pieces are gorgeous, but understanding their scale within a space makes them even more crazy amazing. These installation shots are from Mark Moore Gallery in LA where this work will be on display from now until November 5th, 2016. Go… but don’t touch anything. It’s sharp!

Oh my. Beautiful and sad all in one glance. This is a glazed stoneware and porcelain installation by American artist/ocean advocate Courtney Mattison, titled “Our Changing Seas III”. Here are her eloquent and inspiring words about this work and her mission:

“This piece explores the rapid transition that corals throughout the tropics and subtropics are making from healthy, colorful and diverse to sickened and bleached as a result of human-caused climate change, which is putting coral reefs into the proverbial “eye of the storm.” At its heart, this piece celebrates my favorite aesthetic aspects of a healthy coral reef surrounded by the sterile white skeletons of bleached corals swirling like the rotating winds of a cyclone. There is still time for corals to recover even from the point of bleaching if we act quickly to decrease the threats we impose. Perhaps if my work can influence viewers to appreciate the fragile beauty of our endangered coral reef ecosystems, we will act more wholeheartedly to help them recover and even thrive.”

Beautiful.

{Thanks to Mariela Di Nardo for pointing me to this work.}