I’ll be celebrating #Juneteenth with another edition of Rhythms of Clay at an Arts Festival hosted by the Westcoast Black Theater Troupe in Sarasota, Florida. Once again, we’ll be teaching Black youth about the udu, a #Nigerian clay drum. They’ll have the opportunity to make a large drum collectively and create their own small percussion instruments from #clay. Materials provided by #KaaboClay and Highwater Clays of Florida. Happy Juneteenth everyone! #pottery #ceramics #BlackHistory

I want to share the work of the women I presented with this week, all incredible ceramic artists and human beings. Left: Crystal Morey, Oakland, CA Porcelain human-animal-plant hybrid figures

Crystal Morey

Crystal Morey

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To my right: Shikha Joshi, Austin, TX Earthy, rustic functional ware https://potterybyshikha.com/ Right: Andrea Keys Connell Very fun, vibrant, playful sculpture

Andréa Keys Connell

#ceramics #pottery #art #ceramicart #keramik #WomenArtists

Virginia is my homeland and I get to bring a little piece of it back to Florida with me. My parents had me while they were students at Virginia Tech, just 45 mins away from where the conference was held. As fun as it had been to access #clay so easily in the environment here, it’s only possible because about a foot of top soil has been lost to farming, deforestation, etc. Also, the labor of the enslaved is baked into each clay brick in the buildings on Hollins campus. (Lots of #alttext.)

The Women Working with Clay Symposium has just come to an end and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. Over the last few years as I’ve been discussing the influence of #NigerianPottery on my work and mentioning #LadiKwali, someone (presumably in their 70s) will tell me about their experience getting to watch her demonstrate during her tour of the US. Each time, a different fascinating detail is shared.

I just picked up two mulberry tree varieties from a neighbor who propagated them and now I can’t get the nursery rhyme out of my head. I never even knew what a mulberry was when I was a kid, never saw them, never tasted one. Now, I’m wondering why we sang “Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush,” when they’re actually trees not bushes. Anyway, here’s to beefing up my edible landscape. After my recent #gardening challenges, I’m leaning into perennials now more than ever. #Florida

#MutualAid Pottery Raffle! A #KaaboClay member is preparing for a critical, life-saving surgery. Artist Kenya Moffett-Garner will be unable to work for a month while she recovers and needs our collective support. Please donate to her fundraiser: https://gofund.me/e010827c And then email your donation receipt to PotteryByOsaFundraiser@gmail.com to entered a raffle to win this Earth Tone pitcher. Winner will be selected at random & announced on Sunday night. US only because of shipping.

“Between Starshine and Clay: Ceramics Across Diaspora, Land, and Lineage” This will be the title of my solo exhibition at the Art & History Museum at Maitland in 2027. They’ve also requested that part of the exhibition features work by members of #KaaboClay, the Black #clay art collective & mutual aid network I founded in 2021. What an incredible opportunity to shape clay culture! I’m very excited. I also want to share the poem the title is from, by #LucileClifton.

I’m working on completing a batch of ollas before I leave for the #ceramics symposium in Virginia next week. We’re finally having days of consecutive rain, marking the beginning of storm season and hopefully the end of our two-year drought. That means I get to give the ollas in my garden a rest for the time being while other regions, particularly out West, move into a dry season during which ollas would be a helpful, sustainable irrigation solution. #OllasByOsa #pottery #gardening

One year ago today, I was finishing a month-long art residency in Taos, New Mexico. This was my workspace. I made udus (Nigerian pottery drums) out of sparkly micaceous clay. Taos is known for its pottery using clay with naturally occurring granular mica. You can see the various samples clay and mica at the end of the table. New Mexico is clay paradise. That night, we had an open studio party with live music & ppl from the community. The next day, I woke up with a stomach flu.

Today’s the day: #KaaboClay’s biggest fundraiser sale of the year! On this anniversary of George Floyd’s unjust death, we commemorate the tragic event that sparked a movement. This is an opportunity to show that we are unwavering in our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in all realms of life, including the arts. See my past posts for more info on who we are and why we exist. Shop our sale here: kaaboclay.org/shop (US only). #pottery #ceramics #BlackArt #DEI #BLM