Emily Reason is a potter, artist, and Instructor in Professional Crafts and Ceramics at Haywood Community College in North Carolina. She holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and BFA from West Virginia University. Emily's ceramics career has encompassed artist residencies, writing, teaching, and exhibitions.

Originally from Cedar City, Utah, Brandon Peña is a functional potter currently teaching high school ceramics classes at Box Elder High School in Brigham City, Utah. Brandon received a BFA degree from Utah State University in 2016. Brandon discovered his passion for clay after taking his first ceramics class in high school; he now finds joy being able to share that passion with his own students. Aside from Making pottery, Brandon is an avid skateboarder who puts just as much time and effort into increasing his abilities on the board as he does with making his pots.

Phil Lyons is an artist, musician, and teacher in Madison, Wisconsin. Phil has been teaching ceramics & sculpture for the last 17 years at his alma mater, Madison West High where he replaced the legendary Don Hunt. Phil says, "I run one of the biggest and best high school ceramics studios anywhere!" Phil has an amazing wife (Judy) and three grown, creative sons.

Alana Wilson is a ceramicist based in Sydney, Australia. She has been practicing ceramics for 7 years, since graduating from the National Art School with a BFA (Hons) in 2012. She exhibits regularly both nationally and internationally, most recently in Japan. While most works are essentially contemplative, the ode to traditional forms seeks to honor the nobility of the vessel and it's foremost function alongside an inherent respect of ceramics as a medium. Subtle surface destructions and experimental glazing and firing techniques are a major focus in the studio. Firing to 1260ºC allows the metamorphosis of surface degradation to be captured, appearing to exist in a state of motion and decay, even once cooled. These quiet meditations into the beauty of the decayed utilitarian attempt to captivate and impel the viewer beyond the physicality and functionality of the works.

NCECA 2019 was an amazing conference for clay people from around the world. I met people from Scotland, Russia, New Zealand, Norway, Canada, and of course, the United States. And everyone has one thing in common... Clay! This is the largest conference of its kind in the world. In this episode I interview random attendies of NCECA.

Reiko Mihagi is a native of Japan who got her ceramic education in Tokyo and experience as a studio potter in Mashiko, a renowned pottery town. After moving to the US Reiko experienced new materials and techniques and developed her signature sgraffito stoneware. Reiko work is infused with an appreciation of subtle beauty and the animistic view of the world from her native land. Reiko lives in Western North Carolina and, along with her pottery studio, runs a small market garden with her husband.

Since graduating from Auburn University with a BFA in 2007, Chad Nelson has been making and selling pottery. The main goal of Chad's work is to help people smile a little bit more every day through the use of his functional stoneware.

Trevor Foster has been working full time with ceramics for the past 10 years. Trevor has a BFA in Ceramics from the University of Washington were he studied under Akio Takamori and Doug Jeck. He operated a delft ceramics factory in Seattle for 2 years as an apprentice to Charles Kraftt. Trevor currently operates a ceramics studio in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Trevor's ceramics have been exhibited in 6 different countries over the past 2 years.

Rachel Love graduated from Western Washington University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mixed Media. Though Rachel's core focus while enrolled was printmaking, fibers, and photography, she prepared herself for a multitude of creative avenues by taking many other courses in almost every other branch of artistic expression the institution offered. As time has gone on and experiences and families have grown, Rachel currently devotes a majority of her time to her family and young daughters but has still been able to enrich and expand her business which can be found online under the name of High Yield Studio. Rachel is preparing for an exciting 2019, where she will continue to utilize her mixed media skills and expand on her true love and biggest interest which is creating ceramic pieces.

Lydia Johnson is a ceramic artist and designer who works full time in her studio in Manchester, Connecticut. Lydia's work has been exhibited across the country at galleries such as The Clay Studio, Northern Clay Center, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Lillstreet Gallery, and Artstream Nomadic Gallery. Lydia was the recipient of the 2017 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission. This spring, Lydia will be a demonstrating artist at the Florida Heat symposium and showing work in Tokyo, Japan, and at the Architectural Design Digest show in New York City.