RON LOYD

"I generally work with Cone 5 & 6 stoneware. I primarily work with Aardvark's Cassius Basaltic clay. It's a wonderful black cone 5 clay. I have been migrating over to Armadillo white and dark clay."

Primary forming method?

"Handbuilding has been my construction technique for over 40 years. I threw a little but sold my wheel this year."

Primary firing temperature?

"Cone 5/6 Oxidation in Electric Kiln."

Favorite surface treatment?

"I use white slip and heavy imprinting as my preferred surface".

Favorite Tools?

"I use modeling tools, commercial imprints and stamps and carving my own stamps/imprints. Actually any thing that will make a mark into clay".    

Describe your studio environment.

"My studio is located in my home. I share studio space with my wife Jodi Walsh. The 'Dirty Studio' is our garage with an electric kiln, extruder and slab roller. Rolling baker's carts are our shelves. We have a heating/air conditioner wall unit. That makes a huge difference in working year round here in the Houston area. We have three other rooms inside the home that function as 'Clean Studios' assembling ceramic sculpture, drawing and painting. Storage of finished artwork in off site at a nearby storage facility'".

How/Where do you market & sell your artwork?

"Most of my marketing and selling my artwork comes from personal connections, word of mouth, local shows and art fairs. My future goals are to expand my market exposure into FaceBook, Instagram and to secure a local and national galleries".

"As a contemporary ceramic artist, I am open to all forms of shapes that I see or experience in my daily life. The internet provides enormous amount of source material. But of course, I rely on the ether of human thought for significant inspiration".

"I graduated with a MFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in ceramics and painting. I spent the next 27 years in Software Technology in various creative marketing roles. As a corporate dropout, I became a high school ceramics instructor in the Washington DC Metro area for 15 years. Jodi and I relocated back to Houston in 2015".

How have you have taken your experience as a well-established maker in the field and passed that knowledge along to other artists?

"Being an art teacher to high school age students gave me an opportunity to really expose them to what art can be as a life experience. Trying to open their own doors of perception was challenging but when you saw it open it was quite a joyous occasion to see. Speaking for both Jodi and I, when we held our annual art camp to 5 - 15 year olds each summer, we were able to challenge these students to think out the box and achieve confidence in themselves in becoming makers of art".

What’s the best advice you’ve been given by a fellow maker, mentor, or teacher?

During my BFA/MFA studies I had workshop with Robert Irwin. Irwin said "keep your perceptions wide open, never narrow your thoughts".

During my years in digital technology I had the pleasure of training Philip Pearlstein, the figurative painter, on an early electronic painting system. During those sessions he taught me how to start every drawing with first placing small dots on the contours of the perceived figure you are drawing.