Eric Strader and Michael Kifer show us the difference between being a functional potter and master potter.

(mellow bright music) Well, today, I'm talking with Eric Strader and Michael Kifer, who are both clay artists.

And I wanna tell you how this all happened because I was at the West Michigan Potters Guild show.

I always go to those, and I walked by two booths.

And the pottery, like, in each booth, looked so different.

I stood back and I'm like, I wonder, like, how and why.

Like, you see the world differently.

And I thought, I wanna talk to these two guys.

So let's start with you, Eric.

When did you first get interested in fine clay?

- Well, so, as a youngster, my grandfather had a pottery studio in Petoskey, Michigan.

Oftentimes, when I'm firing my electric kiln, the odors of the off-gassing kind of take me back to my grandfather's studio.

But it wasn't until after I graduated from western Michigan with a clarinet performance degree that my wife enrolled me at the KIA in Kalamazoo in a clay class.

I fell in love with it right away in the studio at the art institute.

And so, I've always just had that interest from the family history.

And of course, I didn't think that I would be, you know, today, in my own studio making pots full time.

But after the first few classes, I realized that that's really what I wanted to do.

- And what did it for you, Michael?

- I was in college and I needed a class to fulfill a grant requirement.

And so, I thought clay would be an easy enough class to take.

It seemed like it wouldn't take up all my time.

And boy, was I wrong.

So after spending a full semester making work, I didn't know what to do with it.

And I put it on a four wheel dolly and wheeled it across the campus to something called Flea and Thieves.

And I sold out and I thought, well, this is a good gig.

I can make work and sell it, and I have enough money to pay for my next semester of school.

So I've been pretty much a full-time potter since about '74 or '75.

So it's coming up on 50 years here.

- Your pieces are so beautiful and colorful.

Oftentimes, the inside of the cup may be a different color.

How do you know what colors go together when you're creating a piece like that in the design?

- I think the design, a lot of times, comes from the music I'm listening to.

But I don't know that there's a conscious thought to coming up with colors.

I think that when I see 'em, I just seem to know what color's gonna work.

- Eric, I love the wave rims bowl.

- That's just sort of a technique that I just kind of stumbled on.

And I just really like that movement.

As a functional potter, I focus on form.

And so, the different parts of the piece, whether it's the lip of a pitcher or a handle, those have to feel really good for the user in order to be a very functional piece.

So I'm concerned about form, but I also like movement.

- What's the story about the Stanley pitcher?

- So the Stanley pitcher?

Yeah, so this is my Stanley pitcher, and it was influenced from my grandfather.

Since he was a sculptor, he and I were making pots in a completely different way.

He would actually sculpt the pots out of sculpting clay, make a mold of that pot, and then he could pour liquid clay into that mold to make the pot.

So this is actually a postcard from a show that we did together back in 2004.

So this piece is my grandfather's, and because he's not throwing on the wheel, he could have this spout that kind of jutted up and this handle that kind of came out, more of a sculptural handle.

But throwing on the wheel, I had to kind of come up with something a little different.

And so, this piece, when I throw it, the rim is all the way around here, and then when it sets up a little bit, I cut the backside off.

So I get this spout that kind of juts out from the pot.

And then, I get this handle here that has quite a bit more curve to it.

And then, right here, quite a bit more than a mug handle.

So I put these mugs, I put these handles on a little bit wetter than I do with just a regular mug or pitcher handle.

And so, it just takes a little bit more work.

But, so this is my Stanley pitcher named after my grandfather Stanley, and his influence from his work.

- Eric, when you look at Michael's work, what is it that you feel?

- Well, again, I love his color.

And when I was younger, I used to go to a lot of workshops and I would get great ideas and come back to my studio and I would try and do everything all these other potters were doing.

And I finally realized that I just need to do my own work and buy a couple pieces of Michael's and put 'em in my studio because I can't make Michael's work.

I can't make work like anybody else's.

But I have a couple of mugs of Michael's in my cupboard and you know, it's easy to see that really beautiful color pitcher up there or the mug because all the rest of my pieces are a little more earthy.

And additionally, I would like to say, Michael has been a mentor to me over the years.

And, you know, as a fledgling potter coming out of Dick Lehman's studio, I was trying to find my way and I somehow found the West Michigan Potters Guild and Michael just kind of took me under his wing.

You know, he's been doing this for a long time.

And if there's anybody to find little tricks about how to do something, Michael knows the tricks.

- So for somebody who's watching, and maybe they're a budding potter, or they just started working with clay, like, what kind of advice do you have for them?

- I would say take a class at the art institute, Downtown Kalamazoo.

I think they have a good program.

I think get involved with some of the groups like West Michigan Potters Guild.

They're encouraging to new people.

I think you learn a lot by asking the questions from the people that have been there a while.

And I think that's something that is always helpful for younger potters.

- What words of wisdom do you have, Eric?

- I agree with Michael.

There are lots and lots of great places to take a class, and that's a great way to experiment.

There's just so many different ways of working with clay.

You know, a lot of times we think of potters, we think, oh, potter's wheel, well, there's slab work, there's tile work, there's sculpture.

And when you're in a class situation, you're gonna get all those opportunities.

And I would also say don't be discouraged, especially on the wheel.

I mean, we all started in the same spot.

And it took me probably a dozen times before I got something to turn out on the wheel that was even closely resembling what I was trying to do.

So, you know, it is hard.

And when you see a potter on a demonstration or whatever that throws a mug in, you know, 30 seconds, that's because they've been making mugs for 20, 30 years, you know.

So yeah, definitely don't get discouraged.

Try it all, find what you like.

And you know, certainly, you can find other ways to continue on, whether it's continue on in an art center or you know, Western, or KBCC, you know, there's just lots and lots of opportunities.

- I am so happy to have been able to talk to you both today.

Thank you so much for sharing some of your time here with me.

- It's been interesting, yes.

- Yeah, thanks for having us, I really enjoyed it.

- [Narrator] Support for "Kalamazoo Lively Arts" is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.