#MadewithaBailey Interview with Kevin Hicks

You’ve posted some beautiful work on Instagram, can you tell us about what you are up to?

Right now is a profound time of appreciation. My studio has spent the last 24 years refining our collaboration model and the mood in the studio is dynamic and thriving. The future seems as wide open as it has ever been. Lately, we have been broadening our model by mixing the creative roles in the studio with more traditional business roles. The lines are blurring and I am very optimistic about where this openness and collaboration will lead.

Which Bailey products do you use and how do they help you get the results you need?

Our studio has two MSV-25T pugmills. These pugmills help us make more usable, smooth clay. We use one pugmill to reclaim our scrap clay in an efficient way – it would be intensely laborious to reconstitute without the help of the Bailey pugmill. We use the other pugmill as a giant extruder to create slabs for pressing tiles.

What’s a tool that you could not live without? 

I could not live without my wheel. I remember the first time I watched someone throw a pot on the wheel. It was magical and I knew immediately that I had a passion to learn to form on the potters’ wheel.

Tell us about yourself, how did you get started working in clay?

I was always drawn to the art room in school. After hours, these art studios were transformed into spaces where artists worked side-by-side and naturally collaborated. That clubhouse atmosphere inspired me to create a ceramic studio where craftspeople had input into the artistic side of the designs. I wanted to merge the traditional factory/production pottery studio model of the past with the modern autonomy of the individual artist. Ephraim’s studio is a unique hybrid—a place where ideas are shared, gathered, and developed as a group.

What are some of your favorite things about working in clay?

Just like back in art school, I still find it incredibly gratifying to see artists working together and succeeding in creating beautiful, well-made works of art. As a potter, I see throwing forms as creating ‘great bones’—a solid foundation—on which sculptors and glazers are free to complete the design. The pot is symbolic of the framework of the pottery itself. It is gratifying to offer a good structure, but it takes all of my other collaborators to bring life to the structure.

What inspires you?

Ceramics is a never-ending source of inspiration. The more I work in ceramics, the more ideas flourish. Also, as we expand our studio and encounter new artists, their new perspectives open us up to fresh avenues of exploration. We recently hired two new young artists. They are a whole generation apart and it is rejuvenating and refreshing to be collaborating with them.

What do you love about the ceramic process?

I think I am addicted to the dopamine hit that comes from brainstorming new ideas, experimenting in clay, and anticipating the results from the kiln each and every day. Invariably my favorite part of the day involves checking the kiln – there are very few days in the year that I am not thinking about new designs.

What are you excited to try next in the studio?

Right now in the studio, we have just completed our 2020 Fall Collection. It has shaped up to be one of our strongest collections to date. It is exciting to refine these designs and see them all together. We have pushed through some technical boundaries with a few of these pieces and I am excited to see the creative doors these advances open for us. The 2020 Holiday Collection is just around the corner!

When you’re not creating ceramics, what do you enjoy doing?

I enjoy cooking and eating healthy, fresh food. I also love playing basketball and being outdoors when the weather is nice.

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