Colour and Ceramics

Today on the Colour and Ceramics Podcast, host Bob Acton shares his interview with Robbin Harris.
Robbin Harris is a crystalline ceramic artist based in Calgary, Alberta, whose creative path reflects both resilience and reinvention. A former jazz musician, Robbin turned to clay after a life-changing accident ended his drumming career, discovering ceramics in 2017 under the mentorship of Dave Settles at Fairview Studios.
His artistic direction shifted again in 2020 when he encountered crystalline glazes, a discovery that opened a deep exploration into their unpredictable beauty and technical complexity. Through a practice rooted in experimentation, Robbin creates work that balances cosmic imagery with organic decay, revealing the delicate tension between creation and destruction. Each firing becomes an act of discovery, inviting viewers into a conversation about fragility, transformation, and the unexpected beauty that emerges when control meets chance.
You can find Robin here on his website https://robbinharrisceramics.com/ or on his Instagram page here https://www.instagram.com/robbin.harris.ceramics/

This week Bob Acton @bobacton joined by ceramic and installation artist Heidi McKenzie, whose work uses clay and image as archive—exploring ancestry, migration, race, and belonging through powerful abstract portraiture.
From Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories to the Indian Ceramics Triennale in Delhi, Heidi’s work reminds us that ceramics can hold memory, heal, and tell the stories history forgets.
Check out her work at https://www.heidimckenzie.ca/

I’m thrilled to welcome Gillian Boon to the podcast, an Alberta-based ceramic artist whose work carries the pulse of the ocean, even from the heart of the prairies.
Inspired by coral reefs, tide pools, and the intense blues and greens of Grassi Lakes, Gillian’s ceramics explore movement, surface, and a deep sense of place. We talk about making ocean-driven work far from the sea, the role of teaching and community in a studio life, and how landscape leaves its mark on clay.
🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
#ColourAndCeramics #CanadianCeramics #CeramicArtists #OceanInspired #SurfaceAsNarrative #CalgaryArtists
You can find her work at https://www.gillianmitchellceramics.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/gmitchellceramics/

This week I’m @bobacton joined on the Colour and Ceramics Podcast @colourandceramics by Australian ceramic artist Maricelle Olivier, whose work is deeply shaped by memory, landscape, and line.
Drawing inspiration from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a place tied to generations of family history, Maricelle meticulously draws and etches every line into her ceramic surfaces. The result is a layered, rhythmic abstraction of landscape and emotion, brought to life through colour.
We talk about: • drawing as a way of remembering • surface as emotional terrain • translating childhood landscapes into contemporary ceramic language
🎙️ Now live on the Colour & Ceramics Podcast
🔗 Website Link: https://maricelleolivier.com/
🔗 Instagram Link: https://www.instagram.com/molivier_ceramics/

Ceramic artist Shae Bishop joins me @bobacton on the Colour and Ceramics Podcast @colourandceramics this week for a rich conversation about material, curiosity, and community.
Shae’s practice moves between ceramics, textiles, and the body, shaped by residencies at places like the Archie Bray Foundation and Kohler Arts/Industry, and by years embedded in craft communities from North Carolina to Japan, Turkey, Mexico, and beyond.
🎙️ Now live on the Colour & Ceramics Podcast
🔗 Website Link https://www.shaebishop.com/
🔗 Instagram Link https://www.instagram.com/shae_bishop/