My name is Jacob Goldsmith, Ph.D. (my Instagram is @jacob_the_madpotter), and I grew up in NJ (also lived in CA, KY and MI).  I have been studying ceramics both from the artist’s aesthetic perspective, but also from a scientist’s detail-oriented manor through surface decoration and glaze formulation research.  I’ve presented at Seton Hall University a history of ceramics, from the first pot made by humans to the development of semiconductors at Bell Labs.  The title was: “Why My Coffee Mug Holds Hot Liquids or a Brief History of the Art & Science of Clays and Ceramics.” This talk delves into the scientific history behind technology used to make ceramic materials.  I have been working on Mocha-Diffusion, a surface decoration technique for pottery, for over two years.  My research student and I presented this to an international audience. 

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During the summer of 2022 (up until now), I dove deeply into hand building clay.  My work focused on marbled clay or nerikomi, with the intent to look like various natural types of geodes or agates.  Some of these works have been sold at shows and in store fronts.  Since I started working with clay, I have documented my learning process in a “laboratory” style notebook over the years.  To date, I have three introductory clay lessons, over twenty project building lesson plans (with countless variations), thirty figures (currently hand drawn), hundreds of photographs of finished work (see also my Instagram feed), and many philosophical musings in my notebook.  I’d like to expand this into an artfully designed, how-to book that focuses on the art and science of ceramic creation.