A new spin on pottery
An article by Ashley Fahey in The Charlotte Ledger features Professor of Interdisciplinary 3D art Thomas Schmidt.
“With surgical precision and a whirring sound, tiny strings of clay are layering onto a platform. It’s repetitive, almost hypnotic, to watch the machine pour stone-colored clay in tidy, precise rows. It’ll take a couple of hours, but at the end, a tile — hopefully with no bubbles or imperfections that will force a redo — will emerge.
“Inside his home studio in Charlotte’s Enderly Park neighborhood in west Charlotte, this is how Thomas Schmidt uses a 3D clay printer to produce hundreds, if not thousands, of tiles for several commissioned art projects.
“Schmidt is one of a growing number of people working with clay who are incorporating technology into the creative process.
“‘I was always drawn to the industrial design aspect of ceramics,’ said Schmidt, a professor of art and interdisciplinary art at UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture.”