All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Jonathan Adler’s Ceramics & Designs at MAD

Date: September 30, 2025
Guest: Jonathan Adler (artist, designer, ceramicist)
Host: Alison Stewart
Focus: Jonathan Adler’s new exhibit The Mad, Mad World of Jonathan Adler at the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) and insights into his creative journey

Episode Overview

This episode features a lively, in-depth conversation between Alison Stewart and renowned ceramicist and designer Jonathan Adler. The discussion centers on Adler's new museum show at MAD, his lifelong creative evolution, and core philosophies on art, design, and the messy, joyful process of making things. Listeners get Adler’s candid reflections on turning passion into profession, the changing landscape of American craft, and the unique blend of wit, pop-culture, and seriousness that defines his work.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Adler’s Origin Story: Clay as a Calling

• Discovery of Pottery (02:30)

  • Adler recalls his almost mystical first experience with clay at summer camp, describing an instant and lifelong bond:

  “When I touched clay it was just on. Like it has been my spouse, my love, my side piece, my everything for the last many, many years... For me, it was kind of just like, no, I'm a potter. That's what I am.” —Jonathan Adler (02:30)

  • Despite doubts about making a living, he pursued pottery obsessively.

• Family Influence (03:14)

  • Candidly discusses his parents' supportiveness, creative influence, and practical hesitations (“were they sick of supporting me until I was like 29? Yes, but they never said, ‘that’s ridiculous. You can’t be a potter’” —03:14).

  • His father, a lawyer and talented artist, is an enduring muse who modeled endless creative experimentation.

2. Art School, Rejection, and Finding His Style

• RISD Lessons (05:05)

  • Adler attended Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The environment’s critiques and high standards shaped his work, even as he learned to disengage from rigid analysis and self-doubt.

  • A notorious anecdote about being told by a professor that he had “no talent” became fuel, not failure:

  “She’s like, you don’t really have any talent. And honestly, I’ve dined out on that story for the last 30 years.” —Jonathan Adler (06:23)

• The Machismo of Pottery (07:26)

  • Pottery’s post-war association with abstract expressionism and macho energy clashed with Adler’s own sensibility—rooted in postmodernism, pop culture, and a playful, queerer point-of-view.

3. Developing a Pop Sensibility

• Influences & Aesthetic Approach (08:04)
  • Adler credits his visual postmodern upbringing for a mashup approach:

  “Visual postmodernism was about a mashup of different styles and a permission to sample... which was quite liberating for me.” —Jonathan Adler (08:08)

  • He merges semiotics and communication with the tactile medium of clay, making pottery his “canvas for engagement with culture.”

4. Professional Turning Points

• From Fired to Inspired: Breaking Through (09:36)
  • Adler recounts being fired from three jobs, then throwing himself into pottery in Hell’s Kitchen, living paycheck to paycheck, until a Barney’s order changed everything.

  “I got a soupçon of success... I just entered this crazy world where I just didn’t even look up from the wheel for five years.” —Jonathan Adler (10:02)

5. Studio Practice & Creative Process

• Five Steps: From Maquette to Market (10:51)

  • Adler describes his hands-on process, relevant whether working with ceramics, brass, or acrylic:
    1. Maquette—tiny clay model to explore ideas
    2. Prototype—full-scale model
    3. Firing—for ceramic works
    4. Sampling—outsourcing prototypes for production
    5. Ordering—final selection for his collections
  • Only about half of what’s developed is actually produced.

• Quality Rule:

  “If your heirs won’t fight over it, we won’t make it.” —Jonathan Adler (12:19)

  • Humorously insists on functional desirability as a benchmark.

6. The “Mad, MAD World” Exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design

• Exhibit Structure & Dialogue (13:14)

  • The show (“Mad” for wildness, “MAD” for Museum of Art and Design) pairs Adler’s own works with pieces from MAD’s archives that inspired him.
  • His hope: reveal how sensibilities are formed, and how “the journey of inspiration” leads to output.

• Key Influencers: Ruth Duckworth, Val Cushing, Judy Kensley McKie, and the “funk ceramics” of the 1970s all provided direction, reminder, and encouragement toward irreverence and creativity.

7. Taxonomy of Adler’s Work & Inspirations

(16:15–19:04)

• Adler explains his tongue-in-cheek categorization of the exhibition:
  • Animalia: Animal influences
  • Optimistica: Joyful, childlike creativity
  • Authentica: Modernist beauty and material purity
  • Metallica: Metalwork and its possibilities
  • Erotica: Cheeky explorations of the human body
  • Amerikalia: Engagement with American identity (“I am just. I love this country. I feel so lucky to be here.” —16:30)
  • Funkiana: Celebration of irreverent, subversive funk ceramics

8. Art History & The Studio Craft Movement

• Explaining “Craft” vs. “Art” (19:18)
  • Adler contrasts the connotations of “craft” (today’s craft hobbyism) vs. the studio craft movement (artists using “non-art” materials in earnest artistic pursuit).
  • The post-war American craft movement—ceramics, glass, weaving—shaped his sensibility:

  “Those were the people with whom I was obsessed in my youth. When I was a teen potter, nerdy as that sounds, it’s who I was.” —Jonathan Adler (20:02)

9. Spotlighting Artistic Heroes

• John Prip and the Teapot Ideal (20:56)

  • Discusses the perfection of John Prip’s silversmithing, especially his teapots, and the idea that great works should feel “uncovered rather than created”—as if their existence is inevitable and effortless.

• Howard Kotler Tribute (24:11)

  • Adler dedicates a section to the underappreciated, subversive ceramic artist Howard Kotler, whom he describes as “just one of my forever muses.”

10. The Realities of Creativity and Failure

• On Failure and Uncertainty (25:14)
  • Adler, self-deprecating and candid, addresses the unpredictability of success:

  “So many things I make fail. Bro. Bro. Totes, totes. So much stuff fails. Like I’ve discovered there’s no rhyme or reason to anything in life.” —Jonathan Adler (25:22)

  • Encourages risk and intuition, accepting that “nothing makes any sense whatsoever.”

11. Balancing Art and Brand

(26:07)

• Reflects humorously on becoming a “brand” and the weirdness of personal branding in modern culture:

  “I never really thought about it, but I guess it happened to me. I became a brand. Weird. Never saw that coming.” —Jonathan Adler (26:18)

12. Looking Forward

• What’s Next (27:14)
  • Reaffirms his core mission:

  “Make more pots...it’s that I love to make stuff in clay. So that’s what I want to do next, make more pots.” —Jonathan Adler (27:16)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Meaningful Work:

  “Does this need to exist? My motto is, if your heirs won't fight over it, we won't make it.” —Jonathan Adler (12:19)

• On Faculty Dismissal at RISD:

  “She’s like, you don’t really have any talent. And honestly, I’ve dined out on that story for the last 30 years.” —(06:23)

• On Legacy:

  “I want things to feel like they were uncovered rather than created.” —(21:34)

• On Failure:

  “So many things I make fail...Absolutely nothing makes any sense whatsoever.” —(25:22)

• On Becoming a Brand:

  “My sister always makes fun of me and says that her brother has been replaced by a brand. Which I wish. If only I wish.” —(26:18)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:30 — Discovering clay at summer camp; the “calling”
• 03:14 — Family influence and support
• 05:05 — RISD memories, critiques, and art school rejection
• 08:04 — Building a pop/postmodern sensibility
• 10:51 — The five-step creative process in his studio
• 12:19 — Quality control: “if your heirs won’t fight over it…”
• 13:14 — Why the show is called “Mad, MAD World…”
• 16:15 — Cheeky taxonomy of exhibit sections
• 19:18 — What is the studio craft movement?
• 20:56 — Spotlight on John Prip and the artistry of the teapot
• 22:44 — On the self-criticism required for joyful work
• 24:11 — Tribute to Howard Kotler
• 25:14 — Reflections on failure and randomness of success
• 26:18 — Art vs. brand, and becoming one (unexpectedly)
• 27:16 — What’s next? A return to clay and “making more pots”

Tone & Style

The conversation is witty, warm, and filled with Adler’s characteristic self-deprecation and humor. Honest about struggle, practical about business, and unpretentious in discussing art history and aesthetics, Adler offers listeners rare insight into both his personal journey and the realities of making art today. Stewart, as host, gives space for anecdotes and gently guides the discussion toward both the technical and emotional sides of Adler’s work, enriching the portrait of an artist always seeking, always making, and always questioning—what’s next?

For more about Jonathan Adler’s exhibit or to attend related events, visit madmuseum.org.