June 5, 2025 • 31 mins
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From high school art class to the White House and beyond, Master Potter Wes Muckey's 40-year journey crafting exceptional ceramic art has made him one of America's premier traditional craftsmen. As founder of Nolde Forest Pottery, Wes creates distinctive pieces that have found homes in presidential libraries, museums, and celebrity collections worldwide.
The spark that ignited Wes's passion came in 1985 when his high school art teacher introduced him to clay. Unlike other art forms, pottery's practicality captivated him - "You can eat off it," he explains, highlighting the unique intersection of function and artistry that defines his work. After apprenticing at Breininger Pottery, where he developed his decorative techniques, Wes eventually established his own studio to pursue his distinctive vision.
Working primarily with specialized red earthenware clay - a carefully formulated mixture of six components delivered in hundred-pound boxes - Wes creates traditional pieces using techniques like scraffito and slip trailing. Among his most compelling creations are face jugs, sculptural vessels with exaggerated human features that trace their lineage to Southern slave potters from the 1800s who made them for ritualistic purposes. These distinctive pieces have become collector's items, with some enthusiasts amassing hundreds of his creations.
The prestigious reach of Nolde Forest Pottery extends from the White House Foundation, which has commissioned work for six presidential administrations, to museums like the Zurich Museum in Switzerland and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Perhaps most surprising is his roster of celebrity clients - Wes has created custom pieces for rock legends like Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N' Roses, and Rob Zombie, as well as actor William H. Macy, who personally visited his studio.
Whether crafting commemorative plates for presidential libraries or teaching pottery classes in his studio where visitors can decorate their own pieces, Wes remains driven by an unwavering artistic passion. "You don't retire from being an artist," he insists, embodying the timeless connection between craftsman and clay. Explore Wes's remarkable work at NoldeForestPottery.com or schedule a studio visit to witness firsthand how this master potter transforms earth into enduring legacy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right.
Here we go From real estate,the market as a whole, which
then sometimes will affect thetemperature Right, the real life
.
We all learn in different ways.
If you think about it, wayneDyer might not attract everybody
, and everything in between.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The mission was really to help people just to
reach their full potential.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
The.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Brad Wiseman Show, and now your host.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Brad Wiseman.
All right, we are back.
Thanks for joining us everyThursday.
We really appreciate it.
7 pm there is a new show everyThursday at 7 pm, right Hugo.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's right, that's right.
Yeah, that's righty.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And that's because Hugo makes me come in here and
do this every Thursday at 7 pm.
But no, we have a guest thatI've been talking to for a while
.
I've known him forever.
I mean, I used to do all kindsof fun things as kids with this
guy.
We would go to different danceclubs, we would be drinking
together, we'd be partyingtogether, all these things.
And I've been talking to himfor a while about you got to
(01:00):
come on the show, got to come onthe show and we finally got the
date together.
And we have Wes Mucky here fromNolte Forest, pottery.
How you doing, buddy, reallygood.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Really good.
Good to see you too.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
I was going to really get intodepth about the stuff we did.
It's probably not a good idea.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You know, fortunately Incriminating.
Yeah, we didn't have cellphones.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That was a good thing , god oh my god, remember the
car that the shit used to falldown.
The top of the car would falldown oh yeah, I had like 50 rock
and roll yeah because the topof the car would come down, he'd
be sitting in his car and thematerial was hitting your head,
so he would use uh, rock androll like buttons, pins, to keep
it up yeah, yeah, the 71cutlass supreme, yes, yes it was
(01:42):
a classic.
I love that the gas line fellout at your house.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
The gas line fell out and that was the end of the car
.
Oh my God, I kind of rememberthat it was parked outside your
house, I do remember that.
That's where it died.
It died in your house, Wowunbelievable.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Well, at least the car died and nobody Holy
mackerel, all right, so no.
So you have this potterycompany called Nolde Forest
Pottery.
You've been making pottery for40 years, right, 40 years
Unbelievable.
So you know the first questionI had.
You have a timeline that yougave me and the thing that I was
just blown away with.
(02:18):
Your first pottery experiencewas in 1985 with the art teacher
.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, mr Cazala, mr Cazala.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, connor Weiser.
Okay, so did you go?
Wow, I'm making clay and I'mlike this is it?
This is what I want to do therest of my life.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well, I was oil painting at the time, oh.
And I finished all my projectsand I always watched him make
pottery, yeah.
And then I said, hey, can I dothat too?
Yeah, and so he got me startedand so he made pottery in the
class.
I didn't even know that he madelike a birth plates, wedding
plates.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Get out of here.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
He made stained glass .
Speaker 1 (02:50):
He was he was quite an artist, yeah, yeah, very,
very artistic.
So that's so.
But you?
So now you go and you startdoing clay.
You're working with the clay,just working with it.
Yeah, hand molding it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Because they didn't have wheels there.
Yeah, right, yeah, and did you?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
feel something like ah, this is kind of fun.
Yeah, I liked that you coulduse the finished product.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
You can use it.
Yeah, it's actually for real.
Yeah, you can eat off it.
I mean what?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
other artwork can you do that with Not many Cause.
If you do that with an oilpainting, it could really be a
mess.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Plus, people get pissed because if they have a
really nice painting, you'reeating like pizza off of it, Not
, not so good, Not so good.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So right away, let's just you have some pottery here
for to show.
Why don't we just show thisright away, Since people can see
it on the table?
If you're watching the show,just show what you have here.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay, so these are like the traditional pieces,
okay Made out of redware, okayWheel thrown the techniques, the
decorating is called scraffitoand slip trailing, two put
together.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Okay, okay.
So you made this product, youmade this thing right here, so
you actually threw it on thewheel and you painted it and
everything, everything, and thenyou put it in the kiln.
From the ground up From theground up and the red clay is
something different, because alot of times we're used to
working with like I think if yougo to like a little pottery
shop to make something, it'susually not red clay, I don't
(04:19):
think.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Probably not Is.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Probably not.
Is it the gray stuff?
It's like gray.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
That's partially because this is staining.
Your clothes become pink.
Okay, but is it natural?
It's not like the red clay yousee in the yard People say oh,
that's in my yard.
Right, this is mixed.
There's a lot of chemistryinvolved.
Okay, so there's six differentthings in this clay and it's
mixed in Indiana.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
For me there's six different things, like different
dirt, that's what I'm thinking.
Different chemicals, there isclay.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
There is clay, yeah, and there's other things added
to it.
Get out.
So you know how you want it tobe, yeah, and how much moisture
I want in it when it's deliveredto.
That's crazy, right.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
It is cool, see now, that is something I've known you
forever, never asked thatquestion, never knew.
I'm thinking there's some clayplace in the ground that they're
cutting up big squares, becauseI do remember seeing you get it
delivered, like how big it is.
It's big, yeah, a hundred poundboxes.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, like it's a lot yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And I just thought that that just came out of the
ground.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
No, some of it does Like their initial part of it.
Yeah, no way.
Which is easier to work withgray or the red?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
probably for me, the red, the red because you've been
at it so long.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah,very cool, but you said that you
use other clays besides therest?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
yes, I use what?
So this is called redearthenware.
Okay, so I make these, thesevessels, a lot of times out of
white earthenware.
Oh, is that?
Is that?
So that's what it is on thebottom.
Yeah, so I can use theseintricate glazes on top and get
really great bright colors thatyou can't always get with this,
because you're starting with redin the background.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Is that?
Why got it?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
so it's like a clean slate, clean slate, perfectly
white when it's fired.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, so okay, so these are very different very
different if you're looking atthis on YouTube or whatever,
this is great.
But if you're in your carlistening to the podcast, he's
got a very like what you wouldnormally call like a vase type
thing.
And then he's got this face jug, jug, face, face, jug, face,
jug, face jug.
There we go, we'll go with facejug.
Jug face face, jug whatever,but those are very different.
(06:22):
They are.
This is more like your typicalstuff when did that come from?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So all this stuff.
I'm also a history geek, rightI?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
know that so.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I studied so the vase .
Those came from Europeandesigns.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
European traditions, gotcha.
So these face jugs are.
This is a really great storyabout these.
Yeah, so around 1800s therewere slave potters in the South
that were making these.
Okay, and for them it wasritualistic.
Yeah, and there's a lot ofmystery to them.
Yeah, they did them for burials.
(06:57):
They put them on your porchwhen you were sick.
It kind of has that kind oflook to it.
It's what it is Exactly.
It's supposed to scare thingsaway.
It kind of has that kind oflook to it.
It's what it is exactly.
It's supposed to scare thingsaway.
Sure, yeah, and as they say, itscared the children from the
moonshine inside.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Well, yeah, I'm scared of it every time I see
one.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
They're a little scary.
Oh yeah, they're a little scaryyeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I have one now.
Yeah, I know you do.
Yeah, he's kind of happy.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
He's got big teeth.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I like that.
He's going to need some dentalwork.
They're just scary looking, butthey're happy, but they're
happy.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So that's where that came from.
That's where it came from.
I mean, I have, I have friendsand customers.
I call a lot of my customersfriends.
Yeah, of course, I mean theymay have up to 300 of these, and
do they drink out of them?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
No, they just display them all over the house,
display them everywhere.
Yeah, very cool and we'll getinto some of the people that
have your pottery.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So that jug.
Did somebody ask you to makethat first or did you just?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
come up with it.
Well, I don't know.
If you remember, my grandmotherwas Southern.
Okay, so I'm always like, okay,so look at your roots when?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
do your roots come from.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, you know where are they, and my grandmother was
Southern and I look intoSouthern art and these are
everywhere, like in books.
Yeah, books, and I'm like youknow what I'm going to get into
this, really.
You know, I made my first oneat Brininger's and he did not
like it and he said please takethat out of here and never make
one again here.
Oh, maybe he was like a littlescared of it.
(08:19):
He may have been.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Oh, maybe he thought it was kind of worshiping or
something.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, because he believed in a lot of different
hexes and things.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.
Well, now that you brought upReininger, so that is the first
studio you basically or whateveryou want to call it that you
worked in so you go from MrGazzala, who was the art teacher
, from there you started doingReininger pottery, which was
very famous, which was veryfamous.
Yeah, absolutely it was.
I mean, you know at that timeand I think until this day I
still see some of his stuff oh,yeah, and so you started working
(08:49):
there.
Now, when you started doing hispottery, yes, were you throwing
it or were you doing theartwork?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Just the artwork, that's what I thought, Because
that's where I met Greg whoended up being my business
partner in the future.
And he was like, like themaster guy, he was the only guy.
Yeah, he was the master wheelguy and I'm actually my teacher.
A lot of people are like, oh,you apprenticed under Lester.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'm like I honestly didn't see him very often.
I remember he taught school,yeah, and I remember that and I
remember that was part of thethe the.
The issue sometimes is Iremember you saying and
hopefully you don't mind mesharing that, some of this stuff
but I remember you saying thatyou know you would be at these
shows and somebody that got allthe credit wasn't even there or
or you know, didn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Right, right, right, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah.
So it kind of as an artist,You're pouring your heart and
soul out into something.
You at least want the creditthat I did it.
Absolutely yeah, Not not justthe guy's name on it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And that's what.
That's what ended up starting abusiness, not to jump so far
ahead, but no, that's, that'sright that was like I couldn't
take that anymore.
Well, here we are making thesepieces with.
He has nothing to do with yeah,it was even our ideas.
Now, yeah, right, and that'swhere and I remember that and I
had a lot of customers, reallygood customers, said if you do
this on your own, I'd rather buyit from you.
(10:01):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And we're like hmm.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
That's interesting, right.
So the name doesn't mean asmuch as I thought you know, like
the Jirash Gene thing.
That's exactly what I wasthinking that.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I still see those people today.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
That's really cool.
That's really cool.
So so you go from, from, thenyou're at, you're at at Nolte
yeah, not at Nolte Fires, you'reat Bridinger's.
Then you decide you know what,enough, this is enough, yeah,
and we need to do something else.
Right, and you broke away.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, yeah, I just wasn't in the.
You know, I was in college andI was trying to figure out my
way.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, yeah.
Anybody tell you you're crazyfor leaving.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
No, no, no, I don't think no.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I remember being very supportive.
Yeah, oh yeah, cause we hungout a lot at those times, and I
remember being very supportive,right yeah, so now your stuff,
your pottery, norley Forest.
You have another piece herethat I wanted to just talk about
, which is the what's thiscalled Knob Creek?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, knob Creek bottle.
So I was lucky enough to becomefriends with Fred Ngo, who's
the seventh generation owner ofJim Beam.
It's amazing.
So this is the Knob Creekbottle, so Jim Beam.
It's amazing, so this is theKnob Creek bottle.
So I make these for him and heputs special things in them.
You're kidding me.
What is he biting?
What's?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
that what is he biting?
It's a cigar.
It's a cigar.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, oh, it's a cigar, it's a cigar yeah, you
were worried.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He's like is that a big fatty?
What is that?
What is that?
So the owner of Jim Beam, whoowns Knob Creek, that's your
commission to make those for himRight.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
And I met him through a mutual friend of ours, George
Reppert.
Oh, George.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
George is a great guy .
Somebody that knows alcohol?
He sure does.
What's he called the chemist,social chemist, social chemist.
Yes, yeah, that came back.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Well, didn't you play one of his parties?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Those people came from all over.
Oh yeah, you know Philadelphiaeverywhere.
He never knew who was going tobe at his parties.
It's so cool though right, butthat's how I met Fred now.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So they actually put the alcohol and stuff in those,
or they put stuff in that whenthey get them.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It's amazing.
Cork it.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Unbelievable.
Yeah, it's really cool.
So let's get into where thisgoes, then.
Which which is amazing, is thatyou now have pieces at the
Zurich museum in Switzerland.
You have pieces at theHarrisburg state museum,
philadelphia museum of art.
Let's get into how you alsohave commissioned, been
commissioned for the white housefoundation.
(12:27):
You have given pottery to thewhite house.
For how many presents?
Six, okay.
So tell me who, who you havedone work for and where do they
have this?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
stuff okay.
Um, it started with, uh, whenhillary critton was first lady.
Yep, and I did ornaments forher christmas tree, amazing in
the blue room but how'd theyfind you from the white?
House foundation I was greg andI kept entering this magazine
called early american life whereyou're recognized as, like, the
top craftsman in the unitedstates, right, right, and they
looked at that and said, hey, Iwonder if we can get these
(12:59):
people to make oh, you know,american craftsmen to do the
tree yeah, and that's whathappened, you know.
And they even invited everycraftsman that was involved to
the white house.
Weren't you there?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I was there yeah, so you actually did it like a craft
tree or they did like anamerican, american made tree 100
, because there's a ton of treesin the White.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
House.
Oh yeah, there's tons.
I forget how many we wentthrough the tour and there was-.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, gazillions, mm-hmm, that is so cool, so yeah
, so you're there.
So you basically made Was itthe egg?
What did you make?
No ornaments you made ornaments.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So mine's like Washington crossing the Delaware
on an ornament.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Very cool.
That's awesome.
So you made them for all thefriends.
So you have one here FordCarter, bush, sr Bush Jr,
clinton and Obama.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yes, unbelievable.
So the foundation keptcontacting me like will you make
an anniversary plate, will youmake this, will you make that?
So it became like their potter,that's really really cool.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And the Jimmy Carter one was actually just put in his
library permanently, and thatto me is a big deal, because he
just passed.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So now his library is it stays there.
It stays there.
Yeah, they actually called tomake sure, like the print was
right, my name was spelled right.
Wow, and I was.
What an honor is.
It's never going to probablymove from there.
No, it's there for whatever's.
A nose usually stays there.
Now, will you?
Did you go see it?
No, one day I will, yeah, youshould sure.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Oh, and a picture, like a picture of yourself, like
in front of that pottery in themuseum.
Oh, it's a must how many peoplecan say they have something in
a presidential museum?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I don't know, not too many.
I guess it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
No, not at all, it's unbelievable yeah, it's
something to be said and thatyou're a part of history, big
part of history, when you thinkabout that.
I hope so.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's not about livingforever.
It's what you leave behind.
Yeah, it's your legacy.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
It's that thing so.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I leave behind this pottery everywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
All this dirt everywhere.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It's all over the world, I mean my dad had put up
a map and started putting pinsin it.
If you see that map, if you'reover, sometime you'll be like
japan and all over the place.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, you said you're in.
Uh, what is it?
How many countries?
I think you?
You said that you're in, orwhatever six, I think it's six
countries, yeah, yeah, noantarctica, so no, no, yeah,
stuff will freeze, it justcracks, all right.
So, yeah, let's keep going.
So nordic forest has been namedthe best, the one of the
america's best traditionalamerican crafts, by early
american magazine, six years ina row.
Yeah, that's unbelievable.
It was yeah, and was that for acertain piece, or was that for?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
like all of your stuff.
Every year you have to submitfour pieces.
Okay, and every four pieceskept getting accepted.
Wow, it may have kept going.
I don't want to sound like yeah, but we just quit entering
Right.
Right Got sick of winning.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
You want to just give somebody else a chance, like
the Patriots or something.
That's hilarious.
No, but that's something to besaid that's amazing.
I'm sure you have copies of allthe magazines for that.
Yeah, that's really cool.
And you talked about the facejugs.
They're at the LehighUniversity, the Zoller.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Arts Center.
They were.
It was an exhibit, I did thereOkay.
And what was neat about that isthose ones, I told you, from
the 1800s.
They were in the same exhibitas mine, which is like, oh, wow,
like meant the world to me.
Wow, you mean the original, theoriginal from the 1800s, 1850s.
We still have these things.
Yeah, I have a poster, so my,my jugs are in.
(16:17):
Oh my god.
So I'm there with like the whatstarted it all neat.
And those, those potters camefrom the congo.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Wow, now, do you keep ?
Do you have any original piecesof anything?
I mean, it's probably veryexpensive to have it, but like,
do you have any?
Like old pieces that you?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
that you have of your own.
Yeah, I have like civil war erapieces.
Oh, you do, yeah, oh, okay,very cool.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Now let's get into the.
This is going to be cool.
This is going to blow you awayhere.
All right, you're going to beblown away.
So you have been commissionedby a lot of people that have
found your work.
I mean, I'm just going to namesome of them, and there's a
story that I want you to tellabout one of them Billy Idol,
(17:02):
brett Michaels, guns N' Roses,rob Zombie I saw pictures of
that.
That's pretty cool, but you andmost of these that I'm talking
about, you have pictures withthem with your pottery.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I always make a deal, I deliverthe piece smart.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Very smart, very smart.
You got to get a concert out ofit.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, I like that.
That's a good one.
That's a good one, so, yeah.
So the one that really hit me,though, is you actually had one
of these celebrities visit yourpottery.
Sure, pottery, I was going tocall it Pottery Barn because it
is a barn.
Easy, watch it.
Watch it, I'll get sued.
Watch it.
We have nothing to do withPottery sponsor.
We're in good shape, but no.
(17:47):
So this person actually visited.
Tell me the story about WilliamH Macy.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So my business partner, Greg, was a huge fan of
his.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I got to admit I didn't know much about him.
Yeah right, a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And that was about the time when Shameless the show
was like through the roof.
Oh my gosh, greg would come intowork and talk about shameless
all the time.
I said what is this shame?
Yeah, right, I never got to seeit.
So we get a phone call and andthe gentleman on the other line
is like are you open today?
I said yes.
Do you have anybody else theretoday?
I said no.
By the way, it's just mybusiness partner.
I were working.
(18:19):
Yeah, um, so he goes.
I'd like to bring by the, theactor william h, and I thought
still didn't ring a bell.
I was in the middle of working.
I hate to say so I got off thephone and Greg and I played a
lot of jokes on each other.
Oh, no, so I said hey, thisactor, william H Macy's coming
and he's like that's a good one.
Yeah, that's really funny, wesreally funny.
(18:40):
Oh my God, that's good.
So he shows up, I meet himdownstairs in the studio and
he's the nicest guy in the worldand I said you've got to do me
a favor, you've got to runupstairs and open the door and
introduce yourself to Greg andhe almost fell back off his
wheel.
He was.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Oh yeah, I mean, how many times do you have a star?
I mean I consider him, he'spretty, he's A-list.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I see, pretty, he's a list.
I mean yeah, yeah, I, I see Iremember from back in when he
was in fargo, which was one ofthe most was a morbid movie but
funny.
When I saw him then you're like, okay, yeah it's just the
nicest guy in the world and hewanted to know the process like
I love sharing that.
Yeah, yeah I love.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
And here he's he does woodworking oh no way.
So he has a process yeah, right, but real nice, super nice.
But who would have thought?
And then we went to take.
Like he goes, you want to takesome photos together and he's
like, oh, we got to get thelighting right, we got to we got
to do the angle right and thatis hilarious.
He was there for a while and itwas funny, because my kids are
walking by and they're like theyhad no idea.
(19:50):
No idea to now is like, yeah,growing up seeing deaf leopard
when they were little, yeah, Iremember.
And then they'll see like theage one class with all of them.
Hey, those are those guys, dad,I'll go.
What guys he goes, the guys wewent to see at that, yeah,
that's them, yeah, and they'relike wow, they're pretty big
yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty big alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
That is so amazing, didn't?
Didn't he um?
Wasn't he buying pottery?
Or his brother was buyingpottery?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
brother.
Right, he was at his brother'sand saw our pottery all over the
house, right, right, and hesaid, oh, I got him and his
brother I think lives inleicester or something like that
.
Yeah, an effort.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Yeah, so who was?
Who was the?
The was the most like.
It floored you when you metthem because you're like, oh my
gosh, I can't believe I'mmeeting this person well,
probably david roth I going tosay it was always my favorite.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You never thought you'd meet those people you know
, yeah, but you know the the.
The one of the kindest was OzzyOsbourne.
I got to sit on a couch withhim.
Get out of here, and just thekindest man like nothing, like
the stories you hear.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, I can believe that, not at all that's so weird
, right, yeah, and I rememberwhen you met David Lee Roth, I
remember, and I thought youreally didn't.
You were not as happy with himas you thought you were the
first time.
No, first time, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
First time.
No, it was kind of likestandoffish a little bit
Standoffish yeah.
I think he was trying to beundercover and I caught him.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Because, but in the future I met him again with his
sister and and it was reallyreally kind.
Yeah, so if somebody wants todo their own custom piece, can
they do that?
Come into you and say hey, Iwant to, I want to do something
custom, whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Sometimes it seems like I'm 75% custom and the rest
is made for the shows I do.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, custom work is.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, what's the hardest work that you do?
Which ones are the hardest?
Actually probably the face jugs, the jugs, because it looks
like.
Let me just see that a second.
If you can see these jugs andhopefully, oh, it's heavy, it's
heavier than what.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I thought it would be .
You got to remember, all thefeatures are solid.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
So this thing is just .
I mean you look at this thingand there's a lot of detail in
it.
I mean it's got like a snake onacross the head.
It's smoking a cigar.
There's a lot of detail in this.
So I can see that it takes solong and you've got to make this
.
You have to make the handle andput that on.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah you've got to make the jug, the handle and
then all the featuresUnbelievable and they stay in
the back for about a week or twobecause you don't want the
features to crack oh, and thenwhen do you?
Paint it.
Um, you paint it when it's whenit's dry and fired.
Okay, okay, yeah, amazing, yeah, so that's probably most
difficult and I do some giantbig stuff, yeah, yeah and I've
(22:14):
seen some of those.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I've seen some of those.
It's pretty amazing.
So let me see here that was um.
Out of the people that you'vemet, who was the most excited,
you think, to get your pottery.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Like there was like, oh my gosh, I can't wait, or I'm
excited to get it um, I think Ithink one of the most exciting
guys that really loves thisstuff is richie katson.
Richie kott, I love richie.
Yeah, he's a local guy but he'slocal.
Yeah, it was, but, um, and wereconnected because he bought
some stuff at the ready museumand then emailed me, yeah, and
at the time I think he had astudio and he wanted some more
(22:48):
heads for the studio.
Oh, that's amazing, and he hasthem in his house, like in
special cases, and so I keephitting this thing you're not.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
You're not the first person.
You know.
What's worse is when women comein with jewelry on right, right
you go and they're hitting thetable with their jewelry and
then sometimes I'm like I wantto go.
Ah no, it's all right, you'reallowed to hit things here.
Just don't hit me, don't hitthe hose, yeah, but he's pretty
excited about the whole art ofit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That's awesome I mean he's mentioned my stuff when he
was doing his own interviewsplaces like Japanese Guitar
Magazine, and there was picturesof my jugs in the magazine.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
That's awesome.
That sounded really funny.
I have to say there's a pictureof your jugs in the magazine,
this guy.
He hasn't changed.
I'm like I can't let that go.
Your mom and dad watch the show?
Yes, they do, and my kids aregreat, oh man.
So where do you go?
I mean, do you have?
(23:44):
Is there anything that youhaven't done yet with this
business that you want to do?
Is there, like um, is thereamount of time that you think I
can do this for until this time?
Then I'm going to be done, orretirement or just do it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
You're right.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I get that question all the time I said I don't
think you retire from this likeyou don't retire from being the
artist yeah, you know, I agree,you know, I agree, and now I'm
at this point in my life, youknow like my business partner
passed yeah and and then it leftme like this is almost like
this is really being an artist,cause I don't rely on anybody.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
I do everything from the top, from the bottom up.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Did you think when he passed and that was on here
when he passed um, was that likea major setback?
I mean, obviously somebodypasses away.
It's a setback emotionally,it's a setback, but for the
business and for you going oh mygosh, do I want to do this
alone?
Do I want to hire somebody else?
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Right, Um, I never thought about hiring anybody,
and he did tell me before hepassed he goes.
Don't worry about a thing,you're going to be fine and I'm
going.
Yeah, how?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
you know how am I going to be fine, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, but you know, it just seemed to happen, yeah,
like it kind of like I steppedinto where I was supposed to be
and I never looked back and inbusiness didn't change a whole
lot.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean products did, yeah, but the amount of business
didn't change, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, and you're throwing your own clay.
I mean, you're doing ityourself, I mean so, and really
the only thing I can think isproduction wise.
Like are you?
Are you you're not able to makeas fast?
I?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
can't keep up.
But that's the whole thing as Iwhen, I worked at Brian Ingers.
That's what that was.
Yeah, I always say that waslike.
That was like greasing andgetting ready.
What is that?
Keith Richards call it thewhiskey finger.
Yep, when you play bars, yeah,exactly.
So plates a day there sometimes.
(25:28):
So it's more of a productionand so I thought no more of that
.
Yeah, so these like the facesyou're gonna never gonna get too
alike.
Yeah, um, maybe a vase will bethe same shape and everything,
but the design will always bedifferent.
Because I do that, I'd freehand the designs and that's cool
yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, so, looking back, you'reso glad that you did not finish
college.
Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
it's funny to say Not that I don't want people to
finish college.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
No, no, no, we're not promoting that, we're just
saying but no, but I think it'sjust.
But you had a love forsomething and you decided that
this is what you wanted to do Imean because a lot of times
people can go to whatever school, do whatever they're going to
do, and they never find passionfor something.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
That's the key and that's the key Passion, passion,
passion, passion, passion,passion, passion, passion,
passion, passion, passion,passion, passion, passion,
passion Passion.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Passion, passion, passion, passion, passion,
passion, passion, passionPassion.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Passion, have an advisor at a vernier college and
he said, look, I explained tohim what I was going to do and
he kind of like, didn'tdiscourage me because just do me
a favor, take these twobusiness courses oh, no way, and
then you can go interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know what?
It's a great mentor yes, yeah,great mentor, yeah because he
realized that if this is whatyou're going to do, you're going
to need these right, right, andI'll never forget him.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
You know there's a lot of mentors through my life
and he's one of them.
Yeah, that's amazing, reallycool.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
So there's one more thing I want to say that I think
is really cool and this is notas as uh, not as big as some of
these other stuff but youreceived the distinguished
alumni hall of fame award fromconnor weiser high school and I
think that was pretty special,yeah yeah, it was, it came.
We're both from weiser yeah,we're both graduating from there
.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, yeah, it was that's cool, quite an honor.
I mean it really was yeah, andsomehow someone yeah I'm an
issue and um.
It's because I did alwaysrepresent wiser.
Even today I always, mrgonzalez, the reason I'm here
doing this which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Which is really cool, just shows you that you know
high school uh, school can do,can, can set up your passion for
something.
So don't take it for grantedthat you're going to find it
somewhere else.
It could be right there infront of you.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Very cool.
Well, thank you, go ahead.
How do people find it?
How do people like if I was acompany, if I was somebody
wanted to create somethingspecial.
How do they find you?
How do they?
Oh, just go on.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
NolteForestPotterycom Potterycom.
Yeah, you can reach me there,okay, or you go to Facebook
Nolde Forest Pottery page.
Everything that comes out ofthe kilns is put up immediately.
Yeah, no, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Very cool.
Put it up right away.
The website's nice.
It's real easy to navigate.
He's got pictures.
You have the gallery that's onthere.
You can navigate all the stuffon there off on New Holland Road
.
I mean you can visit the studiotoo, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, it's by appointment, you can call.
I started also giving classes.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, I do classes.
You can come decorate your ownplate, you can bring the kids.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Wait, I think I saw somebody doing that.
Was there a bunch of girlsdrinking wine doing that?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yes, you're allowed to it's BYOB.
We have some snacks.
I gave you a tour of the studio.
I get all my tools outsomewhere from like 200 years
ago.
Oh, wow so you get to see allthese.
I make a couple things and thenyou go down and decorate your
own plate.
That's neat.
Any age can do it.
You want to bring the kidssometime?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's reallycool If they like that kind of
(28:37):
thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I think like, ooh, not so good, not so good.
Well, thanks so much for comingin.
Man, it's great to see you.
I love seeing your success.
I love the pottery.
Uh, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Really is amazing and just keep doing it, keep doing
it.
I plan on it.
Thank you, I hope so.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
All right, that's awesome man.
Thank you.
All right, there we go.
Wes Mucky, or Wesley V Mucky,is what we have in here.
Nolte Forest Pottery Check himout.
He's on Facebook.
Instagram.
Are you on Instagram or no?
Yes, yeah, okay, there we go.
Just making sure InstagramFacebook.
He's got a great website youcan go to If you want something
custom.
He can make that for you andjust check out all the stuff he
(29:17):
has.
It's pretty amazing, all right.
All right.
Here we go From real estate,the market as a whole, which
then sometimes will affect thetemperature Right, the real life
.
We all learn in different ways.
If you think about it, wayneDyer might not attract everybody
, and everything in between.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The mission was really to help people just to
reach their full potential.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
The.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Brad Wiseman Show, and now your host.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Brad Wiseman.
All right, we are back.
Thanks for joining us everyThursday.
We really appreciate it.
7 pm there is a new show everyThursday at 7 pm, right Hugo.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's right, that's right.
Yeah, that's righty.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And that's because Hugo makes me come in here and
do this every Thursday at 7 pm.
But no, we have a guest thatI've been talking to for a while
.
I've known him forever.
I mean, I used to do all kindsof fun things as kids with this
guy.
We would go to different danceclubs, we would be drinking
together, we'd be partyingtogether, all these things.
And I've been talking to himfor a while about you got to
(01:00):
come on the show, got to come onthe show and we finally got the
date together.
And we have Wes Mucky here fromNolte Forest, pottery.
How you doing, buddy, reallygood.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Really good.
Good to see you too.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
I was going to really get intodepth about the stuff we did.
It's probably not a good idea.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
You know, fortunately Incriminating.
Yeah, we didn't have cellphones.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That was a good thing , god oh my god, remember the
car that the shit used to falldown.
The top of the car would falldown oh yeah, I had like 50 rock
and roll yeah because the topof the car would come down, he'd
be sitting in his car and thematerial was hitting your head,
so he would use uh, rock androll like buttons, pins, to keep
it up yeah, yeah, the 71cutlass supreme, yes, yes it was
(01:42):
a classic.
I love that the gas line fellout at your house.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
The gas line fell out and that was the end of the car
.
Oh my God, I kind of rememberthat it was parked outside your
house, I do remember that.
That's where it died.
It died in your house, Wowunbelievable.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Well, at least the car died and nobody Holy
mackerel, all right, so no.
So you have this potterycompany called Nolde Forest
Pottery.
You've been making pottery for40 years, right, 40 years
Unbelievable.
So you know the first questionI had.
You have a timeline that yougave me and the thing that I was
just blown away with.
(02:18):
Your first pottery experiencewas in 1985 with the art teacher
.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, mr Cazala, mr Cazala.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, connor Weiser.
Okay, so did you go?
Wow, I'm making clay and I'mlike this is it?
This is what I want to do therest of my life.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Well, I was oil painting at the time, oh.
And I finished all my projectsand I always watched him make
pottery, yeah.
And then I said, hey, can I dothat too?
Yeah, and so he got me startedand so he made pottery in the
class.
I didn't even know that he madelike a birth plates, wedding
plates.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Get out of here.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
He made stained glass .
Speaker 1 (02:50):
He was he was quite an artist, yeah, yeah, very,
very artistic.
So that's so.
But you?
So now you go and you startdoing clay.
You're working with the clay,just working with it.
Yeah, hand molding it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Because they didn't have wheels there.
Yeah, right, yeah, and did you?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
feel something like ah, this is kind of fun.
Yeah, I liked that you coulduse the finished product.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
You can use it.
Yeah, it's actually for real.
Yeah, you can eat off it.
I mean what?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
other artwork can you do that with Not many Cause.
If you do that with an oilpainting, it could really be a
mess.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Plus, people get pissed because if they have a
really nice painting, you'reeating like pizza off of it, Not
, not so good, Not so good.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So right away, let's just you have some pottery here
for to show.
Why don't we just show thisright away, Since people can see
it on the table?
If you're watching the show,just show what you have here.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay, so these are like the traditional pieces,
okay Made out of redware, okayWheel thrown the techniques, the
decorating is called scraffitoand slip trailing, two put
together.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Okay, okay.
So you made this product, youmade this thing right here, so
you actually threw it on thewheel and you painted it and
everything, everything, and thenyou put it in the kiln.
From the ground up From theground up and the red clay is
something different, because alot of times we're used to
working with like I think if yougo to like a little pottery
shop to make something, it'susually not red clay, I don't
(04:19):
think.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Probably not Is.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Probably not.
Is it the gray stuff?
It's like gray.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
That's partially because this is staining.
Your clothes become pink.
Okay, but is it natural?
It's not like the red clay yousee in the yard People say oh,
that's in my yard.
Right, this is mixed.
There's a lot of chemistryinvolved.
Okay, so there's six differentthings in this clay and it's
mixed in Indiana.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
For me there's six different things, like different
dirt, that's what I'm thinking.
Different chemicals, there isclay.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
There is clay, yeah, and there's other things added
to it.
Get out.
So you know how you want it tobe, yeah, and how much moisture
I want in it when it's deliveredto.
That's crazy, right.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
It is cool, see now, that is something I've known you
forever, never asked thatquestion, never knew.
I'm thinking there's some clayplace in the ground that they're
cutting up big squares, becauseI do remember seeing you get it
delivered, like how big it is.
It's big, yeah, a hundred poundboxes.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, like it's a lot yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
And I just thought that that just came out of the
ground.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
No, some of it does Like their initial part of it.
Yeah, no way.
Which is easier to work withgray or the red?
Speaker 1 (05:27):
probably for me, the red, the red because you've been
at it so long.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah,very cool, but you said that you
use other clays besides therest?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
yes, I use what?
So this is called redearthenware.
Okay, so I make these, thesevessels, a lot of times out of
white earthenware.
Oh, is that?
Is that?
So that's what it is on thebottom.
Yeah, so I can use theseintricate glazes on top and get
really great bright colors thatyou can't always get with this,
because you're starting with redin the background.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Is that?
Why got it?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
so it's like a clean slate, clean slate, perfectly
white when it's fired.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, so okay, so these are very different very
different if you're looking atthis on YouTube or whatever,
this is great.
But if you're in your carlistening to the podcast, he's
got a very like what you wouldnormally call like a vase type
thing.
And then he's got this face jug, jug, face, face, jug, face,
jug, face jug.
There we go, we'll go with facejug.
Jug face face, jug whatever,but those are very different.
(06:22):
They are.
This is more like your typicalstuff when did that come from?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So all this stuff.
I'm also a history geek, rightI?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
know that so.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I studied so the vase .
Those came from Europeandesigns.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
European traditions, gotcha.
So these face jugs are.
This is a really great storyabout these.
Yeah, so around 1800s therewere slave potters in the South
that were making these.
Okay, and for them it wasritualistic.
Yeah, and there's a lot ofmystery to them.
Yeah, they did them for burials.
(06:57):
They put them on your porchwhen you were sick.
It kind of has that kind oflook to it.
It's what it is Exactly.
It's supposed to scare thingsaway.
It kind of has that kind oflook to it.
It's what it is exactly.
It's supposed to scare thingsaway.
Sure, yeah, and as they say, itscared the children from the
moonshine inside.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Well, yeah, I'm scared of it every time I see
one.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
They're a little scary.
Oh yeah, they're a little scaryyeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I have one now.
Yeah, I know you do.
Yeah, he's kind of happy.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
He's got big teeth.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
I like that.
He's going to need some dentalwork.
They're just scary looking, butthey're happy, but they're
happy.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So that's where that came from.
That's where it came from.
I mean, I have, I have friendsand customers.
I call a lot of my customersfriends.
Yeah, of course, I mean theymay have up to 300 of these, and
do they drink out of them?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
No, they just display them all over the house,
display them everywhere.
Yeah, very cool and we'll getinto some of the people that
have your pottery.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, that's really interesting.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So that jug.
Did somebody ask you to makethat first or did you just?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
come up with it.
Well, I don't know.
If you remember, my grandmotherwas Southern.
Okay, so I'm always like, okay,so look at your roots when?
Speaker 1 (07:58):
do your roots come from.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, you know where are they, and my grandmother was
Southern and I look intoSouthern art and these are
everywhere, like in books.
Yeah, books, and I'm like youknow what I'm going to get into
this, really.
You know, I made my first oneat Brininger's and he did not
like it and he said please takethat out of here and never make
one again here.
Oh, maybe he was like a littlescared of it.
(08:19):
He may have been.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Oh, maybe he thought it was kind of worshiping or
something.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Yeah, because he believed in a lot of different
hexes and things.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.
Well, now that you brought upReininger, so that is the first
studio you basically or whateveryou want to call it that you
worked in so you go from MrGazzala, who was the art teacher
, from there you started doingReininger pottery, which was
very famous, which was veryfamous.
Yeah, absolutely it was.
I mean, you know at that timeand I think until this day I
still see some of his stuff oh,yeah, and so you started working
(08:49):
there.
Now, when you started doing hispottery, yes, were you throwing
it or were you doing theartwork?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Just the artwork, that's what I thought, Because
that's where I met Greg whoended up being my business
partner in the future.
And he was like, like themaster guy, he was the only guy.
Yeah, he was the master wheelguy and I'm actually my teacher.
A lot of people are like, oh,you apprenticed under Lester.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'm like I honestly didn't see him very often.
I remember he taught school,yeah, and I remember that and I
remember that was part of thethe the.
The issue sometimes is Iremember you saying and
hopefully you don't mind mesharing that, some of this stuff
but I remember you saying thatyou know you would be at these
shows and somebody that got allthe credit wasn't even there or
or you know, didn't do anything.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Right, right, right, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah.
So it kind of as an artist,You're pouring your heart and
soul out into something.
You at least want the creditthat I did it.
Absolutely yeah, Not not justthe guy's name on it, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And that's what.
That's what ended up starting abusiness, not to jump so far
ahead, but no, that's, that'sright that was like I couldn't
take that anymore.
Well, here we are making thesepieces with.
He has nothing to do with yeah,it was even our ideas.
Now, yeah, right, and that'swhere and I remember that and I
had a lot of customers, reallygood customers, said if you do
this on your own, I'd rather buyit from you.
(10:01):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And we're like hmm.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
That's interesting, right.
So the name doesn't mean asmuch as I thought you know, like
the Jirash Gene thing.
That's exactly what I wasthinking that.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I still see those people today.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
That's really cool.
That's really cool.
So so you go from, from, thenyou're at, you're at at Nolte
yeah, not at Nolte Fires, you'reat Bridinger's.
Then you decide you know what,enough, this is enough, yeah,
and we need to do something else.
Right, and you broke away.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, yeah, I just wasn't in the.
You know, I was in college andI was trying to figure out my
way.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, yeah.
Anybody tell you you're crazyfor leaving.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
No, no, no, I don't think no.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
I remember being very supportive.
Yeah, oh yeah, cause we hungout a lot at those times, and I
remember being very supportive,right yeah, so now your stuff,
your pottery, norley Forest.
You have another piece herethat I wanted to just talk about
, which is the what's thiscalled Knob Creek?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah, knob Creek bottle.
So I was lucky enough to becomefriends with Fred Ngo, who's
the seventh generation owner ofJim Beam.
It's amazing.
So this is the Knob Creekbottle, so Jim Beam.
It's amazing, so this is theKnob Creek bottle.
So I make these for him and heputs special things in them.
You're kidding me.
What is he biting?
What's?
Speaker 1 (11:21):
that what is he biting?
It's a cigar.
It's a cigar.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, oh, it's a cigar, it's a cigar yeah, you
were worried.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
He's like is that a big fatty?
What is that?
What is that?
So the owner of Jim Beam, whoowns Knob Creek, that's your
commission to make those for himRight.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
And I met him through a mutual friend of ours, George
Reppert.
Oh, George.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
George is a great guy .
Somebody that knows alcohol?
He sure does.
What's he called the chemist,social chemist, social chemist.
Yes, yeah, that came back.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Well, didn't you play one of his parties?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Those people came from all over.
Oh yeah, you know Philadelphiaeverywhere.
He never knew who was going tobe at his parties.
It's so cool though right, butthat's how I met Fred now.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
So they actually put the alcohol and stuff in those,
or they put stuff in that whenthey get them.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
It's amazing.
Cork it.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Unbelievable.
Yeah, it's really cool.
So let's get into where thisgoes, then.
Which which is amazing, is thatyou now have pieces at the
Zurich museum in Switzerland.
You have pieces at theHarrisburg state museum,
philadelphia museum of art.
Let's get into how you alsohave commissioned, been
commissioned for the white housefoundation.
(12:27):
You have given pottery to thewhite house.
For how many presents?
Six, okay.
So tell me who, who you havedone work for and where do they
have this?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
stuff okay.
Um, it started with, uh, whenhillary critton was first lady.
Yep, and I did ornaments forher christmas tree, amazing in
the blue room but how'd theyfind you from the white?
House foundation I was greg andI kept entering this magazine
called early american life whereyou're recognized as, like, the
top craftsman in the unitedstates, right, right, and they
looked at that and said, hey, Iwonder if we can get these
(12:59):
people to make oh, you know,american craftsmen to do the
tree yeah, and that's whathappened, you know.
And they even invited everycraftsman that was involved to
the white house.
Weren't you there?
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I was there yeah, so you actually did it like a craft
tree or they did like anamerican, american made tree 100
, because there's a ton of treesin the White.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
House.
Oh yeah, there's tons.
I forget how many we wentthrough the tour and there was-.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah, gazillions, mm-hmm, that is so cool, so yeah
, so you're there.
So you basically made Was itthe egg?
What did you make?
No ornaments you made ornaments.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So mine's like Washington crossing the Delaware
on an ornament.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Very cool.
That's awesome.
So you made them for all thefriends.
So you have one here FordCarter, bush, sr Bush Jr,
clinton and Obama.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yes, unbelievable.
So the foundation keptcontacting me like will you make
an anniversary plate, will youmake this, will you make that?
So it became like their potter,that's really really cool.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
And the Jimmy Carter one was actually just put in his
library permanently, and thatto me is a big deal, because he
just passed.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So now his library is it stays there.
It stays there.
Yeah, they actually called tomake sure, like the print was
right, my name was spelled right.
Wow, and I was.
What an honor is.
It's never going to probablymove from there.
No, it's there for whatever's.
A nose usually stays there.
Now, will you?
Did you go see it?
No, one day I will, yeah, youshould sure.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Oh, and a picture, like a picture of yourself, like
in front of that pottery in themuseum.
Oh, it's a must how many peoplecan say they have something in
a presidential museum?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I don't know, not too many.
I guess it's crazy.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
No, not at all, it's unbelievable yeah, it's
something to be said and thatyou're a part of history, big
part of history, when you thinkabout that.
I hope so.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah.
Yeah, it's not about livingforever.
It's what you leave behind.
Yeah, it's your legacy.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
It's that thing so.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
I leave behind this pottery everywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
All this dirt everywhere.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
It's all over the world, I mean my dad had put up
a map and started putting pinsin it.
If you see that map, if you'reover, sometime you'll be like
japan and all over the place.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah, you said you're in.
Uh, what is it?
How many countries?
I think you?
You said that you're in, orwhatever six, I think it's six
countries, yeah, yeah, noantarctica, so no, no, yeah,
stuff will freeze, it justcracks, all right.
So, yeah, let's keep going.
So nordic forest has been namedthe best, the one of the
america's best traditionalamerican crafts, by early
american magazine, six years ina row.
Yeah, that's unbelievable.
It was yeah, and was that for acertain piece, or was that for?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
like all of your stuff.
Every year you have to submitfour pieces.
Okay, and every four pieceskept getting accepted.
Wow, it may have kept going.
I don't want to sound like yeah, but we just quit entering
Right.
Right Got sick of winning.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
You want to just give somebody else a chance, like
the Patriots or something.
That's hilarious.
No, but that's something to besaid that's amazing.
I'm sure you have copies of allthe magazines for that.
Yeah, that's really cool.
And you talked about the facejugs.
They're at the LehighUniversity, the Zoller.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Arts Center.
They were.
It was an exhibit, I did thereOkay.
And what was neat about that isthose ones, I told you, from
the 1800s.
They were in the same exhibitas mine, which is like, oh, wow,
like meant the world to me.
Wow, you mean the original, theoriginal from the 1800s, 1850s.
We still have these things.
Yeah, I have a poster, so my,my jugs are in.
(16:17):
Oh my god.
So I'm there with like the whatstarted it all neat.
And those, those potters camefrom the congo.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Wow, now, do you keep ?
Do you have any original piecesof anything?
I mean, it's probably veryexpensive to have it, but like,
do you have any?
Like old pieces that you?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
that you have of your own.
Yeah, I have like civil war erapieces.
Oh, you do, yeah, oh, okay,very cool.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Now let's get into the.
This is going to be cool.
This is going to blow you awayhere.
All right, you're going to beblown away.
So you have been commissionedby a lot of people that have
found your work.
I mean, I'm just going to namesome of them, and there's a
story that I want you to tellabout one of them Billy Idol,
(17:02):
brett Michaels, guns N' Roses,rob Zombie I saw pictures of
that.
That's pretty cool, but you andmost of these that I'm talking
about, you have pictures withthem with your pottery.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I always make a deal, I deliverthe piece smart.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Very smart, very smart.
You got to get a concert out ofit.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yeah, I like that.
That's a good one.
That's a good one, so, yeah.
So the one that really hit me,though, is you actually had one
of these celebrities visit yourpottery.
Sure, pottery, I was going tocall it Pottery Barn because it
is a barn.
Easy, watch it.
Watch it, I'll get sued.
Watch it.
We have nothing to do withPottery sponsor.
We're in good shape, but no.
(17:47):
So this person actually visited.
Tell me the story about WilliamH Macy.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So my business partner, Greg, was a huge fan of
his.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I got to admit I didn't know much about him.
Yeah right, a whole lot.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And that was about the time when Shameless the show
was like through the roof.
Oh my gosh, greg would come intowork and talk about shameless
all the time.
I said what is this shame?
Yeah, right, I never got to seeit.
So we get a phone call and andthe gentleman on the other line
is like are you open today?
I said yes.
Do you have anybody else theretoday?
I said no.
By the way, it's just mybusiness partner.
I were working.
(18:19):
Yeah, um, so he goes.
I'd like to bring by the, theactor william h, and I thought
still didn't ring a bell.
I was in the middle of working.
I hate to say so I got off thephone and Greg and I played a
lot of jokes on each other.
Oh, no, so I said hey, thisactor, william H Macy's coming
and he's like that's a good one.
Yeah, that's really funny, wesreally funny.
(18:40):
Oh my God, that's good.
So he shows up, I meet himdownstairs in the studio and
he's the nicest guy in the worldand I said you've got to do me
a favor, you've got to runupstairs and open the door and
introduce yourself to Greg andhe almost fell back off his
wheel.
He was.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Oh yeah, I mean, how many times do you have a star?
I mean I consider him, he'spretty, he's A-list.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I see, pretty, he's a list.
I mean yeah, yeah, I, I see Iremember from back in when he
was in fargo, which was one ofthe most was a morbid movie but
funny.
When I saw him then you're like, okay, yeah it's just the
nicest guy in the world and hewanted to know the process like
I love sharing that.
Yeah, yeah I love.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
And here he's he does woodworking oh no way.
So he has a process yeah, right, but real nice, super nice.
But who would have thought?
And then we went to take.
Like he goes, you want to takesome photos together and he's
like, oh, we got to get thelighting right, we got to we got
to do the angle right and thatis hilarious.
He was there for a while and itwas funny, because my kids are
walking by and they're like theyhad no idea.
(19:50):
No idea to now is like, yeah,growing up seeing deaf leopard
when they were little, yeah, Iremember.
And then they'll see like theage one class with all of them.
Hey, those are those guys, dad,I'll go.
What guys he goes, the guys wewent to see at that, yeah,
that's them, yeah, and they'relike wow, they're pretty big
yeah, yeah, yeah, pretty big alittle bit.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
That is so amazing, didn't?
Didn't he um?
Wasn't he buying pottery?
Or his brother was buyingpottery?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
brother.
Right, he was at his brother'sand saw our pottery all over the
house, right, right, and hesaid, oh, I got him and his
brother I think lives inleicester or something like that
.
Yeah, an effort.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, it's amazing.
Yeah, so who was?
Who was the?
The was the most like.
It floored you when you metthem because you're like, oh my
gosh, I can't believe I'mmeeting this person well,
probably david roth I going tosay it was always my favorite.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You never thought you'd meet those people you know
, yeah, but you know the the.
The one of the kindest was OzzyOsbourne.
I got to sit on a couch withhim.
Get out of here, and just thekindest man like nothing, like
the stories you hear.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, I can believe that, not at all that's so weird
, right, yeah, and I rememberwhen you met David Lee Roth, I
remember, and I thought youreally didn't.
You were not as happy with himas you thought you were the
first time.
No, first time, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
First time.
No, it was kind of likestandoffish a little bit
Standoffish yeah.
I think he was trying to beundercover and I caught him.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Because, but in the future I met him again with his
sister and and it was reallyreally kind.
Yeah, so if somebody wants todo their own custom piece, can
they do that?
Come into you and say hey, Iwant to, I want to do something
custom, whatever.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Sometimes it seems like I'm 75% custom and the rest
is made for the shows I do.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, custom work is.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah, what's the hardest work that you do?
Which ones are the hardest?
Actually probably the face jugs, the jugs, because it looks
like.
Let me just see that a second.
If you can see these jugs andhopefully, oh, it's heavy, it's
heavier than what.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I thought it would be .
You got to remember, all thefeatures are solid.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
So this thing is just .
I mean you look at this thingand there's a lot of detail in
it.
I mean it's got like a snake onacross the head.
It's smoking a cigar.
There's a lot of detail in this.
So I can see that it takes solong and you've got to make this
.
You have to make the handle andput that on.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah you've got to make the jug, the handle and
then all the featuresUnbelievable and they stay in
the back for about a week or twobecause you don't want the
features to crack oh, and thenwhen do you?
Paint it.
Um, you paint it when it's whenit's dry and fired.
Okay, okay, yeah, amazing, yeah, so that's probably most
difficult and I do some giantbig stuff, yeah, yeah and I've
(22:14):
seen some of those.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
I've seen some of those.
It's pretty amazing.
So let me see here that was um.
Out of the people that you'vemet, who was the most excited,
you think, to get your pottery.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Like there was like, oh my gosh, I can't wait, or I'm
excited to get it um, I think Ithink one of the most exciting
guys that really loves thisstuff is richie katson.
Richie kott, I love richie.
Yeah, he's a local guy but he'slocal.
Yeah, it was, but, um, and wereconnected because he bought
some stuff at the ready museumand then emailed me, yeah, and
at the time I think he had astudio and he wanted some more
(22:48):
heads for the studio.
Oh, that's amazing, and he hasthem in his house, like in
special cases, and so I keephitting this thing you're not.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
You're not the first person.
You know.
What's worse is when women comein with jewelry on right, right
you go and they're hitting thetable with their jewelry and
then sometimes I'm like I wantto go.
Ah no, it's all right, you'reallowed to hit things here.
Just don't hit me, don't hitthe hose, yeah, but he's pretty
excited about the whole art ofit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That's awesome I mean he's mentioned my stuff when he
was doing his own interviewsplaces like Japanese Guitar
Magazine, and there was picturesof my jugs in the magazine.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
That's awesome.
That sounded really funny.
I have to say there's a pictureof your jugs in the magazine,
this guy.
He hasn't changed.
I'm like I can't let that go.
Your mom and dad watch the show?
Yes, they do, and my kids aregreat, oh man.
So where do you go?
I mean, do you have?
(23:44):
Is there anything that youhaven't done yet with this
business that you want to do?
Is there, like um, is thereamount of time that you think I
can do this for until this time?
Then I'm going to be done, orretirement or just do it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
You're right.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I get that question all the time I said I don't
think you retire from this likeyou don't retire from being the
artist yeah, you know, I agree,you know, I agree, and now I'm
at this point in my life, youknow like my business partner
passed yeah and and then it leftme like this is almost like
this is really being an artist,cause I don't rely on anybody.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
I do everything from the top, from the bottom up.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Did you think when he passed and that was on here
when he passed um, was that likea major setback?
I mean, obviously somebodypasses away.
It's a setback emotionally,it's a setback, but for the
business and for you going oh mygosh, do I want to do this
alone?
Do I want to hire somebody else?
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Right, Um, I never thought about hiring anybody,
and he did tell me before hepassed he goes.
Don't worry about a thing,you're going to be fine and I'm
going.
Yeah, how?
Speaker 1 (24:37):
you know how am I going to be fine, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, but you know, it just seemed to happen, yeah,
like it kind of like I steppedinto where I was supposed to be
and I never looked back and inbusiness didn't change a whole
lot.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I mean products did, yeah, but the amount of business
didn't change, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, and you're throwing your own clay.
I mean, you're doing ityourself, I mean so, and really
the only thing I can think isproduction wise.
Like are you?
Are you you're not able to makeas fast?
I?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
can't keep up.
But that's the whole thing as Iwhen, I worked at Brian Ingers.
That's what that was.
Yeah, I always say that waslike.
That was like greasing andgetting ready.
What is that?
Keith Richards call it thewhiskey finger.
Yep, when you play bars, yeah,exactly.
So plates a day there sometimes.
(25:28):
So it's more of a productionand so I thought no more of that
.
Yeah, so these like the facesyou're gonna never gonna get too
alike.
Yeah, um, maybe a vase will bethe same shape and everything,
but the design will always bedifferent.
Because I do that, I'd freehand the designs and that's cool
yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
That makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, so, looking back, you'reso glad that you did not finish
college.
Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
it's funny to say Not that I don't want people to
finish college.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
No, no, no, we're not promoting that, we're just
saying but no, but I think it'sjust.
But you had a love forsomething and you decided that
this is what you wanted to do Imean because a lot of times
people can go to whatever school, do whatever they're going to
do, and they never find passionfor something.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
That's the key and that's the key Passion, passion,
passion, passion, passion,passion, passion, passion,
passion, passion, passion,passion, passion, passion,
passion Passion.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Passion, passion, passion, passion, passion,
passion, passion, passionPassion.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Passion, have an advisor at a vernier college and
he said, look, I explained tohim what I was going to do and
he kind of like, didn'tdiscourage me because just do me
a favor, take these twobusiness courses oh, no way, and
then you can go interesting.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know what?
It's a great mentor yes, yeah,great mentor, yeah because he
realized that if this is whatyou're going to do, you're going
to need these right, right, andI'll never forget him.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
You know there's a lot of mentors through my life
and he's one of them.
Yeah, that's amazing, reallycool.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
So there's one more thing I want to say that I think
is really cool and this is notas as uh, not as big as some of
these other stuff but youreceived the distinguished
alumni hall of fame award fromconnor weiser high school and I
think that was pretty special,yeah yeah, it was, it came.
We're both from weiser yeah,we're both graduating from there
.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, yeah, it was that's cool, quite an honor.
I mean it really was yeah, andsomehow someone yeah I'm an
issue and um.
It's because I did alwaysrepresent wiser.
Even today I always, mrgonzalez, the reason I'm here
doing this which is really cool.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Which is really cool, just shows you that you know
high school uh, school can do,can, can set up your passion for
something.
So don't take it for grantedthat you're going to find it
somewhere else.
It could be right there infront of you.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Very cool.
Well, thank you, go ahead.
How do people find it?
How do people like if I was acompany, if I was somebody
wanted to create somethingspecial.
How do they find you?
How do they?
Oh, just go on.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
NolteForestPotterycom Potterycom.
Yeah, you can reach me there,okay, or you go to Facebook
Nolde Forest Pottery page.
Everything that comes out ofthe kilns is put up immediately.
Yeah, no, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Very cool.
Put it up right away.
The website's nice.
It's real easy to navigate.
He's got pictures.
You have the gallery that's onthere.
You can navigate all the stuffon there off on New Holland Road
.
I mean you can visit the studiotoo, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, it's by appointment, you can call.
I started also giving classes.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, I do classes.
You can come decorate your ownplate, you can bring the kids.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Wait, I think I saw somebody doing that.
Was there a bunch of girlsdrinking wine doing that?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yes, you're allowed to it's BYOB.
We have some snacks.
I gave you a tour of the studio.
I get all my tools outsomewhere from like 200 years
ago.
Oh, wow so you get to see allthese.
I make a couple things and thenyou go down and decorate your
own plate.
That's neat.
Any age can do it.
You want to bring the kidssometime?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's reallycool If they like that kind of
(28:37):
thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I think like, ooh, not so good, not so good.
Well, thanks so much for comingin.
Man, it's great to see you.
I love seeing your success.
I love the pottery.
Uh, it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Really is amazing and just keep doing it, keep doing
it.
I plan on it.
Thank you, I hope so.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
All right, that's awesome man.
Thank you.
All right, there we go.
Wes Mucky, or Wesley V Mucky,is what we have in here.
Nolte Forest Pottery Check himout.
He's on Facebook.
Instagram.
Are you on Instagram or no?
Yes, yeah, okay, there we go.
Just making sure InstagramFacebook.
He's got a great website youcan go to If you want something
custom.
He can make that for you andjust check out all the stuff he
(29:17):
has.
It's pretty amazing, all right.
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