Next up at @acm_CHI 2026, a paper led by joyce.passananti and @emxtyu and co-authored with professor Tobias Höllerer and ceramic artist and professor Timea Tihanyi ( @sliprabbitstudio ) entitled "Clay ARTools: Precise Machine Toolpath Editing for Clay 3D Printing With Craft-Inspired Direct Manipulation Tools in AR"
This work builds on our prior research in CAM-based design for clay 3D printing, extending the design environment to Augmented Reality. Clay 3D printing is often controlled by directly programming the deposition toolpath to fully exploit the capabilities of this fabrication method.
But systems that afford this level of control are based on desktop interactions. We wondered, could we make precise toolpath editing feel more embodied?
Augmented reality enables embodied interactions, but so far has only been applied to CAD. For toolpath editing necessary for clay 3D printing, we need to provide controllable ways to make edits. We do that by encapsulating edit operations as digital ceramic tools, inspired by ceramics tools.
Joyce and Emile implemented this idea in a prototype AR system that lets people manipulate and combine tools and modifiers to edit a toolpath.
In collaboration with Timea, we used Clay AR to design and fabricate ceramic vessels to demonstrate the wide range of effects that the digital tools and modifiers afford
Check out the paper at /publication/clayar
And if you’re at CHI, see Joyce's talk this Wednesday >> /chi/2026/program/content/223380
🥁 🥁 Announcing the public launch of my coaching business with a focus on creativity and leadership!
After over 20 years in education, over 30 in visual art practice and a degree in neuropsychology, I am bringing my passion and experience from these areas to coaching. My waiting list for new clients still has a few spots. Please reach out through DM or leadthroughcreativity(dot)com to get your name on the list. The first Discovery call is always free. Packages are available at various price points. Discounts for artists and loyalty clients.
My whole being is to bring ideas to form. If you can feel what you want to become but can't yet see it clearly -- that's exactly where we begin. Together we'll sketch the life you imagine, build toward it, and shape your true form.
#lifecoaching #creativity #leadershipdevelopement
One of my slipcast #bonechina umbrellas from the Experiments in Being Lost series is now on view at @ekwc_oisterwijk
I made these in 2009 during my first #ceramicartistresidency Brings back memories of an amazing time, friendships, and soooo much technical learning.
EKWC is the absolutely best place for learning and making challenging projects.
I loved making this body of work: bone china is a beautiful, almost translucent but extremely challenging material, especially on this large scale.
Here is what it took: 1.engineering and testing of several different types of molds. 2. Devising several rigs for hoisting a barrel of casting slip over the mold, dumping excess liquid slip out of the mold, turning the mold with the drying shell of bone china slip, demolding safely, placing super fragile bone dry clay object on a kiln shelf, 3. Actually moving the piece out of the mold and onto the safety of a kiln shelf, 4. getting it into the kiln, and supporting during firing so it does not melt/warp into a puddle.
Besides all those, I came up with a technique to transfer an image onto clay and create it as a raised line (kind of embossing). Refining the carving of the map into each umbrella was my happy place away from the stress of all the engineering issues.
Each umbrella has a different map (a bit hard to see on the photo but the whole series is on my website). Each is my subjective map of a city I used to live in and explore on foot.
#detournement #psychogeography #ceramicscuplture
Thank you @cristianavignatellibrunistudio for snapping the photo!
And finally... Meet the Fool’s Teacher Stupad!
Kept by the bedside, this Stupad waits for the moment before waking. Let the first act of each day be a touch to its cool surface, before random thoughts harden into reason and judgment. Rather than giving instruction, The Fool’s Teacher Stupad invites openness. It reminds us that wisdom is not only reasoned but also felt. Like surrendering to a purring cat kneading a lap, an openness to receive can make space for insight to enter.
The Fool’s Teacher says nothing, teaching acceptance through the quiet pleasure of stillness. Used in therapy and healing, this Stupad serves as a holding object: something to hold onto, to cradle in the hand when words fall short. Through touch, emotions are accepted and released without judgment.
It is neither mind nor body but something between: a safe conduit for unformed thoughts. Some therapists believe the Fool’s Teacher Stupad holds unspoken words in its hollow channel, echoing them back subtly through touch. It becomes a companion for in-between states, showing that healing often begins in liminal spaces.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange embodiedwisdom embodiedmindfulness lifecoaching creativecoaching
At the end of the year, most of us tally up gains and the losses. For those who have lost a loved one, my heart is with you. Know that you are not alone.
Here is the Farewell Stupad:
At funerals, mourners pass the Farewell Stupad gently over the deceased’s body, allowing the hollow to catch a final trace of warmth. The Stupad is then handed from person to person, distributing the preserved warmth from hand to hand. While this is its main purpose, the Farewell Stupad may be kept in the grieving home after the ceremony. At night, when one listens closely enough, they may hear a faint echo of clothes rustling and may catch a fugitive but familiar scent. The Farewell Stupad carries presence beyond absence, not as an image in the memory but as reverberations in one’s own nerve endings: a touch, a smell, a sound.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange embodiedwisdom embodiedmindfulness lifecoaching creativecoaching
Meet the Surrendering Stupad!
Once a year, the community appoints a Stupad to be surrendered on behalf of people’s collective failings. On a parade float decorated with flowers, this Surrendering Stupad is carried through the streets, accompanied by joyous music and dance. People dressed in playful costumes of mythical, magical creatures dance behind the float. All is welcome, regardless of what they are wearing or how well their bodies follow the rhythm of the drums. Each person is there to share stories of past blunders with strangers. There is relief in giving and receiving these stories, as none is exempt from making mistakes even if we don't like to admit them. At the end of the parade, the Surrendering Stupad is solemnly put on a small handmade raft and sent out with the currents. But before, people break small pieces from it and slip these in their pockets as a reminder. In earlier centuries, these Stupads used to be burnt, and their ashes were smeared across faces. The ash was believed to protect against both future arrogance and despair. Sending the Surrendering Stupad out on the ocean waves brings renewal only when the community is ready to come together to hear and forgive. Only by transforming loss and regret into purpose and shared action can people reclaim their lives in the present and begin building the foundations of a thriving future.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange embodiedwisdom embodiedmindfulness lifecoaching creativecoaching
For the Holidays: The Hope Infuser Stupad
In a state of dejection, one blows gently into the hollow shaft of the Hope Infuser Stupad, as if to inflate it with breath. The Stupad warms, holding the gasp of moist air. And then, slowly but unmistakably, its color changes to a luminous pink. At this moment, the breath is transformed to an invisible hope-charge and may be re-inhaled slowly. Filled with the charge, the Hope Infuser’s warmth becomes a glow, strong enough to light a page in the book that’s long been asking for being read. Now is the time!
Hope is thus recycled. Hope makes hope, proving that each breath, each word (on the page or being said), each step, and each act counts, no matter how tentative, how insignificant it may feel. It counts.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange embodiedwisdom embodiedmindfulness lifecoaching creativecoaching
For the holidays: The Whisper Vessel
This hollow Stupad has four levels and an open crown-shaped top that invites confessions. People lean close, whispering remorse they cannot admit aloud. Each of its levels represents one of the four elements: earth, air, water, and fire. These elements together act as slow agents of transformation. Each taking parts of what has been offered up, fermenting and mixing with the content of the other chambers, then returning it in a new form. Like a warm compost pile turning decay into nourishment, the chambers break down regret and rebuild it into fertile, forward-looking thought. Over time, the Whisper Vessel Stupad’s tone begins to resemble its owner’s voice, as though it has become a double of the self. When the day quiets into night, the Whisper Vessel starts humming softly, releasing its stored murmurs as melodic lullabies. In moments of feeling alone, one can hold the Stupad to the ear only to catch faint echoes of others' Whisper Vessels churning thoughts of guilt across great distances. The sound rises and falls like distant chanting, a chorale of shared repentance.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange embodiedwisdom embodiedmindfulness lifecoaching creativecoaching
Meet the Trinket Stupad!
Children instinctively know how to use Stupads. They swirl and stack them, sing them jingles and silly made-up songs. They balance them on their heads until the Stupad topples. What can be more fun than tossing them in the air, rolling them down hillsides, or bobbing them in the bath in an epic marine battle?
Adults, in contrast, prefer to treat them as if they were precious, like jewels. They create a dedicated space for the Stupad in the home and introduce them proudly to their friends. But these grown-ups rarely touch the Stupad, not knowing that, as most things living and inanimate, they thrive on being touched.
This foolish misunderstanding of grown-ups makes the children's behavior wiser. A Stupad’s truest function may be giggles and clumsiness—the rediscovery of freedom through simple acts of play. Even scholars of Stupads agree: a Trinket Stupad in motion can teach more than one standing still, kept for its beauty behind glass.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange embodiedwisdom embodiedmindfulness lifecoaching creativecoaching
Meet the Resonant Stupad!
Placed in the heart of the home—in the kitchen, the living room, or even in the bedroom—this Stupad quietly absorbs all resonations of daily life. Laughter, cries, muttered arguments, the dog’s barking, the hum of the fridge, rain's drumming on the roof, whispered secrets, hissed resentments, and the pregnant pauses between words find their way into the belly of the Stupad. While it stands in a stately way, seemingly removed from the hubbub of the day, the Resonant Stupad is very much alive. Touch to see it responding with a slight tremor of the combined frequencies of all vibrations accumulated. Over the years, the Resonant Stupad becomes saturated and starts developing tiny cracks on its belly, a living archive of domestic sound. When someone goes on a long journey, the Stupad is broken open by the members of the household, releasing a collective chorus of familiar sounds into the air. The sound is chaotic, discordant, almost disorienting. But it is also rich, deep and tender, moving in sloping waves. Don’t cover your ears or pull away from it! Let it wrap around your ears and shoulders and accompany you on your journey.
The #Stupads are available through @gregkuceragallery
#seattleart #timeatihanyi #3dprintedsculpture #timesofchange
