Funk and Nut Art with Clayton Bailey
June 17, 2026
45 min
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Episode 12 · June 17, 2026
Funk and Nut Art with Clayton Bailey
0:00 / 45:27
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Heni Talks Episodes Around June 17, 2026
Episode 13 of 13 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
45:27This episodeFunk and Nut Art with Clayton Bailey
Summary
Stephanie Rozene and curator Garth Johnson pick up the story of Funk Art and look at the life and work of artist Clayton Bailey who would go on to form the breakaway movement called Nut Art. Taking ceramics into a new realm of world making, eccentricity and humour, Bailey would inhabit an alter egos, stage pranks with the press and take the museum world on an unexpected journey.
Ceramics and artwork in this week’s episode include:
No Deposit No Return, 1961, Robert Arneson Critter Rider, 1960, Clayton Bailey
His and Hers, 1964, Robert Arneson
Clayton Bailey with Nite Pots, 1965
The Typewriter # 1 (Touch System), 1965, Robert Arneson
Clayton Bailey with Nite Pots, 1965
Clayton Bailey with Jughead Pots, 2011
Country Dog Gentlemen, 1972, Roy de Forest
Mountain on Wheels with Fox Fiddlers, 2019, Maija Peeples-Bright
Frog Oreos, 1990, David Gilhooley
Dr Gladstone (Clayton Bailey) uncovers Bigfoot skeleton in Port Costa, CA
Clayton Bailey’s World of Wonders Store Front
Clayton Bailey with Jughead Pots
Garth Johnson - Curator of Kaolithic Curiosities, 2011
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CREDITS:
Hosts: Stephanie Rozene and guest Garth Johnson
Editor: Joe Little
Executive Producer: Emma Cahusac
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction: Clayton Bailey and the Nut Artists
00:00:52 Peter Voulkos and the Abstract Expressionist Revolution
00:02:32 Harvey Littleton, Clayton Bailey, and the Wisconsin Connection
00:04:12 The First Funk Object: Caterpillar with Flying Buttresses
00:10:01 The Night Pots: Sex, Function, and Subversion
00:08:38 Make It Ugly: Building a Ceramics Program in Whitewater
00:13:24 Connecting with Robert Arneson and Moving to California
00:17:23 The Vermilion Festival and Experimental Education
00:23:59 Port Costa and the Birth of Nut Art
00:25:47 World Building and Imagination: The Nut Art Aesthetic
00:28:10 Dr. Gladstone and the Science of Kaolism
00:31:54 The Bigfoot Discovery and Media Pranks
00:32:38 The Wonders of the World Museum
00:35:36 Performance Art and Compression Testing
00:37:52 Partner in Mischief: A Personal Relationship
00:44:06 Legacy: The Greatest Conceptual Ceramic Artist
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.