321: Tom Lauerman on rapid prototyping personal protective equipment for Penn State’s MASC initiative

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Tom Lauerman, an artist and educator who is working with a consortium of over 200 researchers to develop personal protective equipment for medical personnel during the COVID-19 outbreak. In our interview we talk about the evolution of PPE designs and how rapid prototyping using 3D printers has made daily progress possible. We also discuss the ideas behind Tom’s ceramic sculpture and his work as an educator at Penn State University. To see examples of Tom’s work visit www.tomlauerman.com. To find out more about M.A.S.C visit masc.psu.edu.

On today’s AMACO Community Corkboard we have the Craft Emergency Relief Fund. CERF+ was started by artists for artists in the craft community as a grassroots mutual aid effort in 1985 and has since emerged as the leading nonprofit organization that uniquely focuses on safeguarding artists’ livelihoods. To find out more about emergency relief, career protection tools and other resources visit www.cerfplus.org.

I want to give a shout out to KC Clay Guild for sponsoring this episode of the podcast. KC Clay Guild has been supporting ceramic artists and providing a space to work in Kansas City, Missouri since 1988. I encourage you to apply for the 11th Annual KC Clay Guild Teabowl National before their June 26th deadline. Sam Chung is this year’s juror and prizes include purchase and equipment awards, as well as gift certificates totaling over $1000. Find out more and apply today at www.kcclayguild.org/apply.