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.