Benjamin Carter, a ceramic artist, visited De Anza College on Thursday, Oct. 30 as part of an ongoing artist lecture series.

Carter, who lives in Santa Cruz, is a pet sitter, has his own podcast and is a ceramic artist who makes functional objects.

Students and instructors watched Carter make pots and mugs using his own techniques while he shared his adventures and tips that have helped shape him as an artist.

Carter knew he was going to be in the ceramic business when he went to graduate school.

He said he went to college “gung-ho about making pots,”

“Like most students I knew once I touched the clay” he said.

Carter was born in Roanoke, Virginia. He said inspiration for a lot of his work comes from his southern root and the southern food culture.

Carter said he wants to bring people joy with functional poetry and dishware.

As inspiration, Carter said he is “fascinated by intuition” and finds ideas come to him best as he’s making his pieces.

Students had the opportunity to purchase some of his pieces at the end of the lecture.