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#190 The Journey to Finding Joy and Passion in Pottery w/ Angel Oloshove
41 Plays2 years ago
In this podcast episode, pottery artist Angel Oloshove discusses her journey in ceramics and the importance of practice in achieving success. She shares how her experience in toy design in Tokyo influenced her approach to pottery, resulting in vivid, colorful creations that bring joy to everyday life. Angel explains her process of creating pottery, focusing on shape, and emphasizes the importance of not getting too attached to the outcome of any particular piece. She also highlights the importance of finding inspiration from the natural world and the history of ceramics to develop one's unique voice in pottery. You can learn more about Angel by checking out her Instagram @angel_oloshove
Top 3 Value Bombs:
1. Importance of practice: Angel emphasizes the vital role of practice in mastering pottery. She advises that the more time you spend with the material, the better you will become and the more success you will achieve. Dedication and repetition are key to improving and finding your unique voice in pottery.
2. Drawing inspiration from outside sources: Angel suggests looking at the things that excite you outside of pottery to find your voice and bring them into your work. By being aware of your interests and following them, you can create unique, otherworldly pottery that reflects your individual perspective and artistic vision.
3. Embracing the joy of ceramics and letting go of attachment: Angel encourages potters not to get too attached to the outcome of any particular piece and instead focus on the joy of making. She also advises becoming curious rather than discouraged when facing challenges, as this approach can help you grow as an artist and discover your unique voice in pottery.
Take this Free Quiz to see how close you are to finding your pottery voice click here to take the quiz shapingyourpottery.com/quiz
Follow me on Instagram @nictorres_pottery
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Transcript
Discover Your Pottery Voice
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, if you would like to discover what your unique pottery voice is, I put together a free quiz that you can take to help you discover what your pottery voice is. It's a quick four question quiz. All you have to do to take it is go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash quiz, or you can just go simply go to shapingyourpottery.com. It'll be right there on the top.
00:00:26
Speaker
If you love pottery and want to take your skills to the next level, you're in the right place. Find your own pottery style right here on Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Let's get started. What
Interview with Angel Olosov
00:00:39
Speaker
is up, Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here. And in this episode of Shaping Your Pottery, I got to interview Angel Olosov.
00:00:44
Speaker
Angel makes some really incredible out of this world pottery. In this episode, you will learn how Angel makes her unique and colorful pottery. You'll also learn about why you need to be paying attention to details, the small details, so that you can start stacking them on to one another. You'll also learn about why you sometimes need to go the opposite way of what you're doing if you are stuck.
00:01:11
Speaker
And finally, the last thing you'll learn is finding ways to make pottery easier for yourself so it's more enjoyable. I hope you guys enjoy this episode and I'll see you guys in there. Angel, welcome to Shaping Your Pottery and share with me what is something you believe potters should be doing to have success in pottery? I think the
Angel's Journey into Ceramics
00:01:30
Speaker
first thing that you should really do is just practice, practice, practice. Getting on the wheel and the more time you spend with the material, the better you're going to get and the more success you're going to have.
00:01:40
Speaker
Absolutely agree. You got to put in that repetition, that repetition. Absolutely agree. So tell me the story, how you got started in ceramics. So when I was in high school, we didn't have tons of art programming, but what we did have was a really cool ceramics room. And so there was a teacher, her name was Ms. Vishner, and it was all mostly like hand building ceramics.
00:02:04
Speaker
But when I walked into that room, I was like, this is amazing. How does that kiln work? How is clay made? I was a very excited early user. And that really started it all. And then when I went to college, I took a little bit of ceramics, but I was really focusing more on painting. And then when I moved back to the United States around 2009, I started taking wheel throwing at Baltimore Clay Works. And I was like,
Designing Toys in Tokyo
00:02:31
Speaker
I'm going to do this for the rest of my life, I think.
00:02:34
Speaker
I love that. So you did mention that you came back from United States and I know that you went to Tokyo. So tell me about your experience in Tokyo. So when I was living in Tokyo, I was designing toys. When I started, I was really coming in like as an artist, like customizing dolls and toys by hand. So I was like dying like the plastic hair and like crocheting wigs into the doll's heads and also airbrushing makeup on the dolls.
00:03:04
Speaker
and sewing whole new outfits. So I was really like in this process of like creating everything from scratch by hand. And then eventually I moved on to the design team where I was working to make manufactured dolls like in a factory. So that was really my experience there. Just like making a lot and then like really focusing on design. I love that. So tell me about the moment when you decided to go and start taking pottery at the Baltimore Clay Works. I think that's what you
Pottery Pursuit in the US
00:03:30
Speaker
said. So I had always
00:03:33
Speaker
in the back of my mind thought, like, when I retire, one day I'll make pots, you know? And I think a lot of people have that kind of fantasy in the back of their mind. And it just turned into like, I was like, why am I waiting? I'm only going to get better the earlier I start. And so I found that studio and it's an artist co-op studio. So the space is really cool. And the artists and teachers working there, like, were great in, like, helping me start this whole journey.
00:04:04
Speaker
So as you said earlier, you did go to Tokyo for being creating toys. How would you say this experience kind of helped you with your own pottery? I will, you know, the big thing that toy making and the experience of living in Japan really did for me was it made me really pay attention to details where there was no detail that was too small, you know.
00:04:31
Speaker
I really learned that like taking care of things and working all the way through a process is how you really wrap things up. And so I like that sort of strict structure, which I think is very ceramics-y too. It's like you have this structure that you just have to work within with the material. And that experience, it kind of lends itself to clay, I think.
00:04:54
Speaker
Definitely agree. Shaping nation, sometimes it's important to just kind of pay attention to detail, pay attention to the small things because those small things start to add up and that's how you start finding your own unique voice. I love that. So let's talk about your pottery. In one sentence, can you tell me what you make? So I make
Creating Colorful Functional Pottery
00:05:13
Speaker
really colorful, functional art objects and my goal is to bring joy to your everyday life.
00:05:20
Speaker
I love that. So can you explain that to me a little bit in detail, bring joy to everyday life? Sure. So Betty Woodman, who's an American ceramicist, she has a really well-known quote that I like to bring up, which is, when you live with beautiful things, it enhances the quality of your life. So surrounding yourself with like beautiful things really does just bring out more enjoyment in everyday activities, like your favorite mug.
00:05:47
Speaker
The coffee is going to taste better out of your favorite mug. There's no logic to it, but it's just the truth. I definitely agree. I love that so much because the better we can make our pots, the more we are going to be happier and the more other people are going to be happier as well. I love that so much. Right. So can you tell me the story, how you started making your colorful pottery that you make today?
00:06:08
Speaker
So I started at, like I said, Baltimore clay works, which were, I was really starting to learn the wheel. So the wheel was, I had a huge learning curve on the wheel, which I'm sure a lot of people can relate to. I think it was about a year before I could even make like a three inch cup. Like I just struggled, you know? And at that time I, after about a year at Baltimore clay works, I moved to Texas. So I'm in Houston, Texas now. And I started working at the Glacell School of Art, like as a student.
00:06:38
Speaker
And at that point I was getting better and better at the wheel, but I also was suddenly really exposed to ton, all the different ways that you can fire ceramics and all of the different glazes and all the different clay bodies. It was a really open studio where you can learn a lot really quick. And so it was sort of like a crash course and like everything I could learn about clay in about two or three years, I really started.
00:07:04
Speaker
Looking at the work that was coming out of the studio like we have a cone 10 reduction kiln. We have electric kilns We have raccoon all of this stuff and I was like, well, what do I like and really for me? I wind up saying like I don't like that So I'm thinking this list of things I didn't like and I was like, well, what do I like if I don't like that? And I narrowed it down to like I want a really bright clay body. That's really white I want really bright colors and
00:07:31
Speaker
I want to have a little bit more of like ephemeral surface and that's how I got to where I am right now. So what do you mean by ephemeral surface? So you know how you can use a glaze and you kind of, you dunk a pot in a glaze and it's all one sort of tone, like one shiny white or one shiny black. I wanted to create this, like a pot that kind of looked like it was glowing.
00:07:57
Speaker
So the way that I apply my glazes really lets light shine onto the clay body and like through the layers of glaze. It's kind of how like oil painting works where like the pigment is suspended in oil and the light can shine through the oil, which makes the painting surface look more luminous. That's what I was into. That is very interesting. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But for now,
00:08:23
Speaker
You are inspired by color, light, and like you said, ephemeral weather phenomenon. How does this impact how you make your pottery? Well, in
Exploring Light and Color in Pottery
00:08:35
Speaker
one sense, like aesthetically, I want to have this like, just like I was saying, like a bright light to the surface of the clay and to the work. Like I want you to look at the work.
00:08:49
Speaker
And feel like it feels a little otherworldly, like, how is that done? I want it to be surprising and exciting when people interact with my work. Practically, like in a studio process sense, what that means is like, I had to figure out the process of how to get what I wanted. So I was like, okay, I need electric firing because I want it to be very consistent.
00:09:10
Speaker
I want to use bright underglazes so I can get the wide range of color that I want. And I wanted a really clean, bright clay body too, where everything can reflect well. Can you walk me through your process on how you were able to narrow down what you decided what you liked in the end? Sure. So I started with the color, where I was like, I love color. That's been my thing for a very long time. Everything I've done, I'm like,
00:09:40
Speaker
I have a very specific palette that I'm working with. So from there I was like, okay, what clay body works for this? And so I tried so many different clay bodies and some of them I was like, okay, this is too yellow. It changes the color that I put on it. It makes it look muted or okay, this clay body has too much grog in it. It's too like, has too many stones and I don't like, I want a soft surface. So it was a lot of trial and error really. That's, that's just the truth of it.
00:10:10
Speaker
And so I had a bunch of stuff that I was like, I'm not necessarily happy with this, but I'm going to slowly hone this down just by experimenting a lot, but also not getting stuck and just knowing that I'm going to get there eventually. I just need to try. So do you think you can elaborate more on not getting stuck? Absolutely. So like the creative process is very difficult because a lot of times we're all self-directed. So.
00:10:39
Speaker
It's really up to you, like the decisions you make and like what you're happy with with the outcome of your work. And the place where people get stuck is like when you get really attached or feel, I see a lot of it when I'm teaching is like people get discouraged and I would encourage people instead of like leaning into feeling discouraged, go the opposite way and become curious. Get really, really curious. Absolutely agree. I love that so much.
00:11:09
Speaker
shaping nation. Sometimes if you know you're maybe feeling a little stuck, or maybe you don't know what to do, try doing the opposite of what you are currently doing because that will give you some fresh new ideas. I love that you said that. So can you give me a simplified explanation on how you create your pottery? Sure.
00:11:29
Speaker
So all of the pots are wheel thrown. I make all kinds of different shapes, but I weigh out my clay to the same exact weight before I start, because that's going to yield a certain size. I want consistency. Then I'll throw whatever form I'm making. And then after that, I have everything bisque fired. And then I'm airbrushing food safe underglazes on the surface, which gives it that like soft rainbow gradient.
00:11:55
Speaker
And then I put a clear glaze over it to seal it in so it can be really functional. It won't absorb any liquids or anything like that. And all of that is fired to cone five in an electric kiln. So I'm not using like a wood fire kiln. I'm not doing low fire. Cone five is a strong clay. So if you're using a cup over and over again, it's really gonna survive being thrown in the dishwasher. Yeah. So what are you using to airbrush your underglaze on there?
00:12:24
Speaker
So there, you can buy like a spray guns at your ceramic store usually. So I'll use this just like a spray gun for clay for, for glaze, which you can find at most ceramic stores. Cause there are some like studio mixed glazes that you need to airbrush on because they'll run a lot. So most studios, if you have a big facility will have an airbrush. So now.
00:12:48
Speaker
Earlier, you mentioned that you want your pottery to look and feel otherworldly. What advice would you give to someone trying to also add that appeal to their own pottery? So the otherworldly aspect is really about this sort of mystical mysticism for me. If you want to incorporate that into your work, I mean, I would think about, again, we're going to do light colors. We're going to keep things airy.
00:13:18
Speaker
Not too much filigree or like marking on the surface, just very simple and really glazed and form focus. So focus on the shape that you're making, make a really interesting, cool shape, and then the application of your glaze.
00:13:33
Speaker
I definitely agree with that. So shaping nation, the easiest thing that you can kind of do to either make your pottery look otherworldly or start finding your own voice is to simply focus on the shape of your work. That's the simplest thing that you can do. And you can do it literally the next time you start making pottery. I love that advice right there. So what is something in pottery that you believe is a waste of time? Oh my gosh,
Advice on Pottery Journey and Experimentation
00:13:59
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there's so much.
00:14:00
Speaker
For me, I think the biggest waste of time that really kills the joy of making is to be attached to the object. So people will make like one thing, like on the wheel, like a beautiful vase and you're like, this is the vase. And then say it goes through the firing and it gets a big crack through the bottom. How deep are you going to go into feeling bad about that? I say don't you've already made it once. If you've made it once it's in your hands.
00:14:30
Speaker
Your hands are doing the job. You can make it again. You can make 100 of them. There's nothing that is a singular thing that can never be done again, especially if you're making it yourself. The greatest tool is you. It's your eyes, it's your hands, it's your experience. So don't get caught up on your favorite pot going bad. You're gonna make so many favorite pots throughout your life. So just let it go. I definitely agree 100% with that. Shaping Nation, the faster you can just get over
00:15:00
Speaker
the pottery that you are making and maybe even mess up or something, the faster you're gonna start improving your pottery and be able to recreate that as well. I love that advice so much. So let's talk about discovering your voice. Can you tell me about the moment when you knew you were heading in the right direction? Totally. So I was experimenting with lots of different firing techniques, different types of clay, different types of glazes. And I, but
00:15:29
Speaker
Inside of myself, I knew it didn't feel quite right. It felt like I was doing an exercise instead of speaking my own mind in clay. You can feel when something's not completely your own voice. I had to go through all that in order to develop my own voice
00:15:51
Speaker
But just that process of curiosity and being like, okay, this isn't quite right. This isn't quite right. Um, that helped me really narrow down what I, what I wanted. So I'll be honest, like one thing that I looked at, I think we can get kind of hung up looking at other people's pottery and what they're doing, but I was like, okay, what am I interested in? And so I would keep these folders on my phone of things that I was like, that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
00:16:17
Speaker
And that includes like, you know, like natural phenomenon, like the different types of rainbows you get in the sky. And I live in Houston. We have incredible like gradient skies at nighttime, like as the sun setting. And so I take pictures of those sunsets and like kind of look at the colors and be like, Oh, okay. These are really beautiful colors. I'm going to pull these into what I'm doing. So follow the, follow the things that you're excited about outside of just clay. It's all related.
00:16:44
Speaker
your perspective isn't just in the studio, your perspective extends to your life. So just be aware of that and start bringing it into your work. That is so powerful out there. Shaping Nation, pay attention to things that excite you outside of pottery because those things that excite you outside of pottery, if you can figure out how to bring them into your pottery, that's where your voice is truly going to start showing up and coming alive. That is some really powerful advice out there.
00:17:11
Speaker
Now, can you tell me how has your pottery evolved over the years into what it is today? So I
Efficiency and Technique Improvement
00:17:18
Speaker
feel like when I first started, I was just so excited to have something come out of the kiln and not break. And I was like, wow, this is so exciting. But, you know, you get better, you get better at throwing, you better at glazing, get better at the whole like drying process. And so I have.
00:17:34
Speaker
Definitely been able to push myself in terms of like creating new shapes on the wheel different shaped vessels different shaped cups exploring like pushing things into the surface and also like As you move into if you want to do like production pottery and sell your work like wholesale You have to start thinking about practical things to like, okay, maybe I'm using too much clay for this cup How can I throw this more? economically, you know and see also how to save yourself time so all of that is
00:18:04
Speaker
experience has really all come together to help me evolve in the process and also become like greater at problem solving when something comes up. Definitely. So you mentioned making things easier for yourself to save yourself time. What is something you do to make part or ease yourself and save yourself time? Okay. So to make things easy for myself,
00:18:28
Speaker
I think about right now i'm really thinking about the shapes that i'm making and how i'm using the clay to minimize trimming. So if i'm making a bowl you know trimming you have to let it dry to a specific you know consistency of leather hard and then it's like really easy to cut through the bottom of your bowl and you just wasted all that time, you know, making that piece.
00:18:50
Speaker
So I've started throwing more economically where every decision that I'm making, I'm like, okay, the bottom is finished as soon as I start pulling the walls up on the bowl. Okay, there's nothing else to trim off the bottom of this vase. So while I still have that wet piece on the wheel, I'll start trimming like the bottom foot area while it's still really wet because it's gonna save me time instead of having to flip it over and then trim the sides down to complete a very smooth transition. You know, all of those things,
00:19:20
Speaker
add up and they really, really help. Definitely great. Shaping Nation, it's those small little actions that you are doing that add up that will either make making pottery easier and help you find your voice. It's those small little things that you add up and it'll just keep on stacking on one another. I love that so much. So what would you say was your biggest struggle when it came to finding your own voice? My biggest struggle was
00:19:47
Speaker
It started out not knowing what was possible. So if I didn't know what you could do with clay, I didn't know what the differences were with clay and the different glazes and the different firing techniques. So I got lots of books and was reading about like how people fire different ways and how people make it different ways. So that was my biggest struggle. And then once I had that sort of library of information in my mind, I was able to pull the techniques.
00:20:16
Speaker
and pull the processes that I'm like, okay, this is going to help me make the thing that I'm imagining in my mind. Definitely agree. So you contribute your growth as an artist to exposing yourself to more art and studying about the history of ceramics.
Pottery's Historical Context
00:20:31
Speaker
How has this helped you with your growth? Well, I really believe that professional and student potters are in a long line of just humans that have made with clay. It's one of our first materials that like,
00:20:45
Speaker
We connected to, to like store food, to perform religious rights, you know, to advance, they're saying that storage, storage of food, like advanced society. Cause then we were able to establish agriculture, which like created like just advanced like humanity. So I feel really connected to that with clay.
00:21:04
Speaker
And so I like to read about like, okay, what are these ancient materials? We're using like the earth itself. So I can't separate the history of the material from what I'm doing today. I think that people that are working now, if we look at the history of ceramics, it really informs us of where we've been, not only as artists, but also as human beings on the planet. And contemporary ceramicists and potters get to decide where we're going in the future.
00:21:34
Speaker
So it's a part of getting to know your artistic family tree. And the more you know about it, the more you're going to know about yourself. I love that. That was really great. So as we're coming to a close here, what is one thing you want to hammer home with my audience today? Well, I
Joy and Expression in Pottery Making
00:21:52
Speaker
think as you're moving forward in your process and making your work, just
00:21:58
Speaker
still have fun. We can be very frustrated in the ceramics studio, but the reason that we're doing it is because number one, we have something to say. We're using clay to do that. And number two, there's a joy in making with clay. And so just lean into that joy, let all the other stuff go because we can get really distracted. And it's part of your, it's part of the wonderful thing about being a human being is that we get to express ourselves artistically. So that's what you can do in clay.
00:22:28
Speaker
I absolutely agree. Angel, it was so great chatting with you today. Where can my artist go and learn more about you? Well, I have an
Connect with Angel Olosov
00:22:35
Speaker
Instagram, Angel underscore Olashove on Instagram, my website, angelolashove.com. And that's where you can find me on the internet. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of shaping your pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to discover how close you are to actually discovering your own unique voice with your pottery, I put together a free
00:23:10
Speaker
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys next time.