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#182 Embracing Wabi-Sabi in Ceramic Art w/ Emily Adams
46 Plays3 years ago
What is up Shaping Nation Discover the secrets of successful pottery making with our talented guest, Emily Adams, a captivating artist known for infusing her work with emotion and faces. Listen closely as she unveils her inspiring journey from childhood memories of playing with clay to building a thriving pottery community studio, Round Rock Community Clay.
Emily generously shares her techniques for adding emotion to her pottery sculptures and how her current state of mind influences her artistic expressions. Her practical advice on incorporating emotion into your own work and embracing the concept of wabi-sabi will leave you inspired to explore the world of pottery and find your unique voice. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from Emily's invaluable insights on trusting the process, not selling yourself short, and finding your own market for achieving success in pottery. You can learn more about Emily by checking out her instagram @nobrainerpottery
(0:00:01) - Success in Pottery With Emily Adams (10 Minutes)
I had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Adams, a pottery artist who creates incredible pieces that incorporate emotion and faces. Emily shared how she makes her ogre mugs and face pottery, why it's important to not sell yourself short, and how to practice Wabi Sabi to help you grow as an artist. We also discussed the importance of trusting the process and finding your own market, as well as the story of how Emily first got started with ceramics. Finally, Emily shared why she started Round Rock Community Clay and her vision for building a community of pottery lovers.
(0:10:13) - Adding Emotion to Pottery Sculptures (5 Minutes)
I talk to Emily Adams, a pottery artist who creates amazing pieces with emotion and faces. Emily explains how she uses her current state of mind to express emotion in her pottery, from making eyes and hands to sculptures, planters and even ogres! She also provides advice for anyone wanting to add emotion to their own work and how to start with the basics of facial features and body features. Emily's tips for finding the right moisture level, flipping and scoring effectively, and being mindful of thickness levels are invaluable for any aspiring pottery artist.
(0:15:01) - Finding Your Pottery Voice (7 Minutes)
Emily Adams, a pottery artist who creates remarkable pieces that feature emotion and faces, shared her experience with finding her own voice and how she uses her current state of mind to express her artistic ideas. We discussed the importance of practicing and learning more to contribute to your own growth as an artist, as well as the concept of wabi-sabi and being happy with whatever results you get. Emily gave some advice to anyone looking to find their own unique voice with their product and encouraged them to practice, work with the market, and be in love with what they create.
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
Follow me on Instagram @nictorres_pottery
Join the 3 Day Find Your Pottery Voice Workshop on June 12th - June 14th by clicking here shapingyourpottery.com/3dayworkshop
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Transcript
Introduction to Shaping Your Pottery
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, real quick before we get started, if you would like to find your own theme for your pottery so your voice really stands out and you're not getting bored with making the same thing over and over again, I put together 53 themes for you guys and it's completely free. All you have to do to get it is just go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash 53 themes. That's shapingyourpottery.com forward slash 53 themes. I'll see you guys in there.
00:00:31
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.
Interview with Emily Adams: Expressive Pottery
00:00:43
Speaker
What is up, Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here. And on this episode of Shaping Your Pottery, I got to interview Emily Adams.
00:00:49
Speaker
Emily makes really incredible pottery that she incorporates faces and emotion into it. Emily also has her own pottery community studio in Round Rock, Texas. In this episode, you will learn how Emily makes her ogre mugs and her face pottery and how she incorporates emotion into there. You'll also learn about why you shouldn't sell yourself short.
00:01:15
Speaker
And finally, you're going to be learning about practicing wabi-sabi to help you grow as an artist. I'll see you guys in there. Emily, welcome to Shaping Your Pottery. And share with me, what is something you believe potters should be doing to have success in pottery? So I think there's a lot of things that you can do to have success in pottery practice above all else. I think it's important just to get it in your hands and just do it every day.
00:01:44
Speaker
Don't sell yourself short. I did that a lot in the beginning. Never sell yourself short. And always value your work high. Your work and your time high. Another main one would be trust the process. Because a lot of things go wrong a lot of times. And you're just like, this can't be the process. This can't be the process. But you've got to have some faith in the process. And success. I mean, it could be both money and personal.
00:02:13
Speaker
That's what you're saying, right? Yeah. So I think anyways, to just like find your own market, the markets that honor your style and your personality and the people that you want to sell to or think that you can sell to, right? So yeah, those are some of my top ones that I put together. So you mentioned selling yourself short. Can you explain that to me a little further? I guess undervalue, maybe our time and our effort.
00:02:43
Speaker
a lot in pottery. It's very intimidating when you get into trying to sell professionally. You can be very intimidated by a lot of the things. So I think just value yourself high, right? So yeah, that's that one.
Emily's Pottery Journey and Studio Creation
00:03:01
Speaker
Definitely great. So can you tell me the story how you got started with ceramics? Ceramics.
00:03:06
Speaker
What I've always loved about it is that it's the one thing that you always remember from grade school. I know nowadays, a lot of programs have full-on ceramics. A lot of schools have full-on ceramics programs, right? But when I was growing up, it was, you get two weeks to play with it and it's all hand-building. But I love that, starting my studio, the people that have come in, the thread through all of them is I always remember that one time in whatever school it was,
00:03:36
Speaker
that I played with it and I loved it. So I think everybody has those moments with play, whether it's bringing you back to Play-Doh or just those moments in grade school. But for me personally, it was there's a paint your own pottery studio here in town. An old hippie lady named Carolyn Cowan ran it for 20 something years. And I had my kids, they were young and I was just looking for something to do with them. And I brought them in and she was actually playing. She didn't usually do pottery in the studio, but
00:04:06
Speaker
It's just paint your own pottery, right? You pick it off the wall and you paint it, is what her business was. But she was actually playing with mud when I walked in. And I was like, I want to do that. I don't want to do that. Can I play with that with you? And she's like, yeah, let's go. And I let my kids paint the stuff that they were going to paint. And I played with clay the whole time. And she sent me home with the bag of clay. And she let me come back and fire my stuff there. And yeah, that's where the bug got me. Thank you, Carolyn Cowan. Sub ceramic lodge here and here.
00:04:34
Speaker
Round Rock, they're still open. She, she just recently retired from the place. So, but yeah, I always tell my, my crazy old hippie weighty story. Some people ask me how I got back into it. I love that so much. So tell me the story about why you started Round Rock Community Clay. It had been in my mind for many years. I had worked in and out of different membership based style studios. When I moved to Brooklyn for a hot minute, I worked out a Greenwich House pottery there.
00:05:03
Speaker
And they're all kind of community-based, teaching their education slash membership I see, right? And I just love the setup and really the community, which is why I named my plays, Scrammed About Community Playing, because I loved that it built a community of people that love to just come together and play in their minds, right? But I've been kind of just taking up the idea for a long time, and then the City of Round Rock had a
00:05:29
Speaker
competition to where you could, if you made a business plan and submitted a nice business plan, you could win $15,000 for your startup. I was like, well, if that's not motivation enough, I don't know what is. So there's some free mentorship programs here and now. And then I got some business mentoring because I am all right brain and all arts and I have no, I, you know, I was like, where do I even start? I had run my small pottery business for years and a face painting business. So.
00:05:55
Speaker
I kind of knew small businesses, but this was like taking a huge leap, right? The brick and mortar place. So I think just the stars aligned in a couple of weeks. Honestly, I started, I put that it, I put that whole proposal together and I committed it and I didn't win, but it got me on the road to talking with the right people that were in my life at the right time to get a small business loan from.
00:06:21
Speaker
The location that I found was perfect. It's actually right next to the actual round draw office. So my city is named after, there's like a creek. This is, you were seeing kind of some of the nice light in my entire studio. It's nothing but windows and the fact that the waterfall, it was just timing, right? It was timing in a landlord. That was what me sign at least without a co-signer. And there was just a lot of stars that aligned within two weeks. And I was like, all right, I'm doing it. Just all my money. There you go. There you go. I love that.
00:06:51
Speaker
I love that. So Katie, tell me what were some of your struggles you faced when you were first opening this?
Challenges of Opening a Pottery Studio
00:06:57
Speaker
Oh God, it was all struggles. I don't know. It's just everything. Learning all the business stuff, business insurance, and learning how to read a business commercial real estate lease and figuring out what you're responsible in a commercial space. I'm everything. I'm a one moment show here. I have no thoughts to help me with anything. It's just me.
00:07:21
Speaker
everything's on my shoulders and it was my responsibility to learn everything. So I'd like to just answer that question honestly, just like everything was hard. I think the hardest part is not being able to work on my own pottery, really. I mean, other than the stress of having a huge leaf hanging over your head. But yeah, I miss my pottery. I haven't been able to spend as much time on my pottery. So I think that's been the hardest time.
Sculpted Vessels: Techniques and Emotion
00:07:47
Speaker
So since opening this, how would you say this has helped you with your own potter? I know you mentioned that it's hard to make your own potter. Yeah, that was number four, right? That's the number four question. I put a question mark that I was like, it hasn't so far. I guess it's helped me get a larger audience. People I've had over a thousand people in seven months in this business. So walk through and just say, do you see my work when they walk in and they see it? And I'm like, yep, that's my weird stuff over there. And everybody
00:08:17
Speaker
So I don't know, I'm getting more eyes on my own foot tower. Yeah. Bouncing ideas off of everybody because it's a community space. This is actually the office that I intended to move into. And I was never in here because of the whole reason why I started the places. I wanted to be out there. So I ended up running this plate, this little room out, just a plant potter, a plant pop up people and they buy pots from me for planters. And it's just a small woman knows.
00:08:43
Speaker
business. So I'm just able to like it's a beautiful, it's nothing but windows, looks out at a waterfall, but I just want to be out there with everybody else. So yeah, yeah. So let's talk about your pottery. In one sentence, can you tell me what you make? I focus on sculpted vessels, whether they're musk or planters, they're both wheel thrown and hand sculpted. So sculptural, functional pottery.
00:09:12
Speaker
Can you tell me the story how you started making this sculptural functional pottery? So I was always drawn to the human form, faces, body parts, mainly just faces. So that was one of the first couple of things I sculpted with Carolyn. It was just some faces that I was like, Hey, what can I turn this into? And I turned it into planters. I was doing these wall hanging planter facing and that evolved to the face mug.
00:09:42
Speaker
And I just focus on the face mugs mainly right now, but it's still fun to do the pointers and miss them. So something I found interesting from your website is you said, I make pieces that are meant to evoke emotion, spark conversation, hopefully make someone crack a smile. Can you explain this to me some more? Yeah, my, a lot of my faces are whimsical or they're very exaggerated facial expressions. And generally it's how I'm feeling that day as well. So there's a lot of grumpy ones in there, but I.
00:10:11
Speaker
like that, well, first of all, I hate sculpting eyes because they just came in the butt and if they're not perfect, they don't look great. So I would always stop at the eyes. So most of it would be from here down and it lined up perfectly for the face like when you're drinking out of the mug, right? So I like that they invoked emotion from people. They became part of the pottery, if that makes any sense at all, is that they were able to interact
00:10:41
Speaker
with it is what I enjoy about the face mugs, at least. And then, yeah, the plantives were, I guess, the same way. Like, they're very exaggerated, facial expressions and stuff. So, yeah, I hope people get a crack out of at least my ogres, like, you know, a good reaction from all the ogres and stuff that I do.
00:11:02
Speaker
I definitely, definitely feel you on the eyes. Cause what I'm currently doing with my work is literally has to do like with characters and like I make eyes and the eyes are one of the worst things to make. Cause I always mess them up. I hate them so much. Eyes and hands. And hands too. I have a lady that started making pots. She's one of my new members, but she just makes little legs hanging off of all of her little pots. And it's just the funniest little thing. Cause it looks like the little legs want to run away everywhere.
00:11:30
Speaker
Firing has been interesting though because they definitely don't stand out. Yeah, I bet. So what advice would you give to someone who wants to try putting more emotion into their own work?
Infusing Pottery with Emotion and Expression
00:11:42
Speaker
Just like I was saying, I take all mine from my current state of mind, really. And it's not that I'm a grumpy person. I just think that sometimes the grumpy state of mind evokes more reactions and happiness that makes
00:11:59
Speaker
So yeah, just draw from your own state of mind, your own, you know, and let that be a tool to express, come across through your pot, whether it's sculpting or just painting or, you know, just carving or something like you can evoke, you can put that emotion into anything. It doesn't have to be literally a smile or literally a frown, right? You can use happy colors or sad colors or everything in between.
00:12:28
Speaker
Definitely great shaping nation if you are feeling a certain way throughout the day Maybe you are a little bit angry a little bit frustrated try putting those feelings Into your own pottery and see where that takes your pottery. I love that so much I think that's a really really great way to help people Make pottery to their own Absolutely and pottery is very therapeutic if that's the one common I get from people that come in I've never done it before if this is so there is
00:12:54
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, it really is. It forces you to be off your phone most of the time, you know, it forces you to interact with somebody, meaning the person is trying to show you how to do it on the wheel, right? I don't know. It is a very therapeutic process. So definitely draw from those emotions. Definitely agree. Definitely 100%.
Creating Ogre Mugs: A Detailed Process
00:13:15
Speaker
So can you give me a simplified explanation on how you create your ogre mugs?
00:13:21
Speaker
Simplified, I will throw the body of the mud. I do the trimming, start the trimming process on them, get them trimmed up. I usually
00:13:31
Speaker
I'll usually do the sculpting first. So I'm an additive sculptor. I know some people do sculpting on their mugs by just when they're super wet, pushing from the inside out type thing, which I've played with trying before. But I'm just too rough with things. I push my finger right through the wall. I have no patience to gently sculpt things from the inside out. So I'm an additive sculptor. I'll add the sculpture onto the pot.
00:13:56
Speaker
And then I'll hopefully get the handle on there before it's too dry. It's always, you know, always a battle with moisture level. So that's been the real trick is finding the right moisture level and keep it at that and then slowly dry it because the bases like to pop off and have a nice little graveyard of popped off noses and chins. So yeah. And then I will sculpt away and then I will take, I will be, be bulk it from the inside too. Cause they're awfully heavy if you leave all that clay on there. So.
00:14:25
Speaker
nice and hard away from the inside of the bowl. So what advice would you give to someone trying to start adding like facial features or body features in general? I just say start with a big shape. Like a nose is a triangle, right? Get a triangle clay. The lips is just two tubes of clay. Start with the biggest shapes. The base is, you know, base shape them out. Make sure you're flipping and scoring very well. Or else you'll have those noses popping off.
00:14:55
Speaker
and then just watch out on your sickness level. Yeah. Perfect. Excellent piece of advice. So let's talk about finding your own voice. Can you tell me about the moment when you either found your voice or you knew you were heading in the right direction? No, this is one of those questions. I feel like do we ever really find our voice? I feel like there are some people, there are some people that really do stick to just one thing, but I'll be damned if I'm a Gemini and I can't stick to it.
00:15:22
Speaker
Here we go with the cussing. I can't do it. I literally I'm always wanting to try something new. So a voice I like to say I finally got to a happy place with me with my faces in the sculpting when things started not cracking and not breaking off and actually surviving and fully realizing those visions that I had for them.
00:15:44
Speaker
I found a happy place when I started not effing those up. Yes, for sure. But finding my voice as an artist, I don't know if that's something that ever truly happens. We're always in pottery. We're always looking for that next thing to play with, another tool that comes in, another collar that we've discovered. There's always that next thing to play with in pottery, and that's what I truly, truly enjoy about pottery.
00:16:12
Speaker
I'm in a happy place with my faces. I definitely agree 100%. So Shaping Nation, your pottery should always be evolving and it should always almost be pretty much changing all the time because you should be trying new things to expand your voice even further. I love that so much.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah, but also I'm happy and totally happy with the people that really take a half of that one thing and they stick with it their whole life. So like, that's totally fine. Don't get me wrong. I'm not fascinating. Yeah, absolutely. Truly found their voice. The people that have done their full page artist statements. I'm still at a half a page artist statement. Absolutely. If you like what you're doing, stick to what you're doing. Don't listen to anybody else. Love that so much. Yeah.
00:16:55
Speaker
So you contribute your growth as an artist by practicing wabi-sabi. Can you explain this to me? And how has this helped you with growing as an artist?
Embracing Imperfections: The Wabi-Sabi Philosophy
00:17:05
Speaker
So the wabi-sabi is just like the art of being happy. I feel like the art of being happy with what has become of whatever you've made. Just finding a place to stop, which we as potters have a very hard time doing, like all my students are famous. Last words are just one last thing. One last thing.
00:17:25
Speaker
But sculpting in general and the human form in general, I think I'm so drawn to because nobody is perfect. Nobody's symmetrical. Nobody has the same thing, same bump, same anything. You can put a bump here and a scratch there and a weird looking eye there and a flared nostril there. It's part of the human process, the human body, right? So I guess the Robbie-Sobby kind of just falls in with like, oh, yeah, that would
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah, somebody would be making that face. Somebody would look like that somewhere. So that's, yeah, being happy. Like, I like what to do half the time, right? That's how I always start. No idea of what I'm hoping, but I let, if I accidentally push the clay this way, I'm like, oh, well, maybe he's in a kind of interested face instead of an angry face. You know, like, that's what I love about it. You just kind of got to go with the flow and be happy with what
00:18:23
Speaker
what outcome you get, whether it's the crappy one, which happens sometimes too. Absolutely agree. Shaping Nation, it's important to go with the flow and also be happy with whatever results come out because you don't know how it will come out sometimes, but you have to be grateful for those moments because that's where you're truly going to start growing.
Developing a Unique Voice in Pottery
00:18:40
Speaker
I love that so much. So as we are coming to a close here, what advice would you give to someone trying to find their own unique voice with their product?
00:18:49
Speaker
put a big old arrow right back up to the first question to practice. Practice. Get yourself some clay every day, even if it's not like the full-on step step. You don't have to set up practice or research or learn.
00:19:04
Speaker
You don't even necessarily have to get your hands dirty by picking up an old pottery magazine. Or I just recently went to my library and cleared out because we just opened a brand new library. I'm pouring all the books in the next two weeks on pottery and doing some more research. And I feel like we never, we don't know everything. Pottery's been around for so long. You think it's a new idea. But don't sell yourself your price. You're working your time appropriately.
00:19:31
Speaker
Especially with the rising cost of everything. That's the process. Let it go. A lot of my classes, I might just let that shit go. Let it go. If it's not something you love, you don't want to look at it for the next 20 years of your life. If you don't want to sell it to somebody, smash it. Learn from it. Start again. OK? The process. Go do 100 of them and then come back. Work with the market. Find your own market. Just be happy and be in love with what you're creating. We all don't have good days with pottery, but
00:20:01
Speaker
and it makes it really worth it. So yeah. Definitely agree. Emily, it was so great chatting with you today. Where can my artists go and learn more about you?
Connect with Emily: Social Media and More
00:20:12
Speaker
Thanks. I'm at No Brainer Pottery on Instagram, nobrainerpottery.com. That's my personal pottery and then I'm at Round Rock Community Clay. This is my new adventure here in Round Rock, Texas and this is roundrockcommunityclay.com and the same at on Instagram.
00:20:28
Speaker
Hey thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Many of you are here listening to this podcast because you want to be able to discover your own unique voice with your pottery.
00:20:40
Speaker
And that's why I am hosting a three-day online workshop for potters who throw on the wheel and are looking to discover their own unique voice with your pottery. Day one, we will talk about overcoming imposter syndrome. Day two, we will talk about how to find your unique pottery voice. And finally, day three, you will learn how to make that vision come to life.
00:21:08
Speaker
The pottery workshop starts on June 12th and ends on June 14th. It costs $50 and there are limited seats available. So if you would like to be a part of this workshop and learn from other potters and learn how to find your own unique voice with your pottery, then go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash three day workshop to reserve your spot. Again, there are limited seats available so you have to act quick on this.
00:21:36
Speaker
I hope to see you guys there and I hope you guys enjoy this episode.