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Reignite Your Passion for Pottery
176 Plays5 months ago
In this episode, Nic Torres addresses the common issue of losing the spark for pottery or art over time. He explores why we initially fall in love with pottery, the challenges we face, and how repetitive tasks can lead to boredom and loss of joy. Nic shares personal experiences and insights from an interview with pottery teacher 'Supporters Farts Sparks,' emphasizing the importance of finding what truly brings joy. He discusses strategies such as changing methods, like switching from wheel throwing to sculpting, and focusing on new aspects such as teaching. The episode encourages listeners to break monotony, continuously grow, experiment, and rediscover their passion for pottery.
The Questions we ask will determine how our pottery will look like that's why I created a Free 15 questions to help you discover your voice template go grab it here www.shapingyourpottery.com/questions
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Transcript
The Lost Spark in Pottery
00:00:00
Speaker
We all got into pottery because we enjoyed it, but sometimes along the way we lose that spark of pottery or making art. But what do you do about it? What is up ShapeNation, this is Nick Torres here, and in this episode I'm going to be talking about how to bring back that spark for pottery, or bring back that spark for art. You see, we all got into pottery for one reason, because it brought us
Finding Joy in Pottery's Origins
00:00:23
Speaker
joy. We tried it out, maybe to a class, maybe it was from high school, college, or maybe it took us a ah separate community studio class. And we took that class when we we and really enjoyed it. And along the way, sometimes it wasn't all that easy, it especially for learning the wheel. It was all that easy. We made a lot of mistakes, i ah things broke a lot, something went wrong in the kiln, and everything kind of was that big journey. But along the way, we still enjoyed the process.
00:00:52
Speaker
But sometimes along that process, that journey, we end up losing that spark, that we're losing that joy because we keep doing the same things over and over again. Or we think we have to go with the mold of what everybody else is doing. Maybe like, for example, for myself, I learned how to throw on the wheel when I was in high
Breaking Pottery Misconceptions
00:01:12
Speaker
school. And I thought because I was a wheel thrower that I thought that I was better than everybody else. And I thought that everybody had to be throwing on the wheel if they wanted to be a true potter, right? And I thought that for the longest time, for like two plus years. And it wasn't until I started the podcast to where I started getting new ideas, new ideas to express the way I want to make my own pottery.
00:01:33
Speaker
And, but that was just me going with the mold for the longest time. I was kind of going through the motions a lot of it. I was just kind of everything, everything I felt like I was making didn't feel like it was truly, I was truly excited about making it. Like I would, I would make part, I would make time to throw in the wheel, but that was only because I didn't want to lose my skills. And so I would try to make time once a week to just throw on the wheel, but I wasn't necessarily truly enjoying what I was making. But how do you bring back that spark into what
Teaching Pottery vs. Selling
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Speaker
you made? Because we got into party because it brought us joy. So you see, a little while ago, I got to interview Sepora Sparks. Sparks. I hope I said that right. But Sepora, one of the things that Sepora noticed was that.
00:02:17
Speaker
she finds joy in teaching pottery. Not necessarily finishing the pottery or selling the pottery, she finds joy in teaching it. And that's why she made a huge shift in her pottery and her business and everything, where she spent like 99% or like 95% of her time teaching pottery and she does lots of virtual workshops. She has like a few a month and she does all these different things because teaching is what brings her joy. Not necessarily finishing the pot, not necessarily selling the pot either. And she finds so much joy in teaching that she spends most of her time in teaching. And that is OK. You don't have to finish your pottery. You don't have to finish anything in pottery if it's not bringing you joy. If it's not bringing you, if you don't have that spark or if you're just going through the motions,
00:03:05
Speaker
You don't have to finish your plots. If you find joy in teaching, go do that. But how do you find that spark? How do you know when you have found it?
Changing Techniques for Creativity
00:03:16
Speaker
So you see, for me personally, I found that spark by simply changing up what I was doing. You know, for the longest time, I was doing wheel throwing, as I mentioned earlier, I was doing wheel throwing, lots of wheel throwing stuff. And then I changed it up. I decided to start sculpting. And that right there, changing it up, doing something completely different, is how you can start finding your spark a little bit and you start heading in the right direction. to pot You know, you may be feeling like going and through the motions of how I was.
00:03:44
Speaker
And that's OK. We all go through the motions sometimes. But if you stay there for too long, then it becomes a burden to actually make the pottery and then you don't want to make it. And then that's when things are going downhill and you lose that spark for good. And we don't I don't want that. One of the reasons why I want you to find your own voice so bad is because to keep that spark for pottery. I don't want you to lose it. I don't want you to to feel like pottery is a burden or making art is a burden. which I find your voice is so important because when you find your voice, you know what you want to make and it makes you excited to make it. So the first way is to just change things up like how I did. So I used to throw on the wheel a lot, but now I focus mainly on sculpture work. And even now I'm still also I'm also leaning into the teaching part of it because I thought it was very fun doing a virtual workshop with a guest guest artist. I thought that was very fun. I did my first one.
00:04:39
Speaker
but about um maybe a month ago, a little over a month ago, and it was super fun. So now I'm trying to do more of those because that's what brings me joy. So focus on things that bring you joy.
Breaking Routine to Reignite Passion
00:04:50
Speaker
And you don't have to fit the mold, whatever, wherever you find joy in, do that. Maybe you are somebody that also enjoys teaching. If you enjoy teaching more than you rather than finishing the work, go pursue that that destination. If you are somebody that's wheel throwing and maybe you want to do hand building, go pursue that, because the biggest thing that determines or that breaks us from finding our voice, from breaks us from finding our spark or having that spark is boredom.
00:05:22
Speaker
You know, and boredom comes from doing the same things over and over and over again. For example, maybe you have been in a long term relationship, like maybe like a few years, like 10 plus years, five, even five years. And during that relationship, you start seeing patterns maybe with your partner. And these patterns happen all the time and boredom starts to kick in. And then that's when things kind of start going downhill. Right. Boredom is what kills everything in late ships or pottery. Whatever for boredom is that one thing that just kills everything. So in order to prevent boredom and to keep that spark alive, to bring that spark back, especially because you got to change things up, learn new things and always have a growth mindset.
Bringing Creative Ideas to Life
00:06:08
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If you always are trying to improve your pottery, then
00:06:13
Speaker
having that joy of a pottery is essential because like once you find that thing, let's picture this, you are making pottery and you've had this idea for a while and you keep trying to prove it over and over and over again and maybe took about a month to improve it. And finally, you open the kiln and one day, boom. Everything just kind of clicks. Everything just felt so good because your idea actually came to life and literally came out exactly how you pictured it. That's the moment you know that your spark has been found or your spark has been rejuvenated or you were continuing to go in the right direction.
00:06:49
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So if you are feeling that you've been going through the motions lately with your pottery, try changing things up. Go grow some more. Keep experimenting. Keep playing and keep practicing. Keep getting better.
Finding Your Unique Pottery Voice
00:07:00
Speaker
I hope this you hope guys enjoy this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to start discovering your own unique voice, you must first start with the right questions. That's why I put together a free 15 question booklet for you to start discovering your own unique pottery voice. All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash questions to get this free booklet.