Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
#166 Creating Quirky Pottery w/ Amanda Fangue
34 Plays3 years ago
What is up Shaping Nation on this epsiode of Shaping Your Pottery I got to interview Amanda Fungue. Amanda is a mom a former Marine and makes really awesome Quirky Pottery. You can learn more about Amanda by checking out her Instagram @beeskneesartbyamanda
Top 3 Value Bombs:
- How To Create Amanda's Quirky Pottery
- Getting outside feedback from family especially your kids
- Creating muscle memory by putting in the reps to help find your voice
and so much more
Reserve Your Spot for the Find Your Pottery Voice Workshop Seats Are Limited to 25 People click here to reserve your spot Reserve Your Spot Here
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
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:01
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.
Guest Introduction: Amanda Fungi
00:00:14
Speaker
What is up, Shaped Nation? This is Nick Torres here. And on this episode of Shaping Your Pottery, I got to interview Amanda Fungi. Amanda makes some really incredible quirky pottery that has some amazing looking eyes
Creating Unique Pottery
00:00:25
Speaker
on them. In this episode, you will learn how Amanda makes her quirky pottery.
00:00:29
Speaker
You'll also learn how Amanda uses her kids to really judge her pottery. Finally, you will learn about building muscle memory for your pottery and making pottery even when you don't feel like it so that your voice can truly come to life. I'll see you guys in there. Amanda, welcome to Shaping Your Pottery and share with me what is something people might not know about you.
00:00:55
Speaker
So something that people might not know about me, I've recently come out as a bug enthusiast.
00:01:04
Speaker
a collection of isopods, which are roly polies, potato bugs, that's what people call them. So I have like 14 different cultures, types of isopods from all over the world, and I have a jumping spider that I caught. And his, his name is Rosie, Rosie Katz, Remi names everything and kind of a really big dork when it comes to like plants and insects and amphibians.
00:01:35
Speaker
So. I love it. That's awesome. I think this is a little bit off topic of what we're actually discussing. But I remember at my mom's house one time, she was going to the bathroom and a spider jumped on her. And I just remember her screaming. And I was like, what is going on? I'm a complete arachnophobe. So I have a little spider minimum on my desk, which I made. And I have the little jumping spider in it. And he lives in there. And it's really helping my phobia.
00:02:05
Speaker
I had to touch him once because he escaped while I was at Nsinka and my kids tried to convince me that he fed them to the frog and he's like I didn't do anything but water and like he told me to and I'm like okay so I was like if he's in one of these plants I'll never see him again and then
00:02:21
Speaker
Like two days later, he's walking across the studio floor and my friend, she found him and I was like, okay, I'm either going to have to pick him up or he's going to hide somewhere and I'll never find him or Louie's going to step on him. So I picked him up with my bare hands and I didn't have a stroke or heart attack. So I think the exposure therapy is working. That's always fun.
Discovering Passion in Germany
00:02:44
Speaker
So tell me the story when you were stationed in Germany and you decided to try pottery. So I was in Germany. I was stationed there. And normally the weekends were and I traveled as much as possible to see everything that it could possibly see. But during the weekdays after work, I'd try to fill things up to occupy my time because when you're there and you have no family, I was living in the barracks. And it's no fun just to sit in your room and look at the bricks.
00:03:13
Speaker
So the Army has really nice outside facilities that allow their service, because I'm a Marine, but I was stationed with the Army, and their bases have a lot more stuff than the Marines. So they have hobby studios, and there was a studio there that was woodworking, framing, and ceramics. And so I was like, well, I'm going to learn how to frame because I'm a printmaker, and I paint. So that would probably be a very useful skill.
00:03:41
Speaker
And then I ended up, well, you know, just doing that. And I'm like, well, I guess I could try ceramics. I hated it in college because I wasn't a real big fan of my professor. I took one intro class. And then, so I kind of did it there while I was, and never, I started doing it and just kind of playing in the studio while I was there and having a good time. And then, and the rest is kind of history.
00:04:07
Speaker
I love that. I love that story. So can you describe to me the moment when you decided to go full time with your problem?
From Contractor to Full-time Potter
00:04:14
Speaker
It really wasn't a moment. It was just like a leading up to it. Cause I was working as a civilian contractor for a special operations command after I had gotten off as active duty from memory core. And I had finished my, my graduate degree and I had a lot of free time and I ended up missing, you know, ceramics. So I had.
00:04:37
Speaker
I was gifted a wheel and then I found a really cheap tarragon kiln on a yard sale. I think that thing was like 40 years old. It was a dinosaur. And so I was doing it kind of as a hobby. And then I met my husband and he was like, well, when we get orders next, he's like, why don't you just stay at home, do your pottery, you know, we'll have kids and
00:05:00
Speaker
You can do all that, you know, cause we were like, okay, it's not really, you know, for me to find a job with a new baby and then having to move every two years or so, it just didn't make sense. So that's when it was just a decision of like, Oh, well I can be a professional artist at something that we can move easy. Little did I know I was going to become a potter, which is one of the hardest mediums to move.
00:05:25
Speaker
It's one of the heaviest mediums to move. It was that. That was the, hey, let's get you a career that you're going to enjoy that's portable, which is not very portable. That's how we decided. In May of 2015, I went from doing it to relax me as a hobby to doing it full-time.
00:05:48
Speaker
What would you say the impact your husband has had just throughout your pottery career? He really facilitates like he doesn't, he's not too involved with any of it. He appreciates art. He understands that it make it. He looks at all the stuff I've accumulated to make set objects, which drives him crazy because he's a minimalist, but he really very much his job and his work.
00:06:14
Speaker
facilitates me being able to be a potter without having to worry about using my income to pay the bills. So my income buys more art supplies, it pays for luxuries and things like that, which is nice because he does work really hard and long hours to have a good lifestyle for us. And it allows me to just kind of be able to enjoy making my art for art's sake and not having to worry about, it's fun money.
00:06:43
Speaker
I love that. That's really amazing.
Learning from Other Artists
00:06:46
Speaker
What would you say was something that helped you with growing as an artist? Buying other artists' work. When I started into pottery, up until I went full-time, I really hadn't collected or bought much work. Then I found the art of trading and buying other potters' work. I think that really helps me a lot because
00:07:09
Speaker
ceramics is such a tactile medium like being able to physically hold and touch and feel and look at other artists work whether it's traded or bought is super important like there's something you can't learn just by looking and seeing pictures but when you physically hold and touch another potter's work and you can kind of like oh see how they did this all that that seam is amazing and things like that so I think
00:07:34
Speaker
Because I have a significant art collection, not just ceramics, but I collect woodcut prints and screen prints because I'm a printer. And then I collect other like mediums like glass and things like that. So just utilizing other people's work, not only supporting other artists financially, but also having that intrinsic value of knowing that another artist is using and appreciating my work at the same time as I use and appreciate their work, which is nice.
00:08:05
Speaker
Definitely great shaping nation. It's important to go, you know support other potters other artists, but go hold their work go see what What your eyes are drawn to so that you can kind of incorporate that into your own work. I love that so much Let's talk about your pottery in one sentence.
Signature Pottery Style
00:08:22
Speaker
Can you tell me what you mean?
00:08:24
Speaker
corky, funny pieces of work, I guess, or bubble mugs. I don't know. It's hard to describe my own work, but I would say probably corky colosse would be it. I love that. So tell me the story, how you started making your corky pot. So, in 2019, in the Minneapolis in Sinka, Shimpo Nydek had an open call for ramen bowls.
00:08:53
Speaker
And I wanted to enter it and try to get juried in. And so Kate Schrader had done an interview or a video on how she had made windows in her mugs. And so I took her innie and turned it into an outie. And then I had been making goofy little birds and things like that and fish. And then I was like, I'm going to make this bowl into a goldfish.
00:09:17
Speaker
And so it started out with a goldfish and then it went to an astronaut and I ended up getting juried into the show, but they forgot to email me. And I sold the bowl like two days before I got an email saying, Hey, are you bringing your work or are you going to mail it? And I was like,
00:09:35
Speaker
Yes. And then it just kind of like snowballed from there. So I had no idea that like just putting bubbles on my illustrations was going to be like the turning point in my art. And I ended up getting second place in the jury bowl exhibit that they did. And we moved here and I've been making the googly eyes, bubble characters. And I think I have like something like over a hundred different animals that I make in the monsters and things like that.
00:10:06
Speaker
I love that. I love that story so much. It's very interesting. So you are inspired by many things like colors, animals, bugs, and your kids. How does this impact the way you make your pottery? Oh goodness. I think my kids impacts me a lot, not only just by what they like and how they like things and getting excited about things, but also like
00:10:28
Speaker
managing my time and knowing that I have a certain amount of time to create during the day until I have to become a mom. And then it's just a work-life balance of being able to nurture the things that I love and I'm passionate about while still staying passionate about my art. So it's just finding that balance. But my kids really do.
00:10:50
Speaker
just, they're amazing. And Remy, my youngest is kind of my quality control. I'll say, Remy, what's this? And she'll tell me, and if she nails it, I'm like, okay, it's a good representation. I love that way. I love that way of like, getting like, define, defining your work through your children. I love that because like, they, they know what's up. They, they know what's going on. And they, if they can, if they can describe it, then it makes it a lot better. Brutal little people, they will tell you in a heartbeat if it sucks.
00:11:19
Speaker
Or if they don't like it. So, because they have no filter. Yep. Definitely. That's a really great way to like really express your work. I love that. So something I found interesting from your website is you said, my work is not intended to have deep thought or emotion, but rather to provoke a smile and a laugh.
Artistic Transformation
00:11:39
Speaker
Can you explain this to me some more? So like having been a trauma survivor and then having served in the military, I processed a lot of my pain.
00:11:49
Speaker
and my struggles when I first was in college and exploring and starting out on this is what I'm doing as I progress. And so in college, you know, you're given the assignments, but really having that voice to where I was able to put my feelings into my work without being censured because, you know, high school and things like that, people don't really
00:12:13
Speaker
having, well, at least when I was in high school, having very provocative work was not something that was embraced or encouraged. So when I went to college, I was able to really kind of process through all that trauma and then joining the Marine Corps and still processing the trauma.
00:12:29
Speaker
and having to deal with the things that you do in the military because it's a whole different set of coping mechanisms and not being able to really just let yourself feel your pain. Eventually, when I hit my 30s, I really accepted and embraced and forgave the people who either traumatized me or caused trauma in my life.
00:12:54
Speaker
accepted that it was an intrinsic part of me and I wasn't going to allow it to define who I was or who I'm going to be. And so I chose to dwell in the light instead of the dark and really just kind of embrace my happiness and allowing myself to be happy. So that's kind of
00:13:19
Speaker
why I make happy art is not only I feel the joy and happiness when I'm making the art, I want to pass that on to the user. I absolutely love that. Shaping Nation, you can choose to make your pottery look happy and have it be happy for other people. You don't have to make it all dark. Your personality doesn't have to be dark either. You have a choice in this. I love that so much. That is really powerful.
00:13:45
Speaker
So now can you give me a simplified explanation on how you create your quirky pottery?
Intuitive Creative Process
00:13:51
Speaker
There's really no explanation other than like I make the piece and then I look at it and it tells me what it wants to be. Like I'll kind of I start out with the blank piece and then
00:14:04
Speaker
all have an idea and like, oh, maybe this will be, you know, a monkey, but then it turns out to be like a womp or something just totally in the other direction. So for me, I don't dictate what it wants to be. I just let it be. It's, I try not to force anything into a box because I've found that if I force a style or if I try to make something one thing when it wants to be another thing, it's going to be complete crap. So I really don't,
00:14:32
Speaker
dictate to my work what it wants to be. I let the work just be. I know that's probably really weird sounding. I definitely agree with that 100% shapingation. You don't have to force your work to be a certain thing. Just kind of let it grow naturally. I love that. Now, can you explain to me what you use to actually make your designs?
00:14:54
Speaker
I do underglaze. Underglaze is my primary starting point. So I do my illustrations in underglaze. I use commercially made underglaze decals or I make my own decals, but I end up chopping them up to such a point that they become my own work. And then I glaze and then I use overglaze decals, luster, cold finishes, things like that. So it's kind of a mache pause of as much technical
00:15:22
Speaker
aspects of pottery that I can put onto one piece without making it look too crazy. I try to use everything. Love it. That's so amazing. So let's talk about discovering your own voice.
Believing in Artistic Voice
00:15:33
Speaker
What was the biggest struggle when it came to finding your own voice? Believing in myself. Having the confidence to
00:15:41
Speaker
create what I felt in my heart, whether or not it's sold or not, because selling is, you know, learning from a corporate job, you know, you get a paycheck every so many weeks or months, and then you get your performance evaluation. And then going from that type of environment to being a studio artist where I'm in my own private studio, I have
00:16:06
Speaker
no feedback and no input from other artists, but my only feedback is how well my work sells. So when you first start out and you're getting out there, you gauge a lot of your worth based on how well it sells because that is your feedback. If people like it, they buy it. If they don't like it, they don't buy it. Really finding
00:16:32
Speaker
You know, growing up in like really when I was a student in college in the late 90s, early 2000s, the illustrations and the comic type whimsical element was not seen as fine art. It was just not valued as much by my instructors and things like that. So really being able to accept that
00:17:00
Speaker
What I was doing was worthy of being bought and being sold and being created.
00:17:08
Speaker
Then when I hit my stride and I figured out that I really liked illustrating and I really liked making really great pieces of pottery that had form and function and they were crafted extremely well and then putting my silly illustrations on them and realizing that people were responding to those work and that my work was as good as
00:17:32
Speaker
a traditional fine arts, ceramics or artists. So that's kind of how I found my voice is just to kind of let go of my inner doubt and not seek the acceptance of other people and just create what makes me happy. And that's really, I think for most artists is really tough to get to that point.
00:17:53
Speaker
I definitely agree. Shaping Nation, you must believe in your own pottery first to find your voice because that's the most important thing. If you don't believe in your own pottery, then you're not going to really find your own voice. You're just kind of copying somebody else's. You have to believe in yourself. And I love that so much. Can you describe to me the moment when you knew you found your own voice?
00:18:16
Speaker
It was really when I started doing, in 2019, when we moved from Kansas to North Carolina, and I started really making goldfish and then exploring, and it didn't, it flowed. It didn't feel forced. It didn't, you know, people are like, you work so hard, you've done it so much, just be careful of burnout, blah, blah, blah. You've got to take a break. And I've never burnt out.
00:18:41
Speaker
Like the more I create, the more I want to make. And the more I make, the more I want to create. And my problem is I have so many ideas, so much energy that I don't have enough time to make what I want. So for me, creating is a muscle memory. And when you work it out and you do it and you do it all the time, it just becomes effortless. So the moment that I found out that this was my voice,
00:19:06
Speaker
It wasn't, it wasn't work. It wasn't, there was no effort involved. I mean, there's still effort, but like, it didn't feel like I was pushing a rock uphill. It just, it flowed. I definitely agree 100% with that. I love that so much because once you find it, I feel like it is like a flow. It's like you enjoy making it more. I love that so much. Can you tell me what are you doing to evolve your voice even further?
Evolving Through Techniques
00:19:32
Speaker
And so right now I'm really doing a lot of sketching. I'm honing and refining my illustrations, working on my lines and, you know, just the different push and pull and the composition of my work and playing with the colors, the shading and just really exploring
00:19:51
Speaker
each individual piece, but I'm not only doing it in pottery, I'm illustrating it, I'm sketching it, I'm turning it into fiber work, I'm turning it into books. So I'm really just taking what I do, turning 2D back into 3D, 3D back into 2D and having a little bit of an evolution and looking at my work by creating other pieces in other mediums. I'm finding that I'm bringing that skill set
00:20:21
Speaker
and that refinement back into my ceramics. The last almost year has really, I've seen a tremendous growth in my technique and style and just pushing it even further. I love that. I love hearing about evolving your voice further and I love that so much. As we're coming to a close here, what advice would you give to someone trying to discover their own unique voice?
Practicing for Mastery
00:20:48
Speaker
So finding your own voice, like I said, is muscle memory. For me, I get up and I make every day, whether I feel like it or not, whether I'm sad or happy or tired or no matter my mood, I will do something with art every day, whether it's sketching, painting, drawings, pottery, whatever. It's always, for me, I get up and I do the work.
00:21:17
Speaker
and helped me because I think as artists we stand in our own way because we're so dependent on I'm in the mood, I'm not in the mood, I'm feeling the creative spark. But when you create that muffled memory, not only in your brain, but in your hands, in your body, your soul, you can go in and it's like being an athlete. You can go and run a marathon without feeling like you're going to die.
00:21:42
Speaker
So just really doing the work, getting in there and creating every day, whether you feel like it or not has been one of the biggest things for me.
00:21:51
Speaker
100% agree. Shaping Nation, even if you don't feel like making pottery, go out and do it. Go out and practice. Practice as much as you can and focus on making your pottery look better and better each and every single time you're making it. So that way it's not so much of a burden on you. But go out and practice as much as you can. I love that that was your final piece of advice. Amanda, it was really great chatting with you today. Where can my audience go and learn more about you?
00:22:19
Speaker
more involved with Instagram, so at B's Knees Art by Amanda on Instagram. I have my website that I tend to update as I do new product releases, but right now it's just Instagram is big. I'm trying to like branch out and do TikTok and maintain some sort of Facebook presence, but it's just a lot of work. So for me, I'd rather try to focus somewhat on one than many.
00:22:47
Speaker
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 four question quiz. It's very short. It takes 30 seconds for you to take. If you want to know how close you are to finding your own unique voice, go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash quiz, or you could simply go to shapingyourpottery.com and it'll be right there at the top.
00:23:16
Speaker
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys next time.