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#329 My 5 Biggest Lessons I have learned From Interviewing over 75 Potters
45 Plays2 years ago
In this insightful episode, potter Nic Torres shares the top five lessons he's learned from interviewing over 75 potters to help listeners elevate their pottery practice. He emphasizes the importance of breaking out of comfort zones, embracing community, experimenting with unique ideas, and the value of play in fostering artistic growth. By sharing these key insights and personal experiences, Torres aims to inspire potters to develop a unique voice and achieve artistic excellence in their craft.
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Transcript
Introduction to Lessons Learned
00:00:00
Speaker
Here are my five biggest lessons I have learned from interviewing over 75 different potters. What is up, shaping nation? This is Nick Torres here, and I'm going to run through you my five best lessons I have learned that have helped me with my pottery, and hopefully they can help you with your own pottery as well. So number one, here we go, is don't get stuck in a bubble. For the longest time, I thought that I had to be only focusing on making wheel throwing.
00:00:29
Speaker
And so every single week or every single day, I was throwing on the wheel and I'm storing on the wheel, but I was just kind of going through the motions, but I still kept at it. I kept going and making on the wheel because I thought this was direction I had to go with my pottery. But it wasn't until after interviewing a bunch of different partners, a bunch of different techniques that I learned that I was stuck in a bubble with my pottery. I was stuck in a bubble.
00:00:54
Speaker
and I needed to go with different directions with my
Embracing Diverse Techniques
00:00:58
Speaker
pottery. So that's when I started experimenting more with pottery and I started doing different things. And I started learning more about different techniques. And once I started learning more about different techniques, I left my bubble that I was in and I started expanding my bubble outward to create new things. And that's why I wanna say that the first lesson I learned, and this is probably the biggest one, is don't get stuck in a bubble.
00:01:24
Speaker
Learn from other potters, go do other things. If you are excited about something, do it. Because if you get stuck in that bubble of only making one thing or one technique, your pottery becomes just like everybody else's, and that's not what we want. So a podcast to help you discover your own unique voice, so don't get stuck in a bubble. So that is my first lesson that I have learned.
Community and Growth
00:01:47
Speaker
The second lesson that I learned is that the fastest way to grow as a potter is to be a brown to other potters.
00:01:54
Speaker
I wouldn't have been able to grow so much and be able to find my own unique pottery voice if I didn't interview all these different potters. If I would have just stuck, say it in my own bubble, I wouldn't have learned as much. I wouldn't have been able to learn as much either because it just wouldn't have been right. And because I get to talk to potters, I around potters every single week, every single day, and I'm talking to potters all the time.
00:02:21
Speaker
And because I'm around them, my pottery skills grew so fast and rapidly because I was around these people and I got new ideas pretty much every single time or almost every single time I've interviewed a new potter. So now those are the first two. So number one is don't get stuck in your bubble. Number two is the fastest way to grow is to be around other potters.
Embracing Discomfort for Creativity
00:02:44
Speaker
Number three is get uncomfortable with your pottery. Do that uncomfortable thing, that thing that you think may not work, but do it anyways.
00:02:53
Speaker
Because the more uncomfortable we get with our pottery, that's how our pottery grows. That's how we find our pottery voice. That's how doing these things will actually help you become a better potter. It'll help you be able to sell your pottery. It'll help you create a business. It'll help you create a brand or community simply by getting uncomfortable. If you don't, maybe you are somebody right now that is trying to focus more on social media.
00:03:15
Speaker
Go focus more on social media. Get uncomfortable. Go do those lives. Go do things that want to help you build your own pottery. Maybe you're trying a new technique with your pottery. Maybe you want to try sculpting. Go do that. Get uncomfortable because these uncomfortable lessons that you learn from this, that's where you are going to grow the most by getting uncomfortable.
00:03:39
Speaker
So those are the first three so far. So number one, don't get stuck in your bubble. Number two, fast way to grow is to be around other powders. Number three is to get uncomfortable.
Experimentation and Play
00:03:47
Speaker
So the fourth lesson that I have learned from all these different powders I've interviewed is to simply do the wacky ideas that come to your mind. Why do I think that this is such a big lesson?
00:04:01
Speaker
Because if you are only doing the same thing over and over again, and let's say you have a really wacky idea, like you want to create a totem pole of poverty that you still want to be able to drink out of, that is such a wacky idea. But imagine if you if you did that idea, could you imagine what that could do your own party to your own voice? But now imagine if you didn't do the idea.
00:04:26
Speaker
What would that do to you as a potter? You would still be thinking about the idea all the time. You'd be thinking about the idea all the time and your potter would just start looking like everybody else's because you're too afraid to do that wacky idea. And the more wacky an idea, I promise you, the better it'll probably be. There are some people that make some really incredible things. Like people have made some jars that you could screw on. Like that is such a creative and wacky idea. Like how the heck?
00:04:53
Speaker
do you even make something like that? But they figured it out and they did it and that wacky idea became their voice. And I absolutely love that. So do those wacky ideas. These wacky ideas are really gonna help you grow as a potter.
00:05:07
Speaker
So now the fifth and last tip lesson that I have learned from interviewing over 75 potters is to make time to play. Make time to experiment. This is a big one. We all get stuck and we all get stuck in our daily lives. Maybe you are working outside of pottery right now or maybe you are actually doing a full-time potter role right now.
00:05:29
Speaker
But we get stuck in this thing of like we notice what is working so we keep doing it, but then we keep doing it and we get bored. We get bored of what we're making and that's not what we want.
00:05:40
Speaker
I don't want you to get bored and lose that spark of pottery. Because when you lose that spark of pottery, pottery just becomes very boring. And I don't want you. I don't want that for you. I want you to continue being able to make pottery with a smile on my face and, you know, showing your husband, your mom, your dad, whatever, showing them like, look, I made this thing. Can you believe that? I want you to have that feeling. I still have that feeling today. I literally show my my sister, my mom, even my dad. Sometimes I'll show them, look, I made this thing. This look cool.
00:06:11
Speaker
because I I have that joy for pottery still I don't want you to lose that joy of pottery so that's why you have to make time to play make time to experiment don't get stuck doing the same things over and over and over and over again because if you get stuck in that rut that's when pottery becomes boring and then you're not gonna have that spark anymore so you have to make time for day to play
00:06:36
Speaker
Five minutes is all it takes to help you just to make time to play. That's all it takes.
Recap of Key Lessons
00:06:42
Speaker
and the more time you can play, the better your pottery will turn out. So these are the five lessons I learned. Number one, don't get stuck in a bubble with your pottery. Number two, the fastest way to grow is to be around other potters. Number three, get uncomfortable with your pottery. Number four is to do that wacky idea that comes to your mind because you never know where it might turn out. Number five is you have to make time to play so you can continue having that spark of joy for making pottery.
00:07:10
Speaker
So those are my five biggest lessons I've learned after interviewing over 75 potters. I hope you guys learned something and I hope you guys can apply it to your own pottery as well. And I'll see you guys in the next one.