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Elevating Pottery through a Sculptors’ Perspectives
56 Plays1 year ago
in this episode of 'Shaping Your Pottery,' the host discusses the invaluable insights gained from interviewing sculptors, emphasizing how their unconventional techniques and multidimensional thinking can significantly enhance pottery skills. The host explains the innovative approach sculptors take, such as creating a piece fully before hollowing it out, and their intense focus on form. These unique practices inspire potters to explore new dimensions and layers in their work, ultimately improving their pottery craftsmanship. Additionally, the episode promotes a resource offering 53 themes to help potters establish their own distinctive style.
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
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Transcript
Introduction and Influence of Interviewees
00:00:00
Speaker
What is up Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here and on this episode I'm going to be talking about the type of people that I interview that I tend to learn the most from and that has actually elevated my own pottery as well. So you see I have interviewed hundreds of people at this point and every single time pretty almost every single time I interview this type of person or this person that makes a certain type of pottery.
00:00:28
Speaker
I always learn something new, I always feel like my pottery elevates. And what is that type of person you may ask?
Sculptors' Unique Methods
00:00:35
Speaker
Well, it's a sculptor. Why do I learn the most from sculptors?
00:00:42
Speaker
Well, here is my theory about this. One, it's because sculptors don't tend to do things in a normal pattern, right? So let's say if they are more of a figurative sculptor and they're making maybe a wolf or something.
00:01:01
Speaker
Normally what you would do is you would have the piece already hollowed out. You would have something already hollowed out because you know that if it's too heavy then it's going to be obviously too heavy. But what sculptors tend to do when they're making their figurative work is they'll actually make the entire piece first and then they cut it in half and then they hollowed it out after.
00:01:24
Speaker
And that's not something you normally do, whether you're hand building or you're wheel throwing or something else. That's normally the first step you do, you haul it out and then you can start working on it. But sculptors are the opposite. And that's not the only thing they do, is that sculptors think in different dimensions, typically, especially the ones that have very abstract things. They think in different dimensions of how they can make this pottery look the best it could possibly be.
00:01:51
Speaker
And I think that's what I take away from sculptors is that they think in different dimensions.
Lessons on Form and Dimension
00:01:56
Speaker
And I try to apply that to my own pottery as well.
00:01:59
Speaker
like whether I am just throwing on the wheel or sculpting myself. I feel like if you think in different dimensions, then you can see parts where they can start attaching to your pottery to make it look better. Like maybe you are making this graffiti or you're making a handle that looks like a tentacle, a tentacle from Octopus.
00:02:23
Speaker
and you can start seeing the dimensions where you can place the tentacle onto your handle, onto your mug.
00:02:32
Speaker
and thinking in that different dimension allows you to come up with new ideas, come up with better ideas to make the sculpture look a little bit better. And not only that, sculptors also really focus on form first. They focus on form first because they know that they mess up the form before they even start adding the detail, then everything goes to shit and they have to start over and everything becomes a big headache.
00:02:58
Speaker
So they focus on form a lot, probably more than most other potters, is that they focus on form. And that's why I think I learned so many new things from them is because they think in different dimensions. And we don't, as regular potters that throw on the wheel or hand wheeled, we're not thinking in these dimensions.
00:03:20
Speaker
So if you could get that habit of thinking like, oh, what is another layer I could add to my pot or what is a different dimension I can take my pot to? Maybe I want to curve the the form a little bit or I want to make something a little bit different. Right. If you could think in different layers and different dimensions, your pottery is going to grow.
Resource Promotion and Conclusion
00:03:42
Speaker
And it's going to be that much better simply by thinking in different dimensions or different layers. I hope you guys enjoy this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks for listening to this episode of shaping your pottery. If you are struggling with finding your own theme for your pottery so that, you know, you are known for something. I put together 53 themes that you can use and you can take
00:04:11
Speaker
All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes. It's really important for you to find a theme for your pottery so that you're not gonna get burnt out. You can have multiple styles with your pottery and you can be known for something. So again, go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash 53 themes, that's five, three themes to get these 53 themes.
00:04:39
Speaker
Thanks guys, I'll see you guys next time.