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#150 Choosing A Meaning For Your Pottery w/ Diana Svensk
40 Plays3 years ago
What is up Shaping Nation on todays episode of Shaping Your Pottery I got to interview Diana Svensk. Diana makes some really incredible Animal Themed Sculptures. You can learn more about Diana by checking out her Instagram @dianasvensksculpture
Top 3 Value Bombs
- Why you should choose a meaning for your pottery and sculptures
- Not forcing yourself with finding your voice. learning to trust the process
- Why you just need to do it in order to figure out your own voice
and so much more
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
Follow me on Instagram @nictorres_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
Take this Free Quiz to help you find your pottery voice click here to take the quiz shapingyourpottery.com/quiz
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Transcript
Introduction and Offer of Free Pottery Themes
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.
Diana's Journey into Ceramics
00:00:44
Speaker
Diana, welcome to Shaping Your Pottery. And tell me, tell me the story how you got started making ceramic sculptures. OK, so I think working with clay was something that I always wanted to do. My mom did ceramics when she was younger, not since after I was born, unfortunately, but we had these old ceramic pieces that she had made in the house. So I had it in the back of my mind. I always loved making art, painting, drawing. And then, you know, I think for a lot of people, Covid hit and
00:01:14
Speaker
2020, 2019.
00:01:17
Speaker
It feels like I'm confused about the time, but when COVID hit and I was stuck in like isolated in Sweden, I felt like, okay, this is like the time. So I ordered, not at the time of ceramic clay, but I ordered like a brick of air dry clay and I started making sculptures. And then I eventually just wanted to make things that were more durable. Also, I really love the look of ceramics. I feel like you can't really get that with anything else, even though like the air dry versions have their own advantages.
00:01:47
Speaker
as soon as I could this is going to be now I feel like I'm going into convoluted story now but I was in Sweden at the time waiting for a visa to get to the US and so when COVID hit like all the embassies closed down so I didn't know what to do and that's when I started with the air dry clay then about a year later I eventually came to the US to be with my husband here we were living in California at the time in Humboldt in Northern California and
00:02:13
Speaker
That's when I started making ceramics, but that was always, I don't know. That's when I actually started making it, I guess in 2020. But I feel like it's been a long time coming internally thinking about ceramics before that.
Challenges and Adaptation in Sculpting
00:02:26
Speaker
So outside of trying to get your visa for a year, what struggles did you face when you were learning how to sculpt?
00:02:34
Speaker
Oh, my God, all of them. I remember just like a lot of practical things. I think in the very beginning, all the things were cracking both in the play and in ceramics. I had a lot of cracking and also one thing that I didn't notice, especially with ceramics, because I was in Northern California, where it's very moist.
00:02:54
Speaker
And then we moved to Vegas last year and it's super dry how differently like the clay is affected by the difference in weather. So, so it definitely took me a while. Also, I love making like, super detailed things.
00:03:09
Speaker
If they can be gravity defying, I think that's what I lean towards. So I do make things that have a lot of small little things that I feel like sometimes almost like fight against the clay in a way.
00:03:25
Speaker
I'm trying to learn, like to go a little bit more with it and find ways to do it where we can work a little bit more together. But yeah, so I think those were the practical things. I think when it came to like actually like the more like the aesthetic or part or the expression part, it definitely took a while to find that. That was, I think like I have seen so many cool things and I'm like, I want to really make something cool as well, but
00:03:52
Speaker
It took me a while and that's still obviously a process and hopefully a process is going to keep going for as long as I create. I think that's kind of what makes it interesting as well that as I'm creating or as we're creating, we're sort of discovering and evolving.
00:04:08
Speaker
Absolutely love it.
Philosophy's Influence on Art
00:04:09
Speaker
Shaping Nation. It's really important to just continue evolving your work so that you can continue pursuing your voice further and continue growing as a potter. Absolutely love that. Now, you contribute your growth as an artist to your BA in philosophy. How has this helped you as an artist? So, well, although like in, in school, I've taken as many like art courses as I could elective art courses as well. So there are.
00:04:36
Speaker
sometimes like touchstones where I got to kind of explore more directly concepts that I read in philosophy in my art. But I would probably say that the biggest change is more like an all encompassing like shift in mindset and the way about thinking about the world. I think one thing that you learn quickly with philosophy and that gets clearer the more you do it is how
00:05:05
Speaker
how many more questions there are constantly arising than answers and then at the same time in philosophy we're always sort of asked to argue a point of view and coming up with a thesis statement and supporting that and I feel like
00:05:21
Speaker
I can bring the questions into art and be a little bit more ambiguous and open-ended about things. I don't need to always make a thesis statement in my art. It can be very ambiguous and very intuitive and all those things. So yeah, I think it has shaped my art in some subtle ways.
00:05:41
Speaker
I absolutely love it. I honestly believe that the questions you asked will lead to us making better pottery and I truly believe that. So let's talk about your pottery.
Connection with Nature through Animal Sculptures
00:05:51
Speaker
Can you tell me in one sentence what you make?
00:05:54
Speaker
No, I am very bad at talking about my art. I don't have a lot of practice about talking about my subject matter wise. I sort of lean to the natural world a lot, but I feel like that's more sort of just a placeholder for expressing things that are not as complete as the natural world, like animals and flowers and all those things.
00:06:19
Speaker
So very, on the more like aesthetic side, very textured things, things that are very layered, very details. I love textures. I've always been like, I know, like I hear a lot, like, oh my God, you must have so much patience, but it's not really patience if you're enjoying it.
00:06:37
Speaker
I guess so I do I don't know I can get lost in that like repetitive things I like letting my mind wander and and and I think that's sort of like a hallmark but that was not a sentence I'm sorry about that perfectly fine so tell me the story about what made you primarily start focusing on making animal sculptures
00:06:59
Speaker
Well, I think a lot of it at the time. So when I came to the US, I hadn't like seen my husband in like a year, you know, like in real life, like obviously we have phones now, thank God.
00:07:10
Speaker
It's been a while and we were so we met in Vegas event. Like, that's where he's from. That's where I came. And that's like, where we met and all that stuff. So it was a new place pretty rural. I think, and I came actually the day that I landed, it was like, the, the fires were going on. So we were like, going from San Francisco up to Humboldt, which is 4, 5 hours.
00:07:34
Speaker
And it was just yellow, orange skies, you know, fires everywhere. And I everything felt a little bit.
00:07:44
Speaker
It felt post-apocalyptic in a way. And when I got there at first, there was so much that would change from the times I spent in Vegas before I got here. And I think I really found so much refuge. And I always have, but in particular in this time, because even though my husband was there, he was working a time and there was a lot of uncertainty going on for us.
00:08:10
Speaker
I feel like I just connected really well with the animals that we had, living with us in the house, all the natural like wildlife and it just, yeah, it was just like a connection that I made with the whole place that I think is what started it and then I just found that I really enjoyed it after that and kind of kept going with it.
00:08:34
Speaker
I don't know if that's going to be always like a subject matter, but I feel like it might be just because I don't necessarily think like just because you're making a cat or a dog that doesn't always have to just be representative of.
00:08:48
Speaker
a cat or a dog, it can represent a bunch of other things as well. So that future question, I don't know, but that's where I think it was the time and the place and the mindset and the things I had around me at the time when I started sculpting that led into that subject matter initially. And yeah, going forward, I don't know.
00:09:11
Speaker
So absolutely love it. And that brings me into my next question, which you kind of hinted at a little bit.
Meaning and Emotion in Sculpture
00:09:17
Speaker
Something I found interesting is each sculpture you create has its own meaning to you. Can you explain this to me some more? Yes, I definitely it does. And I think the thing with meaning to you is very interesting because I am very much like a planner.
00:09:34
Speaker
I don't know if Fener is the right word, but when it comes to my art, I usually start with the seed of an idea, and especially like I said, I'm doing a lot of repetitive stuff and a lot of small details while I'm sculpting a piece. So when I'm doing that, my mind usually starts to wander to the next piece and what I'm going to do next. And something is born and my D is born and a feeling is born about it. But then once I start to sculpt as well, that meaning
00:10:01
Speaker
meaning may very well change. And I remember the first sculpture that I did that was in ceramic clay, it was like a self-portrait when I were in Humboldt, in fact the human, a human animal for once. But I think that when I did it, it was really, I don't know, it just, I don't feel like I had like an articulated thought, like this is what it means and what it feels like. I just felt like I needed to do it. But then when I look back at it now,
00:10:31
Speaker
Obviously, it's not technically kind of the best work that I did, but I can see so much of me in it that I feel like it only have been created in that time and place. And I think that happens with everything. There's always different factors that comes into each piece and creates a new meaning that can change also over time when you look back at it, for sure.
00:10:57
Speaker
Absolutely love it. Shaping Nation, if you are struggling to kind of make your pottery your own, try putting a meaning to it so that it becomes more your own because you're putting that meaning to it and it actually evolves over time depending on what meaning you're putting to it.
00:11:12
Speaker
Yes, I would say just to spin off what you said there, like with finding your own thing too. I think the number one thing with that, of course, you're always going to have influences that are unique to you because you are a unique person and you have a very
00:11:28
Speaker
very unique, long history behind you, the story long before you were born, for that matter. So there's always going to be some of you. But I think in the beginning, I felt a little bit of pressure to be like, oh, I got to, like I said, I want to make that cool thing. And I don't know really how to get there. But I realize that you get there as you're doing it. The meaning, it will come. It will unravel. I think for me, just doing it is so important, just doing something all the time.
00:11:58
Speaker
you will grow out of that and into that. Absolutely agree 100%. So you take inspiration from all kinds of things for your sculptures like historical references, symbolism, the love for your pets. But the one I want to focus on is how you take Norse mythology and apply it to your sculptures.
00:12:19
Speaker
Well, I don't, okay, so I wouldn't say that Norse mythology is something that goes through everything. I did a series of stuff in the end of 2021, going into the beginning of 2022, which had a lot of Norse mythology in it. I was, we were reading like Freud at the time, and I was, yeah, I hate Freud, but
00:12:40
Speaker
Anyway, it's hard, it's sticky, you know, it gets into your mind. So it's still something you kind of want to think about. And I was very inspired by the wolf man and the obsession with him in a sense, this kind of obsession he seems to have had with a lot of his patients, but his drawings that are very famous of wolves and
00:13:00
Speaker
the dreams and the meaning of that and at that point I started reading a lot about like werewolves in Norse mythology and how different the idea of a werewolf or wolf person was like back in our culture a few hundred years from what it is in pop culture right now
00:13:19
Speaker
And also, I mean, there are a lot of really interesting goddesses, especially that made its way into my work. And I used it to draw a lot of personal strength at the time from.
00:13:33
Speaker
That's amazing. So I know this is kind of like a personal question.
Sculpting Process and Creative Freedom
00:13:36
Speaker
I know there's like, there's like Loki, Thor, and Odin. I know those like three gods from Norse mythology, but I didn't know there was more of them. Like, can you give me some like, just what some gods, other type gods are there? I would say that, I mean, I would probably say that the most famous female god is Freya. And she was the goddess of many things. She was pretty badass too, because she was drawn.
00:14:03
Speaker
on a chariot by two horses, two cats. I think I'm always being like a cat lady. I think that that is why probably I gravitated towards her, but also she had a bunch of like, you know, she was really powerful as well. Yeah, she's kind of an alter ego or something, or I wish. I love it. That's so interesting.
00:14:29
Speaker
So can you give me a simplified version of how you create your sculptures? Okay, yeah, I think so.
00:14:37
Speaker
Like I said, I do like a lot of textures. I've been using a lot of carving techniques that usually, okay, so starting with from the beginning, I, one thing that I think, at least on social media, that people tend to react to is the fact that I open up my sculptures after they're done and I hollow them out. So I like doing it that way where I just take a block of clay and I have an idea, I have a sketch, but I let it kind of
00:15:03
Speaker
Evolve on his own and I do little changes. I build it completely solid and then I add all the details and then I open it up and hollow it out. And I mean, the main reason I do that and I know a lot of people feel like what you got to do so much extra work and it's true. I do if you knew exactly what you were doing beforehand. There's probably more efficient way to.
00:15:26
Speaker
build up a sculpture either with armature or hollow it out first and then add the details. But the way that I do it, I just like the freedom. I like the freedom of being able to change as I go. And that's the way that works best for me.
00:15:42
Speaker
That's probably it. Before the Sculpting Stars, I usually look at a lot of reference photos for what I want to do from different angles. One of the things that I think a lot of us sculptors have to deal with is the fact that it's hard to get certain subject matters in three-dimensional references, like an animal to sit still or something like that. Usually, if I'm making an animal, I will just look for a bunch of photos from different
00:16:09
Speaker
all the different angles in the position that I can find and then sort of make a sketch out of that and distort it in ways I want to distort it. And yeah, then I take the block of clay and then I add all the details and then I open it up, follow it, put it back together and then it's, yeah, the fiery. That was a very great explanation of that. Now, what advice would you give to someone trying to get into making sculptures?
00:16:37
Speaker
And just do it. I think one of the things that stopped me for so long is that it feels like it's so overwhelming. Like, oh, you have to go to a studio, which could be maybe intimidating if you don't have a background in ceramics or
00:16:52
Speaker
Like, it feels like you need all the space and stuff, which can be true to some degree. But I, I do think there are so many good, if you just want to start building and you don't have the space and you don't have the money right now, like one way to start that I think is really great. I know that Amaco.
00:17:07
Speaker
has very good air dry clays that you can, you can even spin them on a wheel. I think it's, I think it's Duolex and Mexican pottery. Duolex is the white one and they change the name. I know they do that sometimes. And a red clay, which is Mexican pottery. I think if you have no experience at all and you want to start and it feels overwhelming, I think getting some of that clay, it feels very similar to ceramic clay, but it is like indoor safe and all that stuff. You can do it with kids, whatever, at the kitchen table.
00:17:37
Speaker
That's a really good way to get started. If you have the ability to go to a studio and take class, I think that's awesome. You should do it. There's nothing to lose, but for me, it kind of, I don't know. I think, like, for me, I like sort of figuring things out for myself a little bit first, I think.
00:17:58
Speaker
Before I go to class, but I think that's more like a personal preference and also coming to the right studio. I am very lucky here in Las Vegas that I have an incredible studio that I go to right now that we're in animal house pottery, which, you know, if you're in Vegas and want to do a raccoon workshop, you should.
00:18:15
Speaker
absolutely come here but it's an amazing like very collective you know supportive studio which is awesome so either of those are good options i would just say do it though in some capacity find a way to make it work for you excellent advice shaping nation if you're trying to get into sculpture or trying something new with your pottery the best thing and the most simple thing you do is just to start doing it start doing it start practicing it so that you can eventually see if you want to continue doing it or not
Journey of Artistic Voice Discovery
00:18:46
Speaker
Now let's talk about finding your voice. What is something that really helped you to discover your own voice? You know, I feel in a sense that I am still looking for my own voice in some aspects. Like it's kind of a little bit, like I said before, I feel like every time you do something, there is always going to be a bit of you in that.
00:19:06
Speaker
Even if you are copying someone else, which I think, honestly, for your own sake, just to learn is a really good thing to do. But even in the subject matters that you choose and the directions that you take, there's always a little bit of you in there. One thing that I'm really, and I was actually talking to Anthony, which owns the studio last night when we were here, and he was talking, trying to problem solve a little bit for how to make this piece.
00:19:33
Speaker
And I sometimes, and this is something that I really want to get to a better place with myself. I have, I almost over detail things sometimes, and I feel like I want to control it and things to be quote unquote perfect. It's like I overworked it a little bit. I am still looking to find a little bit more trust in my intuition.
00:19:54
Speaker
where sometimes I see something that's messy that I really like, but I don't really have the confidence to let it be messy. So that is something that I'm working on, but at the same time, everything that I do still feels, it's definitely me where I am right now. But I think there is more of me that are not coming out that hopefully will come out in the future as well. But yeah.
00:20:21
Speaker
Again, I think it's just something that happens through doing it. Yeah. Absolutely agree. The more you do it, the more you're going to be able to find it and the quicker you're going to find it as well. Absolutely agree. I will say one thing there that I think I said before, like for me, I like figuring things out myself and that is very, very true. But I will say that since I came to a collective studio and I am able to see how other people work, I can jump into the raccoon, I can do this and that.
00:20:50
Speaker
It's sort of opening up my mind, like Anthony this year, he makes all his own glazes and stuff like that. And just having someone that knows the chemistry of clay so well is making me more interested in finishes and stuff like that, because I'm usually very, very focused on the sculpting process and doing all the details there. And then the color and the glaze is kind of like an ofterthought a little bit or more to retain what I did in the sculpting process. But I think there's so much more to do there.
00:21:19
Speaker
And I wouldn't have had that sort of mindset shift unless I wasn't exposed to other people's techniques. So, you know, if you can see what other people are doing, I think that's awesome too, just expand the way that you work yourself as well. I absolutely agree. Being a part of that community really brings in other ideas, 100% true. So what advice would you give to someone trying to discover their own unique voice?
Advice for Aspiring Artists
00:21:45
Speaker
just okay so just do it i've said it just do it yeah just do it i can't i can't say it and i all i think about is nike but i that's yeah do it i'm sorry i was just thinking that right before you said that but i can't find another way to express it right now my words aren't there but so absolutely do it and then i i would say don't be because for me in the beginning i sometimes like now i feel like
00:22:11
Speaker
a couple of years into my practice I'm way more chill about things not working out and about doing things that doesn't turn out to be what I wanted them to be whereas in the beginning I almost came in with this like I want every piece to be like the best piece that I've ever made and I was so frustrated that I
00:22:28
Speaker
I felt like I weren't able to do what I wanted. And I think, again, in order to keep doing it, if you are too judgmental of your own work, I think it's going to stop you from doing the work that will eventually find your voice. So definitely be kind to yourself, recognize it as a process. And I think that will make the process more enjoyable, which is from the process that you will find your own voice. Like, yeah.
00:22:53
Speaker
Absolutely agree. So as we're coming to a close here, what is one thing you want to hammer home with my audience today? Just do it. No, I don't. Yeah, no, but really, like, don't be kind to yourself.
00:23:07
Speaker
Keep working at it. If you have people to bounce with, awesome, do it. Know that you have a unique voice. It's already there. Like, even if you don't feel like it there, and even if you feel frustrated that you can't express yourself the way you want to, you will eventually, and your voice is already there. So, appreciate that with yourself, and yeah, keep going with it. Deanna, it was a really great channel
Where to Find Diana Online
00:23:31
Speaker
today. Where can my audience go and learn more about you?
00:23:34
Speaker
And well, I would probably say Instagram is a good place. Diana Svens sculpture, TikTok Diana Svens sculpture as well. I'm starting to do Facebook also Diana Svens sculpture. I'm starting to do, I just started to do a collective YouTube page here with the people in the studio. So we're going to be.
00:23:51
Speaker
getting out some more long form content, but it's a little bit more like tutorial based. So if you're into that, that's rad potters, r-a-d potters on YouTube. And my website is dagannasalsculpture.com. So dagannasalsculpture, essentially.
00:24:13
Speaker
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Do you have questions about pottery that you'd like Nick to answer? Send them to us on Instagram at Nick Torres underscore pottery. We'll see you next time.