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#343 Pottery and Storytelling: Leslie Levings' Artistic Fusion
57 Plays2 years ago
In this episode Leslie Levings, a writer, sculptor, and potter. Leslie talks about her journey in pottery and how she combines her skills in writing, sculpting, and pottery into one. She discusses the significance of finding a creative community and her struggles with her inner critic. Levings shares how she uses her love for mythology and storytelling in her pottery work, and the influence of a creative retreat she organizes annually. The talk also covers her advice for finding one's unique voice in pottery, which involves self-exploration, experimentation, and taking risks. 00:00 Introduction to the Artistic Journey of Leslie Levings 02:10 Discovering the Joy of Pottery 03:52 The Intersection of Writing and Pottery 06:02 Exploring the Art of Sculpture and Pottery 07:29 The Influence of Mythology and Storytelling in Art 16:26 Overcoming the Inner Critic 18:18 The Power of Creative Community 21:39 Evolving as an Artist 23:25 Final Thoughts and Advice for Emerging Artists
Get your 53 themes by clicking this link shapingyourpottery.com/53themes
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Transcript
Storytelling through Animals
00:00:00
Speaker
Humans love to tell stories about the human experience using animals.
Leslie Levy's Artistic Journey
00:00:05
Speaker
That was Leslie Levy, a writer, sculptor, and potter. In this episode, you will learn how Leslie takes her skills of writing, sculpting, and pottery and combines them all into one. It was really exciting to be able to be like, yes, I made a cylinder.
00:00:23
Speaker
I'm not a functional potter with that kind of skill and eye, so what can I do with this? You also learn the importance of finding a creative community to help you discover your own unique voice and push your pottery forward. It's so important to try to find that creative community. One nice thing about pottery in particular is that there's often group spaces connected to it.
Conquering the Inner Critic
00:00:46
Speaker
Finally, one of the last things you will learn is how Leslie learned to conquer her inner critic. And she gives some excellent tips on how you can conquer it as well. It can be really hard to get that inner critic to just like shut up long enough for you to actually experiment with something new. And there's so much more in this episode. I hope you guys enjoy it. I'll see you guys in there. Leslie, welcome shape your pottery and share with me what is something you believe potters should be doing to have success in pottery.
00:01:11
Speaker
Oh, right. Thank you for having me. There's just such a wide range of the types of pottery that people create that, like, I know that, you know, for me, the things that work for me are not going to be the same things that work for someone who is like, like hardcore functional potter who can make like 60 simple, gorgeous, elegant plates a day.
00:01:31
Speaker
But but I guess maybe that's sort of the answer is just like figuring out what your strengths are like following those paths like nobody wants me to try to make 60 gorgeous plates a day because I don't even think I probably have to design eye for that that somebody who's good at that would have but I I do have a sense of like the things that I do that interest me that I am that I do have some skill for and and just like Following that path seems seems like that's what's worked for me. I
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely agree. I love that shape nation. Follow your strengths and follow your passions. And that's how you start having success in pottery. I love that. Yeah. So tell me the story how you got started making pottery.
Pandemic-Induced Artistic Shift
00:02:14
Speaker
Well, I've been a sculptor for a really long time, but just not in ceramic. I started sculpting these little monsters in polymer clay that I call the beastlies. They're just like little guys that are brightly colored, have big expressions. And once those started to be successful, I started doing them full time. And then I began to experiment with sculpting larger, more complex pieces for gallery shows. And the material I used for those was mainly
00:02:41
Speaker
like a two-part epoxy modeling compound, which is very frustrating and unpleasant to sculpt with. And ultimately, it's actually pretty toxic in the long term, like it could lead to bad health stuff.
00:02:53
Speaker
And so I was always looking for better options, but I knew enough about ceramics to know that it's a complicated medium with like a real learning curve for beginners. So I was always kind of like, I should do that someday, but I don't have the time to learn right now. And then the pandemic came. So it was 2020 and suddenly the idea of learning something new and complicated sounded like a pretty good distraction. So I started to get into it and I joined a studio.
00:03:23
Speaker
not too far from where I live. And luckily I have a good friend who is truly masterful in the medium. Her name is Eva Funderberg and everybody should go look at her sculptures.
Character Animation and Writing Revival
00:03:34
Speaker
She was so patient and spent a lot of time with me that year answering texts or hopping on Zoom to see what I was trying to do and make sure I had a sense of how to make it not fall apart immediately and all of that. Yeah.
00:03:50
Speaker
I love that. So outside of pottery, you are also a writer. Can you tell me more about this? Yeah. So the beastlies I mentioned earlier, several years back, JJ Abrams happened to see them and contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in developing them into something animated. So over the course of trying to figure out what that's going to look like, I was spending a lot of time at Bad Robot.
00:04:16
Speaker
and just sort of passively absorbing information about how stories are told in the entertainment industry. Back in school, I was a double major in visual writing or visual art and creative writing, but I sort of put the writing aside to focus on making the bee sleeves and making a living on that. But after I was at Bad Robot for a while,
00:04:37
Speaker
working on developing the story of the beastlies. It really reminded me how much I missed telling stories and expressing, you know, the things I was interested in, in, in multiple different ways. So, so yeah, I started to focus on writing again and creating other types of stories for animation. And now I'm back to splitting my time between the art and the writing kind of like when I was in school.
Pottery as Creative Release
00:05:01
Speaker
Would you say that getting back into writing has also helped you with your pottery?
00:05:07
Speaker
It's really made the pottery feel like kind of a reward where if I've had a long day of getting notes from executives or staring at a script that's not working, it's like a real treat to go push some clay around and use a totally different part of my brain.
00:05:27
Speaker
create something from start to finish where like people aren't like poking in to be like, actually, it should be more like this. And we think that to make an appeal to this group, it should really be, you know, younger. It's like, I can just make a mug and it can be what I want it to be. And, and I can, I don't know. Yeah. Like access a different part of my brain for that.
00:05:49
Speaker
I love that shape nation. Sometimes pottery can just be pottery. It doesn't have to be something else. It can just be a way to help you relax, maybe explore new mediums. I love that. So let's talk about your pottery. Can you tell me the story how you started making the sculptures and pottery you make today?
00:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, when I started with the ceramic work, I was mainly just thinking about sculptures and I was thinking about how to keep doing the types of sculptures I was already doing, like for the gallery shows. And I didn't really think about learning to throw on the wheel or doing anything functional. But joining the studio, you know, I'd go into like fire stuff and everybody's just there on the wheel, like doing it. And I was like, it's just kind of irresistible. So I was like, well, I'm not going to be good at this, but I do want to learn it.
00:06:36
Speaker
So I took some basic throwing classes and started to incorporate different types of vessels into my work and started to really enjoy it. So I've only been throwing for a few years, but I just, I don't know, there's something kind of really special about just like sitting down at the wheel and making something that somebody will use in a way, yeah. When was the moment you decided to combine both your sculptures and your functional pottery?
00:07:03
Speaker
kind of right off the bat. It was really exciting to be able to be like, yes, I made a cylinder. And I was like, I'm not a functional potter with like that kind of skill and eye. So like, what can I do with this? And it just kind of became like this nice new type of blank canvas for the types of like creatures and things that I like to explore.
Mythology and Nature in Pottery
00:07:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:28
Speaker
I love that. So you are inspired by mythology. You're inspired by the stories we tell about ourselves. Can you tell me more about that? Yeah. I love fables and mythology and stuff like that. And those are the themes that tend to come through particularly strongly in my gallery work. And I just like the way that humans love to tell stories about the human experience using animals.
00:07:56
Speaker
Like, like I said, like fables and even like children's books, a lot of times like an animal will stand in for us and in a weird way and somehow easier to relate to the emotional experience we see when it's presented through that lens. So it just feels like there's something very kind of deep and fundamental about the way we like see an animal or a creature and we can sort of like put ourselves in that emotional experience, even though it's not us.
00:08:22
Speaker
And also I'm just fascinated by actual creatures in the natural world. Like I usually have a membership to the local aquarium or natural history museum. And that's usually where I go spend a day if I need some inspiration. How does this impact the way you make your own pottery? Well, on a basic level, the pottery I use is like this like platform and blank canvas for playing with the creatures from nature. Like I like to make a lot of vessels that just have like
00:08:48
Speaker
beetles or fish or fossils on them or some way or like textures that remind me of tide pools and that sort of like natural shape language combined with
00:09:00
Speaker
something that's so recognizably human as a vessel. I like kind of like where those two things meet. You know, it's like if you see like a wine bottle that somebody pulled up from the bottom of the ocean and it's got particles on it. There's something about that sort of like this human artifact that's sort of being like taken over by nature that I find really interesting. I love that. So now earlier you mentioned that humans like telling stories through animals. Why do you think that is?
00:09:28
Speaker
That's something I thought a lot about and I'm sure that there are people who have a much better answer to this than I have. But I just think that it's like if I see a picture of another human, I see that person as someone who's not me and who has their own life and their own experience. But if I see a picture, if I'm like a child and I see a picture of like a bear going to school in a backpack, there's something about
00:09:57
Speaker
It becomes almost universal. I'm not looking at how the human being I'm looking at is different than me or has a different experience than me. But if it's a bunny rabbit who's... I feel like there's a story about a bunny that runs away from its mom or something like that, that can be any of us. And as humans, we can empathize with other
00:10:24
Speaker
with other people, hopefully, but also with all kinds of things. I had friends who will see a tree and they'll be like, that tree looks sad. Or there's something on a weird stoplight where it's like the bolts look like a face and we'll see personalities in anything. And I just think animals are
00:10:46
Speaker
the thing that's sort of like close to us, but not us. And that we can sort of like see that like a shivering dog makes us sad or something like that. Yeah. That is very interesting because I never thought about it until you just brought that up right now. That is very interesting. So can you walk me through how you combine your sculptures with your functional pots?
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah, so like I said, I'm kind of new to throwing. Well, I've been doing it a few years, but it's really worth the learning curve and the way, oh no, I'm repeating myself. Okay, sorry. I went back to the previous question. I'm going to start that question over. In some ways, I feel like I'm in the process of still figuring that out.
Sculpture Meets Functional Pottery
00:11:25
Speaker
But currently what I like to do is I'll go spend a day just throwing a handful of different types of pieces. Like here's some mugs and maybe I'll try a vase with a different shape I've never done or a lidded vessel. And then I take those home and now I just have like a damp box full of options. And so then the next time I want to like sculpt, I can just sort of like pull out something.
00:11:47
Speaker
and stare at it until I sort of feel like, what do I want to see on this? With something like a mug, I don't want to get too carried away because I don't want to make the mug, make the mug any harder to use. Like early on, I wanted to put like a little creature on the rim and then I quickly figured out that it would just like poke you in the eye every time you tried to drink out of it. But, so those I tend to work in more like a relief sort of a way, but with
00:12:14
Speaker
vessels that are like a little less directly functional, a little bit more decorative, there's a lot of room to play. So with those, I like to think about how like something might interact with the shape of the base or the piece. Like if a base has like a long neck, then like maybe something wants to climb that or kind of like curl a tail around it. The incense burners that I do are really fun in that way because you have the option of where does the smoke go, which makes it almost like
00:12:41
Speaker
like a piece that has like a moving element. So it's like you could make a creature with an open mouth and the smoke is coming out and that's always really fun. Yeah. That is very interesting. I love hearing that thought process of how you make it so interesting. So now let's talk about discovering your voice. Can you tell me about the moment you knew you're heading in the right direction with your pottery?
00:13:04
Speaker
I'd been developing my artistic voice through sculpture for a while before I started working in ceramic, but learning how my voice is different in ceramic has been really interesting. I get that feeling of heading in the right direction anytime I...
00:13:19
Speaker
take a step to improve how I understand the particular strengths of the medium. Like occasionally, now I'm starting to get the sense of like, if I make a piece that is working, sometimes I can see that it's working because of the medium and it would not have had the same impact if I'd been using
00:13:38
Speaker
the type of material I used to use before. So when I start to feel that more and more, it's when I'm starting to feel like I'm more fluent in ceramic in particular and like the kind of the liquidy way it works and the way you can get sort of like a rough or a very, you know, watery texture. And yeah, the more it feels like I'm sort of like working with the material instead of just like imposing what I'm trying to do on it. Those are when I start to feel like I'm heading in the right direction with the material.
00:14:07
Speaker
I love that. So now you mentioned that you've been developing your voice outside of pottery for the longest time. What's the difference between your voice in pottery and your voice outside of pottery?
Evolving Artistic Voice in Pottery
00:14:19
Speaker
Yeah. It's interesting. I'm still figuring out that a little bit. The Beastlings are such a different thing because they're a very cartoon animated
00:14:32
Speaker
little thing and I feel like my voice with those feels different from my voice with the gallery work. So I feel like when I was doing voice, I feel like the way my voice was coming through with the gallery work before I switched to ceramics.
00:14:50
Speaker
was a lot of pieces that were very large and had a lot of small detail and sometimes incorporated other materials for different sort of effects. And with ceramic, you can add things on after, but it doesn't work quite as well. So it's like I really have to focus on what I can do with the clay.
00:15:14
Speaker
And fire at a place that does like a cone 10 high fire. And so it's not like I can just paint it any color I can imagine.
00:15:26
Speaker
I have to really think within the bounds of, okay, what can the clay do? And do I want to glaze this or do I want to leave it raw and kind of get that kind of effect of that? And so in a lot of ways, it's very constrained, but having to think within those constraints, I think has made me kind of push what I'm trying to do further and think about like,
00:15:52
Speaker
Okay, if I don't have the full array of ways I can express myself, and if I can express myself within this more limited range of what the clay can do, what is the actual best way to convey that? And it's been kind of a fun challenge. I think a certain amount of constraints forces you to be more creative, and I kind of appreciate that about the clay.
00:16:16
Speaker
Absolutely great shaping nation. Sometimes the best solution is to constrain yourself on what you're trying to make so that new ideas will pop into your mind and your potty will grow. I love that. So what would you say was your biggest obstacle when it came to discovering your own voice?
00:16:31
Speaker
Oh, just a lot of self-criticism and imposter syndrome, like fear of failure. All the kinds of things that I think most or at least many artists struggle with can be really hard to get that inner critic to just like shut up long enough for you to actually experiment with something new because a central part of experimenting is failing.
00:16:52
Speaker
Like it's not an experiment if it works every time, but I don't know, failing feels really vulnerable. It's hard to want to do something that it's going to involve failure. And, you know, it's like that inner critic voice is trying to keep us safe from the fear of failure. And it's hard to kind of get past that, to like embrace a process that's going to involve things not working. What is, what is something you have done to help you kind of silence this inner critic?
00:17:20
Speaker
Oh, it's been an ongoing process. Yeah, I do think because I do get that sort of bad feeling when I feel like, wow, like I've done a lot of things right now that aren't working. And it's hard not to have that voice be like, well, you're not good at this. And so there is a little bit of balance of like,
00:17:38
Speaker
Okay, maybe I'm going to split my week between like some things that I know how to do and will remind me that I do have some strengths in this. And then also like with those as sort of like a base, now I can like try some other things that if they fail, I do, I tried.
00:17:55
Speaker
And it doesn't mean I'm terrible at everything if something does not come together. But also, I think it's just a lot of work of, I don't know, self-work in a lot of areas. It's like I still hear that inner critic voice with all the different types of my art and writing. And it's just going to be a journey to try to get past that. I love that. I love that. So you could trip your growth as an artist to creating an annual creative retreat. Can you tell me more about this?
Community and Overcoming Creative Struggles
00:18:25
Speaker
Yeah, so I run the Wayward Retreat with a few other artists and every year we bring a cohort of creatives to a little island of British Columbia and like all types of different artists like writers, musicians, illustrators, dancers, all kinds of things.
00:18:41
Speaker
And over the years of doing this, it's become kind of an ever-growing community. And being a part of that community has become really important to me. For one thing, it helped me realize that those creative struggles and fears that I was talking about before, those are the things that everybody has. Like we get in our heads and I think we know intellectually that these are not struggles that are unique to us, but sometimes it really does help to hear
00:19:10
Speaker
like those exact words that are echoing in your head said by another artist, like somebody who you know is brilliant at their work and they feel the same way. It's given me, I think like space to be more brave. In my art, like I probably would not have started that writing career without the support of the writers I met through the retreat. And the ceramics, as I mentioned before, Eva, I know her through the retreat and she's been
00:19:38
Speaker
so helpful in me starting ceramic work. Outside of becoming a writer and also starting ceramics, what is something you learned from these retreats that have really helped you? I learned a lot about my own creative voice.
00:19:56
Speaker
through it and also through watching how other artists access their creative voice and how they work to silence those critic voices. And also just the support of other artists being curious about what you do and also willing to share what they do. I feel like, yeah, I feel like that's been essential to me really developing as an artist is having those kinds of conversations.
00:20:25
Speaker
I love that and I definitely agree. Now how can other potters or other artists, how can they get around other creative people?
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's so important to try to find that creative community. One nice thing about pottery in particular is that there's often group spaces connected to it. Like the studio I fire at my area, I've met a lot of people through that who have been incredibly generous with their knowledge and I've just been really lucky to be around them. And like Eva does woodfiring and I know that's a big community event in her sort of like woodfiring community.
00:21:02
Speaker
They do it seasonally and a lot of people come together to make it work. But if you're someone who works and fires at home, it can be a little harder to find that community, but it's really worth it to put in the effort to find the spaces, whether it's workshops or conferences or looking for other types of retreats or even online spaces. Those are great and can be sometimes much easier to access.
00:21:26
Speaker
I love that shape nation. Get out of your comfort zone and get around other creatives, get around other artists, other potters. And that's how your pottery will grow. Not only that, it'll grow much quicker as well. I love that. So what is something you are doing to evolve your pottery even further?
Pushing Creative Boundaries
00:21:45
Speaker
Well, I'm definitely trying to get better at throwing. I don't get enough chance to practice that as much as I would like. And I really want to get more practice at throwing bigger and sculpting bigger too. I'm just amazed by people who just sculpt these huge pieces. Like I've slowly been increasing the size outside of my comfort zone, but the risk of it collapsing or cracking, it's so intimidating when you're like, I spent so long on this.
00:22:11
Speaker
So sometimes it's hard for me to like push them as like kind of like big as I'd really love to go. But yeah, that's something I'm working on getting better at the types of armatures that are really gonna like hold up in a firing. And yeah, there's just so much technical knowledge that that I feel like I'm catching up on. I loved it. And I definitely agree. It is very impressive when like a sculptor makes something that big. Like, wow, like how in the heck? I love that. So now what advice would you give to someone looking to discover their own unique voice with their pottery?
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:43
Speaker
I would say pay attention to the types of things that you like to see, whether it's from other artists or just out in the world. You know, I saw a lot of artists online who are really inspiring or like I said, I go to the aquarium and I'll like take pictures of coral because the shapes are so interesting. You know, the things that grab your eye are really significant because so much of your voice starts with your taste. And obviously it's important not to be so inspired by another artist that you're just fully copying them. But the, the more types of things you start to sort of like.
00:23:13
Speaker
collect in your mental collage, the broader a base of options you'll have that your voice will sort of emerge out of, I think. Definitely, Grease. Some excellent words of advice. Leslie, it has been a great channel today and as we're coming to a close here, what is one thing you want to hammer home with my listeners today?
00:23:31
Speaker
I think just really giving yourself that permission to experiment and fail. Try something that you don't think you'll be good at. Even if you're not good at it, you'll learn something about the things you are good at. I don't know. Sometimes it's just really helpful to have a little space for
00:23:53
Speaker
like play, if you're just like, you know what, this is not going to be one of the bugs I sell. This is going to be something ridiculous and maybe it'll fall apart. And that's fine. I think that's where you really get to, to really improve is when you take those risks.
00:24:08
Speaker
Absolutely great. Some excellent party words of advice. Leslie has been a great champion today. Where can my audience go and learn more about you? About me. I have a website, LeslieLevings.com, and that can take you to most places, but I can also be found on Instagram at LeslieLevingsArt and most other social media platforms at Leslie Levings.
00:24:28
Speaker
Yeah, 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
00:24:46
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 going to 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
00:25:15
Speaker
Thanks guys, I'll see you guys next time.