Transcript
Speaker: Real quick before we get started, did you know that the questions that we asked are going to determine what our pottery is going to look like and is going to determine what our voice is going to look like? That's why I created 15 questions that you can use right now to start discovering your own unique voice. Go to shapingyourpottery .com forward slash questions to get this free booklet.
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.
Speaker: What is up, Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here. In this episode, I'm going to be talking about what I have done and what I am still continuing to do that has helped me find my voice and also evolve it even further. So the first thing I did that probably sped up my growth and helped me find my voice was literally starting this podcast. Now, I'm not saying to go out and start a podcast.
Speaker: especially if you don't want to. I'm not saying to go out and start a podcast. The reason why the podcast, starting this podcast has helped me so much and I've only been doing it for a little over a year now at the time of recording this is because I get to talk to other potters. I get to talk to potters all the time and I just get to be around other potters.
Speaker: And this is so key here. And I truly believe that the more you can be around other potters, then your voice is gonna grow 10 times faster. You're gonna be able to find it that much easier because you're being around on the potters, you're getting new ideas, you're exchanging ideas, and you're just learning.
Speaker: So if you can get around other potters, whatever, however you may that be, maybe you're joining a pottery studio, maybe you're doing a residency or maybe you're you're taking online classes, whatever that may be. Try to get around other potters because the more you try to learn and try to experiment from what other potters are doing, the faster you're going to be able to find your voice and you're also going to be able to evolve your voice even further because you're going to get new ideas.
Speaker: So allow me to explain this a little bit more through a story. So before I started this podcast, my pottery, it was kind of like everybody else. Everything I was making, it was fun to make, but at the same time, I also felt like I was going through the motions. I felt like something was missing. And since starting this podcast, I have interviewed over 50 or so people
Speaker: And they all have a range of different techniques that they use in order to make their pottery look the way they make it look. And they all have a range of different things that they try and they do and different techniques that have allowed them to find their own unique voice.
Speaker: And because I started this podcast, I got to interview them. I got to learn directly from them pretty much. And I got like doing research on the questions I was going to come up allowed me to get new ideas on what I could use for my own pottery. And you could do the same thing yourself. So let's say you have a few potters out there that you really admire and you love their work. What if
Speaker: You DM them and you ask them, hey, I love your pottery. Would you mind if I ask you a question much harder? And then you could go ask their question. Most of the time they're going to say yes, and they're going to answer your question. Just go out and answer your question. Get your questions answered. The questions we ask.
Speaker: I'm going to determine what our pottery looks like. And if you are asking the right questions, they're going to be able to start getting new ideas with your pottery. So that is one way that has helped me with discovering my own unique voice. And that is simply this podcast, being around other potters and learning from them. The second way
Speaker: that really helped me with Discover My Own Voice was that I started leaning into my interests more. You know, for the longest time, I thought I had to specifically do wheel throwing. I thought that was it. I thought it had to be wheel throwing and then I had to have really colorful glazes.
Speaker: but I'm sure a lot of you with me with this that you don't like glazing. You may like the way how it looks, but you don't like glazing. You kind of hate it. It's real pain in the ass. I'm the same way. I don't like glazing that much. I like the way it looks, but I don't like doing it.
Speaker: And at the same time, I don't have the resources to be able to do that because I don't have my own kill and I don't have my own glazes or anything. And it's expensive to do that. And I don't like ask my friend all the time if I could use his killing, especially when he's not making pottery right now. So I started leaning into my own interest of being a nerd, being a nerd, liking anime.
Speaker: liking all these different random things that just excite me. I like being a nerd. I like learning. I like learning about business. And I try to incorporate that stuff into my own power. And when I started doing that, that's when my voice slowly started showing up and slowly started showing up. Finally, the last thing that I did that really helped me a lot was that I stopped fighting against myself. What do I mean by fighting against myself?
Speaker: So for the longest time, I thought that I had to be throwing on the wheel in order to, you know, find my voice and to be able to sell my pottery because that was a big thing for me. I wanted to be able to sell my pottery and still kind of is a big thing, but it will happen when it happens for me.
Speaker: And I thought I had to continue throwing on the wheel and I was, and I thought in my mind, in my mind, I thought, oh, wheel throwing is the best. And those that hand build, you know, they're just lazy and they don't want to actually try to make pottery. They don't want to try to learn it.
Speaker: And I remember through my senior year of high school, this is my second year of ceramics this year. We had a new teacher this year. So my first teacher during my junior year, he focused more on wheel throwing, but my new teacher, he focused more on hand building. And while I was able to wheel throw a lot,
Speaker: He would come up to me sometimes. He said, what if you started adding elements of hand building? Maybe you try adding animal. You try to do the things that we're doing as well and try to add that into your pottery. And I just kind of brushed them off a little bit, being a high school kid and thinking that I knew everything. And I just kind of brushed them off a little bit. I said, yeah, OK, but I didn't actually do it. And then fast forward a few years later,
Speaker: I wasn't really getting excited all that much with wheel throwing. I didn't really like it that much anymore. I was kind of going through the motions. I still kind of enjoyed it, but it wasn't there for me. And that's when I stopped fighting against myself. That's when I started experimenting with hand building. I started experimenting with sculpting.
Speaker: And because I started experimenting with sculpting, that's where I started finding my own unique voice. That's where I started finding something that I found that missing piece. And that was a huge relief for me. That's when I knew I was heading in the right direction with my pottery.
Speaker: because I stopped fighting against myself. I thought I had to keep throwing on the wheel because that's what the best were doing. And if hand building was for people that were lazy and that they couldn't actually make pottery, they weren't as good as wheel throwers. And that's what I used to think. But my opinion has completely changed about that. I think just do what makes you happy.
Speaker: And you have to stop fighting against yourself with that. You may think that something is inferior, but you might need to try it anyways in order to actually make your voice come to life. So those are the three things. So number one was I started this podcast and I got around other potters and started learning from them. The second thing I did was I leaned more into my interest. And finally, the third thing I did was I stopped fighting against myself and I tried new different things that I never thought I would.
Speaker: Thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to start discovering your own unique voice, you must first start with the right questions. That's why I put together a free 15 question booklet for you to start discovering your own unique pottery voice. All you have to do is go to shapingyourpottery .com forward slash questions to get this free booklet.
