Transcript
Speaker: We don't see that we actually have a voice with our pottery and it takes an outside perspective sometimes to find that voice.
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. What is up, Shape Nation? This is Nick Torres here. And I'm going to be talking about how sometimes you just need an outside perspective from somebody else to notice that you actually have a voice. So this is something that we all struggle with, no matter
Speaker: any potter at any stage, you will probably, you know, have this a little bit of uncomfortableness and uneasiness with your pottery sometimes where you feel like you don't have a voice and what you're making it just kind of you think it looks like everybody else's. But from somebody else's perspective, they're going to think you do have a voice. You do think you think you do have a cohesive unit in your own pottery.
Speaker: And I'm here to say that you do actually have a cohesive unit in your pottery. Everybody has these little things that we do with our pottery that it kind of makes it our own. Like, for example, I do a lot of crazy things with my pottery, like sculpture and wheel throwing or combine them together. But the thing that I think that I tend to do all the time, that even if I didn't have those, that would set me apart was that I add a thumbprint. I literally like add my thumbprint into the handle of each of my mugs.
Speaker: And that is something that I have learned that I do and I like doing that. And I feel like that shows that I'm that is my piece. And we all do these things in pottery as well. Like for you, maybe it's the way you write your signature. Maybe it's the way you trim your pots. We all have these things, but sometimes we don't notice that we have them.
Speaker: because we're so close to the clay that we're making. We're in a very intimate setting pretty much. You know, we are from start to finish, we are wedging the clay, we are hand building, we are wheel thrown, we are making it from start to finish, we are glazing it, we are carving it. We're doing all these different things with our clay. And so it's hard to miss sometimes. It's hard to miss that we actually have a voice. We think we don't, but in reality we do.
Speaker: And sometimes we just need the outside perspective. So here's a good tip for you. Find another artist, find another potter, find another friend online, in person, whatever it is and have them look at your work and see what they say. See, like, oh, I see what they say. Maybe they say, oh, I love these carvings.
Speaker: And then that might be your actual voice right there. You didn't know that people would like that. So it's good to get outside perspective. But what if you don't have that person that can tell you, oh, this is actually your voice. I can see your voice in this. I can see your style in this. Here's what you could do. So take all the most recent pottery that you have made and line them up pretty closely, but kind of spaced out a little bit. Line them all up together.
Speaker: And then like maybe on a kitchen table or something or somewhere where you could take a few steps back or a lot of steps back. And then, like I just mentioned, take a lot of steps back so you can get an outside perspective on each piece and really look at each piece and say, like, what is it that is showing my own style in these pieces?
Speaker: because there's probably gonna be one or two things that you are doing repeatedly over and over and over again. And you need to be able to take that step back.
Speaker: in order to find this unique cohesive unit with your pottery. And sometimes that's all it takes is either an outside perspective or simply just taking a step back, taking a little breather and really dissecting what is it that you are doing consistently that you tend to enjoy and that you are putting into your pottery and that is your own style. You take that step back so you can notice that you actually do have a voice.
Speaker: Because once you notice that you have a voice, then you continue going in that direction and your pottery actually starts getting better because now you're being a little bit more intentional about it.
Speaker: and the more intense you are about your pottery, the better it gets. Hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one. Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you would like to send me your own voicemail and have questions about pottery or finding your voice, don't be afraid to send me that. You can go to shapingyourpottery .com forward slash voicemail to send me your own voice message and I'll do my best to answer the question.
Speaker: You can also look in the show notes and it'll be there. I hope you guys enjoy this episode and I'll see you guys in the next one.
