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#266 Carving a Unique Voice in Ceramics with Kyle Guymon
44 Plays2 years ago
This podcast episode takes the audience on a journey into the world of ceramics with ceramic artist, Kyle Guymon. Kyle shares his inspiring journey of transforming the world of porcelain pottery with his unique translucent pieces and his significant pivot towards slip casting. He offers an in-depth look into his creative process, including the manipulation of clay, the tools he uses, and his intricate glazing techniques. He emphasizes the importance of the SRAMS community in fueling his craft and underscores the importance of individuality in ceramics, urging emerging artists to experiment and discover their unique voice. The podcast includes insights into Kyle's carving techniques, practical advice for beginners, and his journey in carving pottery to create unique pieces. You can learn more about Kyle by checking out his instagram @kyleguymonpottery
Top 3 Value Bombs:
1. Experimentation and creativity are key: The episode emphasizes the importance of trying new techniques, pushing boundaries, and exploring different materials to find one's unique voice in pottery. Kyle's journey to carving and slip casting was full of trials and errors, demonstrating the importance of experimentation in the creative process.
2. Community support is invaluable: Kyle speaks about the role of the SRAMS community in his artistic journey, highlighting how the support and resources from the community have significantly fueled his craft. The podcast episode underscores the strength of community and the importance of connecting with fellow artists for inspiration and guidance.
3. Embrace challenges and don't fear failure: The episode highlights how working with difficult materials like porcelain can be rewarding despite the challenges. Kyle's advice to beginners is to dive into difficult materials and techniques from the start, embracing the learning curve and potential failures as part of the growth process.
and so much more
Take this Free Quiz to see how close you are to finding your pottery voice click here to take the quiz shapingyourpottery.com/quiz
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Transcript
Introduction and Dedication
00:00:00
Speaker
You have to be a little bit crazy, I think, to carve as much as I do sometimes, because I question my sanity, like, should I really keep doing this? What if you could get your pottery to look translucent and have a bunch of different detail to it?
00:00:17
Speaker
What is up Shaped Nation this is Nick Torres here and on this episode of Shaping Your Pottery I gotta interview Kyle Guymon. Kyle makes some really incredible translucent porcelain pottery that he carves every detail and it looks absolutely incredible. In this episode you'll learn how Kyle makes his carving designs and how he gets it to look translucent.
Techniques and Preferences
00:00:37
Speaker
You'll also learn about why Kyle started adding slip casting into his repertoire
00:00:43
Speaker
Finally, you also learn about how Kyle started separating himself from other artists. And there's so much more in this episode. I hope you guys enjoy it. I'll see you guys in air. Kyle, welcome to Shaping Your Pottery and share with me what is something people might not know about you. Thanks for having me. I'm honored to be on your show. I really appreciate the opportunity. The one thing that people might not know about me, I like throwing more than carving and glazing is the
00:01:13
Speaker
my least favorite part of the process. I feel like glazing is most people's just, I get that so much that I just absolutely do not like glazing. I don't like glazing myself either. So, if I could pass it off to somebody and just say, here, here's the pot that's carved, glaze it and finish it, I'd be, I'd take so much time and I'd be a lot happier.
00:01:37
Speaker
So frustrating. Absolutely.
Early Journey and Challenges
00:01:41
Speaker
So tell me the story how you got started in ceramics.
00:01:44
Speaker
The story was I took it in high school. I really loved it when I was in high school. And I just had a spark, and I just kept it. And I had that spark. And then I got out of high school, and I started doing construction for a few years. And I soon realized that I didn't really want to do construction for the rest of my life. I liked my body. I didn't want to be 35 looking like I was 50.
00:02:13
Speaker
you know, busted back or anything like that. So I decided to go back to school. And while I was going to school, my high school teacher, she moved to another state, but then my drawing teacher, when I was in high school, took over the program, the ceramics program, the high school, and she actually let me come back and start, keep throwing and making work. And so I would go back to the high school on off hours and throw and make stuff and then take it home and finish it and then bring it back.
00:02:43
Speaker
That love was just always kind of there for me and it never left and then once I got back into college and I started college again, you know, just taking all the general classes and as I was doing that I was still making pots and then I started, I got into a couple art festivals and then I had a gallery show and then I took my very first ceramics class in college. So I actually had a gallery show before I even did a ceramics program in college and that kind of just sparked it and I went from there with it.
00:03:11
Speaker
So how did this gallery show really impact the way you make your pottery further? The first gallery show? Yes. It really helped me see that there was value with my work.
00:03:27
Speaker
you know, when people outside of myself or my friends actually took value upon it and actually wanted to showcase it and put it in a gallery show and then actually be able to sell that work because a lot of the times you're sitting in your little world, right? And then within that world, you know, you're like, this is the most precious thing I've ever made and it's the greatest thing and I love it and I'm so proud of it. I'm the best ever. And then you put it out in the world and it's,
00:03:54
Speaker
cookie cutter or it's the same, right? But then actually being able to actually get that validation that the work that I was doing, I was going in the right direction is, you know, really helped me like push and make my own work. I love that. So what would you say was your biggest obstacle when you started making pottery?
Creating Space and Evolving Techniques
00:04:12
Speaker
Well, kind of just the accessibility to it, right? My teacher let me come back, but I could only go in off hours and stuff like that. I didn't have a studio where I could work all the time. And then I was living with a bunch of friends.
00:04:32
Speaker
And how much room do you have when you got a couple roommates living in a house with you, going to school and trying to work and do everything else like that. So the biggest obstacle at first was the accessibility. But having that opportunity to actually go back and throw pots and then I could take them with me was the game changer that led me into it.
00:04:55
Speaker
When was the moment when you were able to start making pottery just on your own without having to travel to go actually make it? Once I started taking, well, no, because I bought my first pottery wheel before I was even taking my first ceramics class at the college. I actually set it up.
00:05:17
Speaker
I moved into another home and I set it up in the dining room area because there was tile floor and I put a tarp down and I put the wheel on top of it and I was thrown in the dining room and carving you know off into the off sections and you know by lay sheets down and sit on top of that like a little banana chair.
00:05:38
Speaker
and sit there and carve away and then when I'd get done I'd stand up and all the shaving would fall on the ground and then I'd wrap it all up and then go dump it outside into the backyard and then just kept rolling like that for a few years and then once I got into the college and the university
00:05:55
Speaker
You know, I had my own space. I had, you know, once you get into like the BFA program, stuff like that, you have your own shelves and your own lockers in your own space. So I was able to, you know, work more freely at that point. I love that. So let's talk about your pottery. In one sentence, can you tell me what you make? Wheel thrown translucent pottery with slipcast cups. I just started doing slipcast work in the past few months.
00:06:25
Speaker
I never thought I would be a slipcaster, mold maker. I never thought I would do it, but it's helped me change the game of what I can do.
00:06:34
Speaker
So why did you get into slip casting? Because I got to a point where a cup was taking me two hours plus to do one cup. And being a husband and a father, the more time I take away from my family to put into the ceramics, I'm taking that valuable time away from my wife and daughters and putting it into clay. So I had to find a way where I could
00:07:01
Speaker
speed up the process a little bit but still make them make the pots mine and make them unique and not
00:07:09
Speaker
you know, a cookie cutter glaze and this and that and a mug in and out. I still had to make my work. And the best way to do that was to create molds of some of my cup shapes. But then I didn't want the same mold made every single time, right? Like I still wanted to make my work and have my voice within it because, I don't know,
00:07:38
Speaker
When I'm making the work, I want each piece to stand out on its own. And so what I've done is I make a mold. I throw a cup, and then I make a mold of it. And then I cut that up into four different pieces.
Design Inspiration and Aesthetic
00:07:51
Speaker
And then I can mix and match all of those pieces together. So this is like an elephant cup with the astronaut design on the back side.
00:08:03
Speaker
And then, so you're getting all these different views and, you know, forms from the cup. And so I'm able to, you know, astronaut again, but then, you know, I can put a cardinal design to mix it with the Blue Jay design to mix it with the form and everything like that. And by doing that, it's allowing me to play with my carvings more
00:08:32
Speaker
but also play with the forms more, because now I can mix and match, and I can piece all these together. And each one is different, but they're the same mold, but each piece is gonna be different, because on all of the elephant pieces,
00:08:50
Speaker
Like I carve the eyes, each eye is different. Like each elephant face has a different eye because every elephant has a different eye, right? So I have to put in that work and then like with the Cardinals and the Blue Jays and the birds, like every bird has different feathers and patterns and lace. So I try and do different textures and stuff like that on every piece, but they're all slip cast, right? And so,
00:09:18
Speaker
essentially they're the same but i have to make them different i can't make them the same and it's allowing me to start to play with different color combinations and patterns and you know carvings and then different designs inside of like the astronaut design you know so the slip cast it's been a it's been a way for me to
00:09:40
Speaker
streamline the process but then yet still be able to carve each piece but then make each piece different and then just trying to you know carve this with these three different designs I mean that would take me
00:09:58
Speaker
three or four hours to do this one piece, right? But now I can knock this one piece out a lot quicker, and now I can start to play with different colors and combos and imagery. So that's the reason why I did it, but I mean, with the translucent porcelain, so this is a cup that I, you know, translucent porcelain, but then like once you light it up or put a light source within it, I mean, it just,
00:10:28
Speaker
And this is what I love right here, right? It's just like this is that beauty and then trying to be able to find a way where I can spend more time carving pieces as opposed to just making cup, cup, cup, cup, cup, cup. And then, you know, I can only make so many vases, but now this way I can make more, you know, teapots and pitchers and vases and start to make,
00:10:55
Speaker
you know, more intriguing work, I guess you can say, because you can see how, you know, just the translucency of that porcelain is. So that's why I'm doing the slipcast. It's a new challenge. It's a new technique. I've never done it. I had to reach out to quite a few friends of mine for help, you know, and that's what I love. We talked about, like, that's what I love about the Stramas community is how open and free we are.
00:11:25
Speaker
you know, ask these guys for some help and you know, they throw it out there. You know, Oh yeah, do this. Oh, I have this issue. We'll stop doing that. Do this instead. It helps and it picks it up that way. Absolutely. I love that so much shaping nation. There's always an easier way to make pottery or a way to make pottery faster, but you can still put your own spin on things. Even if it is doing the same thing over and over again. I love that so much.
00:11:52
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. So tell me the story how you started making the pottery that you make today. So the translucent porcelain and the carvings when I was when I first started when I was doing the carvings with like before him in college when I was going back to my high school and still making it. The clay that they were using was a cone five
00:12:19
Speaker
off white with grog in it and I would carve and you know like you'd get grog marks and they would pop off and I couldn't get the fine details that I was looking for and then the only colors that they had were oxides you know she she didn't really have you know all the Amaco speedball or Mako underglazes you know that we have now and we can get now you know we didn't have all the colors back then and
00:12:46
Speaker
I was carving all these pots and it was cone five, right? And so I was very limited on to what I could make at the time. And I was making the work and I was sitting there and I kept banging my head against it. Like, you know, like I'm making this type of work, but it's not my work. Like it's not who I am as a potter because I didn't have
00:13:08
Speaker
the color range. I didn't have the firing temperature and I didn't have the clay body that I liked. And so I got into college, you know, and the professor was, you know, he was awesome. Like he let me have kind of free reign to do what I wanted and he let me pick what clays I wanted to throw with. And I loved the feel of B-Mix. I mean,
00:13:33
Speaker
Throwing with B mix versus porcelain, it's kind of like cheating because it's so easy to throw, you know? And the same thing, like I was throwing and was carving and I was making all these pots and all this other stuff with B mix clay, but it's a kind of a buff clay body, right? Especially in reduction. And the colors just weren't turning out quite how I wanted.
00:13:56
Speaker
I didn't really experiment too much with underglazes when I was in college and then I got out and then I started making my own work.
00:14:04
Speaker
Once I started that, then I started really to experiment and then, you know, you get your first underglazes and it's different than oxides and then, you know, you can take Amaco's bright red. I love Amaco. Their underglazes are perfect. I love them. But you can take their underglazes to cone 10, right? And they don't burn out. Like the colors stay true.
00:14:27
Speaker
The red stayed true, the orange stayed true, the yellow stayed true. Purples don't. You just make your own purple, but that's another story. But being able to do that, you know, being able to switch from, you know, the cone five clay where I was just using oxides, I knew that's not the type of work I wanted to make her. It wasn't my type of work.
00:14:46
Speaker
And so it took a while to where I had access to Kong Ten, two clay bodies. And then the B mix, again, was still kind of buff and I didn't like it. So I wanted that white, that pure background so the colors would pop, so the vibrancy would pop. So my carvings wouldn't get muddied up or blown out from the firings or the glazes.
00:15:11
Speaker
then I switch to porcelain and I do a lot in porcelain. I still throw in B mix. You know there's some forms that I'll still do in B mix and stuff like that but for the most part I switch to porcelain and if you've ever worked with porcelain it's one of those things where the reward in the end is amazing but the journey is very frustrating.
00:15:35
Speaker
You know, it doesn't stack up right. It won't stand up. You can't stretch it. You can't throw a big, you know, certain things that limits you a little bit. But the color response and then the translucency far outweigh, you know, trying to do some other things with stonework-like bodies. For me, at least. I have definitely heard before that porcelain is quite the beast to work with.
00:16:00
Speaker
Especially like beginning with working with porcelain. Well, so actually I would if you're gonna begin with clay and like, you know You want to work with porcelain just start with porcelain
00:16:13
Speaker
right, because you won't know the difference between B mix with grog or like a stone or a grog clay body where you can throw it easier and it stacks up. Like you're gonna go through the trials of learning how to throw anyways, right? And so if you're throwing, why not start with the product you wanna start with, you're gonna have a learning curve with it, but you're not gonna have to spend all that time throwing the stoneware and then learn how to use porcelain, right? If you know you wanna use porcelain,
00:16:41
Speaker
just jump right into porcelain and start using it because if that's what you want to end up using you're gonna waste a ton of money anyways you know because it's porcelain and it sucks but it's worth it in the end right that is some excellent advice right there for anybody that is that wants to start throwing and working with porcelain i love that advice
00:17:05
Speaker
because like there's I'm sorry but there's there's no shortcut like we're gonna porcelain it's it's like throwing cream cheese sometimes it doesn't stack up it's not gonna stretch it's not gonna do these other things that you're stoneware your your grog clay body can but man it's it's so pretty I love the white background so yeah I love the translucent see so
Carving Techniques and Uniqueness
00:17:29
Speaker
I love it. Most of your pottery contains carvings. Can you walk me through how you create the carvings and how you get so much detail onto each carving? So I just throw a form. I wish I would have had a form ready for you. But I just throw a form, right? And then I get a stencil. And then I draw the stencil. I carve the stencil onto the outside. Give me one second. I'll show you right now.
00:17:57
Speaker
So this is just a stencil. I just drew it on a plastic sheet, plastic bag, and then like this cardinal vase. So now I can just take this stencil and I just put it onto the form, right? And then I trace it. And then if you look on the inside, can you see that? Yeah. So I stick my hand like on the inside.
00:18:26
Speaker
of the pot and then I'll push out. So I push out from the inside and then I'll come back through and then I push this section in and push in all the feathers and the details. And then I come back and throw and carve it. And I had one of my buddies, he's a figurative worker, sculptor, and I was doing a demo and he looked at me and he's like, man, you work just like we do.
00:18:53
Speaker
because of the way that they push in the clay and they manipulate you with clay and they push it out. He says it's the same way that they do it. Well, not same way, but same principle, right? So it's just that manipulation of the clay. It's that push in, push out, push in, push out. And then to get all the fine line and the details, like diamond core. I love diamond core tools. They're the best. So if you want like that super fine details and those carvings, that's how you get
00:19:22
Speaker
all that and you know I use you know I modify my own tools you know but that's a loop tool and that's a square tool and so yeah I just to get all the details it's
00:19:38
Speaker
It's within the tools, right? It's a diamond core tool, and then to get all the glazing and the colors and the colorist spots, because that's a cone 10, porcelain celadon piece, right? But look how true and red those birds are. Yeah, they're red. So good. Right? It just pops. And so, you know, trying to do that, you know, figuring out the tools you're going to use, the glazes you're going to use,
00:20:07
Speaker
really helped change the work. And so carving it, it's just that push in, push out, push in, push out, that detail that work it in, and then using the fine line tools to carve everything out. That was an excellent, excellent description of that. I love that.
00:20:27
Speaker
Yeah, but word of advice, if you want to carve, if you're going to go down the path of carving, buckle up because you're going to spend hours on a piece and then it might crack in the kiln, right? It might crack in dry or the glazes won't turn out or the glaze will run or
00:20:48
Speaker
you know, if you're working with reduction, you might get, you know, a side reduction or this or that or blah, blah. So you have to be a little bit crazy, I think, to carve as much as I do sometimes, because I question my sanity, like, should I really keep doing this? Because, you know, sometimes, you know, you'll have a kill mode and, you know, you'll lose, you know, five tenths off of it. And you have that time up in those hours and you're like,
00:21:16
Speaker
It's a lot of effort, I just wasted it. So you're gonna carve, buckle up, because it's a journey. It's a journey crusher. I love that. So let's talk about discovering your voice. You contribute your growth as an artist to trial and error. Can you tell me more about this? When I was in high school, I always just loved carving. I could take my time, I could sit there and mess around and have fun. And then when I got out,
00:21:42
Speaker
And I was, before I even got into college, I was throwing a lot and I was carving a lot, you know, and then once you get into the BFA program, they want you to do this and they want you to try that and they want to take you out of your comfort zone. And so I got, you know, I got to the point where I was just making a lot of work just because, you know, I'll do this or do that instead of like focusing on carving. And then once I graduated,
00:22:08
Speaker
I realized I don't want to be just that functional potter that just makes the same old thing time and time again. And then I did an art festival.
00:22:22
Speaker
And on a break, I started walking up and down, right? And like, I thought I had these great pots, right? I did some flip-trail on the outside, but I had, you know, copper reds and some chinos and some blues, root-tail blues and, you know, all the sort of stuff. And I went to the next booth, you know, down. And what do they have? Copper reds and some blues. And, you know, you go to the next booth, and what do they have? And then you go to the next booth, and what do they have?
00:22:51
Speaker
I sat there and I questioned, what am I doing? Do I want to just make the same work that all these other potters are doing? Or do I want to actually be able to stand out away from all the other potters?
00:23:09
Speaker
I got back into, well, who am I as an artist? How much time do I want to spend making this stuff? And so that was the moment where I was like, yeah, let's go back to carving. Let's go back to finding your voice and getting back to who you are. And so that's where it started me and pushed me, was getting back into it, was that shell. And I was like, I can't. I can't.
00:23:35
Speaker
be the same potter as everybody else. My work has to separate because I have to separate or else, you know, my pot and my work is just going to be associated with, you know, Joe Johnson, you know, down the road. And I didn't want that. So going back to carving was the first step in fighting my voice.
00:23:57
Speaker
absolutely love that shaping nation. Do not be afraid to separate yourself from everybody else. A lot of people are gonna be making the same thing over and over again. But if you could separate yourself from them, your voice is truly going to start showing up. I love that so much. And, and it might take a minute, right? It's gonna take a minute. But that's okay, right? Because
00:24:20
Speaker
Once you find it, then you just go for it. You know, your voice is your voice and people will, you know, you'll, you'll separate, you know, it might take you five, 10 years, but you'll separate. Absolutely agree. A hundred percent. So what does it mean to you to find your pottery voice?
Artistic Fulfillment and Advice
00:24:40
Speaker
Everything, right? Like being able to throw in car, porcelain translucent.
00:24:50
Speaker
like it's like when a piece comes out like this piece right like when this piece comes out it's just all the time all the hours you know all the money you know all the glaze tests and everything once that piece actually comes out of the kiln you know and then
00:25:13
Speaker
it becomes translucent like that is what just really makes the work worth it because when a piece turns out you know after all that time and after all that energy and everything goes into it right that's where it that's where your voice actually pops and sings and makes it worth it yeah
00:25:38
Speaker
definitely agree 100%. I love that. So what advice would you give to someone that is looking to discover their own unique voice with their pottery? Don't be afraid, right? Don't be afraid. Like if you want to carve, carve, but within that same sentence, like, I sometimes like these are the new forms that I'm the new designs that I'm doing.
00:25:58
Speaker
Because I love throwing. I love throwing more than I do carving. But people know me for my carving and my style. But sometimes I don't want to carve a piece. I just don't want to carve it. And I just need that freedom and that release away from the carving.
00:26:20
Speaker
to throw color on a pot, to just let the brush run across the surface, right? Not to be tied into being so tight and so controlled within my work, what my carving does.
00:26:35
Speaker
Like these new paintings and stuff that I'm doing has given me that freedom to express another side of me, right? And if you're trying to find your voice, don't be afraid to experiment. Like throw this out there, throw this glaze on there. You know, do this underglaze, do this transfer, right? Do this carving, do this style. Go to cone five, go to oh four, go to seven, go to reduction, go to wood fire, go to soda, go to salt. I mean, there's so many options.
00:27:04
Speaker
within ceramics and if you want to find your voice, you have to find the pots that you are attracted to. If you like a certain work, go after that work. Find the artists that are doing that type of work and then build a community with them. If you want to do wood fire, go find wood fire potters.
00:27:28
Speaker
If you want to do porcelain or carving, find those guys and attach to them and figure out who's ever doing that. Or go to your local studio and find out what they're firing to or who's in that local studio and pick their brains and figure it out. But just don't be afraid and don't think that your style or your voice is going to be the same forever because I've been carving for 10 years.
00:27:55
Speaker
You get, my brain gets so wrapped up in it, right? Then it's so tight and the carbons are so controlled that I need a release from my own work. And so that's what those new brush works are coming from. It's because I just need a release from having to sit there for, you know, carving a piece for four, five, six hours, or just throw a piece, trim it up, polish the outside, sand it, and then throw some brush work on it and still be able to express myself within the piece.
00:28:25
Speaker
absolutely greed shaping nation. You don't need to be tied down doing the same thing over and over and over again. Don't be afraid to experiment. Don't be afraid to try new things because that's where your voice will truly start showing up. I love that so much. So as we're coming to a close here today, what is one thing you want to hammer home with my audience today? Have fun. Experiment.
00:28:47
Speaker
don't be afraid right don't be afraid because i think a lot of times people like you said you want to find your voice and i think one of the problems is people
00:28:59
Speaker
sit there and they get so wrapped up into, well, I can't do it or I don't know how or this or that or like reach out, go to your local university and find out when they're bringing in artists for demonstrations, right? Because universities offer demonstration, they bring in demoing artists all the time, right? Go to your local poverty studio, right?
00:29:22
Speaker
Find out you know the artists that are in there the classes that they're doing or what you can take right or find the artists on Instagram that you like and You know start commenting on their boat saying hey, I really like this. Hey, that's really nice. You know or sentiment or VM, right? Right. How do you do this? How do you know and don't be afraid if you want to do it? There's no one is gonna do it for you. I
00:29:44
Speaker
especially in ceramics. I'm not going to throw a vase for you and let you carve it, right? You've got to throw your own vase, right? So if you want to find your voice, don't be afraid and go after it and actually do it. Absolutely. Some excellent parting words of advice. Kyle, it was really great chatting today.
Social Media Presence
00:30:04
Speaker
Wake up on Arnie's go and learn more about you.
00:30:06
Speaker
Kyle Gaiman Pottery on Instagram. That's my main social. I don't have time to do Twitter or X, whatever it is, and TikTok and Instagram and blah, blah, blah, right? Like I, my brain, I just, Instagram, that's where you can find me. Kyle Gaiman Pottery at Instagram.
00:30:28
Speaker
Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. If you want to discover how close you are to actually discovering your own unique voice with your pottery, I put together a free four question quiz. It's very short. It takes 30 seconds for you to take. If you want to know how close you are to finding your own unique voice, go to shapingyourpottery.com forward slash quiz or you could simply go to shapingyourpottery.com and it'll be right there at the top.
00:30:57
Speaker
I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you guys next time.