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Isaih Porter | Episode 773

Isaih Porter, born and raised in California, is a young potter who currently works, teaches, and lives in Santa Barbara. At the beginning of the pandemic, Isaih was laid off from his job in game-development and took it as a sign (or maybe an excuse) to shift careers. Now, Isaih has created a small pottery business, began teaching regularly, produces work for other potters, and even converted an old electric kiln into his very own down-draft propane kiln.

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Does having a shared studio open up access to a greater amount of resources?

Absolutely yes, but also…for example, in my local studio there’s 30 glazes to choose from or something crazy like that. I would hope nobody’s home studio has 30 glazes. That’s a ton to upkeep. Imagine how many materials you need for all that. But it also can be very limiting. The studio I go to only does high fire. So if you wanted to do something with terracotta or something you can’t do that. Or something I have really been enjoying with my kiln is single firing, which I think is so cool.

So even though you’ve got resources are you kind of giving up some of the control then?

Exactly. Yeah. And that’s where if you are like me and very passionate about the work that I’m making and want to own the work that you are making, it can be hard because so much of the materials and the process is not directed by you. I guess you could say you choose to fire your work at that shared studio. Maybe that’s some sort of artistic decision.

You don’t have to worry about upkeep or scheduling, does that free you up more to be creative?

Totally. Creative in some ways. In the ways that your studio will allow you to without ruining their shelves or ruining other people’s stuff in the kiln because you decided to put something three inches thick into the kiln.

So the other side of the coin is it frees up your schedule but it ends up being their schedule and does that ever get frustrating?

Yes, and my studio doesn’t like it when serious potters come in there trying to use their kilns because of that reason, they don’t want to be held to the potter’s schedule. If I have 50 pieces that I need done by the end of the month it can’t be their responsibility to work around my schedule. As great as that would be it’s not their responsibility.

Because you have access to the studio kiln and  you have a small gas kiln at home do you feel like you have a taste of the best of both worlds?

I’d like my own big kiln. I’d like my own big gas kiln. If it takes me a full year to make enough stuff, that’s okay. I just want to learn. I am in a pretty crowded part of Santa Barbara, so I am pretty close to my neighbors and I fire it with a propane torch and that thing on full blast is loud. And that’s just my little kiln. Having a big kiln would definitely be an annoyance to the neighbors.

The pandemic hits, you decide to go for it being a potter, how’s it going so far?

It’s transforming still. So I teach at a local studio, I make pottery for another potter in L.A., I’m a production potter for him, and I also teach hand building exercises virtually, so those are my three consistent jobs. And with all that I am trying to make my own pots. So it’s been super surprising that the pottery jobs exist, like this team building thing that I do, I never would have thought that would be a job. Yeah, making it work. It’s working now.

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Etsy: isaihpottery

Instagram: @isaih_pottery