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Auguste Yung | Episode 1088
Auguste Yung is a half-Chinese, half-Swedish ceramicist working out of Los Angeles California. Auguste melds wheel throwing and hand building to create unique textures and forms inspired by nature. Despite a winding path that included studying international relations and then working in TV development, Auguste found his true passion when he stumbled upon ceramics during the pandemic.
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How important is it to set aside time where that is when I do ceramics?
Oh, I mean so important. We all know it takes a long time from start to finish to make any pieces but I think for me it’s easy to do that. Pottery never feels like work, it’s just something that I love doing in my free time. If I am not doing anything else that’s what I want to be doing. I want to be at the studio.
How important is it to have the clay and resources readily available for you to be able to do it at the drop of the hat?
Yeah, like you said, with a really busy schedule everything else has to be set up so I can just quickly sit down and start working. Because sometimes I will only have 45 minutes or an hour to throw a couple of pieces and I feel like I am under the clock. So I almost have two sets of tools. I have my home set and my studio set and they stay right there at the wheel ready to go. Same with the clay. I try to do as much prep as I can so I can be ready to go at the drop of a hat.
Does that mean you are keeping your supplies readily accessible also? Do you keep an inventory available at all times?
Well, it’s not so much an inventory. At home I just have a couple of bags and I am also recycling clay. I usually have a schedule and if I am starting to run out of clay I will put this out on the board and that will dry in time. And at the community center where I go they just have a big clay room where I can buy clay.
How important is it to have things in process?
My process is a little chaotic honestly. Where at any given point I have things that need to be bisqued, I have things that need to be glazed, I have things that need to be trimmed, and there are the things that I want to throw. So I feel like at any given time I have pieces that are at every stage that need to be tended to. So no matter what it always feels like if I cant think of something that I want to do in terms of throwing I know I have things I need to glaze or things I have to trim. There’s something to do no matter what.
Has community been at all important to the development of your ceramics?
The community has been so huge and so important. I mean some of my best friends now are people that I met at the studio and we see each other outside of the studio all the time and we hang out. Just being at the studio as well, you gain so much from having other people around you.
How important is the response of your audience as a motivator for you to keep at it?
I mean, it’s been such a nice thing to have truly, the positive response to when I started posting on social media and stuff. And you know, every once in a while I will get a random DM saying, Hey I just wanted to say I really love your work and I love watching your videos. It really means so much to get a message like that. In day to day life I am not getting that so much at work. You know, you might get a good job or whatever, but you are not getting a message that says, That thing you are doing, I really like it and it’s really inspiring. I would be doing pottery if no one ever watched it but it’s really affirming and heartwarming when people say, I really like what you are doing that’s really cool.
Book
Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
North Woods Daniel Mason
Contact
Instagram: @augusteyung