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Andrew Sartorius | Episode 1223
Andrew Sartorius is a wood and soda fire potter living in Germantown, New York. Andrew grew up in West Virginia, found his passion for clay working in rural Japan, and completed an apprenticeship and MFA in The Hudson River Valley. Andrew is the Program Director at The Oki Doki Studio.
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You know, as a teacher and a maker, that there’s that balance of trying to find creativity, and I’m curious for you, have you found that teaching increases your creativity in your making?
I would say, Absolutely yes. For me, it probably comes down to teaching. Teaching dramatically increases the number of variables that I’m exposed to. So running an atmospheric firing center and last year there were 97 people that came through our studio. So I see 97 different people’s work and 97 different people’s choice of clay bodies and glazing. That’s a lot of material testing and information that all comes in… whether I’m actively seeking it or not! I don’t think it has influenced my forms very much: that still comes from personal research. But for surface potential, there’s just too much information coming in with every kiln opening for it not to be. Oh, what’s that clay? I’ve never heard of that clay. That’s very exciting. Maybe I’ll get back to test that.
How has teaching perhaps hindered your making schedule or your making?
The only answer that this could be accurate is just time. There’s only so many hours in the day, and if you’re creating a curriculum, making sure all of the you know, leg work to make the workshops a physical reality, and advertising… and all of that, you still have to have time at the end of the day to throw the pots and make sure they don’t get too dry, which happens to me all the time?
As a teacher, there are many things that that you will teach, but are there some things you tell your students that they need to do but you don’t do or you tend to skip?
All the time. If you polled our students, the most common thing that I think a participant might say, Andrew, what do you think of this glaze choice? My response is always, well, what do you think of it? Because it’s their work, it’s theirs and I can’t do the work of making their work, And it makes total sense… they do not have the experience that I have with these kilns or with these processes, but I want to give them the potentials and have them make the decision rather than make decisions for them. We don’t set out options where failure is going to happen, but I want them to learn through doing rather than what I say will be good.
When you are teaching a student, or you’ve got someone that’s new coming into the studio, what thing are you most excited to teach them?
I love the first shelf that they get to load. So teaching them that in atmospheric firing, you can load things on their side or stacked on top of each other with wads in between as a decorative choice rather than an obligation. That’s always great. Secondly, the first shift that they’re on, where they go from, am I going to ruin it with every stoke, to the confidence to control the kiln’s rise and fall. Those are absolutely best.
You are now in the studio making your own work. What do you what piece are you most excited to make?
Probably tea bowls. That would be an unquestionable answer. Until about a year ago, I really loved making sculptures about the size of my torso. Now they’re hollow, they’re big, they’re really fun. The problem being, I have yet to figure out how to like part with them once I make them. So that’s a problem that I need to figure out.
What makes a good student?
I think a good student is someone who is really there to learn all the facets of the process and sort of jump in on the process, without being burdened by too many expectations. My biggest fear for students is that they’re going to come to workshops and say, I want this result. So often with atmospheric firing, you’re stacking variables in your favor and doing your best to interpret what that outcome you were shooting for is, but seldom is it that exact expectation.
Book
The Road Through Miyama by Leila Philip
Contact
Instagram: @asartoriusceramics