Soda Without Soda and Wood Without Wood | Drew Herstam

Drew Herstam | Episode 1258

Drew Herstam is a functional potter based in Chicago, IL. Drew received a BA in studio art with a focus in ceramics from Goshen College in 2006. Drew is a former resident of Terra Incognito Studios in Oak Park, IL which also serves as his current studio.

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One of the things that I really appreciate about your approach to making is how much you take ceramics seriously. Seriously enough to say, I’m going to have this other gig to support this gig. My question is, why do you put that kind of value on your work?

I think the easiest way to say it is just that it’s really hard to stay away from what you love. I think people get a lot of different things out of clay. Oftentimes it’s described as a blend of art and science. And interestingly enough, nursing is too. But I think multiple people, or sorry, different people are drawn to different things within it, so some people might be drawn more to, some of the formal elements where they’re more interested in form, color, texture, and then other people get really sucked into glaze chemistry, firing process, all of that. And I think that I really appreciate both of those. But yeah, back to that initial answer, it’s really hard to stay away from what you love.

Does that mean that for your work that is a functional object, that it doesn’t have to become sculptural or conceptually complicated to be considered significant?

Yeah, I think that definitely the functional object can I mean, it serves multiple purposes, yeah. I think that ideally it’s as, it serves its function as it was created. I mean, it’s meant to be used, but at the same time, when it’s not in use, it can be a beautiful object. And so yeah, I mean, my work, I definitely, I try and blend those two ideas.

You’ve mentioned in the podcast that you like to have a little bit more control so that you like to allow the firing to participate in the work, but not to dominate the work. Would that be safe to say?

I did say heavy-handed. I might want to walk that back, but it can be. It can be. But I definitely, that process especially, and then also the way that I’m engaging it in like a reorganizer different way, it’s very much a conversation, I think, between the maker and the process itself. And so I do I guess I’ve kind of modified some approaches where I maybe want to speak a little bit more than the tool I’m using.

In your work I see the presence of your hand, but it doesn’t seem to become sloppy in terms of handling. How do you get that balance of presence without sloppiness?

That’s a good question. I actually so I really admire people who do work really loosely. And so I as I think about because my forms are really tight, but then I get loose with blaze. And so ideally, I, it’s trying to strike some sort of balance. You mentioned the finger marks though. I do, there’s a number of reasons why I like to use that. First of all, it’s like a loud and proud reminder that the piece is handmade. And then also I use it as a way to highlight certain characteristics of the glaze. and kind of what it does and how it handles so just in the fingerprint itself it will like it Like it kind of pulls up around there so you get the white that the Chino gives you when it’s thick and then around that then you get more of that gradient of the other ways that the color can respond and then also it drips so kind of similar in that and so it’s just kind of It’s me trying to show multiple looks of what that glaze can do all in one place.

It feels like what you end up doing is that you are somewhat embracing imperfections, but you’re not abandoning craftsmanship. Is that a difficult balance to maintain?

I think that’s a good summary of like certain ideas that I play with and try and highlight. But yeah, this is a difficult balance to… Yes. And I think in my own work, I mean, there are certain times where I feel like I might be pushing one further, a little too far, and then I, you know. might have to scrap an idea and kind of dial it back in. But yeah, balance is key. I think it’s really difficult to achieve, but it’s usually for rewarding when you can find a place of balance.

You mentioned just a moment ago the idea that sometimes that balance between the imperfection and the craftsmanship, that balance is sometimes pushed too far. What makes an object become pushed too far? What is the pushing that ends up getting it over the edge?

Well, so for me in my work, because I’m dealing with the ash glaze and it’s drippy or that kind of thing that I try and keep all those effects on the pot. If it runs off the foot and I have to grind it, then I consider it lost. So the That’s a specific example for me and how I work and my own work is that, yeah, if I, if I, I like to keep the bottoms nice and clean.