Doing The Known, But Being Unique | Lydia Johnson | Episode 507

Lydia Johnson | Episode 507

Lydia Johnson is a ceramic artist and designer who works full time in her studio in Manchester, Connecticut. Lydia’s work has been exhibited across the country at galleries such as The Clay Studio, Northern Clay Center, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Lillstreet Gallery, and Artstream Nomadic Gallery. Lydia was the recipient of the 2017 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission. This spring, Lydia will be a demonstrating artist at the Florida Heat symposium and showing work in Tokyo, Japan, and at the Architectural Design Digest show in New York City.

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In your work, how important is a slab roller?

So important. I don’t know, I guess that it is and it isn’t. I could roll slabs and I go the Shimpo slab roller which is has been great. I was able to buy it with a grant before I was hand rolling and the reason why it is important is only because of how thin I roll my slabs, it kind of helped me streamline my process a little bit because the more you hand roll the more even and quick you can get. But there is something about the slab roller that allows me to make a giant slab very, very thin. Even rolling on a slab roller there is a lot of nuance to it which can be frustrating. But hand rolling something like that is a lot more tricky. It takes a lot more time.

You said Instagram was a very public place. Do you feel like people are copying your work or have you seen that happen?

Yeah, I don’t know. I can’t think of anything I have seen where I think, That person is copying my work. I have taught a couple of workshops and so people are using the process in their own work, but that is how that goes. No big drama or anything yet on my end with that.

Now that you are teaching workshops do you have things that you hold back?

I probably say yes, but the truth is the actual process, I mean I guess the way I want to share what I do is much more than just the technique. Because the technique is actually incredibly straightforward. It is stenciling. I am stenciling in layers and stenciling in nothing new. I guess I am using it in a unique way. What I actually like to share more about is pattern development and thinking through ideas and talking about colored clay and things like that. It is more about empowering people with knowledge so they can apply to whatever way fits what they do now. Because honestly the way I work is not very fun , there is a lot of things I love about it, but it is not like, Let’s sit down at the wheel and throw and make some stuff. The way I describe it is 70 percent designing, cutting materials, and cutting stencils. So the actual process is straight forward, it is more about how do you take imagery and pattern and apply it to your own work.

How much loss do you experience when you are sending your cups through the kiln?

I experience more than I would like. I would say for every 40 I get out of the kiln I lose 6, something like that. Certain pieces will crack more that others just by the way I make them. What I have trouble with is just not having made enough of other things, like plates and bowls. I make some but I get more loss with them because I haven’t spent enough time learning about them. On Instagram, it is funny you can post pictures and no one knows that they are cracked. I pulled an entire load out at Christmas time of plates and platters and every single one of them was cracked. They were cracked horribly but you couldn’t see it from the pictures.

How much time from start to finish do you put into making a cup?

That is such a hard question because so much goes into getting to the end, but I would say at least an hour per piece. possibly an hour and a half. I am starting to get that question more and I don’t have an answer, but I would say about that much.

How do you go about mixing your clay?

I have a twenty gallon trash can on wheels and I mix my own clay body with raw materials. I actually have a really good system now. It took me about two years to get a system down that did not drive me nuts. So what I do now is I mix a big tub of liquid what based clay, and I have a chart that I reference all my colors. So let’s say I have 5 pounds of this liquid white and I want yellow, I look at the chart and it tells me how much stain to add to get yellow. It is probably way too boring to explain on the podcast, but it would be good in person. But I have a system now where it is as simple as that.

You mentioned your process is tedious and somewhat boring. So why do you do it?

So here’s the thing. I don’t know if I would call it boring. I would call it far from boring. It is intense in a silly way for me. I guess the way I work activates , I’ve got a strong right brain and also have a strong left brain, I’m balanced and just the ability to be playful and creative in the design phase and then execute the logical plan to make the stuff, I somehow find a lot of energy from that. In order to produce what I do I have to be very sharp in my studio. I need to get in there and figure it out and I think that is just my nature. Of course the bottom line, aesthetically and conceptually, this is the work I want to make and the work I envisioned.