Developing The Creative Mind | Zoey B Scheler | Episode 711

Zoey B Scheler | Episode 711

Zoey B Scheler (b.1989) is a ceramic artist working and living in Canon City, Colorado. Zoey makes one of a kind, small scale abstract ceramic sculptures and functional vessels. Zoey works with white stoneware, porcelain, colored porcelain and non-ceramic materials. Zoey attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where she received her BFA with an emphasis in ceramics. Following her studies in Brooklyn she attended Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, obtaining her MSED in K-12 Art Education. In 2017, Zoey received her MFA from Purchase College SUNY where she was an Adjunct Art and Design Graduate Professor. Zoey was the Rittenberg resident artist at Clay Art Center in Port Chester, New York from 2017-2019. Zoey continues her studio practice in her home studio in Colorado as well as teaches ceramics to all ages of makers.

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Is it accurate that if you want to be creative you have to tap into the right side of your brain or is it better to tap into both parts of the brain, that analytical and the creative?

I think it’s so important to have both engaged. I really do. It’s not necessarily that it comes out so cut and dry that this is the creative and this is the analytic, but just being able to recognize that as you are making and creating you are not necessarily thinking in the same way. My brain, I feel, is always functioning but it’s functioning slightly different depending on what it’s doing but they are always affecting one another. Whether that means the calendar I keep, I draw a calendar in my sketchbook, so my sketchbook for the year has a calendar in the front of it, but everything in it goes with that year. That to me feel analytic but it informs the creative part of my work so much and allows me to let go and that balance I think is key to be a successful creative in any way, writing, drawing, painting, singing, whatever it is. I think that balance is very critical.

How does the thirst for input influence the output?

I think that there is so much that comes from conversation and engagement and questions being asked and people seeing things differently.You making it and being engaged and having that moment to step away and have other people’s opinions or responses or reactions allows you to see things differently. Sometimes stepping away and having someone else’s input really helps you see it more broadly.

Do you think talking things through with yourself helps you to find your creative expression a little richer?

I think so. I think I am not necessarily conscious that I am doing that but I think that every time that I start a new small body of work, I think that even if I am not aware that I am having these internal conversations of what’s successful and what’s not, I do think is critical to growth, I just don’t think I am necessarily aware that it is happening.

Do you use triggers to put yourself into the creative mindset?

A little bit. In the morning I will come down and sometimes I do it at night, I will neaten up. I like to have a neat, clean area to start up. I will sweep a little, I will organize my tools, I will get my fresh water, and that moment of cleaning and organizing I think does put me into the space of now it’s time to make. I truly believe I wake up everyday and I don’t have a choice. I have to be making. I have to be using my hands. It’s really what drives me.

Do you find that when you hit a “block” that taking a break brings a solution?

I think it can. I always feel that it is important to not let that consume me, so even if I am feeling a little burnt out I will usually try to do something anyway. To spark it in a different way, whether it’s throwing couple of mugs just knowing I am not going to carve a new pattern and just not feeling so much pressure to make something new but making something I am familiar with and that I enjoy doing. So I am doing the making I need which in turn brings me back to that creative space and the ability to start new.