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Adam Field & William Duvall | Episode 734

Adam Field and William Duvall, both alumni of The Potters Cast, are back to the show to talk about their last three months of working together in Adam’s studio. William was looking to grow his skill level and Adam was looking for help in the studio… it was a match made in heaven! Listen in to the conversation to hear what their experience was like.

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Adam, when you are doing an interview do you have a set set of questions that you ask people before you bring them into your studio?

Adam: Sure. Yeah, you know it’s important for me to be on a phone call at a certain point if it gets, you know, through some email to where it’s like, Okay this might be a good fit. Then it really does come down to what are they hoping to get out of the experience and what are they bringing o the table in terms of foundational skills.

William, when you showed up there did you, after having spent three months there, was it a problem for you at all that you were living in the studio and at any time Adam is going to be coming in and almost breaking into your living space? (laughter) Was that ever an issue for you?

William: No, I wouldn’t say so. I mean, I guess by the end of it I was kind of sick of sleeping on an air mattress every night for three months and just like living in my workspace and the fact that I really…I mean you couldn’t get away from it. It was staring at you in the face. If you had a bad day or if you didn’t really have any where to go it was just kind of there. Which is a good thing. I mean, it was always on your mind and that is what this sort of experience needs is an intensive time where you are just spending it around clay and that’s definitely been a positive of it. But I guess in some aspects it was a little hard at times. But I wouldn’t have asked for it to be any different, for sure.

Adam, do you have a time frame that is the perfect time frame for how long a person should be doing an assistance-ship with you?

Adam: No, I don’t. I think it is a real case by case situation. There are so many variables as to what the individual is bringing to the table and there are a lot of logistics when people are coming from afar, and so a lot to consider. And that means it varies from one person to the next.

Was it ever an issue for you that every time you went out to the studio, there was someone is your studio? Did that ever wear on you?

Adam: You know it’s interesting because if the fit is right I really enjoy having someone around the studio. I have worked at a lot of communal studios in the 24 years that I have been making pots.

William: But I think by the end of it you probably wanted to have your own space at some point. (laughter)

Adam: Yeah, and I think there’s something to that. It was interesting, right after you left, it was like I binged on phone calls with people while I was working because it did feel like that can be an intrusion of the space when there are other people around. I would have phone calls for sure but you know, there’s phone calls and then there’s phone calls when there is not another person right there within ear shot.

What kind of work ethic does someone need to do something like this?

William: I think you really just got to be willing to take in everything. You can’t come in with any sort of precedence that you have any sort of skills or anything. I just came in just a blank slate and just soaking everything in. And I think that’s what you need. I have kind of had that with most of the jobs that I have had whether it be any sort of pottery thing or anything. I know that I don’t know anything. I mean, I did know some stuff, but I didn’t know anything and I am willing to learn everything. So yeah, I think that’s what it takes and just willing to put in the hours to be able to learn and not really think about the quantity that you are making and just think about everything that you are learning.

Adam, what do you see is strong necessity for a work ethic?

Adam: Yeah, I think William really said it quite well. Just the idea that you are willing to take on every task as a possible opportunity to learn. And that means really digging in and getting to work. It steps a little bit away from work ethic, but really wanted to point out like what William said about being that life long student. When I went to do my apprenticeship in Korea in 2008, I had been making pots for ten years. And I thought I was pretty great. (laughter) And I realized when I first set foot in there that I didn’t know a thing. And it’s like, Great there is a ton to learn. And of course, that foundational stuff you can plug in. Okay, I know how to shape a pot. That’s going to help me a whole lot. But all the other steps for this apprenticeship I didn’t know. So an open willingness to be a lifelong student I think goes hand in hand with the work ethic.

William, would you do it again?

Hell, ya. (laughter) Absolutely. I have learned more in these three months than I have learned in any classroom. Not to hate on any classroom I’ve been in at all. I just have never been more passionate about what I am doing than I ever have been.

Adam, when are you going to write a book on onggis?

That comes up quite a bit and you know, it’s interesting, I have actually been in some conversation with some really high level academics that are writing some amazing information on onggi. The conversations are such that, Okay that is the extremely academic side and my path in onggi was really kind of vernacular with my apprenticeship and so maybe there is an opportunity to combine the two. But I will say, stay tuned.

Book

A Potter’s Workbook by Clary Illian 

Contact

adamfieldpottery.com

etsy.com/shop/WilliamsPottery

Instagram:

@adamfieldpottery

@williamspottery