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100 in Review | Episode 800

The Potters Cast is 800 episode old!!!  In this episode we review the last 100 episodes of The Potters Cast.  Thank you for listening to the show. It truly means so much to me.

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PAUL BRIGGS- Episode 706

What does authenticity mean to you?

My first thought when you asked me the prior question was, that was the thought. That you still have to be true to your way of working. For me, I don’t think I was working authentically because for me that refinement was trying to be something, trying to cover up something, trying to project a particular image. I was trying to fit myself literally into one of the vessels that I was making. The work that I am making now, I had somebody talk about it one time, they said, Oh, there’s some virtuosity here. And I was like, Oh no, don’t say that, please. I think what you are seeing is fluency. There is a fluency with the material that is just unavoidable. I’ve been working with it for awhile so there is a fluency in the handling, but it’s not trying to be beautiful. I’m handling it that way. There’s a wonderful line from, here’s a good one, Paul, I am aging myself too, from Roger Rabbit. Jessica Rabbit is in this conversation and basically her answer to why she is going through whatever she is going through and why she is with Roger Rabbit, she says,  I am not bad, I am just drawn that way. (laughter)  So I just think  you know, I definitely wasn’t perfect. I’m not perfect and this work has been so freeing to me when I just let go of that perfection, even though as I said, I struggle with it. But some people will work that way and it’s authentic for them, to work in a very refined way and again we have to approach and love both, appreciate both.

JO BRIMBLE- Episode 712

As a former trends analyst, what do you see the trends of ceramics now that you are in a ceramic capacity and selling online? What are the trends that you see in the ceramic world?

I think ceramics has had such a renaissance, I guess, and I think that there are so many different layers of different trends and I think the most interesting thing is that there is a huge macro-trend for skilled, kink of like crafted items that aren’t mass produced and that have their own marks of hand-making. Because within that we obviously have the internet and digital-ness so everyone has gone back to the appreciation of more crafted things, like days-gone-by items. So I think that will continue to evolve and grow and I think ceramics within that is obviously really important. I think that is why we have seen this massive revival.

RYAN REICH- Episode 722

When tragedy hits is it okay to stop doing everything and just absorb the trauma of it all?

Yeah, to a certain degree but at the same time we, I mean me and my wife, we still had our kids and our dogs and we still had our jobs so as much as we were caught up in the tragedy there was still a part of it was like, life has to go on. So the first couple of weeks were really hard because we were in a Residence Inn. So it was like a hotel with a little small kitchen but our two big dogs are both full-size dogs and two crazy little boys and we had just gone through all this stuff…the first week was very primal in a way. It was very much like food, clothing, shelter. We need our basics. It happened early in the morning by 12 or so a neighbor had given us a ride to the rental car place, my wife went to Target, as much as it was, Oh this is a tragedy and traumatic. In the moment you have to just be parents and take care of our kids.

KRISTEN VAN PATTEN- Episode 737

Why do you think people are attracted to surface design?

You know I think that is a question that goes back thousands of years probably. Pottery for example, and I can’t answer it but it is something that potters have been lending themselves to and it is probably something the audience has been more drawn to. You know when potters first started putting patterns or animals on their pots those are the ones that people would buy. And so looking back a couple of thousand years even in history you will find ceramic works that have these various surface decorations on them. I think it is something that the artist probably starts to do to liven things up a bit and it is probably just something special for the audience. They see it as something that sets it apart and it puts more of the artist’s hand on it. I think that is a big part of it, it makes it a little bit more personal to the maker and people like to be able to connect to the maker.

TASHA RENEE- Episode 740

How is imposter syndrome different than being a fake?

Well, I know there is a saying, fake it til you make it.  And put on the confidence you don’t have and move forward, but I am not faking it. In the sense that, I kind of accept where I am at, and I move forward. And the imposter part is just like a part of me can’t believe that people like you would look at my work and go, Oh, it’s beautiful. So I think it boils down to value and worth and how I value my work. I don’t know if there has to be a huge difference, I could see someone also with that lack of value faking it to try and make sure that they continue to move forward in their business or whatever else they are doing. So I don’t think they have to be completely separate. But…I wish I could fake it a little more maybe. (laughter) It might make it a little easier on myself.

JOLENE HEWISON- Episode 757

Why is having a sense of wonder such an important part of creativity?

I think it is a motivating factor for me because there are so many different variables available in design and if you just change the matrix a little here and there you are going to get a different outcome and so I am just always thinking What if? and What if that happened? and What if I change that? and What if I added that thing over there with this? It is kind of following a rambling stream of little wonderings , I suppose. Just to see what happens at the end. It’s like an exploration and it’s interesting and it’s fun and it’s uncomfortable and I have always been drawn to processes which have elements that are out of my control because it is so much more exciting to open up the kiln or pull off the form work or whatever it is to see something you are not quite expecting. I love that.

GEORGE METROPOLOUS MCCAULEY- Episode 758

What makes good work?

Work that we made from within ourselves that’s honest, that is from the heart, and I can often look at work and tell where that comes from. To me it’s all from within. That’s philosophical, I can’t give you a picture, it’s philosophical.

How can someone say, This looks like good work but it isn’t?

I am going to tell you completely honestly, I don’t know how to answer that question. I wouldn’t do this publicly but on my own, if I see somebodies work I feel like I can tell where that work comes from. And often for me it’s about the way it’s made, what the emphasis is. For instance, if I see somebody says, When I make this bowl all I am thinking about the whole time is how green beans looks in it, or whatever it is, or the beauty of offering this plate for the beauty of food to be shared…well that work doesn’t look like it says that. So I make that determination based on what the work looks like.

DOUG RUBENSTEIN- Episode 771

If you were to describe your work in one word which word would you choose and why?

Presence. I think. Yeah, I am fine with that. Presence because if you are hungry and you sit down at the wheel, if you are preoccupied, if you are moving too quickly, you can say good-bye to whatever you make. I think my favorite thing about clay is that…if you look at a professional potter, for example, and the tools, the clay, the wheel, all of that, and you compare it to the set up of maybe a beginner might be using, they may be in many ways might be exactly the same…and in what I said before that clay keeps you humble, I am so entranced in the ways in which clay really keeps things so simple and very very, authentic. And presence is what is required to meet the clay wherever you want it to go, because it truly is a conversation.  I think that is why I am able to do it every day because it requires my presence.

IDO FERBER- Episode 788

Do you have to chase away the fear of failure when you are doing work like this?

No, not at all. I welcome it. There’s no fear of failure. That’s how good things come out. You fail and you fail and you fail and then in the end something works. You take that in and you try again. I think that’s actually the only way to develop is to fail. Things would probably be pretty boring if everything worked out all the time. Just yesterday I opened the kiln and it was like 90 percent failure. That happens sometimes.

SARAH RITCHIE- Episode 796

What was  a big challenge that you didn’t expect that you had to figure out?

The work-life balance because ultimately I can’t tease them apart because what I do I really enjoy, I really love so it doens’t feel like work. And when I am not working I am still thinking about things I want to do but that line is so blurred because you just end up in there all the time. Like I have done so many 12 or 14 hour work days back to back getting ready for a sale and even though that is something I am working to benefit myself and it’s something I am fulfilled by I have to constantly improve that and have some of my own personal time.  Because otherwise I forgo doing stuff with friends or my partner. I know there are points here I don’t get to see my family for really long stretches of time so I do have to break it up.