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Lea Sagman | Episode 918

Lea Sagman is a translator and a potter. While on a vacation to Greece Lea, her husband, and friends, each said what he would like to do after retirement – Lea’s dream was to become a potter. Two years passed before she took the first pottery class and was immediately hooked. What started as a hobby gradually became an important part of Lea’s life. Pottery is at times comforting, at times frustrating, at times therapy – always fulfilling.

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How many hours a week do you work as a translator?

Between 30 to 40 hours a week.

How many hours a week do you dedicate towards your making?

Each week I have one day that I do pottery, not at home. I do it in an art center and we do pottery for about 8 hours and then a few hours during the weekend.

Are you a goal oriented person in terms of your making? Do you set goals of what you want to make?

I do set goals. I don’t always keep them. (laughter) Because when I try to learn something new I do set the goal and I do the work that I want to do but then sometimes I see something else. I see something that I didn’t plan to do but it’s more interesting or it looks more interesting than what I do. So I can’t say that I am totally goal oriented but I do try to set some goals.

Does having pieces in different stages, does that keep you motivated to be out in the studio? Like you have greenware that has to be trimmed, you’ve got bisqueware that has to be glazed, does that help keep you motivated?

Yes also but not only. Sometimes I just feel the need in my hands to go to the studio and work at the wheel. So this also can be good motivation.

How about friendships? Do you have a group of people that you make with or you tell your stories of what you are doing?

Of course. Like I said, once a week I go to the art studio and it’s always the same day and always with the same people. In my group we are about fifteen potters working simultaneously if you like.  So we exchange ideas and we help each other and there’s also a teacher and assistants, so if we need help with some idea that we want to do, there is always someone to ask. And there’s always someone who corrects us when we don’t do it correctly. So yes. And also I have other potter friends with whom I can talk and exchange ideas.

Do you ever get maker’s block?

I do. I do, sometimes weeks can go by and I don’t enter my studio. Or I go to the art center and I sit at my wheel and I don’t know what to do next. I don’t battle with this feeling. I accept it and then it goes away. There’s always times when you think, Maybe I am not a potter, I wasn’t meant to be a potter. Maybe I don’t want to make anymore pots. But then clay calls me back and I get back to the wheel and back to throwing.

Book

Saggar Firing in an Electric Kiln by Jolanda van de Grint

Contact

Instagram: @lea_sagman