Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Stephen Phillips | Episode 647
Stephen Phillips was born August 2, 1988 and raised in the small town of Crawford, MS. His pursuit for ceramics began when he attended EMCC. He received his B.F.A. in ceramics from MUW in 2013. In 2015, Stephen established Stephen’s Potter House Productions, a small studio space in his hometown.
SPONSORS
You can help support the show!
Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com
For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com
Why do you think that a hope and dream book works?
For me I think it works because it gives you something that you can go back and look at, you can pinpoint where you are in your progress. You can record your goals and stuff like that and then you can write goals that are measurable and when you write those goals that are measurable then you can give yourself a little celebration or something once you start achieving the different things that you have written down. At the end of the day, once you have achieved those goals you can go back and look and see what you written down and that to me is a testimony to what you have planned once that thing is manifested.
You said the first thing is that it works because it becomes measurable.
Yes.
The second thing is you also said that being specific is really critical.
Yes, you have to make sure that some of the things that you are planning on doing are very specific to what you are trying to reach for. The reason why I say that is because you have to be able to be honest with yourself about what your passions are. You have to know what your purposes are so that you can not only just do it for yourself but for those to come. For instance, for me, in my community there are a lot of other different people who look up to me and so when I am writing my stuff down and I am achieving that stuff I am not just doing it for me but I am doing it for somebody else because I am actually laying a pathway for somebody else to be able to come in and then do what I did. That way if I want to pass those things on it is already written down. It is almost like an outline of something that you can pass on to somebody else so they can follow behind you and what you have done.
When you made your hope and dream book did you find inspiration in magazines and things like that and cut out pictures to add to the book?
I didn’t cut out pictures but what I did, I have a binder so I would collect magazines and books and stuff like that and the there are some things I may write down in reference to a certain book or magazine or sometimes the website. I would write it down and place it in there so I can actually go back and look at it.
Why is inspiration an important part of the hope and dream book?
Like the pictures and stuff?
Yes.
It is important because you get a vision. It helps you see what you are trying to see in the end. Your final goal is not tangible or it’s not seen but the pictures and the images kind of help you create a silent imagination of what things will look like once your end goal is met.
So it’s really trying to help you see a different future. A shaped or a crafted future. Correct?
Yes. Most definitely.
Did you go back and refer to it regularly?
Yes. So I would go through regularly to refer back to different things. One of the things I used to do , I looked up different wheels when I got ready to actually purchase my large Shimpo Whisper, I looked up different wheels and different prices and everything like that and so once I realized which wheel I wanted I wrote it down. And then I would write down different websites that I can go back and reference to that specific wheel and then that way I would watch prices to see who is going to have it cheaper and everything like that. So I am constantly checking to see who is going to run a sale, do they have coupons, or anything like that. When you are doing those type of goals then you are going to have to have some consistency and checking on it and going back and looking at it.
Did you share your vision board or hope and dream book with anybody else or was it completely private?
I did. I shared it with a few family members. One was one of my cousins, he had a building, like a metal building built, so I shared it with him and I showed him my sketch of what I wanted and he talked about different places I could go look into to actually get into the building that I wanted or having the building I wanted built. And of course I talked to my mom about it, my mom, she could tell you I have a lot of hope and dreams of stuff in my hope and dream book and she says, One vision at a time. Focus. (laughter) So yeah, mostly my mom. I talk to her about it all the time and my sisters and brothers.
When I go through your feed on Instagram there seems to be an Asian feel to your vases. Where do you get that from?
My vases, one of my ceramics teachers, Ian Childers, I love watching him throw different vases and stuff like that and so I love classical forms already and then being able to have somebody like him of his caliber really creating these really beautiful, round curved pieces. So I try to pattern myself behind him a little bit. And then of course I do look at other different pottery people and stuff like that. Classical forms are having always been my go to with curves and stuff like that.
Book
Contact
Etsy: StephensPottersHouse
Instagram: @sphouseproductions