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Tania Rustage | Episode 755
Tania Rustage’s pottery adventure started in sunny South Africa, as a hobby. Before she knew it, Tania was ‘mesmerized by mud’ and turning it into wonderful works of Decorative Art and Functional Wares, which she refers to as ‘Clay for display & Everyday use’. Tania’s work has a variety of finishes, from glossy glaze to distressed and whimsical, and the sculptural work all tells a story, starting with a title to a finished piece. Tania enjoys making this Fun & Whimsical Work, & adding a touch of attitude, with strong attention to detail and precision.
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Is it important for you to play with various styles for you to find that happy medium of a voice that kind of going across all the pieces that you are doing?
I enjoy the industrial work that you were saying and I think I enjoy that even more, I just don’t know how to put the two together to be totally honest, the glaze part and the structural part…you know, the industrial part.
Are you still playing with other new things that you want to learn, new styles?
Not right now. Usually what happens when you are in a studio you get lonely and bored because you talk in your own head, so that is when I go back to college, just to be with people again. And then I new learn things because having assignments makes you try new things. That’s more when I would try new ideas and something might stick.
What gets you excited right now in the studio?
I don’t know. I have never been asked that, to be honest. I enjoy playing around. I enjoy detail and I always think I shouldn’t be doing such small detail and everything and people love it but I like detail. And I am also know for how smooth my pieces are, I think I mentioned that to you, little details like that people when they pick up a mug for instance they always feel the bottom of a mug. It is just a habit which most potters do. I am very aware of little details and precision.
What has you challenged in the studio right now?
Getting out of my head.(laughter) Nothing to do with the art. Because we can multitask….so your head can be somewhere else, thinking of things all the time, while you are busy doing the actual creative side, but I don’t know if there’s a challenge. I haven’t thought of it to be honest with you.
What is one skill you which you could go back and add to your clay making?
Funny enough, what I find is…some people have…I mean, I have a good friend of mine who does very loose work and I love it. I gravitate to that but if I try to do loose work it looks forced. If that makes sense. My work is very tight and everything has a place. Whereas I like the loose look. You know, that real carefree…it just happened and it’s natural, but it’s not natural when it’s not in you.
You mentioned that your husband is a mechanical engineer. Have you ever applied his skills to your art?
Not really. Sometimes if I need something made then he might draw it in 3D so that I can see how it works, purely as how the shape will form, but we don’t do it a lot.
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Instagram: @taniarustageceramics