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Adam Chau | Episode 399
Adam Chau received a Masters in Design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His work combines digital technologies with traditional studio ceramics; recent writings on this topic include Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics Technical, and Studio Potter. He has lectured and demonstrated across the United States, including the NCECA Fablab. He has worked internationally, notably at Atelier Ted Noten in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. As a curator, he has produced exhibitions for Clay Art Center, The Clay Studio, and the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair.
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Where does creativity come from? Is it taught or is it inborn?
I think it is inborn but you have to teach someone how to access it.
How does one access their creativity?
I think it is research and small exercises that build to the bigger idea.
Somebody has said, perfect practice makes perfect, but is perfection something that an artist should be aiming for?
No, at least not for me at all. I think a lot of my mistakes that I have made actually turn out to be my best work.
In our social media generation we tend to post our highlights instead of our mistakes. Where do you tend to land in there? Do you like to post the whole story or do you like to post even the best of the failures?
I just had a conversation about this and what I do and this just happened naturally, I don’t know why. I usually post the more successful work on Instagram and on the Instagram story, that is up for about 24 hours, I usually post the failures.
How do you keep yourself from being overly comparative to other people on social media?
I stopped looking at how many followers people have once I realized that I have friends with under a thousand followers but they are selling out and I have friends with ten thousand plus followers and they don’t actually sell. Once I realized that I stopped caring.
For you, could you be getting the growth you are getting without social media?
No. It is absolutely intrinsic. I think maybe it’s because it’s a digital process it works well in the digital world, plus it’s so graphic. I attribute a lot of my growth to social media.
Why industrial and clay?
Because I think you can have the best of both worlds with mass production and one of a kind handmade work. It is one of the only materials that will accept both very well without compromising either.
Book
Abstracting Craft by Malcolm McCullough
Contact:
Instagram: @adamcharleschau