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Shikha Joshi | Episode 858
Shikha Joshi is a studio potter based in Round Rock, Texas. Born and raised in New Delhi, India, Joshi learned ceramics through community classes and workshops in the US. Joshi likes her pieces to be used, and aspires to make work that brings joy to people’s daily lives.
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What clay body do you use and how long did it take you to find that perfect balance of clay that you were looking for?
When I ordered clay from different vendors I was looking for speckled clay because I was trying to get iron spotting. I tried a bunch of clays. The last clay I tried was a black clay body and that hit the spot. The tests were amazing and it’s been my clay body since 2005, I believe. Since then I haven’t changed it.
During that time of experimentation what has one of the most frustrating things that you just couldn’t quite get over the hump with?
I was used to the buff body turning toasty in a reduction 5 kiln, right, so I couldn’t understand that it doesn’t turn toasty. I would bring these buff bodies and they would stay buff and I have no background in understanding about glazes and I’m completely baffled. It took me a while to understand that I need to change the color of my clay. If I want dark, just go with a dark clay body. So to get to that understanding took me awhile.
What’s one thing that you are most proud of that you do now?
You mean in terms of what I make?
Yes.
If you see on my Instagram feed there is one piece that I created for GeoLogic which was an exhibition in New York, and so the is called Weathering, it’s just a very…it took me a couple of months to come up with that surface through experimentation. It was a completely new technique that I tried and for now, at least, I am really proud of that. I cannot promise that six months later that will be the case.
Do you feel like you are an outsider? Do you ever feel like you have imposter syndrome?
So I think I credit the clay community for, because I have always felt very, I felt insecure about my own self because I don’t have knowledge and I don’t know what I am talking about, I don’t know what I am doing, for the most part I am just going in blind. I have such an amazing group of ceramic friends now and they lift me up. Every time I feel like an imposter they raise me. So I think they have helped me so much. These are people who are professors and they say, You are fine. You are just fine. And they have given me so much confidence that I think for now I think I have gotten over that hump.
How did your show at Companion Gallery come about?
I was invited for a pop up with Companion in 2018 at NCECA. And I was supposed to show with them for a day and I go there and I meet Eric and we become friends. And the rest is history. We just become such good friends, he’s been encouraging me, just doing everything for me, so it’s all Eric.
When did you realize ceramics had morphed into a career?
I think about the time, maybe 2009 onwards when I was embraced by the Texas ceramic community and shows started happening on their own. I started to get invited to things without much effort things started working out and I found myself spending more and more time doing this. I think I realized that this is going to be more than a hobby, this is going to be serious. So I would say right around 2008-2009 was the first glimmer of this.
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Instagram: @potterybyshikha