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Doug Rubenstein | Episode 771
Doug Rubenstein is a potter living in Northern California and is inspired by exploring the intersections between nature and people in his work. Prior to working as a potter full time, Doug was an early childhood teacher for 5 years in New York City and decided to focus on his passion for art in 2020 by starting his own small business, Fifth Season Studio, and moving back to the West Coast.
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How do you both plan for life even though it’s an explosive, out of control life? How do those two mesh in your mind?
That’s a good question. I think the first answer is, you know, the trope of taking one thing at a time. I think for somebody that is…for people that are creative and I think very emotional, it’s overwhelming to try and fit everything into a box and tackle everything in one fell swoop. So I think taking things slow and in manageable steps is the first part. But I think in conjunction and also as a second part of that I think it’s vital for you to find or to give yourself time to figure out the medium and voices through which you feel express yourself in your own body while being alive. And I feel I have definitely found where I can attempt that.
Do you have pieces that you regret releasing out into the world?
That’s a nice one. I had that feeling when I was painting more regularly. The process of painting was really difficult because it was almost like looking into a mirror. You are dealing with your own psychosis and whatever. (laughter) But as far as pottery, it’s difficult because you know they permanently exist afterward, until an elbow comes along and knocks them off the table. But they have all the ingredients to last forever, which I think is incredible and they are so quiet at the same time. But yeah, there are some that I don’t love very much but I definitely see them as markers of a time period and I love the science that they hold. They hold time and art and science in this quiet vessel in it’s own self. I really do appreciate that. So no, I can’t say that I regret any of them.
Do you ever have a hard time requesting your creativity to pay for life’s bills?
Definitely. Absolutely. And they are not. (laughter) I mean this is a really difficult situation to make a living from. And I think I don’t want to put a time limit on myself but I can’t do it forever if it’s not also sustainable. But I had to save up to make sure that I had money in the meantime to pay for things and money to take care of the day to day and luckily I am not a single person. I have my girl friend and we are living together and my family is close by if I needed them. So I am not surrounded by the abyss. I don’t feel like I am in the middle of the ocean on a dingy but at the same time I am definitely on a boat, but I can see the shore.
What’s one thing you are doing in the studio now that’s got you really excited?
Well, to be honest, I am in the process of moving because we have a new place and I was working in my sister’s garage. My sister and brother-in-law had a little garage space they weren’t using so I set my studio up there and I have a proper space I am setting up now. So I haven’t actually been able to throw for like a month. Which feels awful. But the thing I am working on weekly, I do a live stream on Reddit once a week and I throw pottery blindfolded and that is something that is my favorite way to end the week but it’s also a wonderful way to share my work with people. And at the end of the month I do a free giveaway of something that I made blindfolded. I am so excited about it because it connects people and it’s such a wholesome feeling to be able to share with lots and lots of people and it really makes me feel good and it makes them feel good and in the midst of all that I can’t control I am always excited about that.
If you were to describe your work in one word which word would you choose and why?
Presence. I think. Yeah, I am fine with that. Presence because if you are hungry and you sit down at the wheel, if you are preoccupied, if you are moving too quickly, you can say good-bye to whatever you make. I think my favorite thing about clay is that…if you look at a professional potter, for example, and the tools, the clay, the wheel, all of that, and you compare it to the set up of maybe a beginner might be using, they may be in many ways might be exactly the same…and in what I said before that clay keeps you humble, I am so entranced in the ways in which clay really keeps things so simple and very very, authentic. And presence is what is required to meet the clay wherever you want it to go, because it truly is a conversation. I think that is why I am able to do it every day because it requires my presence.
Book
Experience and Education by John Dewey
Contact
Etsy: FifthSeasonStudioCo
Instagram: @dougierubes