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Emmanuel Emana | Episode 869
Having recently graduated from college, Emmanuel Umana is on his way to developing a new career in ceramics.
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Are you a planner?
Yes, I plan as much as I can.
Are you planning by breaking down goals into bit sized steps that aren’t too big?
I think it is great for me to have goals to try and set and meet but you know sometimes things unfold in a perfect way so our plan to do A, B, C, if B, C, comes first I’ll take it and if A can be achieved then I will do it.
That makes me feel like you are saying you love luck.
Yes. (laughter)
So how does luck come into play here?
I try to make my own luck. I try and seek things out. I try to talk to people and introduce myself. Sometimes you find that one hundred dollar bill on the floor, I don’t know, it’s just one of those things. You just find it.
You are doing the work of it and you’ve got plans. How important is patience?
It’s tremendously important. Especially for me, not just because I am a ceramicist but I’ve seen certain things in my life play out and I always say, Okay if I had patience this would have turned out the way it should have. The way I thought it would have. I just need patience. So my own experience is I take it and I say, I will be a patient person. You need to have patience. Even if it’s grueling and you are ready, just be patient.
How is being an artist playing into being realistic? Can the two go hand in hand?
Yes, it is doable. In an ideal world artists would love to create everyday but you have to take care of things. You have to take care of yourself, you’ve got to take care of your family, and you know what you need to do to take care of those things. Yes, we would love to make that one piece that just set us for life but until that piece manifests itself, take care of yourself.
When you are not in your studio what do you do for fun?
I am very much a homebody, even before the pandemic started I was always a homebody. I used to rarely go out to college basketball games but now I watch a lot of sports, just things like that. I just watched House of Dragons yesterday, Sunday. Yeah, that’s pretty much it right now.
Book
Amazing Glaze by Gabriel Kline
Contact
Instagram: @emmanuel_clayman