MudTalk Podcast - Pottery, Ceramics, Business

001 Why Clay? - MudTalk Podcast

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Welcome to the MudTalk Podcast!

The goal of this show is to share as many different opinions, perspectives and thoughts as possible. Each episode will cover a different topic related to pottery and ceramics.

If you want to share your thoughts on the MudTalk Podcast, go here and leave an audio or written message.

In this first episode, we’ll hear why it is so awesome to work with clay.

Unfortunately, since this was my first ever podcast episode, the sound quality is beginner-level. Don’t worry, things get better in future episodes!

Transcript:

Welcome to the MudTalk Podcast. My name is Brandon but you can call me Fuzzy if you prefer. This is the first episode. It could be one of many or the one and only. We’ll see how it goes.

Since it’s the first episode, I’m going to give a bit of an introduction. First of all, what am I doing? Basically, I’m reading through some of my favorite comments in the MudTalk Monday discussions. If you aren’t familiar with MudTalk Monday, you can follow Pottery Making Info on social media. Every Monday, or every other Monday, I’ll put up a question or prompt to provide an opportunity for others to share their thoughts or stories about clay and clay-related topics. I have been delightfully surprised at the quantity and quality of the response.

Okay, so why am I doing this? For one reason, it scares me out of my socks. I hate talking in front of people. In fact, I try to avoid talking as much as possible. I’m way more comfortable writing. So I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone and grow as a person. I’m also doing it as a way to help spread the word about another project I’m working on. More on that later. And lastly, I’m just trying to do something that will make the clay community a little bit better.

So, why a podcast? I’m always looking for things to listen to while I’m working with clay. And I wish there were more pottery specific podcasts. I also discovered it’s not as hard as I thought – I was recently listening to a guy do these 5-10 minute podcasts as he was driving in his car. So I thought: I can get out this $10 mic I’ve had for at least a decade and plug it into my 7 yr old laptop and lock the kids out of my clay studio for a little while and probably end up with something that is at least as good as somebody else out there. Don’t expect anything fancy- probably not a lot of editing. No fancy intro music. Probably no guests in the near future. But one thing that I’m trying to remember and apply to my work is “done is better than perfect.” I’m just getting it out there and then I can make improvements as I go.

So, with all apologies to the names that I will now skewer, let’s get started.

The first MudTalk Monday question was pretty basic: Why clay? I try to leave these as vague and open-ended as possible to encourage a variety of discussion. There were a lot of great responses and a handful of themes started to emerge. I’ve sorted the responses into 6 categories:

Tactile nature of clay
Unpredictability and variety that clay offers
Functional and practical uses for objects made of clay
Ancient practice / from the earth
Feelings / therapy / expression clay offers
Miscellaneous

Let’s start with responses that mention the tactile nature of clay.

Tactile/Touch/Feel

Notleann15: I like clay because it’s all tactile. The making, the product… it’s all about how it feels.
Claybylaura: Touch. it’s the tactile nature of clay that keeps me coming back for more.
Marilu.melange: I love all the different textures, when the clay is smooth and muddy, when you add water, when it gets dry and hard and you are able to shine the object, this is like meditation to me and in the end strong, hard, and cool – nearly unbreakable…..
Nboldenart: it’s magical. i take a ball of soft malleable mush and manipulate it to realize whatever it is i’ve imagined. it’s also fragile and ephemeral once finished. the tactile sensation is the greatest therapy i’ve ever experienced.
Lisavalley: I love the tactile quality of the material. Working with clay provides quiet and focused time and allows me to create something real, away from the computer.

Unpredictable Nature/Possibilities/Variety

Dowidat.ceramics: Clay offers the diversity. It can become personal, influential to others how a sculpture is interpreted or how a mug touches your lips. I love creating from sculptures to now my functional works and there are very few days that I set in my studio and wonder what I will create next because the possibilities are so endless.
Grace.your.table: It has so many applications and is more reusable than other mediums. It’s so elemental and innately satisfying.
Laurie.landry.pottery: Clay is humbling. It’s been my life for the last seventeen years. Yet, I barely know what I’m doing. Clay continues to challenge. It never bores me. Its possibilities multiply daily. I’ve only just scratched the surface!
Katthepotter: Each piece is a journey. You start with an idea and the elements of nature each have their parts in the direction you travel to the finished piece. And so many changes can happen along the way. And I love to play in dirt!
Ash.fro: Building your own canvas (of which the possibilities are endless) on which you can implement so many forms of expression through various techniques to answer the call of creativity!

Functional/Practical

Piperpottery: I love all the media, and I would love to be able to draw or paint, but the wheel came naturally to me. It’s also a way to make functional pieces. As much as I love art for art’s sake, it appeals to my sense of minimalism to have a beautiful and useful object in my home.
Zombiecazz: I really had to think about that. I do lots of different crafts, but I think Clay is my favourite because it’s useful. I hate creating clutter or stuff and with Clay I produce useful. Sometimes with other media I think “am I just producing something else to clutter this world and gather dust”. I rarely feel that about clay.
Studio2ceramics: Clay is real. When I’m at my day job, all I do is write and read emails about emails. But in the studio, I’m doing something real, grounding, and practical.
Dirtkickerpottery: Because with clay, I can contribute something beautiful and useful to the world.
Heathermlee: Because it’s a melding of science, nature and artistic expression from which you can make something beautiful and useful.

Ancient Practice/Of the Earth

Freedazi: To escape from the boring modern life… To feel like our ancient ancestors.. to concentrate… To feel like giving birth to a child…
Waysideclare: Because it’s from the earth and an ancient art. You can escape all mundane or stressful thoughts and explore your imagination. And because it’s unpredictable and anything can go right or wrong or become a happy accident:)
Pottrygyal: it is as eternal as the earth itself, and yet can be as fragile as dust. Clay is beautiful and demanding; it demands complete attention, patience, and discipline which nourishes the soul of any practitioner and offers invaluable perspective on life.
Val.cassandri: Because it connects me with earth, with myself, energy and the rest of the world. It makes me feel part of nature!
Jacqui shrimpton: Working with clay is primal. It’s pure creation; intuitive, instinctive and meditative.

Feeling/Therapy/Expression

Kimwanless: It takes me to a place that has no name. Where hours disappear – where my mind empties – where my hands just unconsciously Create – where my heart is contentedly happy.
Evilknowlesyou: I work in customer service all day- and it can be quite mentally draining. The feel of the clay and how it responds(and sometimes doesn’t) helps melt the stress. It is a mediation and the hours disappear.
Nicoleshankspottery: It is a true place of meditation. It helps keep you focused, humble, and happy.
Tarihuffaker: Clay is great therapy. It has saved my sanity (unless this is what it feels like to be fully “over the edge”) I maintain that it is impossible to center clay until you get centered yourself.
Pinezenpottery: I love the sensual nature of clay–feeling its silky smooth surface run through my hands. When I’m in the flow of making with clay, all else drops away and I feel present and grounded.

Other/Stories

Barrelmakerpottery: Process, process, process… always room for improvements.
Terraforms: The transition to clay was a reluctant one for me. I began my exploration of functional wares in glass, but after the birth of my daughter, I quickly found that I didn’t have the time or money to continue down that path. So I started throwing and pinching. I was bitter about it at first… but then, almost all of the sudden, I discovered I was in love with the material and process. The responsiveness the physics… clay was just like glass, but more sensual. And here I am, 4 years later, learning new things every day, and tremendously happy.
Aquafreako: It’s dependent on your energy and responds accordingly.
Zeldalune: it requires moments of centeredness
Karen.brinsn: The smell of earth, the beauty of skin, the love of form and it just seems to center and simplify my focus.

Favorite Responses

Markterrywoodfireartist: More than merely an ancient medium, clay is at the very root of civilization. Humankind’s discovery of the relationship between clay and fire is the beginning of scientific inquiry, technology and settlement. One can devote their life to working with it and never more than scratch the tip of the mountain of its history and possibilities. More important, for many of us, working with it satisfies something deep in the innermost being.
Rainstormworks: It’s the most contradictory medium. It’s functional and decorative. It’s manageable and unpredictable. It’s simple yet takes skill. Primitive and technical. Ancient and avant-garde.