We were lucky to catch up with Bob Trevorrow recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bob, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

One of the things that fascinates me and keeps me engaged with ceramics is the fact that the learning never ends! The variations of the medium are nearly endless, giving me so much to explore, and new thoughts and ideas of how to create a new look or a more efficient way of handling the clay come to me organically as i work.

Starting out I took a informal class in wheel throwing and watched countless You Tube videos.
I would highly recommend this approach to people who want to make pottery without going to college for it. In person instruction is pretty vital when you first start out and all of the pottery making content online can expose you to some of many different ways to approach the medium and to different styles and techniques, literally from all around the world.

Pottery making is equipment intensive (and expensive). For me a major barrier to further learning is access to clay making and firing equipment that I can’t posses at my own studio. I can only work with what I have. Try to join a group studio with shared equipment or take classes from a school that has a nice set up before you start out on your own if possible.

Bob, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I make handcrafted ceramics either on the wheel or hand built. I sell wholesale, online and at occasional in person shows. This was a mid life career change for me, my background was in carpentry and fabrication.
I enjoy the challenge of special orders and I like working with my wholesalers on variations or new product ideas.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Art and music provide a richness to society and have value beyond the dollars and cents but artists still have to compete in our purely Capitalistic society with other more profitable businesses and individuals. This is sometimes a loosing battle as I have seen myself how the funky creative scene in the city I live has been replaced with a more moneyed culture. If artists can’t afford to be artists then there is no more art. Artists need financial support to be able to exist. Grants, studio space subsidies, cheaper housing. The affordability problem is a big one.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I completely don’t understand these, other than they are a high tech investment vehicle. I guess some might even be art, but if it makes you happy, who am I to judge?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bobtrevorrowceramics.com
• Instagram: @bobtrevorrow

Image Credits
photos by Bob Trevorrow