We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Arnav Reddy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Arnav below.

Arnav, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Going through school, my life was already on some type of set out path. My parents immigrated here from India and overworked themselves to better my and my brothers’ future, so there was some pressure to do well in school and focus on getting into college to ensure financial and professional success. When I first started ceramics, it was just a cool new skill or hobby that I was looking to learn, but during my junior year of high school I started pursuing it more. I would spend hours in the studio. It got to the point where I would give up my lunch and any free time I had to go create. My parents were obviously concerned about how much time I was spending on pottery, and they tried making cutting me back to focus on my studies. I took a risk and kept pursuing ceramics, despite what my parents warned me of, and I am so glad. Working in the studio relieved any stress or tension I had building up during the day. I think taking a risk and seeing that it ended up being successful, regardless of how small the risk was, changed the idea of risk taking in my mind. I was always a risk averse person, but seeing that jumping off into the unknown has only benefitted me has fundamentally changed my outlook on life. Taking that leap of faith in ceramics has helped me in all other parts of my life. That optimism and confidence is what triggered me to apply for jobs I would have never thought about doing before and even pack my bag and backpack through Europe for a month.

Arnav, 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 am a Nashville based potter, who specializes in wheel thrown, functional pottery. This is anything from cups and mugs to vases and plates, basically any pottery that you use. I always loved art and creating, but what drew me to ceramics was the tactile nature of the craft and the intersectionality of functionality and aesthetic. Most types of art are there simply to be viewed and admired, but with pottery you have the added challenge of making sure it works and works well. I also love how you can really easily see progress in pottery as well, like looking at a piece you made a year ago compared to one you make today you can see a pretty stark difference, and that probably dress is what pushes me to keep creating and moving upward. Right now I am primarily on Instagram, and have occasional shop launches on Etsy.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My only mission creatively is to ensure I never lose interest in my craft. And sometimes that means taking a break from pottery, or not selling or posting anything on Instagram for a while. I know what it feels like to get burnt out and completely lose interest in a hobby that you at one point loved. So for me, although improving my craft and growing my business are important goals I have, at the end of the day I need to ensure that ceramics is doing what I need in my life, which is improving my mental well being.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is definitely looking back on my work and seeing how far I’ve come. I love to cringe at my past work and think about how poorly I made something, because even if I feel like I’m in a creative rut, I immediately feel better about my current work because it is always better than something I produced in the past. It just reinforces that I have to just trust the process.

Contact Info:

• Website: arnavreddy.etsy.com
• Instagram: Arnavr_art
• Other: Email: [email protected]