Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Isabel Glatthorn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Isabel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

From a really young age, maybe 4 or 5, I have always been drawn to clay. I remember the elation of being told that it was “clay day” in art class in elementary. I remember vividly the peaceful moments in childhood getting to sit with clay in my hands in various art classes. I thought clay studios were the height of coolness.

In high school, I had the luck of getting into the “ceramics 1” elective as a freshman, and from there I ran with it. I had an amazing teacher at my public high school in Connecticut. She knew that I had a special love for ceramics, and we became very close over the years. She challenged my skills and put me in the way of summer internship opportunities, juried gallery exhibits, and even invited me to make a piece for her NCECA exhibition my senior year. Highschool was where I really got my ceramics education, and my throwing skills snapped into place throughout those four years.

Clay studios have been a safe place for me to explore my creativity and myself. I went to the University of Texas at Austin planning on majoring in Fine Art and focusing on clay- but my freshman year the school defunded ceramics in favor of a 3-D printer. After ugly crying in the guidance councilors office, I switched directions and tranferred into the Stan Richards school of Advertising, and studied creative advertising.

I decided to continue my work in ceramics while working as a graphic designer for a tech company after graduation. I took a wheel throwing class at Laguna Gloria, and then another and another. It was like riding a bike. I met so many amazing potters and remembered how much i loved clay.

I was 26 and I decided that I wanted to be a full time potter. I learned how to make glazes at East Side Pot Shop while working as a studio assistant. I learned about production pottery working with Keith Kreeger, an amazing local potter who produces beautiful pottery for restaurants. I learned how to maintain a personal studio space and how to get wholesale orders from Ryan McKerley as well as from many other generous potters over time.

I learned everything I know about pottery for other potters working or teaching in many different studios over a combined 11 years. I’ve had my own studio now for about 4.5 years, and now I get to have people who want to learn come help me with my production work! In my experience, learning a craft has to come from #1, a strong pull towards working with your the medium, and #2, getting in touch with people who are already doing it and showing up to help them. I have learned so much this way, and continue to call on my clay friends when I come up against problems that need solving. Clay is a community craft, and im so grateful to everyone who has helped me along the way.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Isabel Glatthorn, a 30 year old ceramic artist living and working in ATX! I started my business, Soul Matter Studio, in 2018, and have created a myriad of different projects over the years. I have a peaceful pottery studio down town where I make wheel thrown functional ware, hand-built sculptures, and develop my own glazes.

My clay work is largely inspired by the soothing colors and textures I see in nature. I’m currently finding insight in the Texas hill country, the shades and textures of sandstone and shale, the turquoise waters of the rivers and springs. Much of my work is thrown on the wheel, and I’ve always been moved to pair elegant forms with glazes that evoke the natural world. I like simple and pleasing and calming, and I want my pots to make you feel those things.

Some of my projects that stand out as personal favorites include a collection of large black and green vases that sit in the windows at Uchiko, sculptural goddess vases and temmoku sake bottles in the rooms at The Commodore Perry Estate, and an amazing ongoing partnership with Nova Hospitality, making serving dishes, decorative pieces, mugs, cups, and more for their restaurants (including Ten Ten, The Well, and Devil May Care). I love working with creative restaurant teams to make their presentation dreams come true.

In addition to making pottery for hospitality and events, I also am constantly making functional work that inspires me. I’ve made many sets of plates, bowls, cups, mugs, incense burners, serving bowls for people’s homes. I participate in pop up markets, make custom dish ware sets or special projects for people, and sell my work on my website, Soulmatterstudio.com.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are so many rewarding aspects of living a creative life. It’s certainly not always easy, and it is a choice to forgo the stability of working for a company that provides benefits, a salary, and more. I always come back to the certainty that it is worth it because I truly enjoy what I do every day with my time, and that is a major blessing. I get to go down the rabbit hole of my craft with each passing week- making glazes, making pots, learning to fire them well, small techniques… There are so many ideas that come through to explore for years to come, and I know that I will always be fulfilled by the journey of making and learning. It is a joy to make things that come in peace and bring beauty into peoples lives, and it is a joy to move through the process as I move through my life.

I get to play many different roles beyond just making pottery that challenge and propel me forward to the next thing. Getting better at these different roles required in creating a lucrative business is a constant work in progress. Knowing that I will continue to get better, refine my ability to make beautiful things, and manage to sell them effectively is a never ending source of motivation. It’s nice to know that there is time and space for all of that to develop, and I find that those same principals extend to the way I live the rest of my life as well. Making things is a master class in making peace with myself.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think that we are all creative people, and the ones that go on to become artists as adults tend to have had exposure to the arts, opportunities, lessons and positive feedback as children. It’s so important to surround children with opportunities to make things so those with a passion for the arts can learn in a low pressure environment. Therefore, supporting kids by creating chances for them to learn is really important in my opinion.

Supporting the arts as adults feeds the crafts themselves. There are lots of ways that you can support artists in your community. If you have a space for it, create an event for artists to show their work in an affordable and mutually beneficial way. If you have a business, offer to trade your goods or services with an artist who’s work speaks to you. Participate in the trade economy. Go to shows for fun and buy people’s work, or share it on social media. Talk about local artists you like with your friends. If you have abundance, see how you can share it with the creatives in your life, and receive the good stuff in return. Decorate your home with special things that are meaningful to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: soulmatterstudio.com
• Instagram: @soul.matter.studio
• Facebook: Soul Matter

Image Credits
Emily Sousa, Lauren Walden