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

Joseph, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I think there are a great deal of nuances with feeling as if ones work is misunderstood or mischaracterized. It is easy for other poeple to see different things in what I make and express their own feelings, interpretations, or attitudes about my work that I don’t particularly resonate with. That does not mean they are less valid though. As a potter one of my main concerns is making functional work that is relevant to people today, so feedback and opinions from anyone is important to me. I don’t necessarily believe experts in the field of pottery are the only ones worth considering as important either, and the common person’s opinion is a valid as other professionals. With that being said I have often been told something about my work that suprised me. Just the other day I was approached by a woman who loved a vase I had made. As a antique dealer, it reminded her of the French jugs she would find for resale. She was surprised to find something that matched her aesthetic and I was also surprised to learn that the form and style I was creating was reminiscent of those shapes.

I rarely consider my work to be ‘misunderstood’ because I usually find it to be a positive experience that both parties get to learn from. There is one aspect of my own work that people often do not approve of though. Most pottery or ceramic art is signed, but I do not mark my work with any form of stamp or signature. For the most part I don’t want people to collect my work or cherish it so much as to not use it, so I forgo the signature so as to disuade buyers from valueing my pieces to a greater degree than I do. I also believe in the folk pottery tradition, which is similar to any folk art or craft in that it is made for the poeple and by the poeple, without any particular namesake or individidual identity that seperates it from the collective. Although I make unique objects, I would prefer they remain and be born from a collective identity that we all share. Not many people understand this concept or value it because it is unorthodox, especially within the craft as an art realm. This bothers me a great deal because it is very hard to have a conversation with someone who values individualism and ‘art’ as one and the same. They suddenly see me as unworthy of their time, and the discussion ends there.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I create functional pottery for peoples homes. I began throwing pottery in high school and decided to make it my goal to become a pottery and make a living doing it. Twelve years later I am still making work as I have explored numerous techniques and aesthetics, worked for many different pottery outfits, and challenged myself in a variety of personal and professional ways within the field of ceramics and otherwise. I make my own work under the assumption that it is folk pottery and that I strive towards making sustainable and authentic products that people can afford. I love working for other potters as well. Making their forms and learning their aesthetics is an important part of the process of learning for me, and there is always more to learn. I also do a significant level of commissions currently. Commission work takes me out of my comfort zone most of the time and I get to explore processes and styles I would not normally elect to do. Not many potters do commissions so I am filling a niche market, which is lucrative and challenging at the same time. I am most proud of my accomplishments with the way I think about ceramics and pottery today. I used to want to build a large production pottery business, but because I’ve had some really hectic experiences constantly trying to grow as a business, and through my experiences in Americorp, I have learned the importance of taking care of ones self and remaining small. It is easy to get caught up in the constant machine that is capitalism, and I have to make the choice every day to avoid the stress of constantly creating for others. I am proud to say I have come a long way in the mindset I have around being a creative, and although I have a lot of work to do in order to subvert what I think are real problems in our society while still doing what I love, I think am moving in the right direction. I want to create pottery that is valued for the energy that was put into making it. A sustainable, durable, and equitable form of creation that does not disenfranchise the environment or other people.

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

They can buy our work and/or support our process either monitarily or through providing affordable spaces and equipment. I have noticed that many non-profit art organizations or institutions do not actually provide meaningful benefits for artists when they claim to be supporting the arts. Much of what art and craft is drives our culture, and the economics of creation can inevitiably cause creatives and poeple in general to be co-opted by outside interest groups to gentrify neighboorhoods, be appropriative of cultures, and cause artists to lose the will to be artists. Obviously this a longer conversation that has a great deal of nuances I will not get into in this paragraph, but in my opinion artists and crafters get the short end of the stick.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I am unlearning the white colonial mindset I live in as a person and an artist. We are all artists and crafters trying to make a living doing what we have to do to survive as a human being, and that doesn’t have to involve the wealthy elite or endangering the planet and other people. The backstory to these goals is a long one road that continues forward. I am always learning new things through my experiences, and challenging my past actions and thoughts with a critical eye brought to me by honest people.

Contact Info:

• Website: josephmirandapottery.com
• Instagram: @joeycrafting
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-miranda-6a55195b/

Image Credits
Chelsea Gilmore: Black and White image of myself All other photos were taken by myself.