We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maria Hernandez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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.

I took my first art class and my first ceramics class in college. It was really intimidating and sometimes frustrating to be working alongside people who had more experience than me. I would be learning the basics and making mistakes while my peers were making amazing pieces. I put in a lot of hours outside of class and asked for a lot of help from my professors, and by the time I graduated I was one of the top in my class.

As far as ceramics go, one thing I did to improve and could still do to improve even more is spend time on the pottery wheel. A majority of my pieces are made on the wheel, so it’s important to put the time in to work on my skills. Sometimes that’s working on precision or speed, and sometimes it’s maker bigger and more complicated items. There is always a way in which my skills can be improved, so spending time on the wheel is really important.

When it comes to throwing on the wheel, knowing the fundamentals is extremely important. Taking the time to focus on skills like centering, pulling, and trimming are essential for making finished pieces. By knowing the fundamentals, it makes it easier to create the pieces you envision.

Since a lot of my work is skill-based, one of the obstacles I face in learning more is just finding the time. Being an artist and a small business owner, I wear a lot of hats. From social media management, product photography, admin work, and more, it can be hard to carve out time to sit on the wheel not to create work but to practice. There are workshops from time to time that I participate in, and they help me develop my skills as well.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a ceramic artist and owner of Sunflower Ceramic Studio. A Houston native, I currently make work out of my studio in East Downtown. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with a Ceramics Concentration in 2017 from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas.

I’ve always wanted to learn and do art growing up, but I never got that opportunity until college. When I took my first ceramics class, I fell in love with how tactile the medium was and how there is room for creativity during every step of the ceramic process.

After earning my art degree, I gained a lot of experience as a studio assistant in various production and teaching studios in Texas. With that knowledge, I was well equipped to start and run a studio of my own.

Sunflower Ceramic Studio’s main focus is to combine the subjects of Math and Art. These two seemingly contradictory subjects have a lot in common, and through my work I want to show that Math can be just as creative and inventive as Art.

As a business owner, I create functional dinnerware for my customers. I have a product line that focuses on bright colors and simple forms. Since color brings joy to my life, I wanted to share that feeling with this dinnerware line. Having a yellow side bowl or a pink mug makes the experience in the kitchen or dining room brighter and playful. I also have a new collection that focuses more on surface design. In this collection you’ll be able to see bowls and platters with Math imagery like grids or Spirograph flowers. These pieces are more unique and one of a kind.

As an artist, I take a different approach to combining Math and Art. Rather than viewing them as academic subjects, I view it more like logical and emotional points of view competing with each other. It can also be seen as choosing to think with your head or your heart, and how ultimately scenarios usually call for a little of both. Currently, I take the drawn grid element from my functional work and apply it in my artwork in a more sculptural sense.

One thing that my customers love about Sunflower Ceramic Studio is the versatility. One could buy a 3-piece set of cooking prep bowls for the kitchen, a unique vase for the table, or an art piece for their home all in one place. My studio aims to bring joy into the home with ceramic goods, no matter what type of ceramics you’re looking for.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Ceramics can be one of the hardest art mediums to work in. Not only in the skill needed for the craft, but to have the resources to make art independently outside of school. It takes a lot of time to save up money for ceramic equipment. For used equipment you’re looking at hundreds of dollars. Brand new equipment can quickly run up thousands. It can be hard to set aside money and save up for that when there are other things that are more of a priority like groceries or a car repair.

Once you have the equipment you also need the space to make work in. I started in my apartment’s patio closet, but I’ve also worked in garages, the dining table, and friend’s houses. One problem that I faced is that I kept moving around a lot in Houston, trying to settle in and find a place to live. So just when I thought I had a space and routine nailed down, I would move and start all over again.

It’s very disheartening. The medium itself can be incredibly frustrating and unforgiving. But adding on top of that is how frustrating it is to just constantly be starting over, feeling like you’re making no progress at all. It took time, but what helped change everything is just consistency. So even though I personally felt like I was making no progress, other people in the community would notice what I was working toward and would help me along the way. It took 5 years before Sunflower Ceramic Studio had the equipment and home in East Downtown that it has today, and I am grateful every time I show up and work in the space.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I struggled a lot to create my own space, but one of the resources I didn’t know about earlier was local ceramic studios having studio memberships. Usually these studios are teaching studios, so they hold group classes for wheel throwing that are 7-8 weeks long. However, some studios are big enough that in addition to these classes, they offer membership access to their studio facilities and you can create your own work. Maybe I was just new in town, or maybe the studios were just starting up, or maybe it was COVID, but had I known about this earlier I would have been able to create a portfolio sooner.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sunflowerceramicstudio.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sunflowerceramicstudio
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/sunflowerceramicstudio

Image Credits
Maria Hernandez