We were lucky to catch up with Olivia Estes recently and have shared our conversation below.
Olivia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.
I often get asked this question, “how did you learn how to make pots,” and the short answer is simply, practice. trying and failing again and again. I went to Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia for college– originally with big plans to be a painter. I had never made more than a standard coil-pot or pinch pot prior to going to school, but I had years of experience painting. In my Sophomore year i took a ceramics class, and I could say the rest is history, but the truth is, as someone who took to a paintbrush from a young age, I did not take to the pottery wheel the same way. I was actually the worst in my class– I couldn’t center the clay, let alone make anything resembling a pot. I remember our first assignment was to create 6 identical 6 inch cylinders. I spent an entire weekend trying, only to come to critique with 6 completely different pieces. I cried if I’m being honest. I had never been so humbled by a medium in my life. And so I practiced. I worked at it, all day– any chance I could get to a wheel I was on it, wedging, centering, pulling walls, shaping, trimming glazing– I was in it. I worked at it, honed my skills at the wheel, and eventually became the president of the ceramics guild at my school (which for someone who stared out the way I did in ceramics, is a big leap!). I have been making pots, almost daily since then. But for the past 9 years since I graduated (with my BFA in Ceramics) I had a steady climb in growing my craft, honing my personal artistic style and creating a brand, but the biggest leap in learning and understanding the medium came from teaching other people how to do it. Once I was forced with looking more deeply at what my hands were doing, and why– the jump from a planned form to a finished piece– once I had to begin to break that down for other people to learn I became exponentially better at my craft. In my pottery classes, its common to hear my students say “oh don’t worry, Olivia can fix ANYTHING,” to which I usually reply “Many things, but not everything.” Having to figure out how to “fix” pots gone awry, or see the problems happening in real time on other peoples work and then having to figure out not only “why” its happening but also how to fix it has made me a better potter not only as a teacher but in my own studio as well. Aside from teaching, I think I could have made the learning process move more quickly if I had allowed more failure to happen and rather than try and fix or save a piece that was inevitably doomed, to have instead noticed what went wrong, scrapped it, and made 2 more in the time that it would take me to try and fix it. I believe there is value in working through a piece and trying to fix it– a lot of learning happens when you try and make something work that isn’t working– but theres also a point where, in clay specifically, where starting fresh with the knowledge of what didn’t work and the skills to do it again but better, will be more successful. I think the main obstacle that I have faced, and I think many artists face when it comes to learning and honing your craft is fear of trying something with the potential for failure. Failure is our best tool for improvement I think– it gives us all of the key ingredients for what doesn’t work, and the glimmers of what might work, so that we can try again. I fail all of the time. I try new clays, methods, glazes etc and many times they don’t work the first time. So we make them again, we do more tests, we keep going, we keep making.
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Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For me, I have always been an artist– but I had not always been a potter. I graduated in 2015 From Tyler School of Art with my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Ceramics as well as a teaching certificate. At my senior thesis show, one of my professors tried one last time to convince me to not take the teaching job that I had lined up at a public high school– he urged me to make a go of being a full time artist, that I had the drive and a unique style that would carry me. Of course, being 21 and afraid of being a “starving artist” I took the teaching job– and ended up teaching for 7 years in the art classrooms of different high schools. But as most people know, teaching is not a lucrative job, and here in Charleston it’s one that barely makes enough to pay rent. I never stopped making pottery, and a few friends had suggested I apply to some of the local markets to try selling. For a while I taught high schoolers, and ran my small business, “Petrichor + Gold”. I began teaching nights at some of the local pottery studios and found that I could satisfy my love of teaching art in a new way. My business bean getting more traction and I realized I couldn’t continue working all 3 jobs and still balance family, friends and a life, so I took the advice my professor gave me so long ago, and with the encouragement of my family and friends, I began working as a full time artist. My work is primarily functional, wheel-thrown pottery. I work exclusively in porcelain– which is a mid to high fire clay that is beautiful, white and translucent when fired, but also notoriously difficult to work with. (what can I say, I love a challenge :) ) My pieces are inspired my Scandinavian and minimalist designs– I lean toward geometric shapes and I keep a very limited palette– only using porcelain, black inlay, and 22k gold accents. My pieces are unique in that they go through a series of processes and each is fired a minimum of 3 times in the kiln. I aim to create heirloom quality pieces that can last a lifetime, and become a part of an individuals daily rituals. The shapes, designs and concepts are all original to me, which I am proud of, considering that ceramics have been made since virtually the beginning of time. It can be hard to reinvent the wheel when there’s that much history. Petrichor + Gold is the name I chose for my business, almost 7 years ago now, and I still believe its relevant to the work I make. Petrichor is a word that describes the smell of the earth after it rains (much like the smell of damp clay), and gold denotes a sense of value, preciousness. I hope that people feel a connectedness to my work, that they can visualize it fitting seamlessly into their lives– I hope to make the mugs people reach for over and over again in their cabinets. I believe that we curate our homes and our lives– we choose what objects we surround ourselves with that create the background to the moments that make up of our lives.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I am a bit of an existentialist, and so a lot of my creative journey comes from a place of questioning. “What is our purpose?” or more specifically “what is my purpose?”. For most of my life I felt like having purpose meant making a big difference, saving lives, changing the world etc. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed more that life is incredibly fleeting, and that we all have a voice and free will to use it and express it as we choose. For me, I feel connected to and comforted by pottery. the rhythm of making, the set or f=processes and requirements, the sheer labor of it– i feel most alive when I am creating, and I think that they peace and sense of wholeness I receive from this work, is then transmitted from me to the people I am surrounded by and the interactions I have. To answer more succinctly, my goal in my creative journey is to joyously labor creatively.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
There are many rewarding parts of being an artist– getting to live life on my own terms, making things with my hands and seeing them come to life, someone connecting with a piece I’ve made and choosing it to be a part of their own home. But by far the most rewarding thing for me has been seeing my students learn and prevail. Being able to take something I love so deeply, and give it to other people so that they too can experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from creating, and the community of people that I get to be a part of is incredibly rewarding.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://petrichorandgold.com
- Instagram: @petrichorandgold
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/petrichorandgold
