We were lucky to catch up with Sierra Estes recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sierra, 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 learned the craft of ceramics when earning my undergraduate degree. I had changed my major 2 years into my college career, which resulted me in having fewer semesters of classes under the guidance of a seasoned professor. I took enough courses to become proficient, but without a strong voice of my own and a long way to go to round out my clay knowledge. Fortunately, ceramics is a craft with an infinite amount of things to learn, so I’ve always seen myself as a student. This keeps me open to always improving and also adding new things to my processes. I enroll in workshops here and there to learn new techniques or to improves upon my own studio practices. There are financial obstacles to that, but I consider them investments in my own creative growth, and budget accordingly. Fortunately for me, so many highly skilled ceramicists share so much of their own processes online with their followers, so I’m always learning and expanding my understanding of what’s possible. Overall, the best way for me to learn was to immerse myself and just keep showing up and working at it.
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
My name is Sierra Estes and I run Estes Ceramics. I am a full time potter from West Tennessee where I earned my undergraduate degree in ceramics. I moved to Houston in 2016 and have been making pottery for local restaurants and shops all over the country ever since. Besides wholesale work, I also attend local markets and sell my work online. I love making functional pottery with a very earthy feel that fits into your daily routines and spaces very easily. From cups and bowls to vases and soap dishes, I can’t seem to stick to just a few types of ceramic pieces. I enjoy exploring different techniques, but I mainly throw on the wheel. I like to think that my pieces are set apart by the richness of the glazes I use and the organic feel of the shapes.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
As so many creatives and small businesses can attest to, saying Yes was one of my biggest repeated mistakes in the first years working as an artist. The desire to please folks, to show off my abilities and challenge myself lead me to saying yes to projects that weren’t right for me, jobs that didn’t value my work, and events that weren’t a good fit. Sometimes it was just FOMO that made me say yes to a project that I didn’t have time for, I remember one of the many times I was working on a large order for a restaurant in which I had said yes to using all new glazes and shapes in massive quantities during a very busy season. The amount of trial and error I had to go through and the amount of money I lost on those materials that didn’t make the cut really showed me how detrimental it was that I chose to say yes to someone before pausing and checking in with myself and my capacity. I’ve learned since to value my time and abilities enough that I say no a lot more often than I say yes. I’ve learned to trust my gut more often and that my first instinct is probably right. I ask myself why I want to say yes to an opportunity while considering. If I’m saying yes for ego related reasons (wanting to show off or feel important), I know its not a good idea.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I started 2019 with huge dreams and hopes and so much excitement for the year. I would push myself and really put my work out there. Apply for juried shows, do more craft markets, be more consistent online. By mid February I was told I would have to have 2 major foot surgeries, one on each foot, to take care of the chronic pain I was having. I was devastated. I would be off my feet for at least 5-6 months and the full recovery would be even longer. I couldn’t believe I had been so foolish to dream big. It really destroyed so many of my plans and it was hard to be gentle to myself. I had to pull way back and also not plan much. I had no idea how I would be feeling or how my studio process would be affected. Fortunately, I had an amazing support system, and my Houston friends and customers were also incredibly supportive. I was blown away by how folks rallied around and helped me out. That didn’t make it easier on my internal struggle to be a productive artist or a successful business person. But that’s the year I learned that I was prioritizing the wrong things. It gave me the freedom to play in my studio, to be less focused on producing and more on exploring. I wasn’t expected to be efficient or have anything to show for myself. I decided that running a business was not what I loved and honestly wasn’t great for me. Being an artist, that’s what brought me to life. I started to give myself more time and freedom to see myself as that.
Contact Info:
- Website: estesceramics.com
- Instagram: @sierra.estes