We were lucky to catch up with Sophia Torres recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sophia, thanks for joining us 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?

There are two parts of my creative soul. One side is the ceramic potter. The other is the monster doll designer. A lot of times these two practices blend into one.

As far as my monster doll designs go, I started very very young. I was 7 when I got my first polymer clay kit. I was dissatisfied with the toys that were available in stores and opted for creating my own. I would spend hours sculpting and copying Pokémon characters or other video game creatures that I loved. But these “toys” were fragile and their limbs often broke. I began playing with articulation a little later, adding inner flexible components at their joints. Later I began sewing soft bodies and attaching sculpted components, such as hands, feet and a head. I always enjoyed the tactile aspect of toys. They were a means of artistic expression that could be touched, held, manipulated, and had a life to them that I felt static sculpture lacked.

I guess you could say the monsters I make were self taught. I honed my skills as a “toy” maker by looking at antique teddy bears and dolls to see how they were jointed and how they were weighted. There’s been a lot of trial and error but I don’t think I’d have it any other way. Slow meditative mastery is more
my pace than racing to a finish line.

My ceramic journey is much the same. Still very much beginning with my love for sculpture and using polymer clay as my first “clay body”. It wasn’t until high school that I got my hands on earthenware and learned the basics of hand-building techniques. In college I was introduced to the wheel and learned a style of porcelain throwing that can be found in Arita, Japan. I often added my sculptural aspects to these pieces; adding odd faces and giving them life. I dabbled here and there after graduation with wheel throwing, but I didn’t get a lot of guidance on what it meant to start a creative career. College taught me a lot of how to create art, but no one teaches you what to do once you find yourself in the real world.

It wasn’t until 2020 that I found my way back into a proper ceramics studio, where a landed a job as a production potter at Hanselmann Pottery. It was here that I really learned what I had been missing in my college years. It is what I would seriously consider to be my unofficial Masters Program: Hours upon hours of studio practice, wheel throwing, kiln firings, glaze production, trouble shooting, packaging, sales, the ins and outs of running a old school ceramics business in the 21st century during a time when most people opt for the mass produced goods of chain superstores rather than
a local artisan.

Once again though, there is no short cut to mastery of an art process. It’s all trial and error and I believe I am all the more rich for that slow and steady progress. It definitely wasn’t easy, but nothing ever worth doing is.

Sophia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My ceramic mugs/cups/dishes are utilitarian works of art. I believe you can easily blur the lines between Fine Art and Craft. In fact, I don’t think that line truly exists anymore. My monster toys and dolls are a way of exploring my love for tactile art. I love when a person can come up to my art, and can hold it, feel the weight of it, and for a relationship with it in a whole new way because they aren’t behind barriers or held back by “do not touch” signs.

I got into this type of work because of its accessibility. For some, my art can create an aversion, but for most others, it can be a playful nostalgia of childlike expression, remembering a time of make believe, imagination, and misunderstood monsters. And, by my standards at least, I believe my art is affordable. I want my patrons to be able to come up to my booth and have a chance to purchase a one of a kind, well made, quality piece of art, without completely emptying their bank accounts.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think thus far, the most rewarding part of being a creative is the conversations with my customers. I really enjoy the face to face time I get with them when I do art shows, and seeing their faces light up when they see what odd thing I’ve come up with. Whether it’s a good reaction, or bad, I look forward to it all. It’s always a treat when you see familiar faces in different places, knowing that what you are making has resonated with someone so much that they come see you again.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’m actually in the middle of a pivot right now. My time as a production potter ended in January of this year and while
I do consider myself a successful artist, supporting yourself
solely on your art is not easy and can be incredibly stressful. Burnout is real and can be a death sentence for a lot of creatives when they hit a wall. So I made the decision to pivot. I began working for the Forest Service in May of this year. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I know art will continue to be an important part of my life and I have no intention of giving it up. But there’s no shame in finding a means to support that creativity, even if that means finding a different source of income. For me, this gives me more time to create what I want, and less push/stress to “make a sale”. I love my art practice so much more when I’m not struggling.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tcgoat.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: @t.c.goat

Image Credits

Sophia Torres