Aubrey: Can you explain a little bit about your time at Texas State University so far?
Theresa: I’ve done a lot of different styles since I came to Texas State. I started doing really traditional ceramics- one color, stoneware, high-fire, very standard ceramics. I thought that this was the standard and if I want to be a “real potter” then this is the only valid way of working. This is my third year here, so working out of that and learning other styles and seeing that other techniques are valid has been cool.
A: Was there something in your life that made you think there was a right and a wrong way of working?
T: I came into ceramics after doing a previous bachelor’s degree- this is my second degree. I double majored in History and Political Science and had taken two ceramics classes as just my art electives. I loved it. I was such a bad student, but I loved it. I was convinced that politics was the only valid subject to study. I always watched the news with my family and political debates- I saw politics as super important. I was really passionate about that… but I was really looking for something that had an impact. I didn’t want to be a professor.
A: What was next for you and how did ceramics come back into your life?
T: I was working a development job in Washington D.C. for a non-profit and it just wasn’t where I had seen myself. I started watching “Craft in America” the PBS series. I watched that probably four times, the whole series, and I just loved it. I thought “these are people doing things that are real.” They just felt so authentic. I was really drawn to that. I want to do that! In development, we talked a lot about building relationships and being authentic, but these people seemed like they were really building relationships. This was all I could think about. I thought “I want to get in that ceramics studio. I want to work.” And my job became so difficult to go to. It became really hard for me.
A: What was that transition like?
T: I didn’t tell my boss. We didn’t have a bad relationship, but I was very afraid if I told anyone that I wasn’t happy at my job that I would immediately be fired. There was the vibe of “You are young and disposable, we can find someone else for your job if you don’t want to be here.” And it was a good job- if you were into development and you were the career driven kind of person, then go for it.
A: Why Texas and not something near you at the time?
T: I am from Texas. I had applied at Texas State and at UNT. I knew I wanted to go back to Texas. I knew I had to go to a public university because I did my first undergrad at a private university and I still have a ton of student loans. I has saved up enough that I could pay out of pocket tuition for a year or two.
A: What was the final decision maker for you then?
T: Well neither University offered me anything financial aid or funding related. And it was kind of a toss up and I was kind of intuitive about it. I felt like Texas State is where I want to be. I could just feel it.
A: Did you have a moment of realization or clarity that “this is real” or “oh my God, what have I done?”
T: So at the time I was a part of a development associates program with my job. It lasted about ten and a half months. It was all these other young people who had been hired at the same time with this network of non-profits. We all had different employers but had this program every week together for professional development. The downside was that once the program ended, your job could theoretically end. It wasn’t like we were interns, but it was linked to your job. When it ended, there was a kind of turning point and a choice that you had to make so for me that became a very natural end for me at the time.
A: What was it like coming back to college again?
T: It has been an interesting ride being a little older and coming back to school. All I have had to do is art and art history classes, it feels almost like a vocational school in a sense. I have been able to focus on what I had the desire to do.
A: Have you made any changes to your path with ceramics since starting courses?
T: Not really. I came in with a desire to focus on functional ceramics and I’ve really stuck with that. For me its this greater exploration of what is a valid way of working. There are other ways of working with ceramics that aren’t just this one traditional American way of doing things. And then I’ve gotten a little bit into sculpture as well this past summer.
A: What was that experience like, getting out of your comfort zone?
T: It was a fun exploration. They are fired twice and they will have a lithium glaze on top. The idea is that it really references geology. The whole series was called Terrestrial Substrates. They were displayed in the gallery over the summer and I even sold a piece of this.
A: That must have felt great!
T: Yeah! It was really nice to be validated, I was like “You want my stuff? In your house?” This was just something I did for fun.
A: Were there other classes that have informed your works?
T: Taking drawing and sculpture classes has really helped bring a new vocabulary to ceramics. For me, its no longer just “okay, you can throw a bowl.” Its more about “now that you have thrown the bowl, what are you going to do with it? What can you bring to the conversation that is different?” Being able to bring different inspirations into your artwork is an amazing feeling.
A: What kind of inspirations?
T: Earlier this semester I did a lot of slip techniques and playing with color. I found that I was really hungry for that. I hadn’t let myself explore that. I was always drawing in graphite or charcoal and I was doing stoneware and more traditional styles. Then I wanted to find a way to bring in what I love about drawing and also exploring color.
A: And where has that exploration led you?
T: Well I kind of change my style every couple of months. The slip project brought me to my current series which is maiolica. Recently I kind of taught myself the technique. It’s a traditional Italian technique. You use a dipped glaze of white just once and then you paint directly on that surface. Traditionally you use colored oxides, but I use mason stains. They are really bright, brilliant colors that stay true in the firing process. They are expensive and are more like paints. I fire in an electric kiln to help keep those colors controlled.
A: And how did you go about learning it? Were you learning all by yourself?
T: I was learning from an artist named Linda Arbuckle. She is based in Florida and is the foremost contemporary maiolica painter in the United States. I was watching a lot of her videos. I am on her website all the time now. She isn’t reproducing the style of traditional maiolica, but she is doing more contemporary drawing with the maiolica technique.
A: How is the contemporary style different from the traditional style?
T: Historical maiolica is very tight. It’s small. It was about portraits and coats of arms and being precise. That line work will stay true in the firing process, they don’t have a lot of flux in them so there isn’t supposed to be running. You are supposed to get this really crisp line work. Mine is not that crisp. I have had technical issues with that.
A: What are you trying to express with your use of maiolica?
T: Linda Arbuckle’s work is a lot of flowers and fruits and she is thinking a lot about abundance and life. I was really drawn to that. I’ve been trying to express generosity in my work through functional ceramics: sharing and receiving food, showing people their dignity, showing a slower paced world, a more thoughtful world. I thought this was a good vocabulary to express that with things that are colorful and vibrant and lush.
A: And those ideas seem to be present in your current work with color.
T: Absolutely. I fell in love with color. Letting my self fall in love with color and letting myself make these types of works- I just love it. It is really time intensive, too. For just one cup, I spent an hour and a half just painting the cup. It is a long and difficult process that I am still working on. I have a lot of defects and bubbling, my line work isn’t the best, and the colors are muting from being fired too high. But I love every minute of it even though most of my attempts haven’t been entirely successful.
A: What have others said about those works that you don’t find to be successful.
T: I showed some of my works for a critique last Monday and I was a little disappointed and nervous because they weren’t perfect. I am really interested being perfect. My classmates were not as concerned. They didn’t care about the quality of the linework and they didn’t care about the defects. They were really encouraging me and telling me to just go for it and that things will work themselves out.
A: What are you planning on doing with your works that you don’t consider successful?
T: Well I won’t give them to my family- my mom still has works from my very first ceramics class years ago. They were so bad, and she displays them and I feel like I can’t get away from them- I can’t get her to throw them away! I don’t want it to haunt me for the rest of my life. I have had classmates express interest in buying them. All I could see was the defects, but people were like “they are pretty, they are beautiful, I want one.” I have some that I would feel comfortable selling and some that I want to keep for myself. At the same time, I have thought about making and giving pieces away throughout the next semester to speak on the theme of generosity. My professor told me “don’t do that! It’s too expensive and time consuming. You can’t just give people your stuff.” And I was like “well, that’s the point.”
A: That is kind of at odds with being an artist, isn’t it? T: It is. It’s kind of that push and pull. You need to support yourself, but if you are speaking about generosity and you aren’t actually able to be generous then that is kind of hypocritical. I don’t know if you can communicate generosity through your work if you aren’t able to be generous. Your actions speak louder than your words.