Meet The Potter
Siegfried Oyales
What is your name? Siegfried Oyales
What is your daily occupation? I am a tech at The Potters’ Studio
How would you describe your work? I like making pottery for everyday use, everything tastes better on ceramics. Especially ice cream. I describe the way I make my stuff, as confidently clumsy! I can be a bit irreverent when I’m making work. In my class, there are a lot of bloopers. Things fly off the wheel, fall apart, get torn, and I try my best to recover from it—with finesse. And my success rate is pretty high! I am by no means a master at ceramics, nor do I pretend that I can DO everything without mistakes. But I am confident enough in my skills to make what I plan to or recover from the mistakes. Confidently clumsy, clumsily confident. Both work :)
How has your creative process evolved after earning a degree in ceramics? In undergrad, I had a unique experience in having a whole ceramics studio to myself (It’s a long story, but basically the program was cut and it was mostly me with resources left behind). What I lacked in technical instruction in the later years, I made up for in mass prototyping and experimenting. Nowadays, I don’t have the time for mass experimentation, but I do have time for play. I’m simply making things to have fun and level up. How profound right?
How has being a ceramic instructor influenced your ceramic work? Being an instructor at The Potters’ Studio has made me such a better potter. I’m more thoughtful of my moves as I explain what my hands are doing in my demos. I also try to explain why I make specific moves. In the intermediate class, it’s nice that they challenge me to new techniques they want to learn and make specific pieces that other artists have made. Otherwise, I’d stick to my bowls and plate bowls.
What are you currently interested in? Throwing square plates off the hump. I saw Simon Levin do it on Instagram, so I put my own spin on it. Aiming for 300 pieces, I think by then I’ll have some sort of mastery over the method. I’ve probably made upwards of 70-80 pieces now? They’ve gotten much better since the first time I’ve tried. I also want to get back to spiral throwing that fellow member Taka got me into. So much fun to see pots twist and it’s a great way to add movement to the work.
How do you deal with being in a creative rut? I don’t have to be in a creative-making mode all the time. I don’t think I’ve been in a creative rut in a long time. I have way too many things I would like to try to even fall into one. So I guess staying curious, experimental, and playful is one way to deal with a creative rut. Just make something, anything—pottery, food, beatbox, etc.
How do you stay creative? I like to see what methods and type of work people share. I’ve become quite skilled at copying, so I try to copy the end product to understand how something can be created. If there are details on a process, I’ll absorb that information and see how I can use it to experiment on different iterations. Moving well is also crucial. Our hands and entire body are so important to be in good shape to be able to create consistently.
What was the first memorable clay piece you made? I made the ugliest tiny pinch pot in my very first high school ceramics class. My mom will not throw it away ever. I really didn’t like ceramics, it was way too messy and didn’t make any sense to me. My fingernails were dirty after class, and I truly did not have fun. Until I saw Kurt Webb on the wheel, I thought it was magic. He turned mud into a beautiful vase. It was at that moment that I decided that I wanted to conquer the wheel. Still working on it...
Who are some artists you admire? Kurt Brian Webb, Sondra Elder, Hwang Insung, Simon Levin, Kevin Crowe, Blue the Great, SZA, Frank Ocean, Kevin Snipes, Daniel Caesar, and lots more.
How has your work developed over time? I’m confident that the quality of my pots reflects my authentic self. I know I said I’m a skilled copier, but the way I treat my work has been honed in the past 12 years. So even if the end product has traces of other folks, I genuinely worked to find my own unique path to get there.
What’s the most indispensable item in your studio/workspace? The wooden knife in the Kemper kit is the greatest tool in my bucket.
Do you collect anything? I like collecting graphic Anime Tees. Wearing my interests make me happy :) When I have a house with my lovely wife Crystal, I will collect moss and cactus. I had a lot of cactus, succulents, and moss during the pandemic. It was a fun hobby, I would get a plant every time I felt down. I had so many! Now I want to collect them because they’re beautiful.
What’s the most inspiring thing you’ve seen, read, watched or listened to recently? One of my friends showed me their new tattoos—one said “Everything Matters” and the other said “Nothing Matters”. I thought it was an amazing and profound sentiment. Just like in ceramics. After all, ceramics is forever ... so it’s best to be proud of what you make and do it with best care with every single step of the way. But it’s also just mud ... we’re all worth more than mud. Take it easy, be nice.
Since you are a valuable Staff member and instructor at TPS, have you noticed anything that could help our studio run more harmoniously? (the members, the management, staff, classes, workshops, anything that you have noticed!) Most of all, people must respect each other’s boundaries. It’s a brilliant studio with great resources and privileges. Everyone has to be able to feel safe, welcome, and comfortable in the studio. It’s a community studio, not a personal one. So please think of others and be a proper studio member.
Interview article and photography by Inhae Lee