How to Make Ceramic Art

YaKenda McGahee: Although Bautista is a the curator of the Perth Amboy Gallery of the Arts in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. All they specialize is in pottery, sculpture and abstract painting. She loves working with different materials, molding them into creative and meaningful shapes mostly inspired by her South American roots. Olga firmly believes that an artist must come out of his or her private space and teach spreading the word about the healing and transformative power of art.

So this is all you.

Olga Bautista: This is all my work. This is the art gallery.

YaKenda McGahee: I sat down with her to find out where her story began.

So what are we doing today? You gave me this piece of clay which takes me back to my youth. It takes me back to two things, my play dough days and then a little bit more advanced. In school, we did some very easy entry levels, ceramics where we kind of molded the clay into little art bowls for our parents and then cook them in the urn and the put the glaze on them.

Olga Bautista: The idea is for you to—that’s why you’re using in the schools is that you explore and feel them and then create something.

YaKenda McGahee: Before we move on the teaching, I really quickly wanted to know how your culture and the background or where you come from influences your art and you as an artist.

Olga Bautista: Usually, the South American Indians, they use round shapes and a lot of faces. I noticed that I’m more influenced in faces. You just see my work…

YaKenda McGahee: A lot of faces like this. I love this. It’s so real.

Olga Bautista: I’m trying to bring out a realistic feeling.

YaKenda McGahee: Is your art something that’s spiritual for you? What are you thinking when you’re doing it? What is the spiritual aspect of your art?

Olga Bautista: It’s like I’m here doing this and I forget about everything. But at the same time, the only moment that you have between the piece and yourself is when you think about things.

YaKenda McGahee: What would you say the role of an artist is in the community?

Olga Bautista: To teach. Just come out—they also do the other thing in their private lives. It changed.

YaKenda McGahee: A potter’s wheel is basically a machine used in the shaping of clay and ceramic wares. I’ve seen it in many movies and I was very intrigued. But a combination of skill and patience is required to master this wheel.

First, a suitable piece of potter’s clay is selected for the process. When the wheel is spinning slowly, the clay is forced down to the center. This might take a little while but centering the clay is fundamental to making anything substantial on the wheel. After this, the wheel is set to a higher speed and the potter uses all of her body to force the clay to stick to the center. The left hand guides the motion and the right hand forces the clay downward.

Opening the center can be a daunting task. The thumb is used to gently knead a small opening at the top. The opening has been slowly wided using both hands. A sponge is sometimes used to remove excess water. The clay is squeezed and pulled until the desired shape and size is achieved, then the speed of the wheel is gradually reduced.