Today's guest is Kate Spence. Kate is an archaeologist, academic and moonlight potter. She went to her first pottery evening class with her mother, as a teenager, and has taken it up again in 2017. She produces tableware at Kiln Cambridge, working alongside a wonderful community of like-minded makers, and enjoys throwing on a potter's wheel and experimenting with glazing.
She's interested in the role of ceramics in everyday rituals surrounding the preparation and sharing of food, and the way relationships are formed with and through ceramics. She's also fascinated by the role of creativity within an ancient craft with long-established traditions, and the opportunities that creativity offers us daily.
Kate describes her creative approach in helping her students explore their own ideas and how pottery has given her the freedom to play, but also taught her to embrace uncertainty and re-evaluate her take on a 'ruined piece'. Not only is she passionate about her craft and creativity, but you’re going to learn a lot about pottery, so I hope you will enjoy this episode.
Kate's Instagram: @katespenceceramics
ABOUT THE CREATIVITY FOR ALL PODCAST
A maths teacher can be creative. So can a financial adviser, a community builder, and a yoga teacher. Not to mention a speed painter, a potter, or an actor!
Creativity is everywhere and I love nothing more than to explore it in The Creativity for All Podcast, either by focusing on a theme – such as perfectionism, feeding your creative brain, or the pressure to be creative – in my solo episodes, or through my conversations with all manner of creative people.
I want to challenge the perception of creativity and, in the process, debunk many myths attached to it: it's painful, for artists and the chosen few, etc.
My guests and I are keen to zoom in and dissect the origin of an idea, the impulse that makes us engage with our own creativity, with the hope that it will inspire listeners to get creative too.
My podcast is designed for anyone who’s already being creative, or is tempted to use their creativity, in particular those of you who think they are not creative or can never be. I would love to change your mind!
The Creativity for All Podcast is sponsored by Blue as an Orange, where we believe in creativity through communication, and offer mentoring and coaching for aspiring writers and tailored language tuition for individuals and companies.