Practice makes progress: a beginner’s start to ceramic art

Ceramics are in and around every aspect of our lives. Often defined by what it is not, a wide array of materials can generally be defined as ceramic so long as it is not metal, plastic or organic. From the dishes you eat from and off of, to the structure of your home, we encounter ceramic material innumerable times a day. 

Whether for function or adornment, we often forget that a material we have become so accustomed to in its original form is, well, mud. Our employment of the ceramic material which is birthed from the wondrous mixture of earth, water, air and fire, predates the written word and continues to fascinate us. 

Most of us have played with clay, likely sometime in childhood. Perhaps even more of us have closely looked at ancient sculptures and dishes in museums or have noticed in family homes old pieces of ceramic art and material held onto through generations. Many of these pieces tell us a great deal about our various histories. 

For Osob Abas, it was during a casual scroll of ASMR videos on social media one day in 2022 when she stumbled across the craft of ceramic art. Her curiosity immediately peaked. She then searched for the soonest available beginner ceramic art class in Minneapolis, and from there her love of the art was in motion. 

“I told myself no attachments, have fun and don’t try to be perfect. That was the reason I ended up sticking with it longer than my other hobbies. I became obsessed with ceramics,” she said. 

The trajectory of her education and early career in tech, being defined by math and science paired with her analytic default way of approaching life, left Abas over time yearning for a creative outlet that allowed her the grace to not be perfect. 

“It was really really bad! Pottery is so humbling,” Abas laughed when asked how her ceramic art pieces looked when she first started taking classes on Saturday afternoons. Abas has come a long way in her artistry over the past two years. 

From her easygoing instructors and her own hand-to-clay experience, Abas learned an array of quintessential tips for striving through life. No matter how many times her pieces came off the potter’s wheel in the opposite form she had hoped for, her instructor reminded Abas that “everything can be of use.” 

Abas recently told her younger sister, who also recently took up ceramic art, that she should “Let the pieces go all the way through the process, Don’t crush it too early.” For bowls, mugs and vases that took amusing shapes, Abas had adopted the mindset of “even if it’s ugly right now, I’ll glaze it and keep it.” 

While her confidence in being more experimental improved and her perfectionist tendencies began to subside as she grew in her practice, Abas’s interest in the unique cultural roots of different ceramic styles also burgeoned. 

Ceramic art styles that Abas has come across from countries such as South Korea, Oman and Somalia have her dreaming about traveling the world more to learn about the personal origins of the styles. 

“Every culture has a ceramic root. I want to go back to Somalia where [ceramic] arts are being kept. Unless it has been broken, ceramics are a permanent fixture,” Abas said.

In Minnesota, there is a pottery scene within the Black Diaspora. Works of art that embrace African and African American cultural influence can be seen in vibrant craft markets. Abas’s engagement with markets and other Black artists is a part of her learning journey. 

Despite the ancient origins of the Somali-style pottery in her home, Abas jokes that at first her family and friends weren’t sure if taking up ceramic art was the best use of time and money. But they soon came to appreciate Abas’s new love and even looked forward to the pieces she would bring home, though they were a little overwhelmed with all of the new ceramic dishes filling up the drawers and cupboards.  

“Now gift-giving is a part of my love language. Whenever a gift-giving opportunity comes around, I throw a ceramic something in there. I love seeing it later on in their houses,” she stated.

Abas’s experience as a ceramic artist has yielded surprising yet needed benefits in forming a meaningful sense of internal peace. “It helps with stress relief and anxiety. When I’m doing pottery, I’m head-empty—it’s very therapeutic! I think a lot of people feel the same way after picking [ceramics] up,” she said.  

Abas now has a studio dedicated to ceramic artistry called Made Solace, an ode to the comfort ceramics and pottery has allowed her. Though the studio’s beginnings are in her home, she is building momentum to establish a public space. “Somali girls around my age and even younger reach out to me asking about how to get started and express that they would love to learn,” she said. 

“In the future I would love to host workshops and classes. I know that because of cost, ceramic artistry can be inaccessible.” 

Abas encourages people to take up the art form “even if it ends up not being the art for you. Try a class even if it’s for an hour,” Abas said. More broadly, relating to other curiosities we may hold, Abas calls on the reader to never fear trying. 

Follow Abas’s Ceramic Art page on Instagram at @Madesolacestudio. 

Binta Kanteh welcomes reader comments at bkanteh13@gmail.com.