Today we’d like to introduce you to Madeline Sandler.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I began my journey making ceramics about three years ago. I had no idea what I was getting myself into but there was an amazing resource to obtain a membership in a cooperative on my college campus at UC Santa Cruz that I wanted to take advantage of. I never had formal teaching in ceramics and had no formal instruction on how to use a wheel or even hand-build. However, I quickly fell in love with the craft and dedicated myself to cultivating my own methodology for becoming a ceramacist. I have never identified strongly with other artistic mediums. Although I appreciate drawing, painting, writing, etc. I have never felt a spark much like I do when I get my hands on clay. I am infatuated with the way the elements unite to create vessels that become timeless in peoples’ lives and become the stable ware from which people nourish themselves.
That being said, after developing my infatuation and strong dedication to trial and error, I finally began making pieces that represented my style as an artist. I have recently moved back to San Diego after I completed my degree in Environmental Studies and have been working tirelessly on building up my repertoire and developing an intentional approach to marketing my ceramics. I have been blessed to have the loving support of friends and family who have bought pieces from me and have watched me develop along the way. I currently operate out of a studio in San Marcos and have begun volunteering in the ceramics department at my high school alma mater where I help students fall in love with and develop their skills as potters.
Please tell us about your art.
I am a ceramic artist. I am most connected to wheel throwing and mostly create functional pottery, i.e., mugs, cups, bowls, plates, coffee flutes. I love the idea of creating a piece that becomes a part of someone’s daily routine. I am a lover of food and cooking and I find that making vessels for people to put their meals on at the beginning of the day; sip their coffee when they wake up in the morning; eat a bowl of ice cream at the end of a long workday, cultivates a beautiful ritual with food and nourishment. I am enamored that wet clay harvested out of the earth takes form into vessels that are used to carry our memories, generational knowledge, flowers, warm tea, etc.
Since my story is one that shows that you do not need a formal education, an MFA or years of experience to be an artist, I hope that people take away the message that you can accomplish anything that you manifest in this world if you can commit yourself to it, practice vulnerability, embrace failure, celebrate success and improvement, network inside your community and mostly empower yourself. Discovering my love for ceramics and my natural talent in working with clay has been one of the most empowering and healing experiences in my 22.5 years of life. My artwork is not pristine and by the books, it is not always symmetrical or uniform, but what you should know is that it means something to me; it represents my journey as an artist, my relationship and dedication to the earth, my personality as a fluid construct and my experience as a whole and how it is in constant flux.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
There is an incredible Nina Simone quote that reads: “You can’t help it. An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times”. I think the roles of artists are constantly changing forms as they respond and perceive the world as time flows and their lives are impacted in such ways that emerge through their artist mediums. As long as I have been a conscious individual, I have been confused, frustrated and disappointed with the ways that natural resources have been depleted in the last 100 years and how the earth has been blatantly degraded and unappreciated by capitalistic, utilitarian mindsets. I spent four years during my undergraduate education at UC Santa Cruz learning and exploring how the environment is intrinsically impacted by human life and how climate change, environmental degradation, and natural resource extraction have altered the narrative of how the earth is viewed and treated.
Although much history and the current political opinions on climate change are frightening and ill-informed, I think many local communities throughout this country are contributing greatly to a collective consciousness geared toward conservation, consideration of the earth, mindful consumerism, and sustainability. These issues which are vastly more complex, multi-faceted and deeply personal, more so than I can express in this box, are all reasons that my art is impacted. Pottery for me is a way that I can reclaim my appreciation, surrender, gratitude, and love for the earth and all that it provides. All of the elements combine so masterfully and fluidly to create a single piece of pottery and this is the kind of awe and awareness that I want to convey in my art. If people are able to connect to a piece of pottery and use it in their daily lives (bring it to the coffee shop where they sit and do work) is a small, individual act in the battle against single-use materials and the overflow of plastic and non-renewable resources in landfills. That being said, I want my art to cultivate environmental stewardship and establish a connection in people’s minds between themselves, their food, their earth, and their community.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I am working on this. I post occasionally on my Instagram about my pottery but I am working on creating a website for my pottery and building a brand. I am in constant search for local art shows where I can sell my pottery directly.
Contact Info:
- Email: maddie8sandler@gmail.com
- Instagram: okmaddieok
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