SPEAKER_04 0:00

And I spend so much time like thinking too much and just being like, Well, what about this thing and this thing? Like, you know, kind of like an anxious thinker. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So then when I'm just like, I'm gonna do a bunch of dots, then I'm just like ha ha and you're just doing the dots and you know.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

When you look at the night sky.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Be prepared to think and feel anything.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

There are no forbidden.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Not knowing what's out there.

SPEAKER_04 0:33

You are open to the world. I'm open to your feedback.

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Welcome to the wonder pod. Um we are still here again.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

Oh my god. I'm still here. Brooke. I'm Brooke. Brooke, are you still with us? Yep. Thank God. That was close.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

A little rowdy in between.

SPEAKER_04 0:59

So what do we have to talk to her about?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

All right. So we were just talking a little bit off mic about the $20 art show, which is um a big art show in central Oregon that happens in October typically every year. And um the like the concept of the show is that all the pieces are tiny, like they're maximum five by seven and uh five by seven inches, and they're all twenty dollars. And so the folks who run the show, um, they set up at the local museum, and there's like just thousands of pieces of art on the wall, and tons of people come and you know, uh buy different pieces. Um but Brooke and I were talking about it because we both have um a bunch of pieces to make for the show, which is very exciting. And um and we talked last time of a little bit about your ceramics work and yeah, how um dolls for the dolls are showing that would be wild. That'd be insane. That would be insane. Um but uh you're not just you're not just working in ceramics. Right. Um you're you work with um do works on paper paintings, um and so I also find myself sort of moving between different mediums pretty often, um which it's not like not like nobody does that, but like most other artists I know are like I do acrylic paintings.

SPEAKER_04 2:34

One thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Or like, oh, I do watercolor. Yeah. Like that's the thing.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Um and so I'm curious like for you, how you approach your different mediums and balancing between them, and then also if you find yourself sort of cross-pollinating ideas or context between them that you you know you're working on one kind of thing, and you're like, oh, actually, this would be kind of cool to like apply this to a different medium or something like that. Um, but yeah, just sort of how you think about your different mediums and how you approach them.

SPEAKER_04 3:05

Well, some of it's pretty new. Like ceramics, I don't know, in some ways I feel like all of it's pretty new in terms of hours spent. But ceramics I started in like 2014, but then I've had a lot of years off, you know.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Okay, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

So it's like, oh, that was cool. I did like a class in college, and then like graduated college, and then I didn't do anything. And then like 2019, I started up again, and then COVID happened. So it's like been very sporadic on like how much I can do.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

And then like watercolor, I only started that last year. So a lot of it is just like learning, do I even like this? Is this the sort of do I is this the sort of medium I want to use? Is it do I like it because like sometimes I try something and I'm like, do I not like this because I'm not good at it yet?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_04 4:05

Or is it just not my thing?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

You know?

SPEAKER_04 4:08

So I'm still kind of in the phase of like what do I want to do the most? Which is ceramics.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

But like sometimes I just want to break from like well, I thought that I would get more of a break from like hunkering over on sculpting, you know, like I'm like just really hunched over with the sculpture, and sometimes I would do that for like eight hours straight, and then I'm like, my neck, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, oh, if I could just do like, you know, you see like painters standing and they're just like upright, and then I just am like an intuite still. So it doesn't matter what I do, the neck's gonna hurt, you know? Yeah, um, and I kind of like the idea of like you could replicate something, sure. So you could have a painting and then make prints of it, yeah. Yeah, but the only reason really to be doing that is if you're like selling a bunch and I'm like not selling a bunch. So I'm like, should I I don't know. So yeah, it's kind of just in like a figuring out phase. But since I've been doing a lot more like drawing and stuff, I have recently put more drawing stuff onto ceramics.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

I was like, oh, cool. Like some of that practice has like paid off.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Like I did fun, yeah. Your flowers on top of your ceramics. Flowers, yeah. And I was just so crammed for the market that I was doing that it's like as soon as I wake up in the morning, I was like, I better get some stuff casting. So like first thing in the morning, I'm like in the studio getting stuff ready, and then I would like, then I would go have my breakfast. Whereas normally I'm like having a slow morning, you know. And so I would like do that, and then like all day I'm trying to like get stuff casting and then transit doing all the firing and the glazing, and then I'd glaze sometimes till like 10 p.m., you know, so it would be like all day long for a market. And then after the market, I was just like didn't want to do anything because I was just like crashed totally, and I had one of my friends uh doesn't really like glazing, and she had this bowl, and she was like, I don't I hate this bowl, and I don't know what to do with it, and I was like, I'll glaze it, and she was like, Really? And I was like, sure, and I was like, Well, what do you want me to do? And she's like, anything you want, and I was like, Okay, so that was actually really fun because it it was like it didn't really feel like the pressure of you were playing, yeah. And I I drew on some like koi fish on this bowl, and the clay she was using was like speckled, so it was like really white clay with black speckles, and then there was like two koi fish, yeah, and it turned out really cool. Sick. And I was like, oh, maybe more drawing on ceramics, yeah. There you go. So it in that way, that's like kind of the cross-pollinating. Yeah, and like I've done some work on like the block printing, so you're like carving, and so I thought, oh, maybe that would so in ceramics that's called graffito. Okay, so you'd have like glaze and then you would carve through the glaze and it would show the bare clay underneath. And that's kind of like the most similar thing to like a lino cut.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 7:32

And so I was like, well, maybe I should do that, but I hated it. Like carving on the clay, I just I don't know, I don't like it.

SPEAKER_03 7:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

So it it you know, in some ways it doesn't you think it might translate and then it doesn't. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Yeah, totally. I mean it's like I feel like that happens all the time where you're like you have to experiment with something and like see how it feels for you. Yeah, especially with artwork, it's like you have to just try it and like let the stuff that doesn't work just like go. Yeah. But it's hard sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Yeah, I was doing Lino Cut. I did this one that it took me like 16 hours to carve. And it's like a five by seven.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

And I carved so exactly on the carving that it looked exactly like my original drawing.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

And I was like doesn't look like a print.

SPEAKER_04 8:35

No, I was like, I could have just done a drawing in like two hours instead of also spent 16 hours carving and like hurting my neck. What is lino? It's like a linoleum block, it's like a flat plastic. You know, like linoleum floors, so it's just like, yeah, it's made out of like wood pulp and resin. So it's like biodegradable. What do you do with it? You carve into it, so like you can put your design on it, like some people draw right on it, or you can transfer your image. There's ways to transfer, and then you whatever you carve will be white, and then whatever you don't carve will take your ink color.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

You're making like a giant stamp. Yeah, basically.

SPEAKER_04 9:17

But then you're not stamping. Yeah. You are stamping. Yeah, so you carve it up, and then you ink it up, and then you put paper on it and you make prints. Cool, that's not so block printing, it's like that's the block that you're printing. And and then you could just make as many prints off that one carving, you know. But you could also like just draw.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

Right. If you don't want to make a bunch, yeah, it's not it's hard to make it worth it.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

Yeah, and it like the actual act of like printing is kind of physically demanding.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Definitely.

SPEAKER_04 9:52

And so I was like, oh, I don't know if I want to do that a ton. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I don't know. I i it's not totally off the table the lino yet, but it's hard for me to want to do it because it really hurts my fingers because my fingers will like bend like too much, and then when you're pushing it hurts, and then my neck hurts, and I'm like, you know, it just hurts a lot. Yeah. So I don't know how much I'll do that. That's tricky. Yeah. I don't want to get back into sculpting. That's easier for the body's thing. No. Oh. Well, easier on the hands. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

It probably actually is easier than are you interested in sculpting with other mediums and clay?

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Like what?

SPEAKER_04 10:38

Oh, I don't know. I like plaster, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Potentially. But with the carving, I don't know if I'm gonna want you know. Because it's harder to like additive sculpt plaster. You'd have to like have a block of plaster and then carve it out.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Yeah, that I guess you probably can slip it together, maybe. I've never done that, but like but yeah, it's mostly a subtractive process. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

So I would try it.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

And then I'd probably like, why am I doing this? But there's just so much that can go wrong in like kilns.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

That it would be nice to sometimes have more control. Then you can have like you just you can try your best at controlling everything in ceramics, and yeah, you just never know.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Oh yeah, there aren't that many added other additive sculptural medium. I mean, I guess like like metal would be the easiest one, right? Yeah. Because you can weld and like you can just stick stuff on anywhere basically.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

That's what I've heard. Compared to ceramics.

SPEAKER_02 11:42

I I don't know. I mean, I guess fire.

SPEAKER_04 11:46

And like cutting. Dangerous. Yeah. It's more dangerous. That's true. It's not like so dangerous, but that's a good point. Yeah. I did a paper sculpting class. Whoa, tell me what I'm saying. It was like paper casting.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

So typically in this class, you would have an object, like you could have like let's say a piece of wood. So it's like bark, right? And then you make a fresh sheet of paper. So you have like ground up paper that you blend it in water, you put it in like a picture frame with a screen, and then you press it, and then you have like this fresh sheet of handmade paper. And then you put that on top of the object, and then you like press it into like the crevices and stuff, so it'd be like a rock or whatever. And then once paper dries, you peel it off, and like you have cast that shape in paper. Have you heard of that before?

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Not exactly.

SPEAKER_04 12:46

Yeah, it was pretty cool. And I was like trying to sculpt with the paper. So I did like a like a I put a flat sheet onto like a pot, like a big soup pot, and then I s added, I just manually as my hands added paper onto it with like little shapes.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

How did it work?

SPEAKER_04 13:09

It worked pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

What kinds of shapes? They were like squiggly lines and like bumps, you know?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:18

It was pretty cool. And then it was like a dome, like the paper was like, you know, yeah. And then texture. And you have to like really compress it in so that the paper because if you just barely set it, then once it dries, like the paper just falls off. Um so everyone was like casting a million things, and I was like trying to sculpt this one thing and getting into the nitty-gritty, which I just like can't avoid it.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:45

So that was fun, but like why do you think they would like to zoom in really far into the details? I don't know. I think I don't know why.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Have you always been that interested in that?

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Like the up close and personal? Pro yeah, probably. Maybe it's just like you just you're so zoomed in that you're not you don't really think. You're just like going. And I spend so much time like thinking too much and just being like, well, what about this thing and this thing? Like, you know, kind of like an anxious thinker. Yeah. So then when I'm just like, I'm gonna do a bunch of dots, then I'm just like, ha da da da dot, and you're just doing the dots, and you're just in it, you know. So maybe that takes a break, just take a break from your brain, take a break from my brain. Yeah. I've tried to do other things, like I'm like, I'll do something big or something, whatever. And I it just always goes back to like tiny little details, and people will be like, whoa, like you really like do the details. Cool, I like that. Yeah. What is your business called? Brookkim Art. Where can we find you?brookhimart.com and on Insta? And on Instagram at BrookhimArt.

unknown 15:18

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 15:19

Yeah. And you have a class coming up that you're teaching. I have a class that is scheduled that will be canceled if it doesn't get filled, and I suspect it will be cancelled. What is it?

SPEAKER_03 15:32

When is it?

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Beginning handbuilding ceramics. Handbuilding meaning you shape clay with your hands. Yes, not on the wheel. Yeah. It's a six-week. This is like the class I've been doing over and over.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

And it's a six-week class once a week for three hours, Tuesday nights. In sisters. In sisters. And then, yeah, it's there's like extra. I also do this thing called clay coaching. So every Wednesday night I'm at the studio as the clay coach. What? I didn't know that. People can come ask me questions, get help on a project. Kind of like office hours. Yeah. So then people in my class can come to clay coaching for like extra time. That sounds so cool. Yeah. Do you enjoy those hours?

unknown 16:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

They're fun. Because you like teaching. Yeah. Wednesday nights is kind of like the time. Yeah. People like people like the Wednesday night time.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

That's cool that there's a big community around it of people who are just coming to the studio to work on stuff.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

Yeah. That's so cool. That sounds really fun. Yeah, ceramics community, you know, it's kind of how they roll. But how do they roll? They just like to, you know.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Communally.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

Communally roll. Roll together. Uh throw together. Yeah. In our case, hand building together. Hand building. And what kinds of hand building objects? Um, so my class aims to teach you like the fundamentals so that you could go on and in theory make anything. So the first thing is like a pinch pot. So you'll start with a ball of clay, and you usually will make like a little bowl, and it's limited limited to the size of the ball. And then the next step is coiling. So you can start with your ball and then you can add a coil of clay, and then you can add infinite coils and it can get bigger. So you could take your bowl and then make it a bigger bowl or a cup or a vase. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Usually we do vases. And then we do slabs. What's a slab? It's like a flat piece of clay.

SPEAKER_02 17:31

Cut it out and join it in.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

So you like roll it out, roll out a slab of clay, and then you can turn that into like a bowl on a form, like a mold. You know, you sl put the slab over a bowl, and then you have like a big bowl really fast. Yeah. Or you could do like a wall hanging. Like a lot of people have been wanting to make wall hangings. So like a flat thing on the wall, and then like a little shelf to put a candle or something. Yeah. Small things. Yeah, small things. And I have a we have a friend, Brendan, who has or maybe it's Hannah. They live together, but they have they've been in some ceramics classes. And on their fridge, they have tiny, tiny, tiny uh flower pots. Cute. Like the tip of your finger. Oh. And then like a tiny little sprout coming out of it. Have you seen those? Yeah, yeah. And they're magnets on their fridge. They're very cute and tiny. Yeah. I like the little things. Yeah, same. Yeah. What's your quote? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Closing quote.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

Okay. This quote is from uh Rick Rubin's book.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Oh nice. Creative Act.

SPEAKER_04 18:40

He lent it to me. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

Great book.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Okay. It says Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice or you're not. It makes no sense to say you're not good at it. It's like saying, I'm not good at being a monk. You're either living as a monk or you're not. We tend to think of the artist's work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

I love that. Yeah. I think about that all the time.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Like, especially when I'm like, I need to like rest, right? Or like go for a walk. And I'm like, but I need to be making more stuff. And it's like, but the going for the walk is part of the making of stuff, actually.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Yeah. Like watching a really beautiful movie. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I'm like, oh, I get so many ideas from movies. Totally. You know. I watch weird movies, but yeah. Beautiful. It's a good one. Well, thank you for both of you for being artists in the world because of the way that it is.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

You're welcome. I don't know if it's something I have a choice about.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

Yeah. Yeah, you can do it or you can't, or you're not. Rick just said. But do you feel like if you're not if you go a while without doing it, you feel bad.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Like I I don't I don't think it was it was not a it does not feel like it was a choice that I made to be that way. It was just sort of like that I discovered that that's how I was.

SPEAKER_04 20:12

Yeah. Since childhood.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:15

Yeah. Yeah, but a lot of people just ignore it and they they go for their corporate stuff. Okay. Yeah, and people are like, I don't have a creative bone in my body. I'm like, oh you do though. Everyone does. And it's so interesting when they have the when they give themselves to space to explore it, the avenue that they choose, because there's so many options.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 20:38

Infinite possibilities. Hell yeah. Okay, well, thanks, Brooke. Thank you. Thanks for being all in. See you later. Bye.