Natalie Squillante
BIOGRAPHY
Natalie’s work is utilitarian, focuses on the connectivity and importance of the handmade, slowing down, self-expression, the metaphysical, creative play, healing, and community. Closely related to her creative process and the basis of her work being an exploration and expression of nature, is Natalie’s Reiki practice. Each work of art is infused with Reiki, a Japanese healing technique, which she have been practicing daily for over 18 years. Her love and passion for both tea and recycling is also present in the work. Tea is added to the wet clay which then burns out, leaving what Natalie likes to call a healing memory mark.
Q&A WITH THE ARTIST
Carbondale Clay Center (CCC): What’s your favorite beverage recipe?
Natalie Squillante (NS): Chill ROSIE
+ Cooling + Anti-inflammatory Liquid Treat+
Ingredients
"Milk" of choice: I dig O A T the most
Rose, Hibiscus, Licorice, Chai/Vanilla + Feverfew or something close to it!
Pinch Cinnamon, Salt, + Cardamom (teeeensy bits)
Honey Honey Honey
Coconut Oil (for HOT)
MCT Oil (for COLD)
Homemade mug, DUH.
::WAY to Make it::
Decide if you want it HOT or COLD...
Create more of a concentrate if you want it cold... so double it up
Steep Tea (your fresh cut + dried or favorite Brand/Blend can be steeped separately to mess around with levels of each flavor)
Add desired Honey (use a glass, ceramic, wooden spoon /no metal it interrupts the healing properties of Honey)
Add a little bit of Coconut Oil
Pinch in the teeniest dash of the Cinnamon, Salt, + Cardamom
Stir in "milk"
Pour over and into your cup of ICEEEEE
(crushed + whole cubes if available and do the thing where you toss it between cups for cooling and frothing)
CCC: Where does your creative process begin (i.e. sketchbook, specific routine, image reference, etc.)? What considerations do you think about when creating drinking vessels?
NS: I love making “Medi Mugs”. They have developed over time as a form I make the most. The original idea came from the desire to make an incredibly comforting and aesthetically pleasing piece that honors the medicinal properties of teas and other beverages, as well as slowing down, elevating the everyday, and healing through holding and drinking.
CCC: Do you have a certain type of vessel that you prefer to drink from? Does it vary based on the beverage?
NS: Totally varies. Most everything I drink from is made by someone I love.
CCC: When creating a mug, I often hear about the detail and time taken for the handle. Do you have a handle size and type that you prefer to use? Why? Does that directly inform your creative process?
NS: Love the handle talk. Its serious and silly. The major reason I make mugs the way I do, is because I think it’s incredibly difficult to find a mug with a handle that feels super dope. When you find that one, it’s a pretty sexy moment, and it feels pretty amazing to invest in something that can bring comfort in this way. I just want my handles to feel good and bring a sense of peace. So Yessssss, the handle talk grasped me back in college and I finally “perfected” my handle when I moved to Anderson Ranch in 2015.
CCC: What makes handmade pottery unique to you? Why use a handmade object to sip your coffee, tea, water, etc.?
NS: The way I feel is that hydrating, in whatever fashion, with whomever, is innately nourishing, sacred, and to some mundane. The act of drinking is super freaking cool…. Most of us were lucky enough to drink soon after we were born, from a beautiful human vessel. I’m not really in interested in drinking from a machine-made thing, although I can see the joy in that too. The first object I bought as a youngster was a handmade mug, it made sense to me. I love how soulful it is and that it brings more connection between humans and the natural world, utility and beauty…
CCC: What influences your pots? What are you looking at or thinking about when making specific beverageware?
NS: I’m into being abstract with things. Landscape, body, folding and dripping, layering, and color chemistry are present in my practice. I’m often just meditating, thinking about people, doing reiki and having a really good time when I get on the wheel and am making. Theres a lot of energetic release too..
CCC: Is there a certain type of drinking vessel that you prefer making? Or one that seems to always be sought after by customers?
NS: Mugs on mugs on mugs really. I’ll be making mugs for however long I will be working with clay.
CCC: How do you define art within your functional pottery? Do you consider pottery to be a form of art?
NS: 100%
I painted way more than anything before I started making pots. I was drawn to clay because I loved how grounding it is and that someone could hold and drink from/eat from a painting.
CCC: When creating pottery, do you work in a series or body of work? At what point do you transition from one series to another?
NS: I feel like it’s all one big body at the moment.
There’s a difference in the head space and way I treat the surface of pieces, when I move into a space where I am creating larger forms and hand-building or down firing pottery and painting layers and layers. It’s all situational and basically a lot of waves that are influenced by varying time frames.
CCC: What keeps you inspired in the studio?
NS: Love for the material, process, and people. The endlessness, energy, and enrichment that clay has always brought into the world. Everything.
CCC: How do color, surface, and form influence your work? Does each of those design elements play equal roles in your making process? Is one emphasized over others?
NS: They essentially inform each other and are meant to be ONE for me, holding the same amount of space. The intention with my work is to create something that FEEELLLLLLSSSS, breathes, presents, and holds space just like eARTh as well as Ether.