Interview with Katie Bonadies, October 2024
Ella Neess is a clay artist who throws on the wheel. She has been a member of Running With Scissors since December 2023. Ella makes functional pottery and is currently working on making slab platters and an oversized pitcher. Her first attempt at making a pitcher a couple of months ago was much smaller. Once she attached the handle, she realized it was noticeably off-center. She is hoping the next one comes out well and would like to continue to make more.
Imperfection is a quality with which Ella is at ease. It wasn't always this way. Ella started taking pottery classes in 2018 as a way to relax but, once she got into it, she realized it wasn't that relaxing and got frustrated easily. The frustration was a motivator for her; the more frustrated she got, the more she wanted to get back in the studio and fix what was making her angry, "...and I got frustrated very easily." She finds working with her hands fulfilling, whether the finished product is 'bad' or not.
Ella had tried a lot of different mediums before she discovered clay, “I was so bad at all of them, but I wanted to be an artist.” She wanted to be an artist because she liked the idea of creating. Ella says she doesn’t have a process, that she just sits down and hopes for the best. It doesn’t always work out and most of the time she gives her work away to friends and family. Sometimes she sells her work to them too, “This is a hobby for me so there’s not a ton of pressure to make one specific thing or for things to be good….” Most of the time she holds onto what she thinks is her best work.
She got into wheel throwing when she took a beginner class with her sister at a studio in Cincinnati where they grew up. The class was a way for Ella to spend more time with her sister and meet new people. Participants were offered membership at the end of the class, and she decided to continue because she loved being there and being around all the other members. Ella had finally found a creative outlet that felt good to do. Her love for making pottery grew because she was having so much fun.
When Ella left Cincinnati and moved to Hawaii she no longer had access to clay or the funds to continue her practice. When she moved to Portland she wasn’t thinking about finding a clay community because she was focused on getting settled and finding a job. Once she did settle she found she had a lot of free time and remembered what she used to do with her time. She signed up for a beginner class at Portland Pottery and stayed for a couple of sessions. Unfortunately Ella’s schedule didn’t fit their open studio time, so she looked for another place to land. It was her manager at work who mentioned Running With Scissors because they knew someone in the clay department. She has been here almost a year now.
Ella is currently into making mugs because she has discovered a method for making handles that works for her. For a long time handles were her worst enemy, but she’s started resting them over a beer can and letting them dry longer. She has also started using a paintbrush to attach them to the mugs. This new process has made making mugs more fun. Her biggest challenge is that everything ends up slightly off center, “It’s still functional. It just doesn’t look quite as neat.” She’s been getting into hand building more recently like with the slab platters, which she hand-builds and then finishes on the wheel. She would love to hand build a mug or make a lidded jar but feels she’s not ready to take that step just yet.
Ella admires wood fired and soda fired clay, and her long-term goal is to find a wood kiln she can fire in. Her interest in atmospheric firing is inspired by her uncle who was a potter. She loves the way the atmospheric firing process results in work that looks ‘intentionally messy’, and she loves to see the hand of the potter. To her, the most interesting work looks like it was thrown in a rush, “Like a lip that isn’t even or there are obvious trim lines, but it looks good.” She has tried to recreate this perfectly imperfect aesthetic but feels she hasn’t found her touch with it yet. She says that her work ends up looking like it’s made by someone who is inexperienced.
Ella has finally accepted that she doesn't have to be good at art to have fun and make stuff that she likes, "As long as you enjoy doing it, it doesn't matter how it comes out." For those who are looking to get into making pottery but are nervous about the process or the price of entry, Ella recommends trying a little air-dry hand building at home to get their foot in the door. She says, "Don't hold yourself back, and don't be afraid to make something ugly."
Ella can be contracted through Instagram @ellaneess.
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