Jonathan Mark

Pottery

Colorado Springs, CO

(b. Texas, 2002)

My name is Jonathan Mark and this is my Story

I started my pottery journey in my sophomore
year of high school. Which was about.. 6 years ago now. I was lucky enough to have an amazing ceramics program and a fantastic teacher. Shoutout Mr. C (Corigliano), I’m definitely sending you a mug.

Anyway, I hated it. Throwing on the wheel was so difficult and frustrating. For the first few weeks, all I was learning how to do was centering. But alas through the good teachings and friendly competitions of who could throw the tallest cylinder or the most clay, I absolutely fell in love with it. The rest is really history, I continued to fall in love with the Art form all throughout high school and into a year of college.

I never really went to college. I took a year of Pottery at PPSC and tried to start my own Pottery business straight out of high school. And i’ll be honest.. it did not go well. It was the midst of covid and it seemed the world was full of chaos. My work ethic and discipline were at an all-time low and I was completely burnt out. I even took about 7-8 months off completely and even got to the point where the last thing I wanted to do was touch clay.

I worked a couple of gigs before I settled on CityRock, pursuing another one of my passions, rock climbing. About a year into full-time work at CityRock pottery started knocking at the door again and getting back into the rhythm of it all again was tough. At this point, I still kind of had a sour taste in my mouth from the burnout. I had to remind myself that I was doing this purely for fun again and not to be the most efficient potter who makes the most beautiful work. Just do it because you know you love it.

That brings us to the present. It’s now January 2024, as I’m writing this. I’m back into the flow of being able to crank out pots that I’m proud of. Pottery has been a side hustle for a couple of years now and there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not thinking about it. I’ve tested the waters, the people and customers are out there and all I have to do now is make this dream of mine come true. Hopefully, with help from you beautiful people, I’ll be able to live this dream of being a full-time artist who isn’t starving.