Joseph Bounds with one of his oil paintings, outside his studio in Faison(Chesley Schwantes @chevergreen|Courtesy photo)
A yunomi, or Japanese teacup, is created using a salt-firing process. Near the end of the weeklong firing, with temperatures in the kiln topping 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, salt is sprayed into the kiln, resulting in “unpredictable and surprising results,” according to artist Joseph Bounds. “No two cups are ever exactly the same.”(Chesley Schwantes @chevergreen|Courtesy photo)
This sake cup, hand-carved and salt-fired, was created by Faison artist Joseph Bounds.(Chesley Schwantes @chevergreen|Courtesy photo)
This yunomi (Japanese teacup) was salt-fired, “creating a naturalistic glaze surface with many subtle variations of color and texture,” explains artist Joseph Bounds.(Chesley Schwantes @chevergreen|Courtesy photo)
This stoneware mug is made from a type of clay that gives it a dense, durable, stone-like quality. It was fired in an electric kiln in Joseph Bounds’ Faison studio.(Chesley Schwantes @chevergreen|Courtesy photo)
FAISON — Art does many things for many people. Just ask local artist Joseph Bounds, who will start offering pottery classes in March at his studio located at 1342 NC 50, alongside Ernest Taylor Lane, between Faison and Bowden.
“It’s changed my life in such a major way,” Bounds says, describing the effect that creating pottery has had on his life. “It’s meditative and healing. After a rough or stressful day, an hour or two in the studio can melt all of that tension. I feel that making a creative space like that available for people would be a real service to the community.”
Pottery isn’t the only form of art to capture Bounds’ heart. “Drawing has been a deep and enduring part of my life since I first held a pencil, and painting followed soon after, around the age of nine,” he says. He was fortunate in that he lived across the street from a painter and potter, who also happened to be his aunt, so he didn’t have far to look for a teacher and mentor.
While some people outgrow their childhood interests, the opposite was true for Bounds. His interest in art only deepened over time, leading him to earn his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He then began painting full-time, showing and selling his work. But as is the case with so many other people, when Covid hit he began re-thinking his career. “By then I was getting burnt out on painting, a bit sick of the dynamics of the commercial art world, and with the added stress and difficulty of managing an art career while galleries were shutting their doors, I decided to take a step back from painting,” he says, explaining that he took a data entry job with Goshen Medical Center in Faison, processing paperwork for Covid tests. Still, he didn’t give up on art completely; he also started teaching painting classes at Emerge Art Center in Greenville.
Teaching allowed Bounds to keep a toe dipped into the world of art — but after a few months of not drawing and painting constantly, he found himself experiencing “creative withdrawal.” It was at this time that his aunt once again played a significant role in his artistic endeavors, this time gifting him her pottery wheel and kiln. ”Naturally I jumped at the chance to develop a new creative interest,” he says, noting that he began researching and experimenting with this artform. “I was particularly obsessed with Japanese ceramics, their sense of naturalism and irregularity really appealed to me.”
After firing his first batch of pots, he started an Instagram account and began posting pictures. He was surprised by how quickly things took off. Within a couple of weeks, he started selling a few pieces, and, he says, “After a few months I was making more selling pottery online than I was through my other jobs. In less than a year, my Instagram had grown by ten thousand followers, which I was shocked by since I’d had very little luck on social media in the past, and I was selling pots all over the world, from China to Australia, so I quit my teaching job and sold pottery online full-time.”
Now, he finds that what he wants to do is create his art and teach. “I started to miss teaching and the creative energy of being in a studio with other people,” he says. So in addition to creating and selling his pots, he is also going to return to teaching, this time pottery instead of painting.
If you think you’d like to give pottery a try but are intimidated by the fact that you’ve never attempted any artistic pursuits, Bounds is reassuring. “Pottery is very approachable,” he says. “It’s something anyone can do. You can come in having never touched clay in your life and within an afternoon make something that you can keep and use forever.”
For more information about pottery classes offered by Bounds, go to www.josephbounds.com.
