Mon Martinez | Episode 1193

Mon Martinez is a Mexican ceramic artist dedicated to thoughtful making, material exploration, and the creation of emotional narratives through clay. Mon’s work blends experimentation with glazes, sculptural form, and symbolic detail. Mon strives to create pieces that hold introspection, transformation, and a quiet sense of presence—artworks meant to be discovered intimately over time.

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As an artist, how would you define intuition?

As an artist I would define it as a memory of a body, because a body remembers. I think that is what intuition is. Whenever you start to get a shiver about something, whenever you start to feel funny about a situation, or remembering something that might have already happened or something similar. But you don’t quite know what the body knows and it lets you know because it’s all there!

If your body already knows, can you develop it?

I think what you can develop is the ability to listen to it… and to act on it because we all have it.

How does that show in the studio?

I would say that it shows up very physically for me. There are days in which I am just not vibing to the rhythm of clay. Inside of me I just know that I am forcing something that is not to be, maybe. But then comes the time to make the decision to let it go or to stay with it and just keep on forcing it. Which sometimes happens, but the results are almost always not my favorites.

Do you always feel creative when you come to the studio to work or is it more like a dimmer switch that starts out dark but gets brighter and brighter?

Absolutely. It is something that fluctuates with time and mood and… I think it has to do in my case with how tuned in I am with myself. There are times in which life gets hectic and you have all these compromises and we have bills to pay and we have classes to give and we have responsibilities and loved ones. Whenever I am not very focused into myself and how I am feeling, and if I am resting and having these silent moments, that is when it is harder for myself to feel creative. Of course there is the discipline aspect of it. To me, the advantage is that my income does not totally come from my sales. That’s the part that I love about teaching ceramics. It gives me a space to rest.

You have that stream that you also do of teaching and I am curious if a beginner can work from intuition or is intuition a part of mastery?

I think that there are people that are very good at going with the feeling. I’ve had so many pleasant surprises with people coming into the workroom and telling me I’ve never done anything arts related. I’m not a creative person. And then they end up making a beautiful sculpture, or they just created the most intricate piece of dining ware. I think there are people who just let themselves loose very easily.

You are not at the studio to teach, you are there to make. What do you do to get in the mood for making?

I write. I tend to grab my notebook and start writing what I am thinking as of this moment, what I am feeling, or just check out my notes. Sometimes I write feelings and then I go back to them and I find these interesting phrases or some words that call my attention, and it starts from there.

Inspiration

Pneuma by Tool

Contact

Instagram: @mm.ceramica