Meet Michael Thompson | Ceramicist & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Thompson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
It often feels like the narrative out there is “risk is an imaginary limit that people create for themselves”. I think there’s a lot of survivorship bias in that idea.
I grew up pretty risk-averse. I was a loner, intimidated, living in a small bubble, and I couldn’t find my people/place. After college, I moved for my first time, halfway across the country, kinda hoping to find them/it. For me at the time it was a HUGE step and risk.
It did pay off in a way, in unexpected ways and its own timing. It was really hard, but I learned a lot about myself and rediscovered the world for my own. I explored several avenues to excavate and distill my voice. I really threw myself out there and in the end I did make a few really meaningful relationships, even though i didn’t find my place.
Just a few years in, I was marking the date that I would quit my stable job, move to another country, and study a creative passion, when a freak accident happened. My health collapsed and I had to fight for my life for nearly a decade instead.
In a matter of months, I watched myself go from running a dozen miles in the mountains and foothills to struggle walking a block or two up my street; as was the case with each area of my life.
I had no choice but to let all of my dreams die. There was no insight on how long or if any would come back. It was really humbling. I consigned to make something beautiful out of that space, and I’m still working that out, particularly with my art.
I don’t personally believe in “it put me on the path I was supposed to be on”. But, how I accept, shape, and channel it, even still today, it gives a certain kind of life to that death, a gratitude for whatever is in my life. My grief and my patience since, they deeply affect my work and set the tone for what really matters to me in expressing my art, what it is I need to make, and what my life is about.
So, risk is very real, but not to be lived in fear of. However, respecting its power over us is necessary for appraising the intangibles, beauty, and all good things. I think I care in a profoundly different way now, too.
When risk leads to loss: take inventory, be malleable, and work to get back up – not with ego, but with patience. Bring something out of it and don’t give up on the world.
When risk leads to reward: use it for gratitude and giving.
Who we are is revealed in what we make of what happens to us (be it favorable or malevolent).

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In my essence, I’m a maker and explorer of worlds, so there’s been a bit of variety to my work. As a ceramicist and a writer, I find the two art forms very fulfilling and symbiotic.

There’s a prevailing theme in my art that blends hyper-realism, old world romanticism, and futuristic imagination, woven together to illicit delight, wonder, and pause. I’m also drawn to the unseen and undiscovered things.
I like to consider and elevate the conversations that we’re not really having. Generally, if it isn’t hard or relieving a tension, or if it’s something that everyone else makes, I don’t pursue it.
I’m known for pushing the limits to see what is possible. This really shows in my ceramics, stretching the clay to and past failure to see what the line is made of.

Giving life to things is kind of a spiritual practice for me; I have always had a passion to animate the inanimate and channel the raw natural world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
A week is overwhelming to consider, so just a few highlights to put on the roster:

LA has wonderful parks, often in hidden pockets. Great for a stroll, picnic, nap, book, etc. I have many favorites but the Huntington Library Botanical Gardens is pretty incredible. The best time of year when they have the Twilight Strolls, where golden hour light casts long shadows.

My favorite breakfast burrito is by Wake and Late.

Catch a comedy show. Watch a movie at one of the small, artsy theaters, like Quentin Tarantino’s Vista Theater.

There is so much good food on the east side. From Los Feliz to Highland Park, and down to Koreatown, you won’t run out of options.

Inside the Westin Hotel downtown is a visual feast. I like to take people inside for a quick peek.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would dedicated this to a few dear friends, near and (mostly) far, who spent time being in my corner. Whether short or long term, they supported my work, affirmed what they see in me, advocated for me, and/or commissioned work over the years, in ways that have meant a lot to me. Their friendship and collaboration have carried me:

Ryan Schluttenhofer
Juliet Patu
Caroline Powers
Christina Pierson
Daniel Mauck
Allison Satterfield
Jeremy & Glenys Parker
Olivia Graziano
Charlynne Adones Mallari
John Barden
Noah Melde
Emari Traffie
Arnulfo Nuño
Dakota Sandras

Website: https://www.meanderstu.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meander_studio_la/

Image Credits
Lauren DeGracia Photography