Theo Helmstadter
Green River Pottery
Sante Fe, NM USA
"It’s not something people tell you when you’re in high school: You’re going to come up with a plan, but then you’re probably going to have to come up with another plan after that!"
Career Roadmap
Theo's work combines: Art, Design, and Teaching / Mentoring
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Take the leap! If you want to change or do something different, then you can't overthink it. Just do it.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Philosophy
Oberlin College
Bachelor's Degree
Music, General
Oberlin College
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
I was born and raised in Ithaca, New York.
2.
I gravitated toward the creative arts and making things from a young age—I began learning how to make pottery when I was 13 years old.
3.
At the time, I didn’t see a future for myself in pottery or the creative arts, so I pursued something that I thought was the “right path” instead.
4.
Attended Oberlin College, where I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in English and music.
5.
Moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where I worked as an English teacher for several years.
6.
I knew deep down that being a teacher wasn’t something I was meant to be doing, so I found myself rediscovering my love of pottery.
7.
In 1998, I opened my ceramics studio Green River Pottery in Sante Fe, New Mexico, where I specialize in making reduction-fired stoneware and teaching pottery classes.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I don't want to help people and I just want to hide in my own little world.
How I responded:
I went through a period of time where I was trying to discover my creative path and was dealing with a lot of confusion because I didn't know what I wanted. Having been a teacher before and then leaving that, I thought that I didn't want to go back to it. It took time, but I realized that I really do loving teaching people, I just want to teach them something that I truly enjoy. I also had to learn how to balance my introverted nature and my need for solitude with my work.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
My first career was working as an English teacher. Deep down it never felt fulfilling and I knew that wasn't what I was meant to be doing. I ended up going back to my first love which was pottery.