The Journey to 2000 Degrees

My friend Joan Curran and I were walking up State Street on a Tuesday afternoon when she called out, “Hey Nathan!” Sitting cross-legged on the curb was a casually clad guy with softly curled blonde hair and an array of beaded jewelry. As I squatted down to the pavement to behold his work, I immediately picked out a favorite – a daisy ring with a turquoise-beaded band. Though the ring is long-gone, my friendship with Nathan Martin remains today. 

Martin is an artist at heart, enjoying beading and block printing, but is primarily a potter. For 10 years Martin has honed his ceramic craft, living in the studio at Cate School and continuing throughout college. His dedication to pursuing the arts led him to become the Sculpture Technician at Pomona College, running the woodshop, metal shop, and assisting with corresponding classes. His winding journey would take him from Santa Barbara to places like Japan, India, and the Philippines. 

Though Martin’s current pursuit is the arts, he has a deep love for the sciences. He started at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University as a computer science major, but soon became dual-enrolled at Cleveland Institute of Art to sate his artistic desires. Martin recalls the Institute’s four-story building dedicated to crafts, including glassblowing, ceramics, and metal casting. “I would walk out with a huge smile on my face. I have never been within such a bubbling and creative space.”

Though he was “having the time of [his] life” at Cleveland Institute of Art, Martin had an itch to transfer. “I always thought, ‘I don’t really love being in Ohio.’” COVID made that decision for him, cutting his time short and bringing Martin back to Santa Barbara.

Martin picked up a job at Art Essentials, but as is the plight of any artist working in an art supplies store, Martin’s paychecks went right back to sender. “I need to make some money back. I was spending way too much money there.” After one of his first shifts, he had an idea. “I went down to the Tuesday farmers market with a piece of 9”x11” black felt and put some [jewelry] haphazardly out.” Joan and I had run into him in his shop’s infancy, but as he realized the potential, he quickly developed a tiny market-side shop. 

On top of earning money from his craft, Martin was discovering a newfound passion for astronomy while taking courses at SBCC. “It reignited my science brain,” he regaled. Transferring to Pitzer College, Martin found himself gravitating towards geology and archeology classes, explaining that “if astronomy is the study of the stars, then geology is the study of here.” 

His studies of rock deepened his love of working with the earth. “Once you fire clay, it’s permanent; but metal, you can always melt it down. How many shapes has the copper in your phone been in before?” Martin’s interests couldn’t fit into one major, and thus was The Art of Life major born. His senior thesis was so experimental – heating up copper to an unprecedented 2,000 degrees to create a 30-pound crystal – that his professors thought it impossible.

Sculptors typically use the more forgiving bronze rather than copper, but on his thesis date (and 24th birthday), Martin turned his 2,000 degree mission into seven hours of “performance art.” Folks gathered around to watch Martin throw copper plumbing pipes into the fire, changing its color from red, green, to white. He even shoved a shop vacuum’s nozzle into the “volcanic soup,” a wild spray of flames and embers flying over him. The thesis came to its crescendo when Martin had a mere three minutes to pour the liquified cooper into its final orb shape – but miraculously, his thesis prevailed.

It was such a success that a friend from Cate, having kept up with Martin’s experiments, called to see if he wanted to go to the Philippines to continue metal casting and 3D printing. What started as one month in the Philippines ended as eight months visiting more than eight countries in Asia, assisting a month-long wood-fired pottery workshop in the mountains of Kyoto, Japan, and another in the ever-bustling India.

After his odyssey, Martin was visiting friends at Scripps College when he ran into the Sculpture Technician at that time. Though one usually needs an MFA, he felt that Martin’s experience teaching abroad – and his wizardly thesis – could land him the job. And land the job he did. Now, he runs two state-of-the-art facilities. A casual after-lunch task includes preparing a classroom for 18 students and melting down one hundred pounds of aluminum at 1,400 degrees for them.

Martin’s career journey is proof that the best way to find where you belong is to follow your passions, even if they don’t fit neatly into a major or a job description box. 

Find him on Instagram at @nathan_loves_clay and follow along as he shares his passion for process and materials.