Hello friends, welcome to my corner of the internet. My name is Jordan Nunez and I’m the gal behind Good Mud Ceramics. I’m starting this blog as a space to provide insight, context, ideas, thoughtful discussions, and light-hearted tips and tricks. It’s my hope that in this space, we can connect in a more genuine and vulnerable way. I’m going to kick things off with two part deep dive into the beginnings of Good Mud Ceramics- how it started and why. I want to forewarn you, the path was not always easy. I want to give you a heads up that part I (what you’re reading) contains themes of death and family grief.

Good Mud started as a passion project in 2019 when I took my first formal ceramics class at a local community college. This was a transitional time for me; looking back, I can see how that year shaped and informed every part of who I am now. I had left a job that took a heavy toll on my mental health, and had just been hired on to a Very Big Financial Firm that touted its prestige. I had a bit of a gap between the two and thought to myself… why not ceramics?

I took the leap, enrolled, and found myself absolutely enchanted with everything I discovered. I can so vividly remember opening the door to the classroom studio for the first time. It smelled like the earth and the room looked, and felt, alive. I remember holding the clay in my hands, creating my first set of vessels, and feeling so totally and completely at home. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finished out the term. In fact, I was only able to complete the first couple projects before an unexpected family crisis knocked the floor out from under my feet. My class began in January of 2019 and in March of that same year, my father passed away. This event completely shattered my emotional landscape. It forced me to take pause and truly assess my life. For the first time, I think I truly understood my own mortality.

I am thankful that I had some time between jobs- I needed it to move through my grief. Soon enough, that too had come to an end. My job at the Very Big Financial Firm had started and to be quite honest… I was miserable. I don’t know that I was more miserable than the last job I had left, but my god I was suffering. I knew I couldn’t stay there, and I felt this pang in my chest that maybe I wasn’t cut out for the big leagues. Maybe somehow, I was a failure of an adult or maybe that I just wasn’t cut out for the grind of late stage capitalism, or maybe I was still in the throes of grief, or maybe… it was all of that.

Whatever the cause, I knew what I was doing wasn’t working. In hindsight, I can clearly identify what the problem was. I was trying so hard to force myself into the mold of what I thought I should be, that I was completely disregarding who I actually was. I had traded in my colorful, authentic, deeply creative self for a more palatable, easily digestible, easy to summarize on a resume, caricature of what I thought I needed to be.

Why did I do this? Simple- I didn’t know I had another choice. I had never seen a creative thrive. The “Starving Artist” archetype had been so firmly ingrained in me that I believed that by following who I was, I was actually dooming my family to a life of hardships and failures. These realizations only came from the deep reflection of my dad’s passing. He too had lived a life that, looking back now, was inauthentic. It was purely survival. I didn’t understand it then, but I believe fully that he too had traded in his true personhood for the safety net of the grind. My dad was not a happy man, but he had a roof over his head, food on his plate, and a consistent schedule that kept his days moving though he was stagnant.

This realization not only challenged everything I had come to believe about myself, it opened up the possibility that maybe there was another way. A different path that I could choose to take, one that held my closest and most precious beliefs; one that embodied creativity, joy, and authenticity. I felt that perhaps this was the highest way I could choose to honor my dad. I could carry his memory and his lessons forward and choose something different.

I’m not a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. When I take into account the whole of 2019 I cannot help but believe greater forces were at work. I was brave and left a soul sucking job. I created space for my creativity to crawl out of its decade long hibernation. I lost my father, and was forced to reckon with the real meat and potatoes of life. I started another Adult Job but this time, I listened to my intuition and the lessons I was beginning to understand. I quit after less than a year and began my journey into creative living.

Why clay? Why not any other myriad of creative endeavors? I’ll be going into more detail in the second part of this two part series. You’ve made it through the heavy stuff, and we can look forward to the absolutely exhilarating part of Good Mud, self-actualization. Before we get there, though, I want to share my gratitude with you for walking this path with me. It’s hard to be vulnerable about the greatest transformation in my recent years. It’s hard to open up and be authentic about the true roots of my studio and myself. I am grateful for your grace, your kindness, and your willingness to sit in this space with me. It’s impossible to see how bright the light is without first seeing what it looks like in the dark.

Friends & studio mates, thanks for being here.

I’m glad that you’re here.

xo Jordan

Welcome!