Life & Work with Dorien Garry of Eastside of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dorien Garry

Hi Dorien, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My life and work was always steeped in music. I worked in a record store as a teen, and from there I worked for Kim Gordon as a nanny and then at her clothing line X-Girl. I did a stint at an indie PR firm for a bit, was a musician and eventually ended up tour managing bands for 13 years. I grew up around Manhattan and made my way to the west coast 15 years ago.
I had always maintained a craft or artistic hobby of sorts, since I was very young. When I got to LA I was doing a lot of textile work, through weaving and knitting mostly, and had become interested in clay but it wasn’t until I had a newborn baby that I signed up for a class. Mostly as an attempt to restore some autonomy and freedom, and feeling really unsettled and turned off by the societal norm of what being a new mom meant. That class was a bust, my body was broken from a traumatic birth and my teacher was uninspiring. Searching for interesting glaze while taking that class led me to Xiem Studio in Pasadena and I clocked it as a place I would return to when I felt physically more capable. Ten months later I signed up for a sculpture class being taught by the incredible artist Titia Estes and everything changed. Her style of instruction and confidence in me made it all click into place and I became hooked. Titia suggested I sculpt from a model to change things up and so I used a vintage wood carved Peace Sign hand I had a collection of. (Fun Fact- that very first ever hand was used in Amy Scotts brilliant documentary on Hal Ashby in a dream sequence) From there Monica Chavez, a friend and neighbor who owned a shop in my Atwater neighborhood called Individual Medley, asked me to make some for the shop. Then it all slowly and very naturally progressed through word of mouth and social media into a business throughout the last 10 years. I’m so lucky, especially because ambition has never driven me, and so many opportunities have found me. The pinch me moments are what I live for in this work. I make things I want to make, and then if people end up loving them, it’s a connection I’m so grateful to make.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’m not a business person, I no brain for it, but I’m somehow running a business, and all of the moving parts that do not involve the direct physical making of my work I find incredibly challenging. I’m not interested in computers or technology at all, so all of the components that involve them are hard for my brain to compute. I would be happiest if I could just sit and make work and never have to think about another aspect of it, but that’s not realistic. The pandemic also brought on a ton of challenges involving productivity that have since become more focused on supply issues and rising costs of materials. I have a firm practice of not wanting to make my work unattainable to people, and so I struggle to raise prices or anything when my costs go up. I find it very hard and depressing to exist in a capitalist system, so I need to work extra hard to keep those weighing feelings out of my work. I try to focus on just making things that bring beauty and hope and love into peoples spaces and psyches, and leave the rest of it behind as much as I can. I’m sensitive though, and I think and feel everything too much. It’s a constant battle.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work is all individually hand built and sculpted by only me, I don’t used molds, or electric machinery aside from a mixer to mix glaze and a kiln. It’s all done in clay and fired in high fire cone 10 studios. I am most known for my hand sculptures, specifically my Peace Sign Hand sculpture. I also make a lot of housewares objects, both functional and decorative. I hand paint all of the design patterns on to my work freehand and use a lot of bright blue color themes in my pieces. I was hired two years ago to work on the set of Netflix and A24s series ‘BEEF” where I set up the home studio of the character of George, and made all of his works in progress. I was given a book of renderings and supplies and left to make about 35 different pieces in various stages to be in the show. All on a sound stage in his “studio” with no running water! It was a thrill and a very exciting challenge to be taken out of my comfort zone and made to think about ceramic construction that wasn’t necessarily in my wheelhouse of the previous years. I am also still in awe and stoked over the shop at The Whitney Museum carrying my work. I grew up hanging out in there (the original uptown location) and it formed so much of my ideas and dreams early on. It feels like a dream come true to know my little artistic contribution to the world sits in the same building as so many of my favorite artists and their work.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Art, in all forms and mediums- music, film, fashion, books, and nature all count in there too! I never want to know a world without it. Traveling to look at art and experience beauty in different cultures, their natural surroundings and through architecture. Also my community here in Los Angeles and those I have formed all around the world from previous decades in NY and traveling. Mostly the women in those communities rise above though, they are the bonds and care that mean the world to me. Being in reciprocal relationships of all kinds with people who have mutual love means the most to me. I thrive on and love to spend time alone, I’m dependent on it, but I wouldn’t survive without my community who are my family now. Any chance I can to volunteer, activist engagement or give back to a cause I care about always fills more up for me then I can put into words. It’s a true balm for the soul, especially when things feel impossible or the world feels filled with despair. And my kid. He is a the biggest ray of sunshine in my life.

Pricing:

• Small items usually only available at markets start at $24
• My Hand Sculptures run between $75-$100
• Functional housewares vary between $45-$250
• Large statement pieces are between $125-$400

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.doriengarrystudio.com
• Instagram: @doriengarrystudio

Image Credits
Nicolas Simone