From Latvian forests to a Creative Force- Lauma Slinke

The Mountain in Us is a heartfelt podcast about the paths that shape us, the passions that carry us, and the quiet moments that help us find our purpose. Hosted by Taran Singh, each episode invites listeners into honest, soul-stirring conversations with artists, makers, and creatives whose stories reveal the beauty of growth, vulnerability, and becoming.

In this episode, Taran speaks with Lauma, a deeply expressive artist from Latvia whose life is rooted in nature, craftsmanship, and creative truth. She shares memories of childhood summers, the stillness of forests, the tenderness of family, and the way the natural world continues to guide her art and spirit. From discovering her creative path later in life to learning through ceramics, travel, and transformation, Lauma opens her heart about what it means to create with feeling, trust uncertainty, and embrace the unfolding of life.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, doubtful, or too perfectionist to begin, her pottery lessons land hard: clay teaches beginner’s mind, failure, and letting go of control when the kiln decides the outcome. Listen, share this with a creative friend, and leave a review. What part of your life is asking you to create with less control and more courage?

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Transcript

Taran 00:04

Welcome to the mountain in us, where the journey gets its voice. I am Taran Singh. This season we take on new tales for deep-rooted reflections on our passions, paths, and purpose. Together, let's explore the thrills, ascents, and descents of our uncharted adventures. Today my guest is Loma, a soulful artist, soon-to-be mother, and someone who is dedicated and in deeply love with nature and creative expression. Welcome, Loma.

Lauma:   00:47

Hi, I'm so glad to be here and looking forward to our creative conversation.

Taran 00:53

Awesome. And you'll kick it off right in.

Taran 00:56

 And I know you were born in Latvia. Tell us a little bit about the country and tell us about where you a place where you were born in Latvia.

Lauma:   01:07

Yeah, like Latvia, I think that a lot of people actually haven't heard much about it and where it is. So it's uh one of these Baltic states by the Baltic Sea. We are very wild country, I would say. Um, very much like foresty, swampy with rivers and a lot of lakes. So the nature is always there and it's very, very present. But not like, you know, like oh breathtaking, like wow, there are mountains and I don't know, some kind of grand, you know, big things in nature that kind of is there in your face, but at the same time, it's this very nurturing, calm, um, very soft nature, you know, like the forests are filled with moss and and the trees and everything is very inviting.

Taran 01:54

Yeah. So is it is it a landlocked country in in Europe, as you said, right? Or it still has access to the Baltic Sea? Or uh give us a little bit more about like what who are your neighbors in around Lativia for people, those who you know, for us who hardly know anything outside of wild, wild west of California.

Lauma:   02:12

Yeah, it's uh yeah, we have uh access to the Baltic Sea. Um the three Baltic countries is uh above us is Estonia, and then it's Latvia in the middle, and Lithuania on the bottom, and over the sea we have Scandinavia, and uh and above is Finland, so we are kind of like there along with the those countries as well. And yeah, we have access to the sea. The sea is pretty peaceful, but I mean it's still lovely. I I love the diversity, I love the that we have forests and rivers and lakes, and at the same time, it's a very nice and just calm, mostly calm seaside as well. 

Lauma:   02:52

Yeah.

Taran 02:53

And where where in Latvia were you born and what how did the relationships uh with the nature and art come out in the place you were born? Uh, can you walk us through that journey a little bit?

Lauma:   03:07

I was born in uh in just a town, right? Like we lived in a flat, and then at some point I um I got exposed to nature more, like thanks to my grandmother and my grandparents who lived totally uh like they had a house in the middle of nature, just basically in nowhere. And I remember that that's that's where I first actually got at like got into conversation with nature, so to say.

Taran 03:34

And uh yeah, it's like I don't know, very simple beginnings, very much just uh nature-based you you you mentioned that you were born, you know, with in a flat with with little access to nature in the in the ecosystem of the flat. But do you have any vivid memories when you went to your grandparents' house that took your breath away and say, Oh, I didn't realize that this also existed in the world of the world, going from your home and then going to your grandparents' home? Are there specific memories that you still carry and nourish your heart and soul?

Lauma:   04:13

Yeah, definitely. Yes, yeah. Um, I guess it was very much a contrast of like uh a kind of city, city uh environment, right? Like which is busy and it's more concrete and everyone is in a rush. And then I remember these just some glimpses, which was something very simple, but at the same time, I think from a child's perspective, everything felt very magical. So it's just um, I don't know, just this the I I I just remember the summer, uh, some kind of summer mornings or just being there, like a grandmother had a pond, and they had a lot of just these uh apple trees and uh and just meadows around, and somehow it's just all packed in this one one very beautiful sort of uh memory, which is almost this universe, which I know for sure. Uh I as a child, like I had shaped it and I had really created it like almost like you know, created it like more beautiful than it probably was, because I think it was pretty simple and humble. Um, but yeah, like nothing maybe specific of the memories, but just these sort of very um vivid, almost like visually like uh vivid glimpses of of yeah, like summers and sun and and the birds are singing, and and and I really uh always have it like in me, this kind of a memory of of that place from a perspective when I was a child.

Taran 05:39

Yeah. And considering Lativia is so up in the north, right? The summers are also very potent, right? Because you go through this winter hibernation and suddenly everything blooms in this magical world, and you're like, Oh, what where did that come from? Right? That's something you know. I grew up in the mountains, so it is snow buries everything, makes it so clean, and everything looks so great. Uh, but then the greenery comes back roaring, and I just really love uh the transformation uh of the landscape, and you probably see that a lot in Latvia, especially considering how north it is up there.

Lauma:   06:18

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. This year we had such a deep winter, and and a lot of us were actually exhausted from it. And exactly this moment when the spring starts, it comes with also this huge sense of reward. Like I feel uh I feel like all of us, because we have had the tough winter, feel that uh yeah, the spring is is rewarding us for all these like three, four months basically of this coldness. And uh yeah, I mean I cannot imagine actually how it is, but I know that a lot of people live uh you know in parts of the world where they don't get to experience winter, you know, spring, summer, all the like four uh seasons, but it's really a gift.

Taran 07:05

Yeah,

Taran 07:05

 yeah, uh that's a gift, and uh you can see the change and change, can see the lot of things, and that's where I want to swing to next is uh how did you know what what what inspired to you to pick up uh creative expression and what mediums did you try before uh you know honing on on a medium or a or mediums uh that that now you consider part of your foray?

Lauma:   07:34

Um it uh I actually discovered it pretty late, I would say. I think a lot of people are lucky enough to say, oh, I started it already at I don't know, 15, 16, but I disc not discovered it but chose it as my path when in in my early 20s. And uh because like the typical upbringing, you know, of sort of I would say like typically in my age, it was that the parents were really really worried when a child showed interest in uh art or creativity because it always felt like a path that leads to nowhere and it's unsafe, and you know, like you cannot make a living that way. So as I was this, you know, um exemplary child, I didn't want to sort of piss off my parents, so I was really like, yes, okay, I'm gonna try my best not to do it, you know, like no creativity, no nothing. But still, like it was something, like there is something in me um that I couldn't, I guess, um sort of ignore and put aside. So in uh early 20s, I think I started with something like I was in university and I uh someone needed someone who's designing um these posters for events and stuff. And I remember I was like, yeah, yeah, pick me, pick me. I thought it's gonna be super simple, you know, like we're gonna do graphic design, la la la. And I I just caught myself that I'm like really like not doing the task in a simple way because I always felt like, oh, I want to like create something, I want to draw, uh, you know, I want to kind of create these pictures that are more than just uh, you know, simple design and all that. And yeah, like back then I was just like, okay, starting to think maybe drawing is my path, and maybe I want to try art. And somehow I really um yeah, made myself a promise that that I'm gonna try to, you know, find a way how to make this my life, you know, like how to also uh earn enough of money to sustain myself, and uh and that's how I also am and have been living actually up until this point. And it's not only drawing and and painting, uh I'm doing ceramics and uh working a lot with hands, and and uh later on I met my husband, who's also a craftsman, he's a blacksmith, so we are um a lot um just uh it's living in creativity basically every day. And yeah, it's really beautiful.

Taran 10:08

Talking about ceramics, uh you know, you've been traveling uh to also to traveling, but also going places to find some of those connections, but also to creatively express yourself in those mediums. So, how has travel in you know changed you in terms of your expression and and and what values do you think you know as humans we should carry to always have our creative expression and the calling next to us?

Lauma:   10:41

Um yeah, traveling was very important, I would say, in the path because also uh yeah, in um uh also, as I mentioned, uh about my husband meeting him. Like he's uh I'm I'm from Latvia, he lives in Czech Republic, which means that sort of actually the my path as a craftsman started uh here in Czech Republic because I also met enough of people that were into crafts and they were artists, and I got inspired by that and by their stories and seeing what they create, and uh and yeah, like um maybe I haven't traveled yet too much to some places, but it's always it always just takes me somehow. First of all, like just experiencing the different culture, nature. Then if I look at the history, like each place that we visit is like a different history with again like art connected with it, and all of it is just very much uh like feeding my uh my create creativity in a very beautiful way.

Taran 11:45

Yeah. You you mentioned, you know, you met your husband through through that connection, and and he, of course, you know, and you mentioned he's also a blacksmith. Uh talk to us how that how did you guys meet and and and what and how which part of the medium played a role in getting you together? I I want to know the I want to know the dating. I want to know the dating medium, not the app. Maybe that's a good recipe for the word.

Lauma:   12:19

Oh well, this is a good question. Um, we are both um also connected with this Erasmus Plus uh kind of universe, so we met in a project, uh Erasmus Plus project, and he he came as a participant, and I was, I guess, yeah, I was also in in involved in uh coordinating or something like that, but I was also part of the project. That's that's when and how we met. It was kind of simple, but I do know when when we are sometimes analyzing it and like talking uh uh with each other, then uh then we understand that creativity did play a big role in it because I remember the early on talks were actually about how we love creativity and we love crafts and and and also this kind of uh interesting thread of uh for us that we always take, like that we work with our hands, uh, is also honoring sort of the ancestors and you know, because like blacksmithing is a good example. It's such a craft that hasn't changed much for I would say thousands of years, like except, of course, yes, now like people have uh some more electric tools, but generally it's still a beautiful flow of this uh craft that just is it really literally feels like we would take it from you know from some ancestors and we are just practicing it and honoring it, and you know, maybe we'll also give it to the next generation, right? 

Lauma:   13:47

Um yeah.

Taran 13:48

Yeah, no, you're you're so right on on that. That's the sum total of our creativity gets passed to the next generation, and I know you are both of you are expecting a baby pretty soon, and you guys are also building your own place as as you as you try to uh get this beautiful bloom in your life, and how what and how you're creating that environment. What what inspired you and and what are you looking forward to as you guys welcome uh a beautiful bloom this summer?

Lauma:   14:27

That's a good question. Um yeah, we're like um right now uh we're in Czechia, right? Um we're going to uh welcome the baby into our lives here, and uh and back in Latvia, that's kind of where we more live, and there we are also like renovating a very old house. So there is a lot of work to still be like that we need to do this summer, actually. Um with the baby already kind of here, but uh um I mean physically, yeah, we are prepared, we already have everything, you know, that we need, and uh and but uh such I I notice a lot of uh like beautiful changes and the shift just mentally like what both of us are experiencing without forcing it, you know, kind of really like uh maturing today, like to this idea that we are going to become parents is a very beautiful uh process. Um and somehow the focus shifts and a lot of things that used to not even bother, but how to say it? It's a bit like uh um in the past, if I uh uh I thought that maybe I don't want children, then I was thinking that oh kids are, you know, they are uh I'm I'm not gonna have my freedom because I'm gonna have a child. And right now I feel it, it's all a blessing. I feel like it's beautiful because uh um it actually asks of me to show up uh every day as like kind of best version of myself, right? And be like uh show up not only for the child, but show up for myself and and uh somehow I don't know. I like the I like this feeling in which in which I am like right now, this mind uh mind space in which I am. Um yeah, and yet the transition is still happening, like some kind of transformation is happening.

Taran 16:27

Yeah, and my next question is there is no way to dampen the glow that you have of being a mother, but also the freedom that you think, right? That is all essential for us to nurture. Uh there must have been times, you know, where you're you must have doubts on your journey as a creative expressionist, and and you must have picked up yourself in places where you said, no, I have to believe in myself. I want to know more both about what what you know how did you create a discipline in yourself to overcome those? And then how what role did nature play when when you were going through the cycle of self-doubt and and and things were not panning out as you had imagined?

Lauma:   17:16

Oh this is uh this is a tough one.

Taran 17:22

Well, I I didn't tell you it's going to be easy. And that's what I said, you know, no, and and to the audience, you know, Lama is as I said, right? The glow on you is is is not just the glow of being a mother, but the glow of how you are and what you do to the world. So, first of all, I want to appreciate that. So, you know, your truth and your answer here not just helps us, but also helps us when we go through a cycle that there is always that there is always this journey that you have to go through sometimes to get to the other side.

Lauma:   17:58

And all of us as creatives faces. I'm wondering if there is one recipe or or what.

Taran 18:05

Um don't wonder, you know, what comes to your mind on top of it. Just share with us. That would be my my two cents here.

Lauma:   18:13

Yeah, yeah. 

Lauma:   18:14

I think nature, uh, as you mentioned, uh it uh it plays a big role uh in a way that sometimes I've noticed that when I am just feeling down or out of I don't know, ideas or energy. Uh I have experienced sometimes when I I'm just simply going for a walk, and then there was one specific thing or something in the nature that just captured my attention, and suddenly I was like, oh wow, I want to draw this, like I want to paint this thing, and I can visualize it. But I I can say I have been like blessed with this kind of a thing maybe three, four times, but those times were really worth it because then I created something that um really fulfilled me. But um other than that, yeah, discipline also plays um a big role. Uh, but I like the principle of um it's kind of uh this way of like when I'm stuck, I feel like I just need to start to keep to to get things kind of rolling. So so it's also like uh if I am on the blank page and I don't know what to draw, then I just take a pencil and maybe I start to draw, or maybe I do a study of something, or just get like into from from the thinking mind to kind of to the creative, to the creativity, to to like okay, I'm here, I'm drawing, I'm working. Um, and sometimes even like that simple thing can just start to like things start moving and ideas come start to come, and I'm like, wow, I'm like super surprised that it can happen this way.

Taran 19:58

Yeah, yeah, that's something that you that you touched on is very interesting. As you know, me being an author, I've never thought about writing anytime. And sometimes, you know, you end up writing, and sometimes you end up writing more than what you think you can write. So the burden of uh logic can sometimes cause you to not express your creative expression. Uh and in that space, I've seen, you know, I've seen your work, I see a lot of imagination that you put into your space, right? And and that is such a blessing to be able to imagine in ways and shapes that you are. Do you do you have anything you know thing to share with our audience and of course with me? How what goes in your heart and soul to get to that imagination and and put it out in paper and other forms of expression as you're going through that when you're in that creative mode as locked in as Lama.

Lauma:   21:04

Hmm. Recently I understood, and I even wrote it down somewhere, that I am making a deal with myself to create only something that uh excites myself, or not even excites, but to create things that make me feel something. And if I if I look back at my work, I still try to mostly produce something that really makes me makes me feel a certain emotion. Is it like uh joy or some kind of mystery or something, uh something that feels alive? And I mean I'm very thankful that kind of I can deliver it and I can create it uh in a way that it also uh shows that it translates, right? That the viewer can uh can uh understand it and uh yeah, but um

Taran 22:00

Do you think nature especially provides you the both the roots and the jump to be able to get that feeling and to become the vessel of that feeling and then express it like um what you know, specifically as you said, you go for a walk and the surroundings make it happen. Have you noticed or do you go out in places where you think, hey, these are the places I need to walk and or be there to get my creative juices flowing when I when I when I need the most?

Lauma:   22:33

Yes, but also no, sometimes and it depends because it's also sneaky with the with the mystery and with the news and inspiration because like it doesn't it doesn't want to be used, you know, like the it feels like when when sometimes they really need it and nothing happens, and then sometimes they don't intend it to, and it's like oh there's no cookie, there's no cook cookie cutterway, you have to go through the grind exactly sometimes you're just surprised because it happens, but uh yeah, yeah. So it's it's not as easy, but definitely nature does uh I mean it it it yeah, it's of course it provides, but just I mean in long term, just having a relationship with nature and just seeing its beauty and being like taken aback by it and everything. I think all of these things just stay somewhere, and then when you need an inspiration, just I feel like I have uh some sort of a you know, I have where to look for it because uh I feel like I'm pretty filled with all of all of the gifts that are around in a

Lauma:   23:48

 way.

Taran 23:49

Yeah, is you know, you talked about you know mediums which going and learning a lot of these mediums. Is there one medium that you had the most you know most connected time learning uh when you first put your hands on it, right? And and what was that feeling when you said, oh, this is you know, this is what I really wanted to do, and I finally got my hands on it. Oh I always imagine people those who do ceramic, like how did they get to the potter wheel, right? And I and like how did how do they spin their hands and and and then how do the feeling, you know? I'm being a gardener, soil is such an integral part of me, but I keep thinking, okay, I better try sometime a pottery wheel, but I don't know how good I will do. So I have this man, I'm not gonna be able to craft anything, I'll feel so bad. So I'm not doing a pottery wheel class. Right? So I wanted to see there, were there anything that you were like, hey, I that moments both ups and downs that you've seen in trying some expressions.

Lauma:   24:57

Like, yeah, actually, like ceramics uh pottery is a good example because I didn't um I started it five years ago, maybe, and it was very awkward at first. Uh, it was like a lot of failure was involved, but somewhat also, I don't know, like um uh I like this idea that when you try these new mediums, uh you have a chance to kind of practice this pure like beginner's mind, a bit like childlike, which is like if you would allow yourself or or you would go to this and you would say, Okay, I'm gonna try things on the wheel, but I'm not gonna judge myself if it fails, you know. I'm just gonna just purely see how it feels. I want to see how it feels, and somehow from that, yeah, like just this very playful, like light attitude. Uh I just was like, okay, I really like it. And and you know, like some kind of months later, years later, I I understand that okay, not only I like it and I'm kind of persevering, I'm still doing it, but I also getting better at it, right? So somehow it's very interesting. And um, yeah, like ceramics is uh is is a beautiful example because also um like one thing is to work with like pencil and brush and all that, but um working with clay, uh it felt like it feels like uh each medium is um somehow like I feel like I'm having a different conversation with it because it feels like each material is kind of teaching me different things in a way, and uh whereas like uh painting uh like I don't know, I I cannot screw it up much, I think. I'm very much in control in the process. Uh then pottery taught uh me how it is when I am I'm I cannot control things, you know. Like actually, I pretty much felt like uh I I lack I lack the control. Like there have been many cases when we made like a full kiln of you know pots and we have these great expectations, and then you open it and your pots had exploded and stuff like that. And first times it was just like through heartbreak, and you don't know what to do, you know. Should you continue or not? And then at some point I'm like, wow, but it's actually like teaching me like solid knowledge, you know. How is it to let uh go of the control and allow these accidents to happen and to be like, I am fine with the fact that I will maybe invest like a lot of hours into something, and perhaps in the end, I'm just not gonna see this thing at all, you know, because it's going to be sort of destroyed in the process of making. So yeah, it's a lot of good, good, good lessons there.

Taran 27:52

Yeah, the outcome sometimes is is not 100% in your hands, and and as an artist, you know, you you sometimes have to learn through the other media, then I I think I have to I have to put my hand on the wheel

Taran 28:05

 sometime. Uh um before I let you go for the day or the night there, um any last word with our audience uh uh that you have want to share, especially people, those who you know those who are on their creative journeys are are thinking to take one and are holding themselves back.

Lauma:   28:27

Um I think mostly and what I notice also with um just communicating with uh with people and talking about creativity, I noticed that a lot of people don't believe that they are creative or they are very like they feel like they are shying away from their creativity, although they have inside of them this kind of a you know this this kind of a passion or like curiosity to to try things. And um yeah uh my main thing, like my main thought is that like all of us, we are all creative. Uh even in like simple daily things that we did do, there is a lot of creativity there. And uh somehow I really wish for more people to create, like to really just but I don't know how. I mean, I guess everyone please create, be creative, just follow your, you know, follow this calling because I think that it's so beautiful, and such a there is such a diversity, and we are we all have some kind of ideas, and the way how we see the world is a bit different, right? Like different color, different shape. And I think that um, yeah, if we just give in to this creativity, we're just making the world a bit more rich, right?

Taran 29:51

Yeah, no, we we will end it there. I love what you said there. We all will make it more rich, and the mosaic is all of us, and and it was such a great conversation to have. We wish you the best for your summer bloom that is come coming, and and we'll catch you after that one, of course, on the podcast again. But thank you for making time for us, and uh, this was such a beautiful conversation. Uh, and I look forward to having you back here. Thank you.

Lauma:   30:23

Thank you. It was wonderful.

Taran 30:27

Thank you for joining us on the Conversation Trails of the Mountain in Us podcast. Each episode here is crafted with love, adventure, and reflection. We hope you have enjoyed this one and we welcome your thoughts on it. And if you want to be on the show, feel free to reach out.