Artist Initiative

This project was an amazing opportunity for me to learn new skills, learn to work with a new material, and expose myself to an entirely new community of artists: the community of clay, ceramics, and craft. I can say with complete confidence that I will be working with clay for the rest of my life. I feel like I have just scratched the surface of its numerous possibilities and I have a lifetime of learning ahead of me. 2: One of the major business skills that I learned during my project period is how shoot, document, and edit images of my own work, and to manage my own website and increase my ‘online presence’. (An unintended side effect is that I have begun to develop the skills to do this for others, and in the future might perform - rather than pay for - these types of professional services.) I did this by hiring professionals to do it for me and also teach me to do it myself. Additionally, working in clay offers unique opportunities to create multiples and potentially earn money through self-generated sales of one’s work. The clay/ceramic community operates on market models generally quite different from the so-called ‘fine arts’/gallery model. The clay/ceramic community expects and encourages artists to be actively involved in designed and creating work that can be sold. And not necessarily through a prestigious gallery either. Craft shows, sales-out-of-studio, and e-commerce are all considered respectable and encouraged venues. This is something of a culture shock to me, but I like it.