Meet Deb McConnell

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Deb McConnell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Deb, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that is difficult to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story, how you overcame it.

Imposter syndrome is a very real issue and setback for so many artists, including myself. The need to prove my worth as a creative gnawed at my psyche almost my entire life. It limited my ability to perform at peak creativity, apply for residencies, art exhibitions, grants and art competitions. All that has changed in the past few years. I’ve arrived. Arriving is not something that just happens one day. It’s a slow process with many twists and turns along the way.

I was in college, an art education major, when I discovered pottery for the first time. I was immediately drawn to the potential of creating with clay. It possesses limitless avenues for exploration and I have been engaged in many of them over the years. However, I’ve also been hesitant to put my work out there for fear of rejection. I told myself that I would apply for that residency or that grant once I had a strong voice within the art community. Obviously, that was not going to happen as long as I hid in my studio.

Fast forward to 2019 and a move to a new state. I asked myself the hard questions. What is my style and how do I want to portray my work to the greater public? Where do I see myself in five years? How can I become more involved in my clay community? And I began taking steps to achieve those goals. I took a painting class because I love decorating my pottery. I joined a pottery guild and served as its vice president and president and along the way earned the respect of my peers. I submitted my work to a local gallery and have been selling consistently. I have an online shop. Each bit of progress I’ve made is validation that I am an artist and my work is valued. Take the baby steps and they’ll eventually add up to the big steps you need to take to reach your goals.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a ceramic artist currently living in North Carolina and working from a small studio on my property. I primarily create functional pottery that I decorate with flora and fauna found on nature walks and in my imagination. It is extremely rewarding as an artist to know people enjoy my artwork and use my pieces on a daily basis. My functional pieces can be found in my online shop at debmcconnell.com. I update the shop several times a year with new work and notify the public beforehand on Instagram. My handle is deb_mcconnell_studio if you’d like to follow along.

This year I have become a participating artist at Presson Gallery in Monroe, North Carolina. I have been concentrating on making larger hand built vases that depict natural settings or a current issue that I feel compelled to express through my work. Visit pressonartgallery.com for a more in depth look at the exhibiting artists and their work.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

To be a ceramic artist you must be first and foremost, resilient. The process of creating a work in clay has multiple steps and can fail anytime along the creative process. Your resilience allows you to let go easily and move on when this happens.

The most important skill I’ve learned is how to throw on the pottery wheel. Here is where persistence and practice come in to play because with these your work becomes an absolute joy to create.

And knowledge is the key to becoming better at your craft and becoming a more integral part of the artistic community. Take all the courses you can, participate in workshops, network. All of these things will help you to attain your goals as a creative.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The biggest obstacle I’m currently facing is being well prepared to apply for art opportunities as they become available. I aim to display my art in more gallery settings and further build on my clay knowledge through workshops and residencies. Keeping an up-to-date CV and Artist Statement on hand along with quality photos are important key elements for the application process. The best way to attain this is to block off time in the daily making schedule exclusively for research, writing, and photographing. And if this becomes problematic and takes too much time away from creating, it’s time to hire professionals!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://debmcconnell.com
• Instagram: deb_mcconnell_studio

Image Credits

Deb McConnell