Meet Kayla Clausen

 

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kayla Clausen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

From an early age, my parents taught me that hard work rewards. When you get to a spot where life is knocking you around, you take a minute and feel your feelings, then you get back up and you keep going. Resilience comes in many forms, but for me it means that I keep going even when I don’t feel like it. My family deserves it, but most of all I deserve it. I put so much time and effort into my work and my family that if I were to just stop pushing when stuff gets hard, you are failing not only the people around you but most of all yourself. Learning how to “rest well” instead of just scrolling has been huge. Sometimes you need to put the phone down, re-engage with your surroundings and regain your focus. Even if that means taking a step back in some areas, it’s a step forward in another.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I grew up in and around Great Falls, Montana and have been obsessed with the outdoors since I was a kid. The absolute beauty that nature provides as a muse for art. When I was 19 I moved to Australia for a program that ended up redefining my literal identity. I learned who I was, what I believed in, and overall it broke down who I thought I was and rebuilt me into who I am today. I moved back to my hometown in May of 2019, and by the end of that year I had met my now husband. 6 months later we were married and found out we were having a baby girl! Talk about a lifestyle change. Going from being single to being married with a baby in 12 months was absolutely wild. In January of 2023, two years and 2 days after our daughter was born, our twins made their entrance into the world at only 28 weeks. They were in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit(NICU) 3 hours away from home and I stayed there with them for 87 days before they got to make the journey back and made our family whole again.

After they came home, I got stuck in a rut and just couldn’t seem to figure out where I wanted my life to go. With 3 kids, 2 and under, daycare just wasn’t an option so I stayed home with them and it has been the biggest blessing and hardest job of my life. October 2023 rolled around and I decided I needed a hobby that didn’t revolve around being a mom or a wife, so I picked up polymer clay. Thinking it was just going to be a fun thing for me to do in the evenings while my husband was on night shift. As soon as I started working with the medium, I was addicted and Timberline Clayworks was born.

Flash forward a year later and I have attended over 25 shows and farmers markets as a vendor, spent countless hours learning how to use social media, numerous all nighters before shows, failed projects, I feel I have found my purpose for the foreseeable future. I
just launched my most detailed and my favorite collection thus far. Going back to my roots, the Montana Wildflower Collection is inspired by and made up of the many gorgeous wildflowers that can be found in this amazing state during the spring and summer. This slab took me a total of 9 hours to complete AFTER I hand sketched the vision and made a prototype 1.5”x1.5” slabs. Each flower took me anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to make and place. But I love it. I am so incredibly proud of all of the pieces that make up this collection and I cannot wait to see what I can dream up next!

If you would like to see my art in person, maybe collect a piece for yourself, I will be at the Little Red Truck Show in Missoula, Mt on March 21st and 22nd. Other events will be posted on my Instagram and Facebook as they get confirmed.

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?

Learning how to move forward from failures, take criticism, and never look back have to be in my top 3. If you are just starting out, I encourage you to make what YOU want to make. Don’t always follow the trends. The way you are going to stand out is to be different. Be you. People get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again, so take inspiration from wherever it comes and run with it!

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Recently I did a collaboration with Molly Rodgers Photography, based in Montana, as well as a few other amazing local partners to do a giveaway called the Montana Lovers Experience. If you are a model, influencer, lover of the outdoors I encourage you to reach out to me on my Instagram for a collab! I love doing custom pieces or collections made just for you and your people.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Molly Rodgers Photography

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