Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stephanie Foster. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Stephanie, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Creativity can be a funny, fickle thing, especially when it comes to running a business. So how have I been approaching keeping it alive? Oddly enough, by doing LESS creative work. Huh, I never thought I would say that, but it’s true!
When I started my ceramics business back in 2017, I jumped in wholly and wholeheartedly, excited by the possibility of being a full-time artist. I still remember how giddy and nervous I felt carrying my first load of pottery into my very first gallery. It was a wonderful time of growth and exploration, and I honestly wouldn’t change it for the world. But as things progressed, the reality of being reliant on an arts-centered business started to creep into my creative decision making. One after one, I began shelving projects because they were too time-consuming or costly, and the constant questioning of “will this be sellable?” increasingly eroded my willingness to take risks and create new designs. After months of neglect and being relegated to the back of my mind, it is no wonder my creativity upped and left out the side door.
Now concomitantly pursuing a master’s degree and career in learning design and technology, I finally feel like I can breathe again and welcome creativity back into my ceramics business. What might have felt like a cop out in previous years, the stability of pursuing a parallel path has actually released the pressure and restored my curiosity and enthusiasm for making pottery. Less compelled to make decisions based on a rigid sense of obligation and practicality, I now have the flexibility to explore more fun and gratifying options. I can decide to accept or decline a commission project based on whether it stirs or quashes my creative spirit. I can practice throwing a new form on the potter’s wheel without worrying about how many times it flops and ends up in my water bucket. I can take my time personalizing a set of mugs to make it extra special as a wedding present. So, while creativity may not look and feel like I originally envisioned, it is wonderfully and surprisingly alive and well, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me next!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I make functional pottery designed to bring comfort and contentment to everyday moments. Whether it’s a succulent planter perched on a windowsill or a bowl overflowing with freshly popped popcorn, I want it to FEEL good. When someone holds it in their hands, I hope they can sense the care that went into making it, including all of the little “quirks” that make it a handmade, one-of-a-kind piece. For example, if you look closely enough at one of my mugs, you will see lines on the inside, created by my fingertips as they formed it on the potter’s wheel. You will notice subtle textures in the design on the side, the result of tools carving through underglaze into leather-hard clay. You might even see a fingerprint or two on the handle that I forgot to wipe away. These little peculiarities tell the story of how that mug passed through my hands every single step of the way, and I find that incredibly exciting and rewarding. Then imagining someone is out there filling that same mug with hot tea and wrapping their own hands around it… how cool is that!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
When I first started selling my ceramics, I had a really difficult time not taking negative comments personally. At an art show, I might overhear a customer flippantly remark to a friend that my prices were too high or my mugs were too big, too small, too light, too heavy, too whatever, and it would send me into a tailspin for the rest of the day. And worse, that critical voice would follow me into my studio and cause me to second-guess seemingly every decision I was making. Needless to say, this was not a sustainable way to live and create, and it needed to stop. And while I still sometimes get caught off guard by an insensitive comment, I have a much greater sense of what my pottery is worth and whether that feedback is helpful or something I can just let fly by. So that is one lesson I learned through experience.
A second lesson I learned was to make decisions from a place of feeling secure and comfortable with where I currently am, not where I think I “should” be. Running an arts-centered business is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight and that is perfectly okay. When I look back on the worst decisions I have made, most of them were the result of me trying to prove to myself or others that I could “handle” something that was beyond what my present circumstances or capabilities allowed. This lack of honesty with myself, often fueled by people pleasing, got me to a point of nearly burning out on ceramics, and I never want to find myself there again.
And lastly, ceramics has been a fantastic teacher for learning how to “go with the flow” and, quite simply, not take things too seriously. When I slap a piece of clay down on a bat and start spinning it on the wheel, an adventure begins, and it does NOT always go according to plan. There is a reason my floor, my walls, even my ceiling, are always strewn with clay. Just last week I had to scrape an entire pot off the floor because, while I was trimming it, it went rogue and flew off the wheel. Ceramics is messy, awkward, silly business, but that is also what makes it so much fun. Approached with levity, humor, and humility, it can be the most delightful experience in the world. Without it, arguably the most frustrating. A bit like life, I think…
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Having refined and grown comfortable with my current ceramic designs, I know it is time for me to branch out and try something new, but where to begin? Pottery, after all, is nothing short of endless possibility, a notion that can be quite daunting, especially at the start of a new project. But start I must, so off to the studio I go!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.stephaniefosterceramics.com
- Instagram: stephaniefosterceramics
- Facebook: Stephanie Foster Ceramics
