Having a collector buy our work... It sounds… amazing! Awe-inspiring? Relieving? Luxurious. All of the above really. But how does it even happen? During the 2024 NCECA conference, Coalescence, held in Richmond, VA I sat down with Peter Beasecker and Louise Rosenfield to chat about their perspectives as maker and collector on how building relationships with collectors begins and how we might each be able to consider fostering our own.

“Etsy vs. Your own website. Which is better?” It’s a question I see asked online endlessly. I see the responses fought over just as endlessly. But is it really an either/or? We dig into that on this next installment of our “The Launch” series - where I dig into the firsthand experiences Francesco & I are having in starting our own ceramics business. Spoiler - We’re using both Etsy and our own website, because there are pros and cons to both. And it’s those pros & cons we discuss in this episode so you can make the decision that’s right for you.

I know I'm not the only one who finds social media to be exhausting. The idea of keeping up with trends sounds equivalent to nails on a chalkboard to me. But at the same time, I know there is a huge opportunity on social media. After all, Instagram alone has 2 billion users. Enter Allie Mason. A data-based marketing strategist who understands that us solo-preneurs and small independent businesses don’t necessarily have the time (or the desire) to be spending all of our time keeping up with the ever changing world of social media. What Allie teaches focuses on using social media for what it can do for us all to grow our businesses, but not having it be our businesses.

On this week’s episode I talk with founding Community member, Connie Cole, about her winding path to becoming a full-time potter. We discuss her battle with imposter syndrome, what finding a “gateway drug” has done for her business and the assault on creativity she’s experienced over time (and of course, how she’s battling against it!)

FOMO (or the fear of missing out) seems to surround us. But it’s especially pervasive online - as we watch other people live their lives (or at least the versions they show us), and do things that perhaps we wish we could do or dream about doing. Like attending a conference perhaps? This week were talking about the realities of attending or NOT attending NCECA as well as the larger issues in our lives and businesses that FOMO causes.

Do you get overwhelmed at the idea of making your studio practice environmentally friendly? It can seem impossible to figure out where to start and what actually makes an impact. The science of climate change is complicated at best, and more often than not confusing. Which is exactly why I’m so grateful for people like Yuliya Makliuk - a trained ecologist and potter. Yuliya recently wrote the book Potters Save the World: Learn to Make Sustainable Ceramics and Help Protect the Earth, and on this week’s episode we talk all about the process of self-publishing this important book as well as creating her own pottery amidst an ever changing reality of living in Ukraine.

The internet can be amazing for connecting us all to resources we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. But it can also be absolutely overwhelming. With so many people teaching online, how can we tell who actually knows what they are doing? How do we know (especially if we decide to pay) that they are actually qualified to teach us? I’m not talking about formal qualifications and diplomas here - obviously, there are plenty of problems with the traditional structures of arts education. But at the same time, there’s additionally the sneaky problem of online education not having any sort of barrier to access - literally anyone can call themselves a teacher on the internet.

During Part Two of my conversation with Hope Limyansky-Smith, we dig into the pros & cons of being online educators and the ways in which we ourselves vet other educators we want to learn from as students ourselves. Before all of that, we also have a very important discussion on setting boundaries online both for ourselves and with each other so that we can continue to enjoy building new friendships online, which really is what makes being on social media great, isn’t it?

How often do you look at what other makers are sharing on social media and think to yourself - “How do they have time to make all this CONTENT? Daily reels, stories, thoughtfully designed themes, not to mention the actual pots!” It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. This week on the podcast, we’re going behind-the-scenes with Hope Limyansky-Smith of Limyansky Studios who consistently posts 5 days a week while also teaching full-time to understand what it’s really like to create so much for social media.

What were you doing 15 years ago? Were you already making? Had you not even found clay yet? It’s amazing the twists and turns our lives can take, and yet, without them, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today. On today’s episode, I sit down with Victoria Brook, who first introduced me to wheel throwing 15 years ago, when I lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England for a year. A lifetime has happened since, and yet at the same time, in many ways Victoria and I both are coming full circle.

We’re kicking off Season 5 with a big announcement right at the start of my chat with Rebecca Harvey, the executive director of the Archie Bray. Rebecca and I also chat about the history of the Bray and her vision for the future, along with the pros & cons of traditional academic education and partnering (or not!) with galleries.