No Friggin’ Repeats!

I sometimes wonder how Radiohead must feel at a concert when a crowd starts shouting to hear their 1993 hit “Creep”. To my surprise, I saw them perform the song during their “Hail to the Thief” tour after a decade of listening to their music. They appeared to enjoy playing the song, but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a part of them that just wanted to get through it as quickly as possible so that they could reveal where their latest creative journeys had taken them as a band. Of course when someone pays a large sum of money to see a musician like Sufjan Stevens they are probably expecting to hear a few tunes from “Illinoise”, but what happens when he only plays the new experimental stuff? 

When an artist creates something that resonates with a large enough audience to finally be able to support themselves with their artwork it can be a double-edged sword. Success in anything often brings with it expectations. Write a bestselling book about a zombie apocalypse and all of the sudden you’re not allowed to write about anything else. Of course artists need devoted audiences if they are ever to make a living via their creativity, but this is where it can get tricky. 

The artists we love the most are often the ones that break a lot of the rules; the ones that don’t follow the money, or “stay in their lane”. The freedom to be creative, to follow the muse wherever it takes you is something that should be honored and supported. 

Natasha and I make pottery for a living, so of course there is a lot of repetition in that, and we are so so grateful to have a devoted audience that supports our business and our art. I don’t have a background as a visual artist and truthfully I still don’t see myself that way. Within our business I am the production manager and an artisan maker. Most of what I do is making sure that our output sustains our little company. Natasha, on the other hand, has a completely different role in our business. For Natasha, our business is her art, and over the years of being her partner in life and business, I have slowly learned what that means for a visual artist such as herself. 

The staff and I make most of the forms that go into our shop, but Natasha is our art director and designer. Aesthetic has always been hugely important for Natasha, this was something I recognized early on in our relationship. But as the years have past I have come to understand that her visual art is part of her soul, a sacred gift she brings to the world. 

Lately, Natasha has been creating surface designs for our pieces that she’ll never do again. These pieces are “Limited Edition” in the truest sense of that description in that there will likely only ever be around a dozen or so of each and once they are sold that’s it, on to the next idea. As the more entrepreneurial minded partner in this business, it has occasionally seemed strange to me to not try and sell more of something that is resonating with an audience, but I’ve come to realize that for an arts based business, it’s not always about money.

The title of this article is, of course, just meant to be funny, because we do indeed make repeats, but lately Natasha has been looking for a way to let her creativity fly without the added pressure of cranking out something as long as it is in demand. Especially as her aesthetic can tend towards very laborious designs. Towards the end of last year doing such large quantities of the same intricate designs really started causing burnout. So, this is the year of no repeats. If there’s a pattern design you like, get it while its in stock because it may not be back. Beauty can be fleeting and this year at Sugarhouse Ceramic Co. that’s definitely true and I think that’s a beautiful thing.