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Q1 With a ceramic artist background, how did you begin designing jewelry?
My clay jewelry came about as part of an evolution of working on my larger scale functional clay work. The early ceramic jewelry pieces I created looked very similar to my pottery vessels and dishes – the same textures, patterns and glazes. Eventually, I realized that small-scale ceramic work provided infinitely more opportunities to experiment with clays, glazes and firing techniques than larger clay work. My ceramic jewelry soon took on a style of its own, separate from my pottery. I now create hand-carved molds using geometric and botanical designs specifically for my jewelry line instead of using the carved molds intended for my functional pottery. Now my ceramic jewelry designs influence what kind of pots I make! |
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Q2 What do you think is the most important element in your clay art?
I think the most important element in my clay work is that I enjoy making it – if you truly enjoy what you do then that shows in the final product, no matter what type of work you do.
Q3 Who is your customer and how do they find you?
My customers consist of a full range of age groups – at shows I sell pottery or jewelry to 8 year-olds and 80 year-olds. I sell my work online on Etsy.com, but the majority of my sales come from face-to-face contact with the public at Art and Craft Shows. I used to only sell at Fine Art and Craft Shows, but now I am attending more and more Indie Craft Shows. I know many show attendees and online customers find out about my work from my websites. |
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Q6 What projects are you currently working on?
I am finishing up a dinnerware order, making some custom order bird bowls, putting all the lovely metal bits on some of my ceramic jewelry for the show I have this weekend and filling a few wholesale orders for ceramic jewelry - I like to keep busy. |
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Q7 Is there a dream project that you would like to do?
Right now, I would love to have the time to create some really elaborate pieces in the vein of my bird pottery – bigger pieces or just more of it. Imagine a room filled with say a 1,000 little bowls each with a bird or two perched on the lip.
Q8 Favorite artist?
Hard to choose, but I am a big fan of fabric artists Jude Stuecker, Margot Myers and Lisa Price.
Q9 Favorite place to see art?
The Virginia Museum of Fine Art – they have a wonderful collection from ancient to contemporary and it is so close by.
Q10 Would you like to add anything for your Japanese fans?
I would like to add that a very important influence on my clay work was working with two visiting potters from Japan when I was 16 and just starting out in the pottery field. The forms they created were just amazing and their work ethnic was something to truly aspire to. |
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Tasha McKelvey started making her own pottery designs in 1997, after working as a potter's assistant after school and during the summer for about three years. Tasha realized she wanted a career in Ceramics upon taking her first Ceramics class in college. She started her pottery business during her senior year at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia and has been hard at work with the business ever since. At first Tasha busied her self in the studio creating functional pottery, mostly for use in the kitchen and dining room. She sold her work in galleries, shops and exhibited at Fine Art and Craft Festivals in the Mid-Atlanta Region of the United States. Tasha attended a workshop the Penland School of Craft in the mountains of North Carolina in the Summer of 2003. Tasha's experience at Penland inspired her to start creating a line of ceramic work that was focused a bit more on form and a bit less on function. Tasha's new work consisted of a collection of clay boxes and teapots inspired by patchwork quilts. Tasha created this line of work by combining block-printing techniques, clay slab construction and the potter's wheel. In 2006, Tasha started creating a line of ceramic jewelry. These tiny clay creations quickly took over a large portion of Tasha's time in the studio. The small pieces allowed Tasha to experiment with firing and glazing in ways that her larger work never allowed. Tasha McKelvey is currently busy creating a line of pottery featuring tiny birds perched on tradition pottery shapes, such as bowls and vases, as well as constantly coming up with new ceramic jewelry designs. |
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Q4 What does your average day entail?
A fairly productive day entails: Get up, get coffee, check email, cuddle with the dog, make a list of what I need to do today, figure out what needs to go in the mail, head over to the studio or work on jewelry at home, have lunch, work more, I might need to take pictures of new work or update my Etsy shop or website, have dinner, cuddle with the dog, hang out with my husband, work on jewelry or do computer work, maybe read a bit and go to bed. But then there are the occasional weekend days when I have a show which usually include getting up anywhere from 4 – 6 am (after going to bed very late because I was packing the car in the middle of the night), driving to the show, hauling my heavy boxes of pottery to my booth, setting up, working my booth all day, packing everything up and driving home. So after a show, I take some time off to recover if I am lucky enough to have the time. |
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Q5 Could you tell us how do you like your work space? What does it look like?
I work out two different studios – one is near my home here in Richmond, Virginia and the other one is out in the countryside near where I grew up. The studio in the country has lovely gardens and lots of space. I love going to the country for a few days each week, but I also like the convenience of having a studio closer to home. |
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