Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Fire & Mud Clay Studio, interview with Rae Barney

bowls....

Dawn & her children and my two girls have recently been attending a clay class at a studio in Escondido called Fire & Mud Studios with owner, Rae Barney. The kids have all really been enjoying it and learning about clay techniques and making several clay pieces.
Their first project were masks. They all came up with really unique and different masks. Olivia made a "marshmallow guy", Violet a tiger, Elena a Lioness, and AJ a sabertooth cat, Dawn made a lovely purple and yellow sunflower mask.

Mask collage

Rae Barney is the owner and instructor at Fire & Mud Studios. I recently asked her some questions about her business and also about how she got started in clay and came to own a studio and offer classes.

When did you first get interested in working with clay?
• When I was about 10, my mom got a kiln and we would get the premade greenware (from a mold) and paint them. When I was in high school, I took a pottery class where I learned the wheel. Though I was always artistic and made lots of things, I did not return to clay until I was 29. I had a waterfall business and also made table top fountains. I decided to go back to clay class to make the bowls for my fountains. I got back on the wheel, my body remembered how to throw and that was the beginning of my love affair with clay.

Were you given the opportunity to work with clay at a young age? Where or by who?
• The painted greenware was the only clay that mom and I did when I was young, but my family made just about everything so I was exposed to and learned to knit, crochet, sew, cook, work with wood, macrame, latch hook, paint, and just about any project that had a pattern or instructions to follow. We were pretty broke, so lessons outside of school where not available to me.


Are you self-taught? Have you taken many classes in working with clay? Did you go to college, or was it necessary for any reason?
• I actually did take a lot of clay classes, but many were an open studio sort of situation. Most were at a community college and we would take the classes so that we would have access to the facilities. The teachers were there to show us techniques or help if we had questions, but no hard curriculum. I had decided to go to college to become a teacher and took some of my classes at a private experiential college in Prescott AZ and my art classes at the community college and independent studies with master potter Rico Piper. I did not get a degree, as I did not feel I needed all the extra required courses to do what I wanted to do. Turns out I was right!

When/why did you you decide to open Fire & Mud?
• I worked for a charter school for some time as the Financial Manager (my other profession from my earlier years) and experienced first had “no child left behind”, Bushes disaster for an education plan that created the “teach to the test” mentality of most of our schools today. Even though we were a charter school, they would only fund enough to pay for the classes that taught what the kids were required to know to pass the tests that gave us our funding. Sad and painful downward spiral for schools. Though they were hands on learning, as the Financial Manager, I had to keep the school open and pull back the budget on things that absolutely should be there, including arts. I couldn’t do it and I couldn’t teach for a system that operated that way. I moved out to Vista with the intention of starting a Restaurant/Studio/Gallery in 2002. About two years ago, I worked with a mentor to help me get focused with my art career. Soon after that, a series of synchronistic occurrences that made Fire and Mud possible. I came to the location I’m in now to look at a free kiln and the landlord asked if I wanted to rent the facility. I said that I did, but I had no money. He said he would work with me and I opened the doors for business January 2010. It was a leap of faith and a huge blessing!

What are some of your favorite types of clay pieces to make?
• I love to hand build or sculpt. Organic and flowing shapes and patterns. Swirls, tree roots, undulating flowing edges.

What inspires you?
• Nature, energy, movement, my students, and my world around me. I just love to watch the kids create. They are not inhibited by what we “can and can’t” do and thus come up with some really unique and beautiful ideas.

What do you recommend or advise to a young person interested in pursuing their passion in creating (clay, or any other art medium) as a career?
• Absolutely follow it!!! 110% with all the passion you have. Don’t let the world tell you that you have to do this or that to get there. Find your own way because the wisdom is in you. There have been many jobs I’ve been good at and could make money, but they have been the support to get to where I am now. It took time and lots of experiences for me to find the exact expression of how my love of art/clay and teaching would manifest. This is what I was meant to do and the joy that comes with being who you really are is beyond words.

Anything else you’d like to share about as an artist and as a creative art business owner?
• There are a lot of people who buy into the “starving artist” paradigm, both artists and the general public. You can’t let that be your reality. I believe (and had started a group on the internet several years back) in the Thriving Artist Paradigm. Find your passion, know it has value, do not under sale yourself, and allow it to direct your path. The synchronicity will unfold and it’s magical.

Rae Barney~Fire & Mud Studios



Rae has summer classes coming up as well as Family classes, Boy Scout merit badge programs, semi-private wheel classes and more. You can also find her studio on Facebook. She also has many beautiful clay art pieces available for purchase.

Keep soaring (& landing safely)
in sunny San Diego!

Your soaring mama,

Mandy

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