Just the Facts 

Clay 
Continental Clay’s Grolleg porcelain 

Primary forming method 
wheel throwing (some altering and handbuilding) 

Primary firing temperature
cone-10 reduction 

Favorite surface treatment 
narrative imagery in black-slip sgraffito with pops of color from commercial underglazes 

Favorite tools 
My hands! I love my wheel, my brass rib from college, and several fine wire loop tools from Kemper 

Wishlist 
a studio heater

Studio 

I am incredibly lucky to be able to be living on what used to be my grandparents’ farm. My studio is in my grandfather’s old milkhouse, which is filled with wonderful memories of him from my childhood. I am often inspired to remember my grandparents’ work ethic and steadfast cheerfulness. 

When we moved here from Chicago in 2012, I knew immediately where I wanted to work. The milkhouse was the only outbuilding that had running water and electricity. I was particularly excited about the floor drain and hose hookup for cleaning! It also has a small door that used to be for the milk truck hose but is now used by the cats. When we arrived, it was covered in grapevines and surrounded by briars—it felt so good to clear it out and revitalize the building. I moved my wheel inside and we updated the electric box and plugs for an electric kiln. My husband painted the interior and built me a table out of scrap lumber that we covered with canvas. After 24 years of working in a communal space at Lillstreet Studios in Chicago, I knew what I wanted. It was delightful not to have to clean up after myself every day and to have a large amount of shelving space and a table all to myself. I had no idea at that time how I was going to fire cone-10 reduction, but within a month, I had met several local potters and was warmly welcomed into the art community here. 

My shelves are relegated to each stage of making work: just thrown, finished greenware awaiting carving, and completely finished work to bisque fire. Other areas are for my glaze ingredients, tools, slips and underglazes, et cetera. My wheel faces east for morning throwing, a large table in the center is used for any kind of work, and carving is done in front of the west windows. 

In 2019, after firing for 7 years with one of our pottery community members, Barbara Zaveruha, I was able to buy my own gas-reduction kiln (that uses liquid propane) from Donovan Palmquist, another friend and neighbor. It’s a wonderful kiln and I have Donovan as tech support close by. We converted an old cow shed on the property and added a cement floor to house the kiln. 

In terms of having as light a footprint as possible, my packing materials are 99% recycled. Many friends donate their used shipping materials and I pick up boxes from behind several local stores. This not only helps the environment, it saves me money. If I run out of donated packing peanuts, I actually pop real popcorn in an air popper to fill around the inner boxes of double-boxed work. 

Although I am very lucky to have running water, I do not have a water heater. In the rare times I need warm throwing water, I heat water in a hot pot. Additionally, I only have a wood stove to heat the space and it takes at least an hour or more of my time each day in the fall and spring to make the fire and gather wood. As wonderful an atmosphere as a cozy fire makes, it’s not quite enough to warm the studio in the depths of winter. Having a liquid-propane heater would give me more flexibility and the ability to use my studio year round. 

Eventually, I would really love to make a teaching space in one of the other outbuildings as well as a better space for an apprentice and a dedicated packing and shipping area. 

Paying Dues (and Bills) 

I have been fascinated by clay since I was 9 when I met a Japanese master potter at Carleton College. I begged him to teach me to do what he was doing (throwing) and I still have those first pots! In high school, I was fortunate to have access to a wheel, pugmill, and kiln, and from 16 to 17, I worked for a professional potter and learned a tremendous amount from him. I did undergraduate work at Macalester College and got my BFA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, studying under Warren Mackenzie and Curtis Hoard, among other terrific teachers. After graduating I moved to Chicago and started taking classes and teaching at Lillstreet Studios. I’ve always enjoyed taking workshops and attending demos—there is always something to learn! 

I used to work at least 8 hours per day, often as much as 10, but now I probably work about 4–6 hours per day, 6 days a week, for 9 months of the year. As I get older, it’s harder to put in some of the 12–14-hour days I put in for deadlines as recently as 3 years ago. I must take time to stay fit now that I’m older. 

I have also let my teaching gigs taper off. Teaching has always been something I enjoyed profoundly and now has an outlet in mentoring just a few young people. They are invited to come, make work alongside me, and use the space and equipment here including firing. 

Marketing 

I sell my work in a variety of ways, but my favorite is in-person events, especially studio tours. I enjoy connecting with my customers—I have loyal followings in the Chicago area and here, after 11 years, in Minnesota. 

I am privileged to work with some wonderful galleries where I can drop off work and forget about it. I also like opportunities that arise to create a coherent body of work for a show. Lastly, I offer an annual online sale in November, which requires about 10 days of prep and then packing up orders. The bulk of my income is from events (50%) and the rest is split evenly between galleries, the online sale, and limited commissions. At this point, I generally sell everything I make. My market continues to grow organically as I find people through the outlets mentioned. Again, age is interfering with the rigors an art fair requires. 

Long ago, when I started making enough work to sell, I had an annual holiday sale that was promoted through word of mouth, calls, and sending out handmade postcards. Email made everything immensely easier, and then social media came along. I have come to realize that one of the reasons I’m good at social media is because I am a too-avid consumer of it as well. I spend too much time looking at it but it makes me very clear on what is attractive and what makes me scroll on by. My feed is mainly just a lot of what I’m working on and if I have the time, I enjoy making small instructional how-to videos. I am a teacher at heart and happy to share any and all information about my processes. In my Instagram Stories I have more tidbits about my lifestyle and environment so people can see what inspires me. I enjoy the community on Instagram, have met a few followers, and find that many followers buy from my online sale or ask to commission work. I really appreciate the feedback and support I get from social media. 

My favorite marketing success has been creating the Cannon River Clay Tour with the community of potters here. We are a group of 10 and really enjoy being together and creating a platform where we not only sell our own work but also promote other ceramic artists whose work we admire. This year we added emerging artists, which we all agreed was a huge success and enhanced everyone’s experience. We have been promoting the tour through a brochure mailing, advertising, and social media. This year I had a lot of fun making some Reels for Instagram, one of which went a little viral. 

Inspiration 

Much of my inspiration comes from what is around me. I like to take walks around the homestead—during the pandemic, we created about a mile of paths through our woods. I often use Instagram to find images of nature, although I still have binders of animal images taken from magazines from before the internet when images were hard to come by. I keep an extensive library of books that range from plant and animal guides to historic art styles like Art Nouveau, Art Deco, ornamentation, Mimbres pottery, and other historic ceramics. I am also inspired by other potters, so I attend pottery tours and ceramics events when possible. My husband and I have always loved to travel and go to museums and ancient sites, and a day off from my studio usually finds us on our bikes. 

Despite all this inspiration, I can find myself at a loss for what to put on a piece, but that’s a discipline too. Sometimes I just have to push through—that’s when I give myself permission to put down the silliest images out of desperation and of course some of those become favorite designs that I come back to. I definitely have a repertoire of past designs from which I can draw. 

The other thing I recently did was give myself permission to take a week to just make new forms that I had been dreaming about but had not had the time to figure out how to make. As a production potter working with deadlines and trying to fill my kiln with 70 pots every month, I usually can’t afford to just fiddle around with new, time-consuming work. 

Most Important Lesson 

After many years of building my business and brand, I can see that my most valuable personal assets are: self discipline, patience, honesty, consistency, and the desire and ability to create community. It also really helps to be organized! 

glynnislessing.com; www.cannonriverclaytour.com 

Facebook: @GlynnisCeramics; Instagram: @GlynnisLessing 

Topics: Ceramic Artists, Functional Pottery

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