We recently connected with Sarah Piper and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah , appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I’m thrilled to say that I am currently making a living fully on the sales of my creations. That was always really the goal for me, to have the wheel and kiln at home and be able to spend my time making functional art that brings the joy and calm of nature into the everyday. My path started with the idea that I was going to teach art. I went to FSU fully intending to get my BFA in studio art and finish off with the art teaching masters program. Well, that didn’t happen. I started taking the classes and teaching at after school programs and camps and as soon as I shadowed my first in school art class I knew that wasn’t the environment I wanted to teach in. So I left the program and was determined to continue making and teaching art until I could do it on my own. I taught cartooning, fashion illustration, polymer clay, cooking classes, painting workshops, every art class under the sun, but my favorite, and the thing that always held my focus, was the ceramics classes. I loved the community and I loved that we were making art not just to look at but to use and incorporate into our daily lives. That’s the thing that I wanted to share with the world, that relationship with an object beyond it being just something to hold your coffee.
If you can find that thing that you want to share with the world. That’s what you hold on to. I couldn’t really tell you the step by step to make a living being creative, but I can tell you to experiment. To find that core thing that you want to share and start asking questions to figure out how you can make that goal a reality.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Yea, so while I thought I was getting ready to be an art teacher I was told to take at least one class in every art discipline to just get a good base. And I became obsessed with clay! It’s something that while teaching I saw happen in every beginner class. You get your hands in mud and try to throw on the wheel and it’s terrible. You make a huge mess, you’re covered in mud and one of two things happens. Either you never want to touch clay again or you are fully sucked in and have to conquer this machine. Well that clay bug bit me and I started practicing and trying to learn everything I could about functional ceramics in fine art. At this time I was also fully sucked in to the printmaking program as well. Clearly I like a highly process based technical art practice. So I was practicing my 2D art skills and my throwing skills at the same time and was certain I could find a way to combine what I loved about both of these things. And in my own way I figured that out. My illustrations on clay started out rough but they have slowly grow into something that feels like my own style. My business, Flora & Function, is where I get to play with my illustrations of animals, insects, herbs, flowers, and whatever else nature inspires on functional ceramic pieces. With my work what you get is a beautifully functional ceramic piece decorated with my hand drawn illustrations and glazed in fun colors. My technique of inlaying my illustrations then using the glazes as the paints to fill in my drawings gives the piece a unique watercolor like feel. The beautiful designs combined with the functionality makes my work not just a mug, butter dish, ring holder, bowl, whatever the ceramic piece starts out as. It turns it into a work of art. Something that you can turn and find little moments in depending on how you interact with it that day. I love adding little decorations to the foot ring of my pieces because it adds an extra little surprise that you might not see unless you’re unloading the dishwasher.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

That is such a great question. I hear all the time at markets people saying things like, wow I could never do that, or I don’t have a creative bone in my body. And I always struggle with what to respond when I hear that so here is what I want people to know. You can be creative! Take a class from artists who offer them. Even if you end up trying it once and deciding it’s not for you you’ve learned about the process. You’ve learned what actually goes in to making that. With that knowledge you can appreciate the incredible things that you see on instagram or at a craft fair. Then by following those artists on social media, or showing up to art markets and buying from creative people you are showing the world what you care about. You’re telling us that we are an important part of society. Artist and other creative people need people who appreciate art. People who decorate their homes with unique things. One of my favorite things about my home is that every work of art came from someone I’ve met or someone I look up to. I can open my cabinets and be inspired by all the other incredible artists. And that makes my day a little brighter.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn was that our lives should follow a clear path set by society. Growing up it seemed required to go to college, get a degree, get a job work for some company, etcetera. As I was following those steps and stressing myself out trying to stay on the path. Trying to be perfect. I realized I had burnt myself out. I was doing everything I was told I was suppose to do, but my life didn’t feel complete. It felt like I was just going through the motions repeating the same week over and over again while trying to find some small piece of joy. So I took one small step to the side of the path. Instead of teaching in a school I would teach in afterschool programs. Then I started to see that there were other paths. There are as many ways to live this life as there are people in the world. Sometimes that path starts out looking dark and scary but opens up into a new life that you never could have imagined. I guess what I’m trying to say is I had to learn that I could make my life what I wanted it to be instead of what society tells us it should be. I am still working on this but the sort of journal prompt I like to come back to is what do you want your life to look like, now what can you do to get there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.flora-and-function.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flora.and.function/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flora.and.function/