Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maddie Felts. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maddie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Yes, it’s just the way my brain operates so I definitely have a better time doing the job that makes me happy! I have worked quite a few regular jobs (server, auto shop, my own cleaning business, fast food) but have been working as a freelance contractor for close to a decade in event production so that is my main source of income so I can still create my crafts. To circle back- I did just have that exact thought about how Id feel working a regular job again now and my answer was a hard no. Towards the beginning of 2025 i was in a rough spot with work and really needed to make some money so i got a job at P.F Chang’s, because i had worked there for a while many years prior, and i just remember feeling so bored out of my mind, I don’t think I made it more than a couple months before I quit and found my way again.
Working in live events and enjoying my crafts has ruined all other jobs for me haha!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

It’s hard to choose where to start! I’ll go “non-artistic” craft of choice first. My main source of income comes from being a freelance contractor in the event/entertainment industry (theaters, corporate, touring, festivals, comedy shows, anything that requires putting gear in place and tearing it all down after the event). I got into this line work in 2017, I loved going to EDM shows & just started promoting event flyers for one of the local companies System Admin. (formerly Prickly Pete; I’d like to name drop as he/they all put me on the map of industry knowledge and gave me great work for many years. We had an awesome & SMALL team of insanely hard working people.)
I eventually realized they seemed to own their own gear & so I asked if I could work with them instead of promote for them, he took me on and taught me everything from teching LED screen to the names of all the cables and their intended use. It’s an easy job to fall in love with if you like to feel/be strong, work with your hands and bring other people joy. Fast forward from then to now- ive traveled all over the United States for work whether as a stagehand/rigger/manager, worked 2 tours with TAIT as a staging carpenter, SPRAT certified & doing rope access work. As someone who used to be in the crowd feeling the love of the stage, the lights, the music, and appreciating it for a different reason, I feel the same joy providing that experience for thousands of strangers.
My discipline comes from my parents, especially my dad. He might have never taught me how to save money, but he sure did teach me how to be morally sound, care for others and have a good work ethic. My creativity stems from them both, me admiring their own crafts. My dad is a gardener, realtor, has had many businesses, tells creative crazy stories and writes beautiful poetry. My mom loves to plant flowers, is a quilter/seamstress, mother of 8, grandma of 21 and counting and lacks selfishness to a fault. I’m grateful they homeschooled me and let me be nurtured how I needed to be.
I feel so blessed to have the ability to create. I have been painting and drawing since I was very young, lost my way for a few years in my teens and have fallen back in love with it. I traveled around vending with other artists in the music festival circuit for a couple years and bounced off of their skills and energy. That was a bit too quick paced for me so I now paint slow at home and only when I feel the pull to.
I began pottery in January 2025 when my partner, Zack, bought me a pottery wheel for Christmas! Though my journey really began in 2013. Apparently I couldn’t quit talking about how much I wanted to try pottery, to the point that he bought me a wheel and said go crazy haha! In 2013, I attended a summer pottery class w/ a woman who went to the church I grew up going to in Richardson, Tx. She was the ceramics teacher at a private school and she would let me attend her class for free alongside her students, sparking my addiction young. I still have a few of the pieces i made during that time. It felt very surreal coming back around to pottery after so long and diving so deep that it’s become my new #1 medium. The “creative juices” drive me everyday regardless of the medium, & sometimes it’s a problem because I’m thinking a million thoughts when I should be sleeping.
My partner is from Memphis, where my dad is from, and I left my hometown to move here. After he bought me the wheel we began troubleshooting where I’d actually get clay & fire pieces, just for me to find the most magnificent hidden gem of a community pottery studio: Summer Ave Art & Clay. (SHOUTOUT!! Amazing place amazing people)
This has become my second home, I’ve been a member for over a year and I work for them as their studio tech & admin assistant. I have never felt more involved in the art world community as I do being surrounded by all these folks. As I said I’ve always done art, and I eventually realized it would be the best of both worlds if my job could be selling the things I create, but I’ve always had a hard time not feeling like it was “hustle culture” energy trying to get art sold, vending etc.. so I kinda struggled in that regard. But being here w/ so many other creatives, teachers, gallery owners, humans figuring out life- I feel like I actually can do it. However long it takes I know one day I will support myself with my craft, by being supported by others.

My line(s) of work are not always stable, in fact they’re usually not, so it can be a stressful form of peace not having a normal 9-5 or a salaried income, but I’ll never go back now that I know how much joy I and others find in bringing what’s in our minds into the world.

I’m not sure if this was too much or not enough information, and I don’t know if this is how it works but I’m happy to answer follow up questions if need be.

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

Stop thinking someone charging a few hundred dollars for hours and hours of their time love energy and effort is too much. If you are the type of person to care about such things, consider the handmade items in your parents/grandparents houses, how long they’ve lasted, how much meaning they might carry, if they’ve been passed down generationally and why. We have so much junk nowadays. Wasting money on so many things that will be useless within the same year. We NEED creatives. And I’m not saying every creatives goal is to be making money from their work, but it will always do nothing BUT HELP their journey by your supporting them in their craft. Buy stuff from your friends, buy it from strangers, keep that money circulating in the art world and uplift people pouring their souls into whatever thing you get to now view for your own pleasure too! You don’t even have to spend money, share their work, talk about them to people, tell your friends to follow their socials. There’s lots of ways to support without touching your wallet.

I’d love to be not clumsy enough to think I could keep a breakable piece to be passed down in generations but, a woman can dream!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It is the internal peace that creating saves space for. I may not always be in the mindset to grasp it, but the choice of falling into the calm is always there. My mind is chaotic until the idea leaves and becomes reality so, I just continue to be grateful for the blessing.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feltsfireandart?igsh=N28wcWF4bmI0ZmFz&utm_source=qr
• SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/OXCEjyOqUX7dW9oHfz
• Other: SoundCloud name is Jeepers Music (my music production journey is on a massive pause though, I just realized I didn’t talk about that at all)
  Instagram is FeltsFireAndArt