We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Emily Cook a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Emily, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I’ve found that the learning path for many glass artists is not entirely typical. I started at a college in upstate New York with the intent of studying ceramics and it wasn’t a good fit for me. I decided, instead, to head back home to Maryland, take a year off to regroup before going back to school. I ended up being offered a job at a glass studio and it was there that I learned what I needed to act as the foundation for everything that I do today. At the time I went to college, glass programs, especially on the East Coast, were few and far between, so when I went back to college the next year at the University of Delaware, I earned my fine arts degree in Printmaking. My work there was in cast paper and sculptural, and very process driven. While I don’t make this work anymore, the design work that I did there still informs my work today. After college, when I decided to return to glass work, I expanded my knowledge base by attending various weekend workshops with other traveling instructors at glass studios. I also learned a lot by a lot of experimentation with glass. It can be a bit of an unforgiving medium, but if you approach it knowing this, you understand that even your failures can be a great learning experience.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My business, eluCook Designs, focuses on glass work handcrafted in my studio in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. The glass is created using a kiln, and often requires multiple firings at temperatures around 1500 degrees to achieve the desired outcome. The finished artwork includes jewelry, artwork, home decor and functional art, and often includes custom work for clients. After years of experimenting, I’ve developed a technique to incorporate sand from various beaches into my work to create unique pieces that let people bring a bit of some of their favorite areas with them. This often has resulted in custom pieces, with clients providing sand from places ranging from Caribbean islands, to Ireland, to New Zealand. I keep sand sorted, stored and catalog for possible future use, and I’m always amazed by how different it can be! When I developed this technique of adding sand to the glass in the firing process, I also decided I wanted to give back in some way. Each year, I donate a portion of my sales to benefit our Charleston chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and now, with a line of jewelry I’ve made for stores in Western North Carolina, I also donate to the Friends of the Mountains to Sea trail.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Being an artist is not a linear path. From a very young age I loved to create, to craft, and to make art. I was fortunate to have parents that fostered and encourage this creativity, although I also remembered teachers as young as elementary school that encouraged me to choose an “easier” more lucrative career path. I think resilience and the ability to constantly adapt is the best quality if you’re working in the arts, because there’s not one path for advancement, and there’s not just one way to be a successful artist. I do encourage any young artist that I meet now who’s looking for career advice to take some business classes. It’s one thing that I never did that I wish I had done!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Shop small and shop local! It means so much to artists to have local support. I also try to personally share and promote local artists’ and creatives’ work. Word of mouth promotion from friends and family have often generated some of my best and most loyal customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elucook.com
- Instagram: @elucookdesigns
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/elucookdesigns
Image Credits
DreamPop Media