We recently connected with Adam & Beth Bedway and have shared our conversation below.

Adam & Beth , 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?

We started our buisiness in 2016 and we’ve been working as full time artists since May of 2018. It took us a couple of years to build our business to the point where we could finally go full time, but since we have we’ve never regretted it. We first started our business in 2016 when we both decided we had had enough of our full time jobs. We had paid our house off and didn’t have any kids yet so we decided that we would finally put our college degrees to work for us. So we began making pottery for a few shows each year, as well as teaching people how to hand build pottery as a way to raise funds and build our studio. Our classes really took off and became a large part of our business. As our demand started to rise we were able to quit our other jobs and focus on the Clayworks exclusively.

Adam & Beth , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We are Adam and Beth Bedway, owners of East Wheeling Clayworks, a small pottery manufacturing company on the Banks of the Ohio River in Wheeling, WV. We specialize in making functional pottery by hand in our 800 square foot studio. We employ a team of six people besides ourselves who help us keep up with demand and fulfill orders. We make pots you can use in your kitchen, to drink your favorite drinks from, and that help make your house feel like a home. Our goal is to bring small scale manufacturing back to Appalachia and to provide good paying jobs in an economically depressed part of the country, while at the same time making quality products that people love to use!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One of the best things about being a creative entrepreneur is that there are organizations out there who want to help your business succeed. We learned almost nothing about running a business in college, so we’ve had to work extra hard to figure out the nuts and bolts to running a business. In the last few years we’ve had many opportunities to take workshops and be part of groups that focus on improving the way your small business runs. This has helped us in so many ways to grow and improve our business to be as efficient as possible. If you’re in the Pittsburgh area we definitely recommend Bridgeway Capital’s Creavtive Business Accelerator. They’re an amazing resource!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

We need to rethink the way we consume everyday goods and be more intentional in the products we purchase. Right now is a great time to be an artist, but so many people are still spending tons of money with giant corporations, instead of patronizing the small businesses and artists in their town. By making intentional purchases from artists and creatives in our community, not only do we retain that money spent in our town, but the pieces we get are much higher quality than the mass produced products flooding the market at any given time.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eastwheelingclayworks.com
• Instagram: @eastwheelingclayworks
• Facebook: @ewclayworks

Image Credits
Photos by Daniel Finsley, Ali Bonomo, and Dillion Richardson