We recently connected with Alison Evans and have shared our conversation below.

Alison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

The best piece of advice I can give is to never give up.  I refused to fail and knew that if I worked hard and made good decisions I would survive.  Boothbay is  a seasonal town, and in order to maintain the lifestyle that we wanted we had to focus on wholesale accounts around the country to round out the year. Our town is busy for about 5 months. We needed another revenue source and finding wholesale accounts at tradeshows in NY and Atlanta seemed like the obvious solution. Since then, social media and our website have allowed us to focus on our collectors and become more selective with which wholesale accounts we work with.

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

My name is Alison Evans. I live in Boothbay Harbor Maine and my husband Chris Fritz and I have built a successful pottery business called Ae Ceramics and a store called Ae Home. As a child I loved homemade playdough. I had opportunities to work with clay in art class in elementary school and had some ceramic classes sprinkled through-out my education. Luckily I was taking a computer programing class and a ceramic class at the same time, while a sophomore in high school. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do when I grew up. I loved science and math and had never considered art as an option. I always assumed I would end up in the corporate business world, following the footsteps of my dad. The programming class gave me a taste of corporate life and I knew that it wasn’t for me; the thought of having an office job terrified me.
Making functional ceramics was an intriguing option. I wound up going to Tulane University for one year and then transferring to RISD where I received a BFA in ceramics in 1998. My final work at RISD was feminist sculptural installation and not functional ceramics. I moved to NYC and found a job working for Katy Schimert, who makes multidisciplinary art and is represented by the David Zwirner Gallery. Being an artist assistant gave me a taste of what I was working toward and I realized that I would not be happy trying to work the NY art scene. It was August of 2001 when I moved out of the city to Boothbay Maine and began working on two bodies of functional ceramics. While building my business I traded labor for studio space with another ceramic artist and worked as a server in restaurants. By 2004 I had created a collection large enough to present at trade shows, and attended my first NYNow. As a high school student in London I would walk by the window displays at Harrods and dreamt of creating something that a store of that caliber would want to sell. At this first trade show, buyers from many stores around the country picked up our line and we were off and running. It was at this time my husband Chris began helping me with trade shows and streamlining production. Shortly after that he joined me full time to build the business that we have today. We have a warehouse and production facility in East Boothbay and a store in Boothbay Harbor with 5-8 employees depending on the time of year. We’ve enjoyed working with award winning chefs making custom dishes to sinks and have partnered with many beautiful boutique stores and designers across the country. We pride ourselves on quality handmade products and a fun friendly work environment.

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

Starting my day with raw materials and ending up with a final piece that is beautiful, well made and will bring people joy.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

We want to not only create beautiful pottery, but we also want to create a healthy and happy work environment and lifestyle. Our motto is Ceramics inspired by the Sea. Striking a balance between working hard so we can spend time with our family and friends and enjoy our beautiful surroundings is our goal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aeceramics.com
• Instagram: aeceramics aehome
• Facebook: Ae Ceramics Ae Home