We recently connected with Anna Whitworth and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The art medium that I create is horse hair pottery. My artwork includes incorporating horse hair in my designs. It is adhered to the pottery through a series of firings, the last being a primitive wood firing. My artwork is often embellished with leather, braided tail hair, turquoise, weaving…. One of the reasons that I embellish with the horse hair is because my niche client is horse owners that order memorial pieces for their equine companion and companions that have passed on. It is common in the horse world to take a last clipping of the horse mane and/or tail hair after they have passed. I offer a unique art piece to help them memorialize this sacred relationship. I am very fortunate as an artist to have multiple markets. I am included in the art world, the equine world, and because my artwork is Native American inspired, I am also included in cultural events..

Anna, 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?

I have been creating horse hair pottery for 24 years. I have been an artist my whole life. I am self taught. I was in college and ran across an article that mentioned ‘animal hair pottery’, and asked my instructor about it. She told me, “ You know the variables, figure it out.” Although I walked away grumbling at her lack of help, coming up with my Own version was
Probably the biggest gift. I made 100 little test pots and just started throwing them in the fire.. to this day, 24 years later, I still learn something every time I fire. I create for the art world, the equine world, and the Native American world.
I am diligent about meeting the needs of my clients often through profound grief from the loss of their horse or dog.
My art differs most because of my embellishing of my pieces.
I love to teach as well. I also create art programs for Tennessee State Parks

Have you ever had to pivot?

When exposure of my art as well as sales were just starting g to climb at a nice pace, I had an article published about my work and myself in the Sunday section of the Chicago Tribune. That exposure started to send my numbers through the roof and brought everything that I thought that I longed for as a struggling artist. The powerful life lesson that was thrust on me was that society’s taught goals are not always our individual goals. I was frequently out of town, missing school functions and soccer games. Canceling out on family outings. I was caught between ‘ strike while the irons hot’, and ‘I’m missing out on things I don’t get a second chance at’. The quick realization became that I had time for this trajectory, but balance in everything.
Balance in everything.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I absolutely had to unlearn that I had to wait my turn. It’s a generational thing that was an unwritten rule and hardwired in our taught thought process.
When covid shut me down, I did a deep dive on social media sales and how this generation of artists had only been creating for a short time and didn’t care. What the protocol was, they were asking for high numbers and didn’t even consider a hierarchy of process.. social media sales changed my views on everything. I travel
Less to shows, which lowers my overhead (travel, hotels, gas, wear and tear in my vehicles, less damage/loss of product, booth fees etc… It also totally changes the demographic of pricing. With the greater reach, there is nobody blocking the doorway that can’t afford your product. Because if someone wants to hesitate, someone else will grab it from their cart. I have two young adult kids and always have said that there’s beauty in both the echo boomer and baby boomer approach.if we could merry the two.. there’s absolutely something about experiencing art in person, There is also something amazing about selling online in your pajamas too! It’s all good, I just believe that there’s beauty in all of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: Fromearthtoart.org
• Instagram: Fromearthtoartpottery
• Facebook: From Earth to Art

Image Credits
Margie Bjorkman and Touch to Sky Photography