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

Britni, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

What is the meaning of life if you’re not taking a little gamble with your aspirations? My entire art journey has been a risk. Deciding to finally change my major from Math/Accounting to Studio Art was risking the success of my future with an illogical route. Transferring from a small mountain town university to a big city university was risking my comfort zone and safety net. Switching my concentration from Ceramics to Woodworking/Welding halfway through my first wood class was risking the plans I had already made and diving into a medium that I hadn’t really explored (but I thought was really cool). Quitting my bartending job after college graduation to focus on my art full-time was risking stability and income. Starting my own business on a whim was risking my pride if I failed.
Some of the greatest accomplishments come from risk; but then you look back and realize that the “risk” wasn’t a risk at all because it was exactly where you were supposed to be the whole time.

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

Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Luckily, I am determined enough to have remained an artist. In college, I almost strayed to become a physical therapist, then a mathematician, then an accountant, until I finally decided on an Art Marketing Degree at the University of North Georgia. I explored drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, computer graphics, and textiles, but I wanted more. I transferred to Georgia State University to immerse myself in city art and step out of my comfort zone. I was accepted into the Ceramics BFA Program my second semester and finally felt like I was taking my art journey seriously.

Expressing with clay was fun and challenging but eventually I felt a lack of drive and burnout for the craft so I took one semester off of school. During this break I actually made one of my favorite clay sculptures, “Trunk”, because I missed the feeling of clay on my hands. I enrolled for the next semester and added a woodworking class to try to catch up on available credits.

You know when you go away on a long trip and you make it back home and you’re full of relief because a little part of you forgot what being in your home and your peace felt like? That’s how I felt in the wood studio: I was home. By the end of the semester, I had officially transferred into the Sculpture BFA Program where I had all of the woodworking and welding resources at my fingertips. I made my own furniture, some really cool sculptures, and was so proud of my senior show with the installation of mixed media I had in my portfolio. It was a dream that I lived out in real life.

Fast forward to 6 years later, I’m running a successful clay business, PuppiMudworksCo, and am working to organize a woodshop in my garage in the near future. I currently make functional stoneware pots and am slowly adding more sculptures to the mix. Art has become the fun escape from my full-time corporate career and helps me balance the logic side of my career with the expressive and free side of my art.

My passion for creating and the variety of my experience has contributed to my success because I’m able to see multiple perspectives of the craft as well as the consumer’s viewpoint. One of my favorite parts of woodworking is allowing the characteristics of the wood show through the piece; I’m able to translate that same love into clay by allowing the speckles of the brown clay to show. I make every pot myself, from start to finish – being able to have as much control over the process has been a labor of love and is the best teacher of patience.

Functional work is where my heart is at. I love making pieces that others can use in their day-to-day life, whether it’s drinking their morning coffee from one of my mugs or watering their plants that have made a home in one of my planters. Knowing that I made a piece of art that makes someone’s day a little more special or their life a little more easy is heartwarming.

As for the future, I am planning to expand btreadwayart LLC, the parent company of all my work, to not only include clay, merch, and sculptures, but also wood furniture and sculptures, paintings, textile works, graphics, and anything else I can get my hands on. We are ever-growing creatures and the only way to respect that is to feed the growth and keep expressing any way we can. As Vincent van Gogh said, “I would rather die of passion than of boredom” so that’s my plan.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I am so glad you asked! There are two books that I cannot recommend enough:

1. The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
This book really turned around my perspective of art and why we need to battle the creative blocks in order to survive in our art (or whatever you passion carry a candle for). This is a shorter read, easily digestible, broken up into three parts: Resistance / Combatting Resistance / Beyond Resistance. My goal is to read this book once a year, or at least when I’m feeling stuck in my craft. I’ve gifted The War of Art many times to creative friends because it’s helped me have a healthier perspective on art and the reason I procrastinate and resist. I know it could spark up so many other creatives out there who may be struggling to keep going.

2. Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
I am only 87 pages into this book and wow, my way of thinking has already been altered. Of course, it’ll take time to make actionable changes but to be reminded that our success is not based on our productivity or how many tasks we can tick off our to-do list has been really helpful. Our time on Earth is limited so running ourselves thin thinking “I’ll be satisfied when I’ve made X amount of money or when I’ve hit X level and then I’ll calm down” just isn’t true because we’re always going to be adding more and more to our list. Productivity has become a new addiction and one that I need to overcome. I feel like this book was written for me and am thankful that I found it because I know this book is going to result in some positive changes in my thinking and life decisions.

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.

One of the most significant struggles of being a creative is remembering to keep your creative integrity and not force a piece of art to life that doesn’t want to be made.

Throughout my years of making, my audience will sometimes encourage new pieces that might be on trend or ask me to mimic another artist’s work because they want to support me. However, these requests aren’t actually showing support of me and my art. True, those pieces may sell and bring in money, but selling is not the primary motive for my art. I never want to become a production machine. Each work tells a story; supporting me is supporting that story, not requesting alterations that do not suit my style or my goal.

Artists make art to express the feelings and experiences that live within them. When I look at some of my past works that hold the most emotion, I’m awestruck. Some of those pieces may not have been loved by others, but the point of that piece was not meant to be loved by others, it was meant to be an expression and it was made because I needed to make that expression. Art that is made through expression is not only seen by the viewer, it is also felt. The beauty of a piece of work will shine so much brighter when it was made out of pure necessity and that truly is the purpose of art in my mind.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.btreadwayart.com
• Instagram: @PuppiMudworksCo
• Facebook: btreadwayart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/britnitreadway
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Britni Treadway