We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Camille Knutson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Camille below.

Alright, Camille thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

Being a jeweler/goldsmith/artist isn’t really typical…you either work for someone else in their shop or work for yourself doing shows or running your own studio. I currently am doing both of these things and teaching. It’s kind of a weird combination but it works for me and I love being self employed. Before I decided to jump into my creative passions full time, I worked a ‘normal’ corporate job. The lessons I learned there were pretty stark. First, since I had been participating in the art fairs in my communities for several years, it was a slow roll toward the disenchantment of chasing the paycheck in an office full time. The work was quite unfulfilling and it didn’t make me happy at all. I guess I call myself lucky to have been laid off with a severance package. I jumped right into my jewelry making full time and found that I actually enjoyed teaching. So now, I am goldsmithing full time, making and selling my own work and I continue to participate in the outdoor art festivals, as well as teaching silversmithing classes. The takeaway lessons from corporate america that I gleaned were 1) don’t be afraid to reach further and aim higher. There are a lot of things that are scary like health insurance, regular paychecks that when they are ‘gone’ can cause sleepless nights and stressful days when you are thinking about taking the plunge into self employment. I learned that those issues are actually the easiest to take care of.. The things that ‘terrified’ me before are pretty much non-issues with the options out there that are available to self-employed people. Healthcare: lots of options to choose from and Paycheck: you can make a living off of selling your work or valuable skills to people who are genuinely interested in learning from you or supporting your work. 2) I wish I had done this a lot sooner…like back in my late 20’s early 30’s…my job now brings me joy…every day. I no longer think about the ‘what if I did this’ because I’m actually doing what I love and have thought about doing for many many years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My path to being a full time jeweler/bench goldsmith has been a winding road. I started taking classes over 30 years ago, shifted gears going into IT instead, got laid off and went back to jewelry classes full time while still working office jobs to keep the bills paid and the insurance coverage going. I’ve been working as a self employed artist for the past 10 years now. I’ve been teaching silversmithing classes for near two years now and it’s something I really love doing. I do a lot of custom work for my clients, mainly wedding rings or bespoke pieces using family gems that I recreate into one of a kind contemporary pieces that they want to wear instead of keeping them tucked away in jewelry boxes where they stay unworn. I love teaching and working with people to help them find the things that make them happy. My company is called Girl Meets Joy Jewelry and, like gems, there are many facets to what I do…I like to think of it as a mission statement. LOL. My customers are happy that they can collect really unique jewelry that they aren’t going to find anywhere else, and my students are happy because they have a teacher who takes the time to explain to them the what and the why of what they are learning and I am accessible to them whenever they have questions even outside of the classroom. I open myself to being completely approachable. I want both my customers and my students to be involved and engaged in the reasons that they are seeking me out for – very unique hand crafted jewelry and a learning experience that gets them excited to forge their own path forward into jewelry making.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

The one thing that I get over and over is hearing “Oh, it’s so nice you get to do your hobby like this” at a show. What most non-creatives don’t understand is that for a self-employed artist, this IS our job. It’s a job like any other job out there…we get up, we get to work and sometimes our day just keeps on going later than the normal 9-5 work day. We sell our work so we can pay our bills. We keep track of our expenses and we pay our accountants to file our taxes, pay our sales and use taxes, pay into Social Security and so forth just like everyone else. We just ply our skills in a different work environment, the same way a non-creative will bring their skills to an office work environment to do their jobs for a normal paycheck. We hustle to make a paycheck, but we are quite employed. We just pay ourselves at the end of the day…it’s no different than a normal job. For a professional artist doing the art shows, it’s way beyond just being a hobby.

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

When I am interacting with a client, coming up with their design for the piece I am creating for them, I always keep them in the loop of where we are in the process. The most rewarding thing for me is the delivery and the looks on their faces as they look at the finished piece and then put it on. The most rewarding thing is the appreciation of what I’ve made. When I’m teaching, the most rewarding thing of interacting with my students are the “A-ha” moments when what I’m teaching them clicks after some frustration and you can just see them running full steam ahead into the next skill. It’s exciting. But when I apply that question to myself…the best thing is being able to wake up on a daily basis and use the skills that I possess…not the office skills but the creative skills…those are the ones that bring me joy and happiness. Every. Day.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.GirlMeetsJoy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlmeetsjoyjewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girl.meets.joy.jewelry.camille.knutson/

Image Credits
Photos by Peter Lee Photography