We recently connected with Cassie Lasco and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I knew I wanted to be an artist from the moment I was capable of thinking seriously about my future, but I wasn’t set on what type of art until college. I found ceramics in my fifth semester and I loved how calm the environment was but I especially I adored the ceramic process.

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?

I’m a twenty-something artisan living in Arlington, TX. I was homeschooled growing up which gave me a lot of freedom to explore what type education really made me happy. I was constantly drawing all over my homework during grade school. So when it came to college I tried a couple different art majors only to be surprised to find that ceramics was the only one that filled all my artistic needs.

I started my ceramic career in my one bedroom apartment, using a small wheel on my desk and firing my pieces at my parents house in a kiln that was gifted to me. In 2020, my husband and I bought our first house and I was able to move my workspace into our two car garage. I worked in that space for two years, selling my goods at local markets as well as online, saving as much as I could to build a dedicated studio in our backyard, which I officially started building in February and am so excited to move into this month!

I specialize in making small batch, handmade ceramics. I do a variety of thrown and sculpted pieces, with a good selection of functional and decorative pieces. I love creating high-detail work inspired by nature with a bit of whimsy. Most, if not all, my work has either animals or plants somehow incorporated, either sculpted, carved, or painted with underglaze. All my designs are made by hand from start to finish and I love the imperfections that only my hands can do.

I am most proud of my attention to detail, which I credit in part to my older sister, Amy, who always pushed me growing up to make my work just a *bit* better. I will happily spend multiple hours hand-carving tiny scales on a dragon or snake if it will give it that push it needs to be more captivating. I absolutely love throwing a basic shape on my wheel, be it a planter or a mug, and adding a high detailed creature on the side. I have sculpted dragons, frogs, and a sunbeam snake (which might be my favorite).

Along with high detailed work, I also thrive making miniatures, with my best selling item being miniature dinos that measure around 1″-1 1/2″. I first made them as a way to test out new underglazes when I was first learning how to fire my kiln. They turned out so cute, however, that I figured I might try selling them as “Terrarium Buddies” for people to put in with their house plants. They were very well received and I now make a variety of seasonally themed dinos that are available at different times of the year along with my original dino designs. I have just recently added miniature snails that have a small frog sitting on their shell to my online store and I’m so happy with how well-loved they have been.

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 had to unlearn perfectionism, strangely enough. I was on my third all-nighter for a single project in college, when I had the realization: “this doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be finished”. That idea has made all the difference throughout my entire creative journey, not just college, and not just in ceramics. If I were to spend all my time trying to perfect a creation and never finish it, I would never learn the lessons that project has to teach me and I’d never grow. That doesn’t mean I don’t give my best effort, but excellence and perfectionism are not the same thing. I want to always strive for excellence, not perfection.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I believe the best way to build any type of community is based on what you freely offer people, with no strings attached. I don’t want my social media to only feel like a giant commercial for my products where I only ask for people’s opinion when it’ll boost my post. I want those who visit my page to feel like it’s a place that we can create together, even if they never buy anything from me. That doesn’t mean I don’t let people know when I have a shop update or say were my next market will be, I just don’t ever want to view my followers as a means to an end.

One example of how I enjoy involving my Instagram followers is by having “votes”. Whenever I finish a sculpted creature, I have a suggestion box for them to give it a name (The name they chose for my snake sculpture was Sir Obsidian Snakespeare, which is the best!). My absolute favorite way I involve them is by having a collaborative giveaway once a year. I have my followers direct me on what ceramic thing I make and I share every step of process and once it’s done, I pick a random follower to give it to. Doing things like this makes my creations feel less like “mine” and more like “ours”.

Tl;Dr: Find a way to make whatever you do more of a community collaboration, even if it’s a small thing, it makes all the difference.

Contact Info:

• Website: sparrowberry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparrowberry/

Image Credits
Photos taken by Cassie Lasco