We were lucky to catch up with Desiree Warren recently and have shared our conversation below.

Desiree, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I learned the basics of building with clay in college, but since I was a sculpture major, I focused on specialized classes like Mixed Media Ceramics. It was all form over function, so when I came back to ceramics in my thirties, I had to learn or relearn all about fundamentals that made my work functional. Just small things like, oh, making sure the glazes I use are food safe and the clays are vitrified so they don’t leak. Many of these lessons I learned through trial and error, and, as far as I know, I made it here without poisoning anyone.

I have been in a hand building class at the KC Clay Guild for about eight years now, and being around other people in a loose environment has lead me down paths that more straightforward classes wouldn’t have. The most essential skills are just to not be too precious with what you’re making…more than almost any other artform I’ve encountered, ceramics will break your heart, but you learn so much if you open yourself up to that possibility.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Growing up out in the country around old farmy things, I was always smashing objects together, and that’s basically been the throughline of my entire body of work. In many ways I look at all my pieces as collages, just taking bits of what’s around me and trying out combinations.

With my current ceramic work, some of that shows up in using a crazy number of glazes, or random things to make impressions on the surfaces of my vessels. I have two major bodies of work that I make in tandem–the Geo Series and the Cat Collection. The Geo Series came from wanting to replicate a product but not get bored with it, so I have a few base shapes and then add different designs and glazes. The Cat Collection….well, people asked and I finally relented, because I didn’t want to be the cat lady who also made cat things, but why fight it?

I am a one-person-operation, and I try hard to keep the work as interesting for my admirers as for myself. My work is always morphing.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In a landscape where most creatives get their work out to the public through social media, and now all social media is ruled by the mysteries of the algorithm, I’ve found that literal word-of-mouth, person-to-person interactions about makers is what has the most impact on us very small, very low advertising budget producers. Do you admire a local maker (or other business), but maybe don’t have the cash to literally support them right now? Sharing their work to people who feel the same way about handmade goods as you do is a HUGE way to help. You have the power to reach a few extra fans that us makers would never come across. Do you know how good it feels to find out a total stranger likes your work? I can tell you, it is amazing.

Just practice conscience consumerism. Would this $15 thing at BIG BOX STORE really make your heart happy, or could you double down on happiness, perhaps hold off a bit, and find an object someone made with their own hands, maybe in your own town, that will last a long time, be worth more to you in the long run? Take a second and examine your habits. Sprinkling in independent makers here and there adds spice to the SOUP of your LIFE.

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

I hear all the time “I’m not creative” from the general public. It hurts to hear that, because everyone uses creativity everyday without even knowing it. The way a person loads a dishwasher, mows a lawn, lays out a spreadsheet–it all takes creativity. People often sell themselves short, or think creativity is what just makes things pretty. If we allowed for more creatives/creativity in, say, government, I do believe things would run more smoothly. Creatives are like scientists, trying something, failing, trying again, failing AGAIN, figuring out why, trying again and again until it works, or the answer is to move on. Being creative is allowing yourself to be wrong. Many of us are told to quit if it doesn’t work right away, because who wants to look like they don’t know what they are doing? Reality check–nobody knows. Just try it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eightyacresart.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eightyacresart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EightyAcresArt
• Other: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/eightyacresart.bsky.social