We recently connected with Emma Rose Hanley and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Emma Rose thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?
When I was in the public school system, I never took art classes because I figured there was no point in any creative pursuit because there was no way a sustainable income could be achieved through the arts. Not only is this false, but it negated the possibility to learn the most important thing art has to teach us; how to solve problems.
I discovered ceramics at university and completely fell in love with the material, and then decided to pursue a career in arts education. I was finally practicing art regularly, and I learned that an education in the arts is not an education of how to correctly use materials, or make a piece of art in a certain way; arts education is a continual process of creating an idea, running into issues, and learning how to problem solve around them. To me, arts education is the most important because it teaches you how to chase an idea, and how to solve your way around every problem that comes in the pursuit of a particular vision. I’ve had to overcome broken sculptures, building pedestals with no experience, using wood shop tools I had no experience in, mixing my own glazes to get the perfect finishes, and most importantly getting a piece out of a kiln and hating it, and learning exactly how to fix it.
Arts education is so undervalued in the public school system, and comes with the stigma that arts is “for fun,” and not a viable career to pursue. We treat art as an extra-curricular subject, and while not every student is or has to be interested in the arts, every student has something to learn from the practice of making. Students are in desperate need of hands on experiences that teach them how to think for themselves, solve their own problems, and stand on their own too feet. Arts education needs to be fostered and supported because it teaches students at any age to have ideas, bring them to fruition, and builds a sense of confidence in themselves. I would change the educational system to make arts, and arts based learning at the core of education.
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.
I am a ceramics artist and art educator. I love every single part of the ceramic process, from throwing to hand building, firing, making glazes and finishing. I create functional pottery as well as large scale sculptures that explore the ideas of arts based learning, matriarchies, oral traditions and my experience in the Irish diaspora. I love storytelling and oral traditions, as well as learning through creating. I use ceramics as a way to explore alternative methods of knowing that revolves around learning by doing; my learning process centers around the practice of making. Not only do I learn about the material through this method, but I am able to incorporate historical oral story traditions of my Irish heritage, connecting to me to my Irish family despite growing up in the United States. I use my ceramic process as a way to meditate on what I hear, see, and learn, which allows me to come to deeper understandings of the world around me and my perception of experience.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn what I was taught about what it means to be an artist. I believed growing up that artists had a magical talent that put them ahead of others in terms of skill and passion. When I started doing art myself, I found almost the opposite was true. I learned that being an artist does involve talent, but the majority of skill really comes from practice. I learned from successful artists around me that becoming successful for them meant starting from nothing, and working up to a substantial skill level from years and years of practice. I learned just how hard people work to develop skill, spending days and days and then nights and nights in the studio practicing. I didn’t have any experience in ceramics before I began university, and although I immediately took to it, I also had to put in an unbelievable amount of hours to be able to create the sculptures and pots I wanted to make. I spent a lot of time fixing a lot of mistakes I made learning the material as I went, which is one of my favorite parts of art. All of my learning took place by doing, and it gave me a lot of confidence with the material but also with myself, my thoughts and experiences and how I interpret everything I perceive.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In my last year of university I decided to complete an undergraduate thesis in which I explored the concept of arts based research, which revolves around the idea of utilizing an artistic practice to research a topic. I made 5 large scale sculptures over the course of three months, and used my experience of making to inform my perception of familial history, familial matriarchies, personal hardship and my experience as an Irish American born to Irish parents. During this process I broke three out of five sculptures, and with a tight deadline I didn’t have time for those breaks. A top piece of my sculpture titled “In the Weeds” completely separated from the bottom while the clay was bone-dry, leaving me with a fix I had no idea how to solve. It can be heartbreaking to go through so much work just to have it break, and I was only able to pull through because of the ceramics community at my school. My friends and professors helped me through those tough moments, and I wouldn’t have had the tenacity or confidence to continue if it weren’t for the community behind me. I made the sculptures, however I really think the entire studio made them with me. Without the support of a loving community those sculptures wouldn’t exist at all, and it speaks to the real need for community to help and uplift a person as their on any kind of creative path. Nothing is made in a vacuum, and the people around me are the reasons all of the 5 sculptures I made ended up being successful.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaroseart108/
Image Credits
Emma Rose Hanley