We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jo-anne Brewin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jo-Anne below.
Hi Jo-Anne, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.
As a 2nd generation musician/performer (father) and artist/crafter (mother), I was a Canadian behavior therapist and performer who fell in love with a U.S. fellow performer during a Legends In Concert contract in Myrtle Beach, SC in 2011. Although he lived in NJ, before we knew it, we were married and settled down in Myrtle Beach. It was a weekend long DIY wedding with events around town, followed by a wedding and reception at the state park and ocean beach. Since our friends were coming from NJ, Canada and the cast & staff of the local theater, I created all the decor and had cut 20 or so wine bottles for our collective friends to together, create lanterns to hang in the trees for the reception. Decorating these bottles and the reception area was our way of ensuring all guests had an opportunity to meet each other before the wedding/reception. After the wedding I had the decorated, and extra, cut wine bottles left over. My question was what to do with them. I love mixed media and was always curious about polymer clay. As fate would have it, my husband was contracted to do a show in Hoschton, GA. The promoters were a husband and wife team. When we arrived I mistakenly walked into a room we thought might be our lodging, but the heavens opened up and there it was ~ a full craft room with the makings of polymer clay canes. We extended our stay so I could teach our host Sally some choreography for her synchronized swimming team in exchange for her teaching me polymer clay cane making. My husband’s response when entering the craft room, seeing us creating was “Oh oh ~ what’s THIS going to cost us?!?” ha ha On the 6 hour drive home I was ordering the pasta machine and clay on-line, and wondering what to apply it on. The wine bottles ~ I’ll make patio lanterns! That was the beginning of a full-time career in mixed media arts, and what is now an 11 year collaboration with Sally on various forms of mixed media creation and process trouble shooting. I now rent spaces in multiple retail stores, and fill them with a wide variety of mixed media art and home décor ~ polymer clay patio lanterns, wine glasses, wine bottle collars, luggage zipper pulls (I’ve only seen some wine glasses similar to mine on Etsy or Pinterest – I remain unique with the rest of the product creations) … hand stamped flatware, a full line of regular and mystic candles, stained glass, glass fusion, ceramic pottery, mosaics, soldered items, polymer/ceramic/air dry clay sculpting, canvas & wood art … whatever my imagination comes up with! Over the years I’ve turned my net sales into a wider variety of tools, supplies and materials to create each medium of artwork. My husband now walks into my room and 85% of the time states “we’re never moving!!!” ha ha Equally, when he needs a tool, supply or a creative fix for what he’s working on, he asks, and I can immediately hand him what he’s looking for. The only thing I am lacking, as any true artist would attest, it the time to complete the projects in my head, to make them a reality. That being said, I have discovered that I am more of a conduit from the divine to the customer when making an item, than creating as if it were for myself. I will sometimes have an idea, but it turns out much different than I expect. I may be store-sitting, or anonymously be in the store putting out products when I hear the customer say “That’s exactly what I’m looking for ~ how did they know to make this!?!”. That is my true validation for my profession in the arts world. I have become so attached to creating, that if I am away from the studio for too long (ie: on the road performing in theater shows), I get antsy or cranky. I love creating, regardless of what it is. Now my husband who is a musician/performer, graphics artist by education and used to own an advertising agency, is now starting tap into the studio and make his own creations to add to the stores. Performing has an age limit. Creating art is timeless, as long as there are eyes, hands and an imagination.
Jo-Anne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
You got to know me quite a bit in the first question, so what I would impress upon with this question is customer service. My slogan is “Unique Hand Made Gifts ~ One-Of-A-Kind Treasures”. My motto is basically “You think it and I’ll do my best to create it, or something close to it.” I like to work closely with the customer to ensure I’m including the details they envision. This sometimes surprises the customer, for someone to make something especially for them. They’re used to buying what they see in the picture (Etsy, Facebook) or in the store. Sometimes it takes a bit of coaxing to guide the customer to open up their own imagination in order for me to create what they’d truly like. I find the finished creation lands somewhere in between what each of us envision ~ and most times it turns out better than they expect. I was told just yesterday from a customer I haven’t seen in a few years, that a customized owl themed wind chime she ordered remains a favorite piece of the person she gifted it to. That, as when I hear someone say “it’s JUST what I was looking for!”, is the true validation that I’m on the right career path. I’ve even had customers on Etsy contact me to say they have something similar that broke and could I fix it for them. There was a neighbor who handed me 2 broken items that were of sentimental value, one glass and one ceramic. I asked some questions to get an idea of what they might like either from the pieces, or new in their home. They decided they wanted something useful for their new lanai. I tried to keep the same theme of the broken ceramic plate, and made a mosaic planter pot and matching saucer. Again, the fix may turn out a bit different from what either the customer or I envisioned, and the customer is even happier with the end result. I love the way The Universe works in that regard.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I am living this as I write. I lost my flagship store of 8 years and 3/4s of my monthly income on 26Sep24 with hurricane Helene. It was in a beautiful historic building (original town train station) called ArtiSun Cafe & Art Gallery. The layout was beautiful and it was truly a magical store. The entire floor on the side of the artist’s location collapsed into a deep basement. The water pushed the doors open, and the water saturated the store for 3-5 days. All was lost. Its still unknown if the store owners will rebuild, or create a different themed business. Even then, I’m not sure if I’ll be invited back as part of the team (I live 7 hours away, and the new format may be local only). I still rent in 4 stores in the greater Myrtle Beach/Georgetown areas, but together, the net sales don’t equal 1/2 of what that one little store would generate monthly. This year I’ve been reading about up and coming generations and their buying trends. They seem to choose on-line shopping to physical brick and mortar stores, prefer refurbished items, and would like to learn how to create for themselves. As the store spaces I rent in are in tourist areas (location! location! location!), I would like to remain in them. Its still important to be seen. The cost is rent and commission, but its still much more effective to be part of a collective to share the expenses. With the loss of ArtiSun, instead of rushing out to find another location with a similar customer/tourist volume base, I’ve signed up for marketing and advertising tutorials for social media. My husband used to own an advertising company, so I’m very lucky to have stellar in-house graphics, videos and commercials available. Its now time for me to learn how to combine these creations with great ads and get them out into social media ~ to the right customer base. I bought a tent/displays/carpet/portable POS system to now travel to craft events. Next month I’m also creating a year plan for teaching craft lessons at the participating retails stores that I rent space in. I have to admit that I still prefer to create whatever items that I’m inspired to do, and put them in my store spaces. The loss of this pivotal store was emotionally devastating, and a lesson that it might be time to explore other avenues … social media outlets, on-line sales, arts & crafts events, teaching classes … to sell my creations. I love the retail stores and the owners of the spaces I continue to rent in, and will continue to do so, but its also a lesson not to put all your eggs into the same basket.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
My little world consists of creating in my studio and performing in stage productions. The other hats to wear with both careers aremes business administration, merchandising, sales, marketing and organizational skills. The organizational skills part comes into question at times! ha ha The nature of both involve constant imagination, hypothesizing, applying physics, architecture, endurance, nerve (guts!), risk and a myriad of other skills. After so many years, this lifestyle is second nature. Now and then a person will come up to me and say “You REALLY are a true artist!!!”. I have to admit that most times I hear this, it sets me back a bit. I have to stop my thought processes of “is this merchandised optimally ~ is the POS system operating properly and do I have enough receipt paper ~ should this area require a riser?” and think … “yes ~ I guess I AM a true artist!” I forget sometimes that the average person/customer is a 9:00-5:00er, with a fixed schedule of when to wake up/sleep, what and when to eat, what t.v. shows to watch each day at a certain time. We “true” artists/musicians are more free spirited ~ ruled by intuition, feel, task volume and deadlines ~ not time and regiment. Fortunately the apples and oranges of these 2 thought process coexist harmoniously although there is a major difference. There’s a term called functional fixedness. I could be mistaken, and I’m going to go out on a limb here to postulate that the 9-5er is used to putting the square block in the square hole, because that’s the fastest and most logical function. For each problem there is a single fix/explanation. This is correct, logical and pragmatic. However the artist could think “yes, I could do that, but If I sand the corners off the square block, then I can fit it in both the square AND the round hole!” If you take a fork and bend the handle, now its a coat hook! This type of abstract thinking is out of the realm of the non-artist’s cause & effect mode of thinking. As a result, the non-artist is impressed with the ingenuity, where to an artist its just a new way of looking at something, because that’s what we do. The relationship between the two are symbiotic. For a musician/artist needs the person who can’t do what they do, to appreciate and purchase the seat ticket or creation. And the non-artist enjoys the special “outside the box” item in their home/experience, because its unique and something they know they don’t have the thought process to create for themselves (or at least they think they don’t). Its a wonderful balance.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.brewincreations.com / www.brewinovations.com
- Instagram: jo-anne@innovationsartists.com
- Facebook: Brewin Creations
- Linkedin: Jo-Anne Brewin
Image Credits
… just me!