We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Karen Vetter a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Karen, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

When I was in my mid-thirties and we had two small children, I was working as a Medical Administrator for UNR medical clinical practices one of my friends asked me if I wanted to take a pottery class with her. So I did. My first teacher was amazing and 10 years younger than me. She had just earned a Masters Degree for UC Davis in Ceramics. I took classes from her for almost four years. They had to move from the area and I bought a lot of her equipment. My husband and I built a studio and guest bedroom on our property. Dreams to Reality Pottery was born.

Ceramics is a skill. Born from practice. Just like baseball learning a skill take time. I have been learning this skill for over 25 years and will never know all.

Karen, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I did much of that on the previous question. When I was 49 my kids were in middle school and High school. My husband had a successful business and I quit my job as a medical administrator to be a part of their lives when they needed me. As fate would have it a friend of mine was working at the Nevada Museum of Art as a Ceramics teacher and she wanted to become a landscape architect. So she recommended me for the job. I have been teaching there for 18 years.

My business is Dreams to Reality Pottery 775-425-9271 landline. Www.dtrpottery.com Facebook and Instagram: dreamspottery. I teach private lessons out of my home. I have a full studio with three wheels and a slab roller etc. I prefer to do functional pottery but I do Raku and horsehair a couple times a year.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

There is not a non creative person. They just do not remember being a child or someone was negative when they were young. I teach kids a lot and they are so much fun. Not in their heads. Adults can be. I teach them a lot as well. I tell adults to get out of their adult brains to become a child again. Clay wants to be what it wants to be.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Contribute and immerse yourself in the journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.dtrpottery.com
• Instagram: Dreamspottery
• Facebook: Dreamspottery

Image Credits

Northtahoearts.org

Coppercatstudios.com