We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Grimm recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I’ve always known that a traditional career path wasn’t meant for me. As a child, I was constantly engaged in drawing, painting, photography and crafting. I vividly recall the excitement I felt, even at the age of 10, when learning about artists like Keith Haring, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Helmut Newton. Art ignited my curiosity, made me laugh, and prompted me to scrutinize society and culture. Growing up in a small town, it dawned on me that the world was far more expansive than I had initially perceived.

The more art I absorbed, the more I realized I craved those diverse perspectives. It helped me comprehend the happenings in the world, find my place within it, and embrace the fact that it’s perfectly acceptable to be unique.

The urge to create never waned; instead, it intensified. I understood that I had no alternative but to pursue a creative path because ignoring it only left me feeling frustrated.

Michelle, 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 am a multi-disciplinary artist and designer currently working with clay as my primary medium. For the past few years, I have been exploring atmospheric firing techniques like raku, horse hair, saggar pit firing, soda firing and wood firing.

My ceramics are minimal in form and often left unglazed to allow ash, smoke/carbon, salt or other organic materials from the firing process to add color and texture to the pieces I create. Using these specific firing methods allows for an unpredictable alchemy between earth, artist and fire acting together to create each piece’s unique personality. My work invites us to celebrate the element of chance, accepting and embracing that which we cannot completely control.

Each piece is one-of-a-kind work of art and cannot be exactly reproduced. Every vessel I create gets to become what it wants, rather than what I want for it. Pieces are released in small collections and are often fired in the kiln for 80 plus hours and in multiple atmospheric kiln enlivenments.

Previous to ceramics, I’ve had a long and winding career path starting in the fashion industry in NYC then eventually moving onto designing art based commercial interiors in Sydney, Australia. Maintaining a personal art practice to separate to my design work has always been really grounding and essential for me. I started working with clay about 5 years ago after enrolling in a figure sculpture class, as a supplement to life drawing and to decompress from the stress of my day job. My love of working with fire and primitive ceramics techniques was only discovered back in 2018, while working on the concept design for a restaurant in Sydney where their primary cooking methods are fire, smoke and steam. Researching how fire and smoke translate into materiality got me curious and I eventually began implementing the use of fire and smoke into my work with ceramics.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I cherish the deep connection I have with the objects I create, as I am engaged in every step of the process. This involvement lends a remarkable sense of intimacy to my work. I frequently forage materials and rely on local resources provided by other small businesses I hold dear. It brings me immense satisfaction to utilize sawdust and offcuts from nearby furniture makers in the firing process or to craft glazes from the ash sourced from my local wood-fired pizza spot. This practice imbues each vessel with a distinct sense of time and place.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

During a wood firing session, we encountered a kiln disaster of unprecedented magnitude, one that left me feeling an unwarranted sense of responsibility. My confidence was shaken, and I found myself doubting my abilities. After allowing myself a brief 20-minute period to mourn my losses and reflect on the valuable lessons learned, I regrouped, donned my favorite outfit, assembled a box of samples, and ventured into a store that had long occupied the top spot on my list of desired stockists. I introduced myself, bracing myself for the possibility of rejection, with a strong desire to get it all over with at once.

To my surprise, the outcome was vastly different from what I had anticipated. I’ve now been collaborating with this dream stockist for over two years. It serves as a poignant reminder that when disasters inevitably occur, you must muster the resilience to pick yourself up and forge ahead. Perhaps even venture into territory that feels a bit more daunting than before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.michellegrimmceramics.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_mgrimm/

Image Credits
Jenny Liu, Jarshua Brown