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

Michelle, appreciate you joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

Everything helps Everything.

I will start by reflecting on an early lesson I gleaned at the ripe age of six. I wanted to plant some marigolds in a wooded area adjacent to my family home. My parents did not encourage this idea, informing me that the flowers would not emerge due to lack of sun. Being persistent, I planted them in the grove anyway, and yes, in the shade. I blessed them with heartfelt words of encouragement to burst forth healthy and beautiful. The plants did indeed grow! However, they did not flourish. Yes, I felt successful, as they did create ‘mini’ blooms. But as I look back at the lesson, what stands out through this experience, I learned the difference between ‘survive’ and ‘flourish’.

Not unlike those marigolds, to completely expand as humans, we need to be supported, believe in ourselves, collect gained insights, and then integrate these wisdoms into our own creative endeavors. Which is no small feat. It is an integral part of our survival and our flourishing–as a planet.

I have dreamed creatively all my life. Determined, at times rebelliously so, to be an artist. As an impressionable young teenager, I grabbed an opportunity to prove myself, through a Sunday paper ad, submitting my drawing skills–by drawing ‘Bambi’. I was hoping to qualify for an art school program. Not making the cut, I was heart-broken. However, I brought forward the understanding that creativity is in the eyes of the beholder.

This young dream did not languish because of that ‘failure’. Later, as a high school student in art class, I painted and submitted a piece for a local competition, with my instructor’s encouragement. Later, my teacher approached me abashedly, telling me the actual paper I had painted my work on had not meet the criteria, disqualifying the piece at the regional level. Again, I was devastated. However, the wisdom I carried forward from this experience—always ask questions, and completely understand expectations.

As a young adult, I proved to myself I had creative talent as I successfully graduated with an associate’s degree in interior design. I had arrived.
My professional job was a bit challenging, as I was a woman in a man’s world. However, I loved working with color, line, texture, drawing, designing and building homes. (This was before CAD/computer drafting!) The challenge was that I found myself standing behind a long counter at a lumberyard in small town USA. Again, proving myself, was the requirement. Did I know what a sixteen-penny nail was? Or the difference between a 2×4 and a 2×8? And finally, did I have a brain for building? I was determined and confident. I just had to convince the men. What I didn’t realize at that time, was that the proposed business partnership was more of a lure than an actuality. Later, I decided it was time for me to move on. Lessons learned: Trust is everything. It is ok to leave a job if your intuition tells you something is ‘off’. Follow your gut. My take-away was learning to stand up for myself, identifying the difference between being respected—and not. What were the ‘flourishing qualities’? We were able to build our own home from the ground up with determination, creative gumption and sweat equity. During this time, we also taught our children–by example–that ‘you can do anything you put your mind to’.

Having planted our roots in a town of just over eleven thousand people, my husband and I witnessed a community vitality second to none, due to a wealth of artists living in the area. Southern Minnesota Clay Center was birthed ten years after our arrival, by Professor Lois Peterson of Gustavus Adolphus College, as an environment for clay exploration. SMCC flourished because of these rich area attributes.
With my husbands’ encouragement, I became a student of SMCC. My creative ambitions were brought to a whole new level, albeit not realizing it at the time. The feeling of clay in my hands was both magical and life changing! I was again, dreaming my young-self dream. Still envisioning being an artist. In my bones, pottery was my path to becoming that artist. Within two years, I found my passionate self unafraid to be co-teaching SMCC’s beginner pottery classes. I joyfully taught the fundamentals and bolstered up the students desires to learn and grow in pottery. However, a fellow teacher criticized my techniques, stating I did not know how to trim a foot properly. This brought me great despair, as I was not ‘college’ taught. I transformed this anguish into determination. Through investigating and playing, I would later create beautiful flowing sculptural elements to replace said ‘foot’. This disapproval caused me to hone and develop my own signature style of sculptural vessels. Everything helps everything.

I built my own studio in our backyard, creating an inventory of vessels while expanding my own voice and style. I decided to sell my work through personal studio sales events–which brought forth bigger dreams: art spaces, art crawls, larger studio spaces, and shared creative environments. During this time, some community members were displeased with my pursuits, because I was ‘not professionally accredited’. I persisted!
I made another job shift into the graphic design world. Which I discovered had many parallels with the interior design world I had been in for so many years. I was soaking up the joy of learning and creating in another art form. And, I was learning the value of skill–and time–in a business setting. This employment change brought forth an exclamation point to the statement….Everything helps Everything!

It is not lost on me, that years later, I was offered the opportunity to mentor a truly brilliant savant for over five years. He, determined to work in pottery for a living, was seeking knowledge and experience about pricing, organization and inventory. He approached me, (insert smiling face) asking about the business side of things. I gladly helped. What I had been formulating, refining, and always streamlining as I sold my work, developed into an estimating practice that moved closer and closer to ‘reality pricing’ if you will. Accurately depicting how much time it would take to complete a creation, from inception to completion, and getting paid for the time, expertise, and craft. I had been viewed as an ‘over-priced’ potter, for quite a few years as some of the locals disagreed with my ‘self-value’. What my student learned is this: If you want to make a living creating, it is imperative that you realistically envision how much you want to get paid, and join that with skill, bricks and mortar costs, determination, and a market that supports you and your goals. If you don’t sell your work, gently review, as there may be something amiss that needs to be better aligned.
Here is my life-long lesson. The most powerful validations you can receive—that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, is through the relationships you build from and with your patrons. People are willing to pay for what you do, when you have made a soul connection. They are not buying a thing. They are investing in the whole package. You, your essence, your creations. E V E R Y T H I N G – so, if you are being realistic and well-grounded in your possibilities – anything is possible.

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.

My first step into becoming an artist was in interior design. This was a very large chapter of my working life, along with the graphic design industry. When I stepped into the pottery world, I had no way of knowing how impactful that would be.
I had created a little studio in the backyard that I called “The Keyhole Studio”. Small sales events were attended by family, friends, and neighbors. It was a small step into a bigger future.

Eventually, I wanted to step one foot away from the employed arena, into owning my own art business. This, not unlike my husbands’ quest to shift gears and be self-employed in the housing industry. With the help of my networking connections, he succeeded in becoming a renowned craftsman. Now, I was asking my husband to trust me in my own personal endeavors as well.

I had discovered what I loved doing–carving into vessels, was a perfect match for a very soulful and a very niche market. I finally discovered that the people who paired well with me—and my work, where those seeking vessels to harbor their loved ones’ cremains. Cremation Urns.

Because of my later experiences within the graphics world, I was very aware of the importance of professional marketing. While still employed, I worked alongside a graphic designer, to create a professional website to represent my art.. Then, leaving the company, I dipped into my own ‘toolkit’ and created my own additional promotional marketing pieces. Within a year of the launch of my website and stepping into my own business dream, the economy took a dramatic nosedive. Alongside that, the housing industry fell head-first into a deep chasm. I remember that time all too well. Sitting in a coffee shop, listening to couples going through their financials, trying to figure out what they could skim off, to avoid bankruptcy. Many of us were in the same boat. Divine intervention stepped in for my husband and I, as a newly formed arts advocacy non-profit was searching for an assistant. With my numbers history, an association with the arts, and the lack of funds coming in on my husbands’ end, I set my dream aside and got back into the employee pool in order to pay our bills. I was grateful to still be living in and supporting, the arts world.

It was at this same time, that I unpacked a dream I had had, many years earlier

First, I need to give a bit of back-story. I am forever grateful for my maternal family. They are the foundation upon which my value for the arts was developed. It is an unusual family, looking from an outside view. We consist of multiple woodcarvers, jewelers, watercolor artists, graphite and colored pencil artists, musicians, art therapists, and me, a potter. All of us; cousins, aunts, and uncles, were within three generations, starting with my grandparents. People approached us, saying “Wow, your family is so gifted!”. This…was their version. My version? We are all creative! It is only a matter of ‘hitting the right button”! And this, became the result of that unpacked dream. My creative brain had been rolling out ideas for quite some time. I chuckle now, as it was sometimes hard to reign myself in! I dedicated my next chapter, to them. My family of origin.

Right before the economic collapse, I had a vision. A means to open the aperture for those dreaming of becoming artists, and connecting with those who did not see the value of the creative mind. That gift. Enter RiverCrossings; art fair in motion. Within four years, even during the economic downturn, there was excitement brewing, as people from around the region were invited to step into this world of creativity. From music, to theatre, to spoken word, to visual arts of all kinds. RiverCrossings set a stage that was vast and intimate in the same breath. Young and inspired alike, were invited to discover what it meant, and felt like, to be submersed in the creative world. To encounter and engage firsthand, with artists of all walks, up close and personal. And for many, that included an inside peak at personal studio spaces. I, and all participating artists, related with and relished the sparkling eyes and eager hearts. Art was seen, purchased, and supported! I am truly grateful for that opportunity to feed a hunger.

My loving husband and I sometimes landed in this re-occurring tension between my being a successful artist (ie: money) or being a hobbyist. I had memories of distinct conversations with my aunt, from when I was a youngster. I, stating money could not buy happiness. And here we were. Discovering new forms of joy during very challenging times. Without money. Even with the stress of economic upheaval, we found joy. Creatively. This became a bit of deep wisdom that would resurface some eight years later.

The creation of cremation urns is not something that feels comfortable for everyone. However, I found this truly was a soulful art form for me. And it was also a sacred journey for those searching for a sacred home for their deceased beloveds’ ashes.
Everything helps everything.

I had continued believing in my dreams even during the economic downturn. I had committed to the website The Soul Remains earlier, and I was able to diligently work and create a network within the cremation urn industry, thanks to my internet presence, during this time. I found I was on the front end of the boom of cremations, and yet I was competing against ‘out of the country mass production’, and ‘proficient production potters. My creations, on the other hand, were different; authentic, one of a kind, and intricate.

Slowly, the economy picked back up, and that arts advocacy job I had had brought the gift of networking and supporting fellow artist into my ever-expanding toolkit.

Eventually, I moved my small backyard studio into town, for better access and visible presence for my urn patrons. In doing so, I was serendipitously blessed with my own personal mentor. The woman I was renting my studio space from, was very well versed in wholesale and retail marketing and production. In the same building! Pat stood by me and supported me, with compliments and critiques both in design and packaging, and realistic pricing knowledge. I am indebted to her, and profoundly grateful.

I fought hard against being in the ‘hobby’ box, because I believed in myself as an artistic and financially savvy entrepreneur. I had used all my life skills and mentoring lessons, totally revamping my website to keep up with the times, while being as realistic as possible regarding my time and skill in the art world. Yes, there was a ‘method to my madness’, although many within my community thought I was still, overpricing. Locally, maybe I was more expensive. But outside of our small community? Not so much! I could live with that, as both individuals and funeral homes were seeking out my work. They felt the soulfulness of my work, and in turn, were investing in me.

Ironically, in the not-too-distant future, my own husband’s cremains would be placed in one of my hand-carved urns. I would understand, at a very visceral level, the sacredness that I had infused into each vessel, for all those years. It would be a first-hand experience of what living loved ones are searching for, for their beloveds. I would know, as the lesson would come full circle.

My most vivid and heart-affirming memory is one I will dive into, because I believe it is so very important. Self-worth. This is my own personal coming to Jesus moment between my husband and I. I believed in my work. I knew and deeply felt, the soulfulness I poured into each vessel. For hours, I sat at an antiquated farmers’ table, listening to instrumental music, and carving into my wheel-thrown vessels. Representations of nature, through carving. It was bliss and soul intertwined.

My husband was getting closer to his last chapter on earth in this life form, because of cancer. Simultaneously, I was having a solo show that spring, in a nearby city that was and still is run by a fabulous team of art advocates. Susanne and Elisha. They believed in my work—to the core of their hearts. I was honored to be sharing these vessels with the public in their gallery space. (My last solo exhibit had been almost ten years earlier. I recall the docent’s conversation with my husband as we viewed the exhibit with my son during his visit. ‘The pieces are very expensive, however the work is lovely’ she shared. My husband, bless his soul, shared with the docent that the artist was indeed standing right beside him. Noted!)

This new exhibit, filled with many hand-carved sacred vessels, had been installed weeks before, and we were still a month out for the closing reception. My husband and I were able to view the exhibit for the first time, together, alone. I did not realize it at the time, as it was under the premise of a delivery, that this was a moment of divine intervention. My husband stepped into the gallery. As did I. I felt the energy of the pieces within that room, emanating up to my knees with vibration. My husband turned to me with tears in his eyes, looked at me with the deepest love, and said “I get it.” As divine planning would have it, my closing reception would be the day after his celebration of life. He would not see the exhibit in human form again. I will hold that moment dearly in my heart for the rest of my current life on earth.

Art is not about money. Creativity is about speaking an unspoken language of emotions. Allowing the creator to express what is harbored, inside, and needs to be released. In our society, we are so stuck in making money. When people accept that we are all creative, and money is not the most important thing in this life, there will be a paradigm shift. My husband was/is part of that shift.

Much transformation happened over the course of that summer. My business had to be dissolved because of its legal connection to my husbands. I was needing to reinvent myself. Both literally and figuratively. Over the course of one night’s dream, Soul Work was born.

Within months, I was introduced to a powerful woman who looks at each life choice as a providential opportunity. The question is whether we acknowledge it, and how we respond. Mary Ann, gathering a group of compassionate care providers, was comfortable with talking about death and was wanting to elevate that very conversation within community. She also believes creative expression is an important part of the grieving process. Do you see the connection here?

Within months, I was introduced to a powerful woman who looks at each life choice as a providential opportunity. The question is whether we acknowledge it, and how we respond. Mary Ann was gathering a group of compassionate care providers, comfortable with talking about death, wanting to elevate that very conversation within community. She believes creative expression is an important part of the grieving process. Do you see the connection here?

The aesthetics of space has always been important to me, especially as I understood its impact, as an interior designer. My little studio had evolved from backyard, to large and spacious warehouse. Just what I had needed and longed for. Then after eight years in the ‘warehouse’, my studio mate, Shannon, and I were offered the opportunity to move to the other end of the building. A self-contained studio with all the amenities. We were dancing in our dream space. And then, it happened. We, and it, went into hibernation during the pandemic.

Which brings me to Writing.
Which brings me to Writing. I have always loved poetry and writing. I have multiple sketch books filled with sketches and journal entries documenting life moments as they unfolded in this arts world that I live in. After my husband’s passing, I yearned to connect with him on a spiritual level, which I did regularly, through those very journals. Four months after his passing, in a park, I invited him to have a conversation. His oldest grandson, one year old when he had passed, was gaining a brother. I wondered what he wanted his grandchildren to know about him. He answered. With a love so deep and with words so simple and eloquent. I still hold that journal close to my heart

What evolved out of that sacred exchange became a book I self-published in 2021, during the pandemic. All the lessons I had experienced in the graphic design world came full circle. Dear One A Message of Love, About Grief, Loss, and the Art of Healing shares a conversation between a beloved on the other side and one in this living world.

This project ignited something in me, to rekindle my love of writing and poetry. What had been a blog on my website (basically an audience of one: me) evolved into a communication to others sent out biweekly, sharing my own experiences with healing, my inquisitive nature and art, and the desire to expand consciousness. A Mindful Life gained traction. When it was finally time to crawl out of hibernation, and re-open our doors again, our studio grew wings. It went from caterpillar to butterfly. We were healing through art. Expressing our pain, love, fear, anger, all of it. The space became a sanctuary. Not just for my studio mate and I, as we decided to open our doors to a monthly Poetry Share in our ‘Living Room’, after discovering we both loved words. Open to poetry lovers and writers, we share an intimate conversation with no judgement. Inviting us all, to be vulnerable, and explore words and feelings, with appreciation.

Almost simultaneously our ‘Living Room’ became the gathering space for another group. The hospice nurses, death doulas, and compassionate community members, which I was now a part of. We became a Sacred Circle. Again, it was within this created space, that sacredness was being held. Today, I deliver our monthly shared experiences and conversations, news and shared links, through an e-newsletter to the group.
Which brings me to my current exploration. Everything helps everything. (I feel like this needs to be a bold neon sign somewhere.) When I had first moved my studio to town, I observed scraps of fabric in a nearby dumpster. Cast-offs from a small wool industry within the building. It wasn’t until much later that I would be reminded of when I was very young; my Grandma Mary teaching me how to sew heavy wool blankets using factory scraps. Grandma Mary’s spirit was nudging me. This information would be of use someday.

After hibernation, I gave myself permission to play, dream, heal, and create. I did that, and more. My studio mate and I had recycled fabric into many fun things over the years at the studio. But this adventure was something different, yet familiar. Through these repurposed pieces of organic cotton, I was able to embellish blank ‘pieced canvases’ into beautiful blankets. Transforming my nature carving skills into applique, drawing, dyeing, and sewing, Circle of Life blankets were born. Seen as artistic voices of empowerment, these blankets acknowledge that we can provide fundamental needs, with the vastness of our imagination—if we so choose. Being organic, these blankets, along with being lived with and loved, can be passed on to future generations. Or, transformed into swaddling shrouds as we are lowered into the ground, to connect to the natural elements, after our last breath. Green burial blankets.

It came full circle, again.

Here are some of my life teachings:

• Value.
Value. If you are good at what you do, and you don’t price things with value, you are inadvertently directing the value of others work as well. Causing their product pricing to be viewed as ‘too expensive’. The value decreases for everyone.

• I had dipped into two completely different markets, one affecting or reflecting the value of the other. Functional utilitarian pieces, artistic pieces in the funeral industry, and gallery works are all priced very differently. Choose one, if you can. Mark up, commission, overhead costs, shipping, and audience, all play a pivotal role in your pricing.
If you have two audiences….KEEP THEM COMPLETELY SEPARATE. Website and all.

• Creativity is a business, just like anything else. It has worth!

• When someone asks how long it took you to do a particular piece? Respond with the number of years it has taken you to get to where you are today. For me, I easily and unabashedly respond “thirty years”. Value!

• Find the audience that is in alignment with your work, while simultaneously believing in yourself. This is a job interview in the reverse. (Which I believe all job interviews must be! You are interviewing them to better serve your goals, needs and work ethic!)

• It took my entire life to step into my dream—teaching and supporting the belief that we all are creative.

• Everything helps everything is a mantra I live by.
My experiences, both positive and challenging, have taught me so much!
This bears repeating: In all of my years working in the arts world, the most powerful validations that I have received—that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing—has been through the relationships I have built from and with my patrons.
There are no words to describe that soulful connection. People are willing to pay for what you do, because they are not buying a thing. They are investing in the whole package. You, your essence, your creations. E V E R Y T H I N G – so, if you are being realistic and well-grounded in your possibilities – anything is possible.

• Never take any chapter of your life as a misguided mistake. It is truly an adventure that is shaping you for a time in the future, when you will be able to lean into those teachings. Case in point….working as project manager and estimator at the graphic firm also taught me tools that I would be able to use, to self-publish my book, over a decade later!

• We need to honor ourselves before we can ever expect others to honor us as we are.
Over the last thirty years, I have been an arts advocate in some way, shape, or, form.
I was ‘not so successful’ in my own dreams, because my self-worth as a creative was quashed. By others, and fully noted—by myself.

• If you do not believe in yourself, the dreams you hold will not truly succeed.

• Art is not a gift of the few, or a high honor. It is a very vital part of…CREATION! The whole world was ‘created’!!!! And, we are all creative.

• Risks are priceless and they are not ‘a waste’ if we ‘fail’. They bring us wisdom that is necessary and needed in life. Which links us, again, to the mantra that I live by.
Everything helps everything. Those experiences we feel are not helpful, and those experiences that were not successful. They all have something to do with our life course.

• We are just now realizing (finally!) that the masculine audience has supported each other in the power paradigm. Masculines believing in their dreams. That-is powerful! However, their feminine side has been stifled.
Feminines were, and still unfortunately are, struggling with–stepping into their own power aka dreams! However, they are very aware of the emotional link and value of the creative side.
Become aware of the necessity of both the masculine and feminine energies in each of us. Altering the narrative, and acting with self-belief, shifts the paradigm! Hold those thoughts…..

• The value of art. The importance of creating serves the creator, not just the observer. It assists us all in releasing the emotions we have kept inside and are carrying in our being. It is not about money. It is about expression! It is about our own physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

First and foremost. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share all these chapters of my story. I feel this is such an important platform to spread wisdom, connectedness, intuitive power, and the values that we need to remember. It truly is an honor to be asked to share today!

When I was growing up….creative thinking was ‘me’!!!! However, the imprint of ‘lacking’ stayed with me until I was fifty-three. An art gallery owner asked me in an interview, “When did you first considered yourself an artist?”. Under my breath, I responded “Last year. At the exhibit my husband and I experienced just before his passing.”

That inadequacy had been carried with me for five decades. When I saw myself as an artist, that was my paradigm shift.

My dreams had always been minimized by the lack of making enough money. When I had that ‘coming to Jesus moment’ with my husband…my reckoning with him—and myself, was that not everyone on this earth is here to make money! Many of the creatives in the world are here to open eyes and hearts to what we are carrying. Expressing what we cannot or do not allow ourselves to acknowledge. As a creative, there is no choice. We either create—or we disintegrate.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I will ask you, the reader…
As a child, what is your fondest memory???? Did it involve fun? Or play? Imaginary friends? Storytelling? Made-up games? Dreaming?

As children go to school, they are taught to follow the rules. Color inside the lines. Sit at the desk, feet on the floor.
Music, play-acting, imagination, playing instruments…this support is thinning and slowly–disappearing.
We are boxing up our creatively wired children and saying….”But we have other things you can be a part of!”

There is NO WHERE FOR THEM TO GO! We all are familiar with the ongoing tussle for funding in schools. Sports events make money! This is how our society has been shaped! I do not, and am not, bashing either men’s or women’s sports. I AM saying….but/AND! The people who are feeling lost in the schools are the ‘creative’ students. People who are more equally balanced in both their strength/masculine and their emotional/feminine sides of the brain. They understand the arts as a language that expresses. Funding cuts keeping sports alive are killing the creative in all of us.

I will ask you….as I do with every student I talk with, regarding the value of careers in the creative world: Who designs your clothes? Who writes the stories you read? Who brings visual imagery to movies you watch? Who creates your zines and websites? Who designs your cars? Who designs and builds your homes? Who designs your phone? Or the cover that protects it? Who creates the cereal boxes that you eat from every morning? Who creates and fuels the soul? Creatives!

People who are wanting to be electricians, accountants, farmers, engineers, attorneys, food producers, life coaches, health professionals, librarians, any walk of life…To be good at what you do, there needs to be creative thinking. This is the dynamic and fundamental part necessary. Guaranteed 100%.

Creativity matters! From birth—to death. It is an integral part of our existence. We need to honor that. Creativity has value. When we are finally able to acknowledge and support that?
Paradigm shift!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thesoulremains.com/