We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Molly Cooke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Molly below.

Molly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I have been living off of my work full time since 2021. I always had some income coming from my businesses sales, but I would supplement my income by working side jobs such as teaching classes, restoring antique weapons and armor, jewelry repair, contract work as a bench jeweler, and more.

I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art with an emphasis in metals and jewelry from Western Michigan University’s Frostic School of Art. After graduating, I knew that if I didn’t focus on revolving my life around art, that I would become part of the statistic that shows how few art majors actually end up using their degree. So, I sought out internships, apprenticeships, artist residencies, and other odd creative jobs to make sure that I was not only keeping art the main focus of my career, but that I was also working on building my skill sets in my wheelhouse.

Let’s be honest, it has not been easy, and the road has not been a direct route. I am thankful for every opportunity I have had to learn and to share my knowledge with other people. The first big milestone for me was when WMU created a position and hired me on as part time staff in the Metalsmithing department in The Frostic School of Art. I had been a TA for a few years in college, and I had an innate ability to work with and fix the machinery around the studio. I have somewhat of a background in automotive mechanics- that worked as a springboard for me to better understand how to take apart broken equipment and problem solve to repair it. My professor saw me as an asset to our department, and convinced the school to create a position for me as the Metalsmithing area technician. I was not only helping to upkeep the studio, but I was assisting to co-teach the collegiate beginner Metalsmithing courses and I was substitute teaching the intermediate and advanced courses if my professor was out on leave.

Fast forward to now, and you’ll notice that my current body of work is largely comprised of ceramics. Looking back, I was a metalsmithing major but I had taken more ceramics classes and had more credits in ceramics than metals/jewelry by the time I graduated. Even though metals and jewelry was my first love, it should have been obvious to me that my passion was more prominently focused on ceramics. Though I do not regret getting an emphasis in metalsmithing, I do think that I would be farther along in my career as a ceramicist if I had focused more on it during college and less on metalsmithing.

Molly, 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?

My love for art really started as a young kid. I grew up near lakes, and I was always digging for clay. I would sit on the beach shores for hours making small sculptures and bowls. Finally, fast forward to high school, and I was lucky that my school had both a ceramics and jewelry making class. After a few weeks of taking jewelry, I went home and told my mom that when I grew up, I wanted to own a jewelry business. She told me that it was more realistic for me to go to school for English (another passion of mine), because it would be easier for me to get a job. I spent my first year at WMU as an English major, but I just felt like something was really missing. So, I applied for a double major in art at the end of my first year and the rest was history.

Fast forward even farther in time to the present, and I own a fully operational business selling my creations. I still make both ceramics and jewelry and you can find me selling my work online or in person at art fairs, markets, and in my private studio located in Pontiac, Mi.

I use traditional Metalsmithing and ceramic techniques to create every day objects inspired by nature. The same brightly colored, earth toned color palettes bring together both disciplines of my work. It is important to me that each item is slow-made by me, and that it is excellently crafted, functions well, and brings beauty to the user’s life. In my booth you will find ceramic mugs (my best selling item by far), bowls, other functional ware, sculptures, and on the jewelry side you’ll find hand fabricated jewelry made out of silver and gemstones. I often make custom orders ranging from beer steins for mug clubs to engagement rings.

I think that my multifaceted skill set in my wheel house and my sensibility for color in my glaze palette is what sets me off from other artists. I hand mix all of my glazes from scratch in house in my private studio and I am always finding new recipes or tweaking the ones I have to keep my work changing for the better.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

So, when I first started taking classes in Metalsmithing and jewelry at The Frostic School of Art, I was told that I was making “tiny shiny jewelry” and that if that’s what I wanted to make, that I should go to trade school-not art school. This hurt, but I rose to the occasion and I decided that I would mostly ban functional jewelry making in my body of work in the metalsmithing program. I made sculptures and reliquaries, and I was extremely proud of that work.

BUT, when I got out of school, I realized it was going to be extremely hard to make a living as a working artist selling that type of conceptual work. So I fell back into making functional jewelry and pottery. I let myself make things “because they just looked cool” again, and I stopped worrying so much about if there was a story behind the object, or if my object told a story. I’m happy making work that looks beautiful, functions well, and brings beauty to the users daily life. One of my favorite things is seeing a potential customer pick up one of my mugs and smile because they are immediately in love with the way a mug feels in their hand.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have to give a huge amount of credit in the growth of my business to The Rust Belt Market. When covid hit, I had been focusing more on teaching classes than I was on making and selling my own work. Obviously, when the world shut down, so did the BBAC (Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center) where I was teaching. Many of my friends, family, and followers on instagram and FB started reaching out to purchase my work online during the shut down. This gave me the confidence to open up my own little brick and mortar shop in The Rust Belt Market when things started to open up again.

I spent almost 2 years running my little shop in the market, and since it was open every weekend, it taught me to be disciplined in the studio and to manage my time more wisely. I had to make enough work to stock my shelves every weekend when the market is open for business. Though I eventually decided to close my permanent store to pursue new unknown clients at art fairs, I still consider my time there the confidence push I needed to go full time as a working artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: WWW.MollyMayArt.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mollymayart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MollyMayDesigns

Image Credits
Photos of myself and Bradley Cooke holding my monstera and bee mugs are by Chettara T Photography