We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Ogden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I fell in love with clay while taking courses in ceramics at CCSF. I saw the joy that my handmade creations brought friends and family and wanted to spread that enjoyment further. As a result, SMO (an acronym for Sarah Michelle Ogden) was started in 2017 from an apartment building in San Francisco’s Lower Haight. In August 2021 I moved into a studio space that I built into my dream ceramic studio and in August 2022 I started making ceramics full-time!

Sarah, 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?

I’ve always been interested in creative work. As a child, I took oil painting classes, loved to go to paint your own ceramic stores, and always wanted to be doing something with my hands. While my sister was whisked off to sports games, I was taken to art museums. Throughout my life thus far, I’ve always had creative hobbies but never thought it could be my job. After being in the corporate world for many years I decided to get back to the things I love and signed up for a ceramic course. It all changed from there, now I am making ceramics full-time! I mostly focus on ceramics but sometimes dable in other art forms like designing hats and stickers or having fun making fake cake sculptures.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are many rewarding aspects to being an artist. One aspect is seeing the joy on customers’ faces when they see my work. When people come up to me and say they’ve seen my work out in the world or they say “Oh my gosh this is so cute, I love it”, it makes all the hard work worth it.

Another rewarding aspect is being a part of the creative community, especially here in the Bay Area. Throughout the years, I have met so many talented artists. Everyone is so welcoming and helpful. They are inspirations, consultants, supporters, collaborators, and most importantly friends. Some people believe you have to be guarded as a small business/creative owner but I’ve learned there is enough business for everyone and sharing your tips and resources can be helpful to people just starting out.

Having your own business, and being in your own studio can be lonely sometimes. Going out and meeting people in the world (customers and other artists) is something that brings me great joy and I’ll always be grateful for everyone’s support.

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.

I think the main thing people have to understand is why handmade goods cost so much money, specifically ceramics. People’s ideas of goods and services are skewed because of places like Amazon, everyone thinks things should be cheap and should ship on demand but that’s not realistic for a small business.

Handmade goods are just that, handmade. they are not mass-produced. Every single item a ceramic artist makes is made by them, thrown, carved, painted, glazed, etc. It’s all done by that artist’s hands. Specifically for me, I am a one-woman show so if I am sick or inundated with orders, I can only make so much at a time.

As for the cost, ceramics take a lot of time and space. 85% of my overhead is my studio rent, it’s not cheap to have a studio in San Francisco. I work hard to produce as much as a can as fast as I can but ceramics also takes time. You can’t rush the process or else you get things blowing up in your kiln! You have to wait for things to dry, you have to fire your pieces twice in your kiln and you have to spend time glazing. To me that’s what makes handmade goods so special, you can see a person’s touch in their work and each piece is one of a kind.

Contact Info:

• Website: smoceramics.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smoceramics/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smoceramics
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/smoceramics/

Image Credits
Headshot by Christine Hanks (@callme_christine)