We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Wells Rolland a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Going from Idea to Execution

The Village Potters Clay Center, is a thriving business in the River Arts District of Asheville NC and comprises a collective of 7 resident professional artists, an extensive teaching program with 3 dedicated teaching studios, a clay supply company and a retail gallery with 4 showrooms. Since our small beginnings in 2011, we have grown from 5000 square feet into a 14,000 square feet facility.

The idea birthed when I was a full time professional studio potter for over 12 years making pots and successfully selling everything I made to clients, an occasional art show, and in galleries across the United States. I made high end functional and decorative pottery and at that time was hosting ceramic artist workshops and teaching workshops myself annually in my home studio. During this season, I brought in my first studio apprentice. This unique and wonderful relationship with Amy Gelber of Amy Gelber Pottery birthed in me a desire to continue to share what I had gleaned both in ceramic techniques and business in the arts and I had a vision for something bigger.

So, at forty years old, I felt that I was ready for a greater vision for my career and business. I recognized in myself that I was highly creative and skilled, that I had an acumen for business in the arts and I loved to teach and mentor.
I wrote up a business plan for The Village Potters Clay Center and took it to a friend who was also the Director of the Small Business Center, Sharon Donahue, in my county here in Western North Carolina. She was very interested in my plan and gave me wonderful insights into how to adjust my business plan to have a more secure and stable income. Her input is a big part of why we survived the start up, and through several very lean times. My business plan made it possible for the business to grow organically and ultimately thrive.

I began looking for a location and facility with my husband, George. George is a renaissance man who can build and fix anything. We are a power team. We knew whatever we found we would need to do a lot of work to make it functional for our plan. So negotiating a lease with a facility in need of renovations was to our advantage. We did not have any personal money to invest and didn’t want the interest rates of a business loan so we decided to take a big risk and use a loan against our home to make the dream a reality. The search went on for many years as everything was out of our budget.

Timing is everything, and in 2009 when the economy was in trouble and we all experienced the big bank crisis, we thought this could be the time to make a move. We found the perfect 5000 square feet facility in Asheville, NC in the River Arts District. The economy was still working in recovery and we were able to negotiate a lease that worked for us and the owner of the arts building, Riverview Station.

This was when we rolled up our sleeves and the work began. My husband hired one helper, Harry Kelly. He and Harry renovated the facility from top to bottom, built walls, put in lighting, heat and air, and more. It was a daunting task. It took 3 times longer than expected and went three times out of budget. George had a full time job in IT and worked nights, vacations and weekends to make it happen. It took us 10 months to reach our opening date.

While George and Harry were building out our facility, I was meeting every week with a group of four lifelong dear friends who were also professional potters. They were also ready to take a risk and to be part of something bigger than themselves. Only one of these potters didn’t already teach but we were unified in the vision and willing to leave the established comfort of our home studios and give this “great experiment”, as I called it, a go.

We created a collective with a business model I have never seen before or since. George and I hold the lease and own the business, but our other resident artists run their businesses within the greater business and serve in different capacities within the business.

Since the beginning of the business we have grown and changed. Myself and two of the original founders are still with The Village Potters Clay Center today. The early years were very difficult and required many hours of work. We pivoted a lot, evaluating what was working and what was not. The two original founders still here are Lori Theriault, who handles the lion share of our marketing, and Judi Harwood, who teaches wheel and alternative firing. All the resident potters teach in some capacity and mentor our advanced studies students.

We call ourselves a collective because we collectively make The Village Potters Clay Center what it is. Each resident gives according to their gift and what we all have in common is our love for all things clay and our love for others, specifically teaching and mentoring emerging artists.

Sarah, 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 discovered pottery when I was 28 years old. I studied for 2 years at Haywood Community College, learning both the craft and business in the arts. I knew I was drawn to all things creative. I was a musician and had spent time in ballet, acting, songwriting, fiber and stained glass. But, when I touched clay I knew I had found my medium, my path. I was smitten and that passion is still alive in me.

Our whole business is built upon relationships and personal growth. Building community is indeed an abstract concept but in my opinion is really about relationships, openness and generosity. We believe that our mission is greater than any one of us and are so proud of the work we do. We are serving emerging artists in clay, offering beautiful pots for homes, educating others about the importance of handmade, providing quality clay for professional potters, and serving our greater community.

If I were to sum up what we do in our community made up of resident potters, student potters, apprentices and our customers who buy our work, we share dreams. Dream sharing can be many things from what one wants in their creative life, to what someone envisions in their home, to what is the perfect gift. We work with people like ourselves, people who are creative and intentional, people who want connection.

My journey as an artist has been and still is a journey in growth, transformation and self discovery. When we share our dream, we let others in our journey. Sometimes in big ways and sometimes smaller ways.

What I have discovered within me I have purposed to nurture. I am a mentor today because I have had significant mentors in my life. Being teachable is a primary key to personal growth and success and I have been on a life long learning journey.

I have studied almost every area in clay in my 30 years in clay. Currently, I am studying and exploring sculpture. I took a great workshop during covid in a classical study of the human form in motion with Susan Wakeem. Just recently I took a second workshop with Tina Curry, in Animal Sculpture.

The concept of a “brand” has always been a bit foreign to me but if I look at it as a perception rather than a product then I believe we are welcoming, accepting and passionate.

We have several core values that are a compass for us in our relationships and decision making.
Respect
Integrity
Service
Kindness
Excellence

Our core values are implemented in these practical concepts
-People before Pots
-We commit as much to each other’s success as we are our own.
-We accept everyone as a work in progress, we honor their personal journey and choose grace for growth and change.
-We commit to stay in right relationship with everyone by addressing issues or misunderstandings in the same day and we
commit to ask for and choose forgiveness. No holding grudges or offenses.

What we have been able to create is a safe, inclusive, accepting creative community because of we are intentional and are in wholehearted agreement on our mission and core values.

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

Like so many businesses that faced closure in the Covid pandemic we were faced with a major crisis financially. We had to find a way through this precarious season of exponentially large refunds and a complete loss of income.
We had to close, all of our resident potters could not come into work, and only owners and essential workers could continue to work at the center. I had only two W2 employees at this time, my Director of Operations, Lindsey Mudge, and myself. Lindsey and I went to work.

The group of six resident potters housed their businesses within The Village Potters Clay Center and could not come in. All teaching was shut down and the gallery was closed. So, drawing unemployment was the resident potters only option.

I had a Business Advisory Team that existed before this crisis and I called these SCORE mentors in for help. They reviewed my books, looking at our revenue and cash flow crisis and our expenses. Then they gave us a clear concise strategy. Cut every expense you can, ask for grace in every area you are under contract and look for new streams of income. I remember clearly my mentor looking at our reports and saying “This business is worth saving!”. We went to work following their advice and seeking all the government assistance available to us.

This is where the story gets really exciting. We were just one or two days into the closure and I was sitting in my living room praying early in the morning, very anxious and feeling defeated. I suddenly realized that if I was going to be able to lead my team through this crisis and survive this thing that I could not operate in fear but rather we would have to choose hope. Then I had another thought, I need to be a vessel of hope.

In that moment I saw it, the Vessel of Hope (VOH) Initiative was born. I would make 500 vessels of hope. We are a “for profit” business so asking for money has not been a part of our paradigm. I knew we needed 14,000 dollars a month just to stay open.

I decided to make 500 Vessels of Hope, sharing my making process and my message of choosing to be a vessel of hope on social media and direct email. I would sell each vessel for $100.00. If this was successful we could generate the funds we needed to operate for 3 months.

I went to work. I decided on a creative boundary for myself. I would make 500 vessels, each one unique and use 2.5 lbs. of clay and all the design elements of the vessel had to happen while the clay was on the wheel. I didn’t know if this was possible but I felt a blessing on it.

Every person that this initiative spoke to was a vessel of hope to me and my team. Yes, we were all in this same crisis together, our circumstances were unique and our journey through the crisis would be unique too. What we had in common was we all decided to choose hope.

Lindsey, my DOA, went to work creating an email campaign. Lori Theriault worked from home partnering in the project. I went to work making 500 vessels. Lindsey and Lori helped me livestream each week on social media platforms where I demonstrated making 2-3 of the unique vessels and sharing the message of hope. People around the country and the world responded with words of encouragement and purchasing a vessel of hope. No one knew which of the 500 vessels they would receive, including us. We packaged the vessels to ship and then created shipping labels and stuck them randomly on a box. We did have people purchase more than one and then this was a bit more challenging. We sold all the vessels. When the residents returned several months later I had made 500 vessels in about 8 weeks, all purchased. We had days set up for pick up and we had a big production shipping area.

There were still people asking for Vessels of Hope, so when my team returned to work months later they picked up the torch and made 150 more. When the campaign was over we had made 650 Vessels of Hope and raised $86,000. We had people that just sent us financial gifts and that is included in the total.

We all learned in that crisis that we were loved, valued, we shared common values with so many people and our creative community was a vital part of our greater community at home and afar. Our community has grown exponentially. We still experience the fruit of that season and many wonderful new teaching venues have been birthed from that season.

I now have a dedicated multimedia studio Study from Afar teaching Program where I teach live online classes and workshops. I am still a Vessel of Hope!

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

Unlearning Unlearning is so much more difficult than learning.

When we first opened, as I said, I was partnering with friends. I believed I could lead us in unity and fairness. Anytime you get a group of people together with a singleness in purpose you quickly learn every person has a unique perspective. Everyone has different tolerances for risk, personal relationships with money and flexibility to change.

We were all very different. Our group is a collective where everyone has a voice and everyone’s view point really matters, but I held and still hold the responsibility of the final decision.

I made some bad business decisions in the first 2 to 3 years trying to make everyone happy and be fair. I really thought that fairness could lead my decision making. However, more and more I found myself compromising good business decisions in the desire for fairness.

When I had the revelation that the best business decision was in the best interest of all of us I no longer let fairness be a primary factor. I had to unlearn the idea that I could always be fair. I explained to the group my thinking and why I had discovered it was a mistake. Each person understood because we all experienced together and I explained that now I would use wisdom as my guide. If it is wise for the business and all of us then fairness will have to acquiesce. Not allowing fairness but wisdom drive our business decisions has made us all stronger. Over time we all could see it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thevillagepotters.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevillagepotters/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVillagePottersClayCenter
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBktWQxjhGqO6GHRqZzzfhQ
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/sarahwellsrolland/ https://www.facebook.com/SarahWellsRollandCeramicArt

Image Credits
All images are taken by me, Sarah Wells Rolland except the images of Soda Fired Pots and the Trio Vessels of Hope on the gradient grey background and they were taken by Tim Barnwell of Barnwell Photograpy.