We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shawni Darling. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shawni below.
Shawni, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I think I’ve always leaned toward the creative, though in my mind, I wasn’t artistic, and I never really considered an artistic path for myself. Artistic is painters, people who draw, sculptors, those were artists. I was a DIYer or a crafter, but I was always fascinated with watching people create and it made my hands itch to create something, but it wasn’t until 2003 that I found an outlet for that itch. I was a stay-at-home mom of 2 kids at the time, and my husband told me I had to get out of the house, that I needed a break. So, I looked up some adult ed classes and the farm down the way from us was offering weaving. I was stoked, weaving was something I’d been fascinated with for years. So, I signed up for that and stained glass. About two years after that I made my Etsy shop, Three Fates Fiber and started doing 1 or 2 craft shows. That was my first steps into making it a possible career. However, life often gets in the way and sadly it became a side hobby that often fell to the wayside. That dream and taste of making it a career was always niggling in my heart and head. Fast forward a few years and we moved from Maine to Texas. My 2 jobs I got in Texas were art studios, a do it yourself mosaic and a paint your own pottery. That niggling and desire got bigger, so I restarted my Etsy added my weaving and the glass work that I’d started doing. When covid killed my job with the PYOP studio, I knew I had reached a crossroads. Do I take another job, or do I give my ART, my crafting a shot, I knew I didn’t want to regret So I rebranded since I didn’t do just weaving anymore and I wanted a fresh start. Darling Creative Works was born. I now have a studio outside the home, do shows, sell online, and am hoping to get into some stores/boutiques. I’m hoping to add classes for beginners as well as for appointments if someone wants to just make something, I also have a small retail space in my studio to showcase my art.
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
A little about me, personally. I enjoy reading, gaming, road trips with my husband and being in my studio. We have 3 kids, though they’re now adults, which I think plays a part in the restarting of my handmade business, it’s a new chapter I can now focus on. How I got started in my artistic endeavors was gradual and kind of rolled from one version to another. As I’d said it all originally started with an adult ed class. For example, my glass work started with a stained-glass class, then I worked for a mosaic studio, so that got my interest into mosaics after working there, then I worked at a PYOP studio that also did glass fusion and I fell in love with fused glass. Weaving was something I saw someone do when I was a child. I watched this lady for hours weaving rags into rugs. The sound of the loom thumping, the whisper of the threads, it was awe inspiring to me. These are the two mediums that have held my interest and love for a long time in many iterations of them. I want to bring that love to others. I’m not sure I solve problems per se, I more guild the lily as it were. My hope is that my items will bring a moment of piece, of joy, of a smile. A moment where they see one of my glass garden stakes, the item I created, in their garden or plant pot and smile. Or they order one of my rugs and it ties their room together and it makes it feel just a touch cozier. My weaving creations range from rugs to table runners. My glass works is mostly things like bowls, garden stakes, swizzle sticks, basically home and garden decor, though I’m slowly branching into some mixed media art using my glasswork.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’m not sure if this story would count but here it goes. I’m an introvert who struggles with anxiety and depression. I was losing that battle about 10 years ago. I was on antidepressants, but they were at a dosage that caused me to be numb to everything, the world was grey. I took no joy in my family or the beauty and life around me. My family pulled an intervention. I stopped the antidepressants, as I did it cold turkey (do not do this, seek a doctor), it was 6 months of severe struggle. When I finally was able to see the world around me again, there was a lot of hurt and damage. I had cut everyone out of my life because I felt alone. My marriage was struggling, my kids tiptoed around me, and I didn’t know who I was supposed to be anymore. I made a choice to become better with who I was. Do I still struggle with depression, yes; anxiety, yes; I still struggle with all of it. But in that moment, I chose to accept and love who I was and accept those issues and work on them every day. I wake up every morning and list the good, I choose every morning to look at my blessings and focus on those. Was it instant no, does it always work, no, but I have more good than bad days and my family and I did a lot of healing together. This is a long and winding journey that has many MANY ups and downs, and I chose to find strength and happiness even in the bad times. It’s also a reason so much of my creative outlets are colorful. Color to me brings joy and happiness, I can’t help but smile when I see lots of color. I spent so many years in a cold gray that color reminds me to live and live happily.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I think there are a few stigmas that we need to kiboshed. There’s the “need to get a real job”, “it’s a wasted degree”, “I’m an artist, oh so you don’t REALLY work” all of these are often thought or said. I know my father is a wonderful artist and I asked him one time why he didn’t sell his work. His answer was because it wasn’t a real job, and he had a family to support. That stigma needs to die. Being an artist or creative is a full-time job. We are often our own marketer, tax agent, business manager, secretary, on top of creating. We also need to introduce more art and creative classes back into our school systems. Children need art be it drawing, painting, woodworking, welding, or sculpting. They need to see all aspects of art, as well as classes that teach about small business running including handmade businesses and the business side of being an artist. Taking art out of schools or downplaying it is a tragedy. Art is such a part of our history and an important part; we need to embrace it and support it. Though, I do see society being a little more accepting than they were 5-10 years ago. Especially the smaller local businesses. For example, I see a lot of local coffee shops that will display local artist. A lot of the art shows I do now are with local breweries something unheard of a few years back. I think it builds a mutual symbiotic relationship, that needs to be encouraged. For example, often when I do a show at a brewery my family will come and hang out supporting not just me but the brewery. I think these are a few of the overall important steps in the support of the creative ecosystem.
Contact Info:
- Website: darlingcreativeworks.com
- Instagram: @shawnidarling
- Facebook: @darlingcreativeworks
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shawnidarling
Image Credits
India Darling