We recently connected with Susan Gregory and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Susan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Necessity breeds invention. Additionally, it warms appetite for risk. In the spring of 2019, we lost our group studio to market forces in the booming real estate market of our city. Working in ceramics requires relatively expensive equipment and space. Because of that, sharing in a studio with other clay artists is mutually beneficial and I have worked in several shared studios throughout my career between South Carolina, Colorado and California. Here in Charleston, SC, I founded with four others, cone 10 studios, in 2005. That studio had a sweet run until 2019 when a planned development caused us to lose our building.

Knowing our coming fate, my cone 10 studios partners and I had searched for several years for another building alternative. We eventually gave up on that exhaustive search and I realized my options were limited and honestly bleak. Going without work space wasn’t an option, though, if I wanted to keep momentum for my retail stockists and design clients. I found myself open to conversations that I might have discounted before reaching this moment.

As we were shutting our studio doors, I found myself on my own, with no partners to share in the search or financial responsibilities. This made things even less comfortable and unnerving as I had leaned on their teamwork and wisdom over the years. It was at this point a building was presented to me by a long-time neighbor and friend who also happened to be a contractor. She also had proven to be a visionary when it came to seeing neglected buildings as diamonds in the rough. She took me to a worn out former auto shop and warehouse in a scrappy but quiet residential neighborhood not far from where I had been working with cone 10 studios.

When I walked into the building for the first time, it was brimming with stuff stored by the current owner, a re-upholstery business. Stacked Tetris-style were tired sofas and chairs amidst cars and a boat. We stepped over a few rat carcasses as we surveyed the possibilities. A woman living across the street came over and asked to take a look inside with us. She had been living there most of her life but had only seen the exterior, ‘eye-sore’ of a building. Her curiosity and friendliness warmed my perception and made the situation seem immediately more positive.

My work as an artist has not only been in ceramics but also in mixed media,encaustic painting. I hoped in whatever space I embarked on creating I would be able to house not only myself in both media, but also fellow artists that spanned the gamut in materials. The open floor plan, yet slight separation with a partial wall, lended itself to this prospect and with hesitation, I explored the idea further with my friend. I knew her other projects and we had even previously collaborated in making a public art piece. Trusting her helped me lean into this risk. She would be my landlord but also my collaborator again, as she had art training and a dream to host an arts community. Studio Union was born as a concept on the edge of the Union Heights neighborhood in the neck of the Charleston peninsula.

The initial time ahead was challenging. My plan was to break the building up into 10 spaces, 6 for ceramics and 4 for mixed media. Several artists joined me from the get-go; former members of cone 10 studios, developed students and friends new and old in the community. We were a tight crew who lived with limited resources in the building while it was being renovated. Every new element became a triumph: sink, bathroom, climate control.

Beyond our building goals, we had to introduce ourselves to the neighborhood being outsiders among families who had lived door to door for generations. We presented at community meetings. We shared our project plans with area leaders and worked with our councilman and the city to redefine zoning for ‘Art Studios’. They were considered ‘Industrial’ at the time which would have been intrusive to our surrounding blocks. We had to explain what artists’ studios actually were and finally got the zoning for us and future creative hives in the city as ‘Neighborhood Office’. It was way more effort than we anticipated when we envisioned our art community. But as each challenge came forward, I realized I had no choice but to move through it and get to the other side.

That perseverance was really tested as we rolled into 2020. Having finally achieved approval from the city, Covid-19 emerged as a world event. How could I promote a space to work alongside other creative people when we were being asked to stay home and separate from each other? We pondered shifting into a storage business, possibly for boats, just so that we could make the lease work.

Our core crew still had orders and an inherent need to create. Following CDC guidelines and masking up, the large open warehouse allowed us to feel like we might be ok. Others began to join us all as we respected each others’ safety and abided by stringent house rules. Beyond a studio space for us, it became a happy place to go outside of the house. Day to day, we gathered for friendship and a change of environment, even beyond the mission to make.

Through the virus and beyond, our Studio Union resident artist community grew, hosting ceramicists in pottery and sculpture as well as painters, photographers and other designers. Our building expanded and continues to do so. We forged a sweet relationship with our neighborhood through ‘yard parties’ that allowed us to host and have fellowship in the safety of outdoors. The ‘eye-sore’ of a warehouse now hosts events where children get to roam and play among art studios while adults chat over chips and grilled hot dogs on the lawn.

We currently have a group of artists whom I respect, admire and enjoy watching their work develop and evolve. There is even a waiting list to join us and we plan to expand this year with more space for artists to work and exhibit. It took faith and work ethic to get here, but also being willing to take a risk. Being solo with limited resources, it was a lot to commit to the responsibility of holding this lease and concocting a community to keep it financially afloat, all while maintaining my own art practice. I had experience in seeing this shared studio model work, though, as well as demand research in the real estate market, a network of artist colleagues and trust in my collaborator and landlord. Plus, there was a lack of other options that made the leap seem like really the only way forward. I am beyond grateful that it all came together and I have years in Studio Union to create and be inspired.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in Charleston, SC. I am also the founding owner of Studio Union, a professional art space community. Many days, I can be found making functional tableware in ceramics for shops, restaurants and hotels locally and nationally. I’ve been working in clay for over 20 years and have a B.F.A. in Painting and Ceramics from Western Carolina University set in the mountains of North Carolina. I also create and exhibit ceramic sculpture and contemporary, mixed media painting in encaustic. Beyond experience and education, I believe a strength in my work is in the cross-pollination between media.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Local governments, especially in communities that herald having strong arts, need to foster art space as the market becomes increasingly prohibitive. That’ could happen through funding and grants, partnering with private developers and incentivizing rents of existing space. Citizens and art enthusiasts can attend events in their community and really, even better, buy art. No matter the budget, collecting large or small from established or emerging local makers and artists is the best way to help them continue to create.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Despite the challenges, I am grateful to see the world as an artist. My days are full of observations that might not catch another’s eye. I enjoy watching the way the light shifts across the landscape or an unintended composition on the street. I also feel we have empathy towards the human experience that connects us in unconventional ways. I am constantly seeing my surroundings as artful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.susangregoryart.com
• Instagram: @susancgregory and @studiounion_chs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ceramicscg/ and https://www.facebook.com/studiounion.chs/
• Twitter: @susancgregory

Image Credits
Sarah Elaine Photography did the large shot of the current building, the image of the sculptural ceramic vessel as well as the group holiday photo.