We recently connected with Suzanne Aberg and have shared our conversation below.

Suzanne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

On a random summer day in 2021 I received an email that I initially shrugged off as fake. “Would you be interested in a collaboration with Whole Foods Market”. My reaction was that this couldn’t be for real – I am a tiny pottery – had to be a mistake. I studied the email, researched the sender and wanted to believe it was actually legit, and it was! A new store was opening in my area and they wanted to offer beautiful gifts from a local artist. This was so thrilling for me – it felt like my tiny operation was being showcased on the world stage. I wanted this so dearly to be a success and worked diligently with them over the coming weeks to accurately provide the massive amounts of background paperwork, releases, product info, bar codes, pricing structures and build inventory to deliver. It was so exciting for me to have such unexpected recognition and admiration for my work and felt as though my spec of a business had blossomed to something gigantic. I was in awe to see what felt like my name up in lights at the front of their new store with a gorgeous display of my items. I was quickly asked to deliver additional product to a Boston area location as well as my hometown store.
This was a wonderful boost to my small business and mostly my ego, increasing my confidence as an artisan. Over a few months’ time the orders reduced and eventually ended, but the thrill of the experience will remain etched in my heart.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Suzanne Aberg owner and founder of MudJoy Pottery. MudJoy Pottery was established in 2014, fulfilling a dream of many years. I first learned my craft as a high school and later refined my skills as a member of a local pottery cooperative over 30 years ago. My passion was on hold while I raised our family and rekindled it establishing MudJoy Pottery as our kids were college students. My husband encouraged and supported my reacquaintance with clay as he returned one day with an old school potter’s wheel that was brought to our local “put and take”. He set up a basement workshop and studio; next we found a like new kiln on Craig’s List and from there had all the core items needed to make and sell beautiful pottery. I am inspired by nature and incorporate it using leaves and shells into the designs and using landscape and seascape colors into glaze styles. I also repurpose vintage materials to create interesting and beautiful texture patterns in the clay. I make functional ware designed for everyday use and strive to offer a creative style that differentiates my work from more traditional pottery. I also tend to blindly follow my inspiration wherever it may lead me, which can make for a diverse set of forms and style offerings. I have received various awards and recognition for my artisanship which propels me to continue making work and selling it at area Art Markets. I registered MudJoy Pottery as a tradename in 2020 to protect my brand as it was becoming more and more falsely represented; this was an important step for me to take as I recognized that I took my business and my brand very seriously. I look forward to continuing to grow as an artist and as a business and watching my journey unfold.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me what is most rewarding is to go where my inspiration takes me and then get the loving feedback from admirers and customers. People ask me how I thought of something or how I had a particular idea and I usually really just don’t know where it came from – things pop into my head and I execute and refine the ideas. What I love most is hearing people tell me how beautiful they think my work is, how different they think it is and sometimes further validating the remarks by a sale. I truly do what I do for the love and sharing the work…and possibly bringing some joy to someone’s table or morning coffee.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I find that it is hard for non-creatives to understand that I don’t generally like to take orders for my work. More orders, means more business, but it also makes something joyful feel like work. Also, I think about someone seeing a particular item and not being able to reproduce it again in the same way, or create a new item to a customer’s mental model. Also there are some things I am just not interested in making – they are uninspiring for me (at the time) to make.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mudjoy-pottery.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mudjoypottery/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MudJoyPottery/