Today, I am committing to my new identity that I have been dreaming about since we moved back to Wynyard in 2013. My identity since 1996 has been an Art and History teacher. I have been juggling my pottery career and teaching since 2013. In the spring, I decided to take the leap and try to be an artist full time. Since the end of June when I walked out of the classroom and into the pottery studio I have struggled with my career identity. I worked in my pottery studio of course all summer, and picked up a teaching contract at Carlton Trail College for September and October 2nd back into the studio to try this full time gig.
My studio has been set up in the basement of my 102 year old house and it has morphed over the years into a workable space. October 2nd I looked around and it was a mess, disorganized and not really an "artist's studio"...more of a space that I have created in and then ran back to the teaching identity. With help of my dad and family, I have worked on creating a "pro art studio" (whatever that means) and I have been busy creating a routine within my studio of creating what I love; functional pottery. The picture above is the space around my throwing wheel with inspirations from various artists and adventures in my life. I now have a space that I want to create in, to keep clean and create this dream.
Now that sounds all like rainbows and unicorns, but today I committed to myself to write a blog post and email campaign and own my artist identity. While I have been trying to embrace this identity, I have also made some mistakes within my business. I have been working on owning these mistakes and I have been working on changing my time stress behaviours. My new mantra that I am trying to live up to is "I don't do procrastination" Each day and each step toward truly believing that I am an artist requires me to not procrastinate; to own my mistakes and create.
That all being said, I am busy filling inventory in my highway store, creating items for the November pottery box and filling inventory at a few new locations in Saskatoon. Thank you for being part of this journey of living my dream as an artist. Email studio stories will be coming out every Thursday from now on, as it is scheduled into my schedule now.
Stay Safe
Marea Olafson; an artist!