Meet Shana Ostrowiecki

Shana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Growing up in LA, I was surrounded by passionate and talented people including my parents. My creative journey started from a young age. I remember making my first dress in a sewing class when I was six and my friends and I would host arts and craft parties throughout grade school. My artist mother taught drawing classes in our backyard and my antique collector father covered our house in bizarre art (think Ren & Stimpy cels, a 6 foot tall personified french fry sculpture, and vintage medical displays).

In their early 30’s, my parents designed fabric and created clothing for their fashion company, Bock. Lucky for me I grew up with an artistic family and my parents encouraged me to be imaginative and pursue my creative passions. Teaching myself Photoshop at age 15, I started a business selling colorful animated Livejournal layouts and that same year I learned how to crochet. I sold hats and scarves to teachers and students.

After high school I enrolled in college, majoring in art and working towards a BFA in Fibers at ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. It was a sculpture class that sparked an immediate obsession with 3D forms. This prompted me to take courses in ceramics and woodwork, along with floor loom weaving, knotting, basketry, fabric manipulation, hand dyeing, and more. These different courses facilitated my exploration of various practices and mediums in ways I couldn’t conceptualize before.

After college I reacquainted myself with clay. Soon after moving to Long Beach in 2014 I joined the local community ceramics studio, run by Anita Sinclair. As a lifelong mixed media artist, the materials I use change from series to series and this studio time reignited my passion for creating organic sculptures. I am currently working on a series that incorporates biomorphic ceramic vessels and organic forms with textile elements and am in the process of preparing for a Women in Ceramics art exhibition while filling commission orders and pursuing more collaborations.

Since my move to Long Beach I’ve made colorful hand-dyed beach blankets for the local non-profit Long Beach Cleanup, created cartoony stuffed animals for Element Skateboards, sold product at nearby pop-up shops, and have showcased my work with Long Beach Arts and Arizona State University’s Vault Gallery.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, but I find I work best when there’s a challenge involved. It forces me to be imaginative with solutions and can lead to something better than I expected.

I took a hiatus from visual art for a short period to explore other creative outlets like dancing, acting, writing, and stand-up comedy. When I tried to go back to studio art, I found it difficult to find my familiar flow. However, in the long-run I realized that a hiatus brought clarity and I am more focused now than ever.

My current dilemma is a lack of physical creative space. I work in my breakfast nook and I transport my works in progress to the studio to be fired. As my collection of art and projects grow, my workspace decreases. While I enjoy the coziness of the nook and the convenience of being right next to the refrigerator, it’s become more of an obstacle to not regularly knock over glazes.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I play on the dichotomy of repulsion and attraction by creating biomorphic sculptures with fleshly characteristics and organic, flowing forms with tactile fiber elements. All of my ceramic sculptures start as pinch pots and slabs. I use a variety of mediums for the surface design: glaze, paint, resin, pigment, wool yarn, roving, and more. The creative process changes from piece to piece.

Sometimes I work completely intuitively by grabbing a chunk of clay, squishing my thumbs into it until there’s a resemblance of a shape, and letting the form tell me what it wants to become. From there I will either repetitively smooth it out or play on its imperfections by embellishing them.

Other times I am more methodical and will start with a visit to a library to look at medical surgical books and vintage craft books or watch nature documentaries. Pages and pages of sketches will follow, test samples are made, measurements are done, armatures are constructed, and the form is then brought to realization.

Who else deserves credit – have you had mentors, supporters, cheerleaders, advocates, clients or teammates that have played a big role in your success or the success of the business? If so – who are they and what role did they plan / how did they help.
I’m lucky to receive endless support from my partner who emboldens me to be myself and make work that I’m proud of, my family who have always encouraged me to be creative and curious, my ceramic teacher Anita Sinclair who is always there with an answer for every question I ask, and my clients who help further my art and fuel my passion.