Today we’d like to introduce you to Mattie Steinberg.
Hi Mattie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Missoula, Montana, where my love for art flourished at a young age. I have spent my entire life experimenting with different mediums and learning how to express and share myself with the world through the things I make. My grandma was my first teacher- she patiently taught me how to draw, write, paint, sew, and quietly observe. Her influence is my greatest inspiration, along with my love for the natural world. Growing up in the outdoors in Montana instilled a respect and love for nature that follows me everywhere and is intertwined with my love for art. My style embraces femininity and whimsicality, and reflects the independent exploration that accompanies a mostly self-taught, non-traditional background in art.
At 20, I moved to San Francisco, with no plans except to get out of my hometown and learn how to make art that felt true to me again. I fell in love with California that year. I spent so much time alone and sad and writing poems and drawing the things around me, and it brought me back to myself. I began experimenting with ceramics in 2022, and immediately appreciated the intricacies and unpredictability of the art form.
I moved to Brooklyn for a year when my partner got a job at a music studio there, and that’s where I began studying ceramics on my own more seriously. Before working with ceramics, I mostly focused on drawing and illustration, painting, and making beaded jewelry. While I loved what I was making, it wasn’t selling. I was tired of trying to cram in time for creating around another full time job, and realized that I needed to figure out how to go full-time, ASAP. Working with ceramics made this possible for me- I fell completely in love with underglaze painting, and through social media, many other people fell in love with my work too. Since gaining a (relatively) small but passionate following on Instagram, I’ve been able to transition into making art full time, and it’s been so incredibly freeing!
I moved to Los Angeles at the start of 2025, and plan on staying here for a long while. I’ve never felt so welcomed and accepted somewhere new, and am so inspired by the amount of amazing ceramic work that’s made in this beautiful city.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s been a bumpy road! My art journey has been filled with a lot of self-doubt and financial hurdles and boundaries.
Out of highschool, I planned to get my BFA in visual arts, but Covid hit my freshman year and drastically skewed my plans for my education. After two years of undergrad (mostly online), I realized that I had only stepped foot on my college campus a handful of times and wasn’t learning nearly as much as I hoped I would be. I was working 40 hours a week to barely afford my tuition, was tired all the time, and had completely stopped making art for fun, simply because I didn’t have the time or energy. Once I realized how much I was pouring into my schooling, and how little I was getting out of it, I made the decision to drop out. This was a huge deal for me, as I used to consider myself to be a very academically driven person. It was one of those moments that really changed my perspective on myself, and who I am outside of my external achievements. I was scared to pursue art as a career to begin with, and after dropping out, was extra worried that nobody would take me seriously without the college education I had dreamed of and worked toward for so long.
I spent way too much time feeling jealous of people my age that don’t have to worry about and manage their own finances. I feel like that’s really common in the arts- for people to be able to do what they do because they have the money to do it, right from the start. This envy held me back for awhile, until I finally accepted that it’s unfair, and that’s that, and there’s nothing I can do about it except play to my strengths and keep trying really, really hard. To be full time is a huge privilege, and it took me a long time and lots of dedication and self-discipline to get where I am now. I still struggle a lot with financial barriers, because it defines a lot of the parameters on what I can and can’t do. For instance, I’ve been dying to make some larger pieces, including big vases and sculptures, but I am limited to what I can afford to store and fire in a kiln, and most of the time, this means I have to adjust my sights and work on a smaller scale.
Last year, I pushed myself too hard and developed carpal tunnel in both hands, and cubital tunnel in both elbows. This was and remains to be a big struggle of mine. It’s a fine balance between working enough to support myself, and working too much and harming myself instead. I do a lot of physical therapy exercises and yoga to help manage the pain.
Another struggle in my art journey has been figuring out where to find community and build my life. As a young adult, I’ve lived in San Francisco, Brooklyn, Montana and now Los Angeles. As someone with a non-traditional education route, I’ve found it hard to find and connect with other people my age who are just as dedicated to their creative practice as I am. I often feel unsure on what to do or where to go next, and struggle a lot with imposter syndrome. It’s been tough and expensive and honestly quite lonely moving around so much, but I feel really grateful to be here in LA now. I’ve met so many smart, genuine, hardworking, creative (the list goes on) people here, and already feel so at home in a place that’s still new to me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I work in a large variety of mediums– drawing, painting, sewing, jewelry, ceramics, and photography are my favorites. However, I am currently focused primarily on ceramics and jewelry– mostly small dishes and charms. I’m constantly experimenting with new forms. I hand form and hand paint every piece that I make, and each is completely one of a kind.
I specialize in fine detail illustration and most often paint using a classic delft blue underglaze color. I think right now, I’m known for my modern take on this traditional pottery style, and my most popular designs are ones featuring cats, swans, rabbits and strawberries. I have also gotten a lot of interest in custom pieces that I’ve made. I occasionally open commissions for ceramic charm jewelry, and my most popular requests are for pet portraits. I love painting cats so these are usually pretty fun for me to make, and I think they are so impressive to others due to the high level of detail on such a small piece. I think this is what sets me apart most– I get questions all the time from other artists and ceramicists, asking what the trick is to painting so small with underglaze. I always say that unfortunately, there is no trick. I wish there was! My best advice is a tiny brush, a magnifying class, and an insane amount of patience. And if you’re anything like me, you may develop carpal tunnel as a result….
I am most proud of my versatility as an artist! My ceramic work is my most developed, practiced, and shared art form at this time, however I hope to be able to spend more time on other mediums such as sewing and quilting over the next year. I love seeing the ways in which my style simultaneously changes and remains consistent from medium to medium. I make a lot of art “behind the scenes” that I don’t post online or show to anyone, and I’d love to get to a point eventually where I share more of this. I do think there’s value in privacy though, and think a lot of my best work comes from years of sitting quietly on a special idea.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
There’s no “right” way to do anything! Work with what you have and what you’re given. Look to others for both inspiration and guidance when you’re feeling lost, but don’t get wrapped up in the world of comparison. Progress takes time and is not linear,– while it can be frustrating not to see yourself, your style, or your business improving from one day to the next, remember that it takes a while and the best thing you can do for yourself is to keep trying. I often repeat to myself: “stay genuine, earnest, curious and kind.” I feel like if you do that, you’ll figure it out.
Something I wish I knew earlier on is that marketing yourself and your work is not optional if you want to make a career out of your art. Especially if you’re like me, and you don’t have the network of support and mentorship that going to art school can provide you with. You need to learn how to take pictures of your work, how to talk with people about it, and get it out there for people to see. This has been one of the most difficult areas for me, but I’ve found that once you find methods that work for you, you can use them again and again like a formula.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mattiejaneart.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mattiejaneart
Image Credits
All photos taken by Mattie Steinberg
