Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Carlson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I remember falling in love with ceramics in elementary school when the art teacher would roll her cart into the classroom and we would handbuild at our desks, and I threw on a pottery wheel for the first time when I was seven at a summer art camp. In high school, I took a ceramics class at the local city college and decided it was what I wanted to major in at college, however, my family wasn’t too keen on the idea. I went to USC and studied International Relations and Environmental Studies and took a ceramics class when I could fit it into my packed schedule. Growing up in Santa Barbara, I’d been passionate about the environment from a very young age and going to college in South Central LA opened my eyes to what a big role food plays in that at the intersection of both healing our earth and our communities. I saw how in this over-policed, systemically oppressed, primarily BIPOC community, there was almost no access to fresh, affordable, organic food – fast food and convenience stores exclusively for miles.
I worked at USC’s urban farm and with the incredible organization, Community Services Unlimited, helping to educate and serve healthy affordable food in South LA. My mom was a public health nutrition educator for the majority of my upbringing so this passion for community food health runs in my blood. As I continued to learn more about the hardships of our land and vulnerable populations all over the world, I felt the need to serve so deeply, to sacrifice some part of me to make up for the privilege I’d been gifted in this life. I’m a white, cisgender woman, small able-bodied, (straight-passing) queer, middle class, neurotypical, college-educated, a US citizen, and have always had access to housing.
So, along with strong familial pressure, I stayed at USC to earn a Master’s of Accounting in order to offer a specific administrative skill to a nonprofit. Emotionally, those two years – earning the Master’s and working at a big four accounting firm for the year after – were extreme and challenging. I ended up falling into severe depression and had to figure out how create a new life for myself. This time, solely guided by my own heart – ceramics, arts education, food justice.
I started volunteering in the ceramics studio at beloved organization, Inner City Arts, working nights at a new food justice-focused restaurant, and joined a ceramics studio just down the street. When I surrendered and placed faith in my inner guidance, things just started to fall into place.
At first, my ceramics practice was purely therapeutic, to tend and mend, to offer life and joy, to viscerally ground and reconnect to the earth. I first sold my pots at a yard sale with my friends – I sold out of almost everything and I met my now partner that day when he bought one of my bowls. I continued making and sharing work at markets and eventually left my job as an operations manager at a children’s museum/arts education nonprofit to move up to Northern California to be a wood fired ceramic artist-in-residence at Cobb Mountain Art and Ecology Project.
I returned to LA just before COVID, set up a home studio, and now fire my work at the pottery studio in Cypress Park. I started selling my work online through my website and virtual markets. As restaurants and shops started opening up this summer, I now offer my work wholesale and my mugs can be found at my favorite restaurant in LA, Amara Kitchen, as well my candleholders and more in Northern CA, NY, MT, CO, and Canada. I’ll also be sharing my work at Maker’s Market LA at Jewel this fall.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A big struggle is feeling worthy of making art as someone with my privilege. It felt selfish for so long and that was my main block. Deepening my connection to my purpose helped me realize that in order to best be of service, I need to live aligned with my Truth – to offer beauty and love. My daily spiritual practice helps keep me devoted to this path and to feel more confident and worthy of sharing things that I make. This practice consists of connecting to the earth, meditation, writing, yoga, running, dance, kundalini, chanting, and breathwork. Immense gratitude for my teachers, friends, family, and community for all of their unwavering support.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I make earth-centered, functional ceramics – mugs, candle holders, planters, vases, bowls, plates, lanterns. Work is glazed and unglazed, all high fired to cone ten gas reduction so glazed work is food, dishwasher, and microwave safe. By exploring both the quiet hues of California’s natural landscape and spiritual lineages of cosmic consciousness, my intention is for the objects of daily routine to be elevated to an element of sacred ritual – transforming the mundane into the divine. With a background in and dedication to nonprofit service, a portion of sales is donated to intersectional environmental justice organizations helping to dismantle oppressive systems.
I feel rich, cared for, and more grounded with the simple, intimate experience of lips to earth when I sip tea out of a handmade mug in the morning – more likely to nourish my body with healthy food and eat intentionally when I have something beautiful to hold. I want to offer this experience to everyone regardless of whether they can afford a handmade ceramic object from a nice gift shop. Currently brewing a plan as to how to make this happen… stay tuned! Until then, if anyone sees an object they’d like and it’s not financially accessible, please send me a DM or email and we can make it happen. ~
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
My discipline and devotion to being of service to humanity and the earth by staying connected to offering beauty and love. And surrendering – forever being in faith and trust.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://saracarlson.studio
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saracarlson.studio/
Image Credits:
Skylar Hughes
