Meet Sheryl Of Quotentials
You can visit her shop here:
How many years have you been an artist?
I'm only recently becoming a little more comfortable with calling myself an artist, but I have always been creative. As a small child, I remember collecting shells from my neighbor's driveway, making something of them, and selling them back to her. I guess that makes me an entrepreneur, too!
How many years have you worked with glass?
When I retired after 29 years of teaching six years ago, I began a small decorative and mural painting business. I only began working with fused glass less than 2 years ago after taking a 2 hour seminar on what it was. The lady who taught the seminar was actually just trying to sell kilns, and it worked. I was hooked!
What triggers ideas for new projects?
So many things trigger ideas. Sometimes, a color combination I see in a store window or in a magazine will do it. Often a phrase or quotation will trigger something. That's actually how my business name came about. Quotentials is a combination of the words "quotation" and "potential."
When do ideas come to you? How often?
As I'm sure it is with most creative people, the ideas come faster than I can put them in motion. Because I am so affected by words, my ideas often come when I am reading. I collect quotation books, and can read them for hours. At other times, an idea may come to me when I am looking at beautiful fabrics or photographs. I'd say they come all the time. Right now I am working on an idea that came to me in the middle of a dance lesson, a set of sushi plates that interpret 4 ballroom dances: waltz, rumba, tango, and cha-cha.
What percentage of the day do you think about or work on your art?
I spend most of my day thinking about it. I think it drives my family crazy. I try to sit down and relax, and the first thing you know, I'm up and at it again.
Do you create daily?
Unless I am engaged in something that keeps me from it, I have to create something everyday, or at least experiment with a new technique. Even on the experimenting days, I create. Unfortunately, often what I create is a MESS! But, that's what makes the successes so rewarding. What could be better than finishing a day having created something fantastic?!
How important is it for you to create art?
This is a topic one of my good friends and I have talked about. She is ultra organized and efficient. I admire her structure and efficiency, and I hope she admires my ability to live in a chaotic environment. Today was a day for cleaning up my "studio." I told her I was going to do it her way...take everything out, get rid of everything I didn't need, and put everything away in just the right place. Of course, you know what happened! I took it all out, and the ideas started coming...Now the mess is bigger than it was. Obviously, it's REAL important to me!
Do you feel that choosing the artist’s life has been a sacrifice? Have you given up certain luxuries?
As a teacher, I could be creative and encourage creativity in others in a fairly comfortable career. I didn't have to sacrifice much except time. And, now that I am retired, I have the opportunity to indulge my creative urges without having to worry about putting food on the table. From watching my 2 sons, who are also creative, try to make a living in creative fields, I see that my life has been blessed. I have had the best of both worlds.
Describe your studio.
My studio is spread out all over the place. The kiln and wet tools are in the garage, my cutting and assembly area is the breakfast room, and my Etsy stock is spread out all over the dining room. Thank goodness, my husband doesn't mind eating on TV trays.
Tell me something about you.
In addition to glasswork, I have a passion for ballroom dancing and for spending time at the beach. My husband and I began ballroom dancing not long after I began fusing glass. We are both trained musicians, and that work and practice ethic has followed us into dance. We have learned enough now that we no longer have room to practice here at home, so we get up really early every morning and go to the local mall to practice. At first the mall walkers were a bit confused. For music, we take an IPod. He wears the attached headphones, and I wear the bluetooth ones. We do look pretty funny. But, I'm a brave soul. As for the beach, we recently lost our perfect little beach cottage to Hurricane Ike, so I can't indulge that one as much right now, but I eagerly look forward to the day we can begin rebuilding and creating new memories.
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