43: A Certain Kind of Crazy: Ten Years as a Maker with Amy Stringer

In this episode of An Art to It,  I’m joined by applied artist Amy Stringer, who has just celebrated ten years of running her creative business.

Amy’s practice moves between jewellery and ceramics – think structural, architectural, process-led work that blurs the boundaries between wearable pieces and sculptural objects. Starting with body adornment and bold cement forms, she’s now known for both her chain-led silver jewellery and her carved Kurinuki vessels, where jewellery sometimes lives inside the ceramic object.

Together, Elaine and Amy talk about what has changed over the last decade for makers, and what it really takes to sustain a creative career over the long term.

They discuss:

• How the landscape for makers has shifted pre- and post-Covid, from material costs and gallery closures to the boom in workshops

• Why Amy’s teaching practice has become a vital pillar in her business, and what she loves about passing on traditional skills

• Her transition from “fashion-minded” body adornment to process-led jewellery and ceramics, and the tension she’s felt around the word “artist”

• Working with Kurinuki - an ancient Japanese technique of carving clay- and why her ceramic pieces can take months before they even reach the kiln

• Pricing, value and how ceramic audiences respond to labour-intensive work

• The differences between jewellery shows and ceramics shows, and why ceramics seems to invite more play

• The realities of self-employment as a maker: admin, tax, tools, rejection and the business skills that are rarely taught at art school

• How Amy approaches teaching second-career makers who are thinking about going professional

• The role galleries have played in her journey, and why having the confidence to approach them early on made such a difference

• What success looks like for her next ten years - from multidisciplinary exhibitions to sustaining a comfortable, creatively fulfilling life

And, as always, I ask Amy the podcast’s central question:
Is there an art to running a successful creative business?

Amy’s answer is honest, encouraging and very recognisable to anyone trying to make their creative work pay the bills: it takes a particular personality, a lot of internal drive, and a willingness to keep going through self-doubt and imposter syndrome.

You can see Amy’s work @amystringerdesign and at https://www.amystringer.co.uk/