Daily Inspiration: Meet Emma Hern

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Hern.

Hi Emma, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been a practicing potter since the age of 14. It is something I have always loved and treated more as art therapy. When life has thrown me curveballs, pottery has been there to help me relax and cope. Oftentimes, if I have felt off-balance in life, my mom will sweetly ask me, “How long has it been since you’ve been in a pottery studio?”

I’ve been a touring musician in Nashville for about 5 years. Music has been my main focus and career, pottery was always a hobby. I purposefully tried to keep pottery a hobby and never a means for making money. Art can get tricky when it becomes a means to make a living.

Flash forward to March 2020. Live music was put on hold and musicians all around me, myself included, found themselves without a job or a sense of purpose. I was luckily able to receive unemployment, but there was so much turmoil and uncertainty with the worldwide pandemic, the presidency, and the protests from the senseless killings of George Floyd and so many others; I found myself unable to create music for the first time in my life. It’ll forever be the year where I went inward. I didn’t sing, I read. I didn’t pick up a guitar, I walk

ed in nature. It was terrifying if I’m being honest. I thought maybe this was it, maybe I didn’t have anything of significance to say anymore. Everything felt so heavy around me, I didn’t know where to start. My whole life, If you asked me what I did or who I was– I answered, “Musician.” Well, What was I, if I didn’t have that anymore?

Then one day, I decided it was time to rebuild. I started a book called, “The Artists’ Way” with a simple goal in mind. I want to get back to a kind of creativity that would honor my inner child. I felt I had lost the magic that all artists start with- the joy of creating. I stopped thinking about what people would think, I stopped thinking if what I created was good enough. I just created it.

I used some of my stimulus money to buy a potters wheel. (and pay my bills, duh.) I figured if I couldn’t create musically, maybe I could heal myself with pottery. The next day, I cleaned out my garage within an inch of its life, and Zane Ceramics was born.

I started creating for the purpose of creating. Trying silly shapes, “weird” colors, and sketching out what would later become my first collection of work. I said yes to anything that felt like it honored 5-year-old, Emma. Friends started asking for lessons, so of course, I obliged! Before I could blink, more and more people started asking for lessons and there were even some orders. It felt like the universe was on my side, so I kept saying “yes!” to my inner child.

The name Zane Ceramics came to me a few months later. My grandfather, Zane Neff, honored his inner child more than any adult I had ever met. Every summer spent with him felt like a true adventure. It felt natural to name Zane Ceramics after him.

Come to think of it, everything about this business has felt natural. Even with the hard days, feel happy and through Zane Ceramics, I started to pick up my guitar again (1 year later) and start writing my next album. Finding my true creativity and inner child has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, but one of the most rewarding journeys.

Zane ceramics has turned into a full-time job and healed me at the same time and I am honored to continue on this journey and see where it leads.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
While I have pretty much always been self-employed in some sense., I have had a team of people to help support my music.

The biggest struggle with Zane Ceramics has been learning that being self-employed does not mean you are in charge of your hours, it means you are on the clock 24/7! I’m still learning the best way to be the artist, the production potter, the teacher, the shipment tracker, the books-keeper, and don’t get me started on shipping.

I’ve started to realize the best way for me personally, is to have certain days dedicated to different aspects of the business. However, I’ll take all the advice I can get–so send it my way!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My first collection of functional ware has an emphasis on bright, bold, colors with whimsical handles and shapes in honor of my inner child. Zane Ceramics continues to act as a creative safe space for me, where the only rule is to trust the artistic journey.

You can find me at various pop-up events and markets around Nashville, and stay tuned for a website launch in November! You can book one on one or duo lessons with me through Instagram or email. Keep an eye out for various hand-building workshops around town with my friend and fellow potter, White Rabbit Collective. We will be teaching at Hoop House on October 23 and at Amelia’s Flower shop on November 4th.

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
I would love to share how welcoming the small business, handmade, and market communities have been to my new business.

Whether it is welcoming me into Porter Flea Market or Be Good Market, before my website has even been up, or getting business advice from friends like Lockland Leather and Three Wolves Trading, I have felt the local support in so many ways.

I would ask your readers to think about shopping local or small businesses when the holidays roll around- it can make a huge difference to your community.

Pricing:

• Mugs range from $27-40
• The total pricing range is $10-$120

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://zaneceramics.squarespace.com/. (website where you can purchase product coming soon)
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zane.ceramics/

Image Credits
Jacqueline Justice, Pink Circle Vase, and Yin Yang Cups by Lindsey Patkos