Spotlight: Nick Joerling shifts gears Techno File - Ceramic Arts Daily

Striped flask, tea set, and muffin
pan, all thrown and altered
porcelain, with inlaid slip, then
glazed and fired to cone 10 in
reduction with soda, by Lorna
Meaden, Durango, Colorado.
Paying Dues (and Bills)
I learned to throw in high school, and went to get a bachelor of arts
degree in art from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and
then a master of fine arts degree in ceramics from Ohio University
in Athens, Ohio.
Though it varies widely, I spend about 40 hours per week in the
studio. I teach one ceramics class, adjunct, at Fort Lewis College,
and I travel to teach quite a few workshops a year.
Mind
The older I get, the more I feel like I need a balance in my life to
be able to be creative. In other words, I am more productive in my
studio if I am also getting enough sunshine, laughing hard with my
friends, traveling outside the small town where I live, and exposing
myself to places and things I’ve never seen before.
36 march 2011 www.ceramicsmonthly.org
Body
I work out anywhere from three to five days a week. Exercise seems
to be the only thing that wards off the pain of years of repetitive
movement. I currently have no health insurance, but my goal is to
get it within the next year.
Marketing
Currently, all of my work is sold through galleries. My goal is to sell
half of my work through my studio and on my website. The advantages
to gallery sales are the broader market they reach and the sales
knowledge and experience of gallery owners. The disadvantages are
packing and shipping the work and giving up a percentage of sales.
I feel that all the traveling I do to teach workshops has been a
great way to expand the market for my work. In the past, entering
juried shows was a way that new galleries would see my work.