Meet Holly, a multi talented teaching artist, who owns and operates two businesses - a clay teaching studio and her own line of artistic sculptures and pottery.
I have nothing but admiration for Holly for two reasons - her work is so creative, original and inspiring (the ghosts are magnificent) with a beautifully subtle sense of humor about it, and secondly, to manage two businesses is equal parts amazing and nuts. (I would have non-stop migraines.)
Tell us who you are, what you do, and a little back ground info about yourself.
My name is Holly Coley. I am a teaching artist living and working in San Francisco, CA.
I was born in Los Angeles county and have been in the Bay Area for 26 years. I come from a family of artists and creatives. My father was an artist, my grandmother made porcelain open mouthed dolls. My younger sister designs and makes costumes and my grandfather made comic strips for the army newspaper during world war 2.
I own a clay studio called Pinckney Clay, where I offer classes, memberships, workshops, team builds, and private events. I went to school for painting and drawing but clay took over my life about 8 years ago when I started sculpting the subjects of my paintings and working in 3D.
Next year I will have my first solo show in clay at Park Life Gallery, SF. So I've been working on making pieces for that show as well as making work for West Coast Craft Nov 18 and 19th at Fort Mason Pavillion in San Francisco.
What’s a typical day in the life for you?
I just got back from Paris so it's been hard to readjust to my non vacation life!
Every morning I wake up and decide what needs to be done for that day. I have a very cute cat named Enid that cuddles with me each morning. I work for myself and run two businesses, so it's a constant balance act. Sometimes I need to drive to the East Bay to get supplies from the clay store or deliver work to local small businesses for resale. If I'm doing a craft show, I spend a lot of time making drawings of my booth and how the work will be displayed. Then I make the displays.
If it's a studio work day, I try to arrive at my studio early so I can get a full day of working on sculptures and pots. Mixing glazes, wedging clay, painting, carving and lots of cleaning!!!! As a small biz owner, I wear many hats. I plan a few days each month to focus on social media and promoting studio events. In the evenings I often teach classes or workshops at Pinckney Clay. I am always thinking about what is coming next for Pinckney Clay and applying to artist residencies/awards and trying to get my work out there. I am lucky to live in the Bay Area with so many other great museums and galleries and dedicate a few days a month to seeing art.
Take a look at Hollys work here or check out Pinckney Clay studios here (if I lived in the bay area I would ABSOLUTELY take the 6 week class offered there.)