“Consider where you are now, and where you want to get to. Break it down into small, realistic, manageable tasks, and start to accomplish them. Build a life around the steps needed to achieve that transformation.“
Meet Joey Gerace. Joey conquered Marywood, earning a major in both ceramics and illustration. If you thought he couldn’t be any more awesome, Joey holds three minors in art history, graphic design, and business. He graduated in 2021 with a BFA. He was in the CMYK club and the Outdoors Club., and he was a ceramics blogger here on WhereCreativityWorks.com in 2019-2020 (read posts by Joey). When learning about Joey, you can see all of his academics in his work. Joey has this unique way of capturing Mother Nature, Pennsylvania, and history all with in a text-book perfect piece of pottery. Keep reading to get a sneak peek into Joey’s life and career!
A bit of Joey history
For three years, Joey was a Senior Craftsman at a production pottery company in Vermont. He recently moved to back to Pennsylvania and is starting his own studio and business at home. Joey says that he was always been a maker. From being a toddler to the current day he get great satisfaction from building something where once there was nothing. Over the years, Joey said that he tried his hand with many different modes of art. He settled on ceramics. Joey’s work is quite special and it makes sense when he says that he thinks that he’s “found the job I’ll be happy to do for the rest of my life.”
Check out Joey’s work on his Instagram and Website!
What was your favorite part about studying at Marywood?
For almost any artistic discipline access to the right equipment, materials, and space can be
crucial to growing and learning. Marywood gives students the freedom and facilities to customize their coursework and pursue their own interests. As someone with endless passions I found this to be a genuinely wonderful combination and it allowed me to graduate with 2 majors, and 3 minors.
How did your art education at Marywood help your career?
There is nothing wrong with going to art school for the sake of art. But personally, I always knew that my own interests lay in a much broader world of learning. Marywood offers students a chance to gather knowledge from all types of career paths and bring it all together. Some of the wisest and most influential people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting always have one thing in common: they have a well-rounded set of knowledge. I think this is where the liberal arts curriculum from Marywood really shines. I truly believe that it was all the other courses outside of my own majors that really helped inform me of the world and gave me the inspiration to keep creating meaningful art and objects.
Using Mother Nature to her fullest
I’ve always been an outdoor enthusiast. Ever since being a baby in the womb I’ve been exposed to an array of wonderful activities and excursions into nature. I’m hugely obsessed with fly fishing and all forms of water. The subtly and fluidity of water often leaks its way into my work weather it’s on paper or in clay.
Saying No to the 9 to 5?
Jobs are tricky. I wasn’t born knowing that I would one day become a potter or an artist but that’s what brings me joy, and so I’m making it work for my life. I probably imagined that by this age I would be a career professional with a 9-5 getting ready to start a family. The fact is I’m more or less just getting started in my true profession and even though some of those goals I’d picture hitting haven’t happened yet, I realize that I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing.
What is your favorite thing about your current job?
The thing about creating is that there’s never enough time to do it all. That’s kind of a blessing though because every day I wake up and get in the studio is a day where new things are possible. New ideas new inspirations and new projects. I think that is what keeps me so energized and excited about my path forward.
Finding the important things in the pile of ‘main projects’
At the moment mostly everything is the ‘main project’. The things I’m doing are revolving around growing my body of work and figuring out who I want to be as a ceramic artist. It’s important to know what’s going to sell but you also should be true to yourself and make the things you actually want to make. That’s what I’m figuring out right now.
What are some of the biggest rewards in your career?
Social pressure tells us from a young age that you’ve got to have it figured out, you’ve got to make money and get more objects and the whole nine yards of modern consumerism. I’d be lying if I said that I always feel 100% sure that I’ll know where my next paycheck is coming from. But along with that comes immense freedom. I get to decide how I create what it ends up being and how I want to sell it. I get to be my own master and make my own rules. That’s a huge win to me and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
What is something that would surprise people about your day-to-day?
People probably have an image of an artist or craftsman being the tortured soul spending 16-hour days at the easel or the potter’s wheel. I mean yes, we do have long days and often you can feel pretty beat up but it’s not all messy paint palettes, tussled hair, and grungy music. I’m quickly starting to realize that a big part of my daily activities is managing my online presence, marketing and connecting with the community and trying to grow exposure. Unless you get very fortunate and fall into a situation where sales are raining out of the sky you’ve got to grind to push your work out into the world. It’s not enough just to make the stuff, at the end of the day someone’s got to buy it.
Advice for current art students at Marywood
Whether or not you’re studying the arts or business or STEM or STEAM, you should consider where you are now, and where you want to get to. Break it down into small, realistic, manageable tasks and start to accomplish them. Build a life around the steps needed to achieve that transformation. Time is your most valuable resource so don’t waste it. Go to that job fair, take that extra credit opportunity, follow up on the phone call. . . Push yourself to work hard toward your goals and use your time intelligently.