Interview: Kanika Marshall

This weeks ceramic artist interview comes from Kanika in California. Would you like to be next? See the interview questions here.

Vital statistics (name, age, location, link to website/blog)?
Kanika Marshall
Half a century
Elk Grove, CA
www.kanika.us

Where do you work in clay?
In my studio, an annex in my home

Do you have another job?
Yes

Are your studio and occupation decisions made by choice or necessity? Please explain.
Solely by choice. The extra money from my art is nice, but not critical. When my kids were young and I became divorced, I needed money from my art in order to pay for after-school day care. Now, the positive acclaim is sometimes more important than money, but not as important as the joy in making the art.

How do you budget your time (in the studio and out - family, errands, etc)?
Day job 8-5, clay is any other time, often up until midnight many nights

Why do you make pots (or sculptures)?
I love the tensile quality of clay. You can make nearly anything from clay. Clay works well with my other addiction: fabric. Clay is awesome with glass, metal, wood, beads, shells, and leather. Clay can be glazed to any color. Clay is a chameleon, like me.

How concerned are you about environmental issues? Does this affect your work?
I am concerned, so I wear a respirator, installed linoleum over my carpet so I won't vacuum up the clay dust anymore, open the windows to ventilate my workspace and purchased a trap for my drain so the clay/glaze reside doesn't go down the drain (altho' I have not yet installed it!). I use lead-free glazes. I keep the garage doors open while I am doing a glaze firing. But there is still a lot more that could be done to make my clay experience safer.

What do you do when you're having a bad day in the studio?
I never have bad days, except maybe with the potter's wheel! I mainly do slab/tile, coil, and free-form three-dimensional clay work. Non-wheel work is always pleasurable and fruitful. I never run out of things to create, just the time to make them.

Do you create art in other mediums?
Lots of mixed media (fabric, glass, metal, wood, beads, shells, and leather), but clay is the primary medium.

Where do you sell your work?
My studio, website, galleries, art shows, and local stores.

How did you approach those venues about selling your work?
I apply to art shows, keep my website updated, use e-newsletters and Facebook to help market my work, use Vistaprint to print postcards and business cards to hand out everywhere, keep in touch with my customers, and have several portfolios for upscale and lower-grade galleries. I visit galleries several times before approaching the gallery owner with my portfolio.

Do you have any questions you want to ask other ceramic artists, or artists in general?
Does anyone have a small slab roller for sale in the northern California area (preferably near Sacramento)?

NEW question: If you could change one property of clay, what would it be? (optional question; from potter John Bauman in the second Monday interview)
I work real fast, so sometimes there are explosions (happy little accidents). I would love to remove the possibility of explosions!