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Rachel Vitko | Episode 1020

Rachel Vitko discovered ceramics early on in Highschool where she was introduced to wheel throwing and surface decoration, combining her two loves of illustration and clay. For college Rachel went to MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) to further her illustration and explore graphic design. Rachel now pulls from those skills when creating her whimsical but functional pieces. Rachel currently resides in her home studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Do you respond to that spike, that increased interest, that request, or do you not respond to it and do my own thing? As an artist is that an ethical question to respond or not respond?

I am sure it’s just personal however somebody feels about that. I feel a part of why I love it and what I do is spreading joy. And so when people find joy in something I certainly like to explore that more, yes.

I have heard that art should be for the creator first and then the audience. How do you respond to that?

Again I feel like it should be a personal thing. If that is the way you feel I don’t see anything wrong with that. But I also, if you are a working artist you need to pay those bills there needs to be a balance. I think it can be somewhere in between.

Is there such a thing as etiquette for the audience?

in their response to your work?

Yes, and how they approach coming to you…can you do this? Can you do that? Should there be an etiquette for that?

I would just say manners. (laughter) Honest to God. I choose. it either resonates with me or it doesn’t. But also manners. Most of the time it’s been really, really nice people. and I take note. I take note of it but I don’t necessarily react on it all the time.

How do you find a new audience?

I think that is an ongoing thing throughout your career is that you do have to revisit that often. And I think you don’t throw all your eggs in one basket. Covid changed things and all my eggs went into Instagram and so I sort of fed that machine. And then now things are open you do shows, you do galleries, you look for more places to sell your work. You sort of open those doors for new possibilities. You just sometimes have to take a leap, you know?

Can marketing be a form of art also for you?

I think if you really love it and enjoy it, it could be. For me it’s not. (laughter) I suppose Instagram is in the sense of the photographs I take is sort of another artform in itself. And that I enjoy. That’s nice. Once Instagram turned into TikTok videos with your art, I am not really into feeding that machine.

What is something that you have been working on in the studio that you have never shared with the world?

To be honest I think I eventually share most of it. Because, why not? That is part of the taking chances, you can put things out there and a response can give you direction sometimes. Maybe I should explore this further.

Book

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Contact

etsy: RachelVitkoPottery

Instagram: @rachelvitko