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Halley Quinn | Episode 1257
Halley Quinn is a Columbus, Ohio-based potter and graphic designer who founded Ice & Dust Pottery after receiving a grant from a tech startup to purchase her first wheel. Today Halley creates colorful functional ceramics, has raised more than $8,000 for cancer research with her ceramics, and is constantly teaching herself new techniques — from mold making to 3D modeling.
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It’s amazing that five years have made such a big difference in the world. As you said earlier in the podcast, social media had a different kind of algorithm- post a picture and that was all you needed. And now things have changed so much. So we’re finding that the algorithm is a thing that is becoming increasingly the thing that potters have to become dependent upon to get attention for your work. And I’m curious, do you feel like that has hurt ceramics or helped ceramics?
Oh gosh. I think it’s a mixed bag. I got to think on that one. I mean, I don’t love that as a society we feel that we have to communicate in this hooky, dopamine hacky kind of way. And I think those effects are wide reaching beyond the art community. And I think it stresses a lot of artists out who want to just show up and share their work and have people react to something that is beautiful or interesting to them. And discussions can happen from that. But I think now we’re trying to hook people into reacting and having them approach it in a specific way. And it’s a little weird. At the same time, I think reels are really awesome because they can have those discussions. Folks can have those discussions live and get really engaged with strangers in a way that they didn’t before when they were just looking at beautiful pictures. So I think reels are fantastic. It’s just how the algorithm approaches content to where if you don’t get folks reacting in some way on the platform within 3 seconds, it just goes into the void. And that’s unfortunate because I think that hinders folks seeing a lot of beautiful things or having great discussions.
Another thing that has changed is that Etsy was such a big deal. Shopify was kind of a big deal. And it seems also that because of the shift of algorithms that I’ve heard a few Potters say that the personal in-person markets are actually a little bit stronger selling point than trying to grab attention online. Have you found that to be the case?
I really hope that is true. As someone who just came back to markets and I’ve only done two, I can’t say that’s the case just yet, but I really did miss having those connections with folks that I might not have been having online or having at all. So I really hope that’s true. I think people do still crave connection. And maybe that connection online, it doesn’t feel as authentic when you’ve got people literally jumping into a bucket of reclaim to get your attention on Instagram. You know, that feels like we’re all just clowning to try to get ourselves out there and get that attention. And props to folks who do that, you know, for their dedication to the algorithm. But my goodness, I am not going to be jumping into a bucket of reclaim to get people to see my art. So I think definitely folks are craving that connection and I really hope that I can have that at more markets down the road as I’ve got a couple more in the future and I’ve been missing my people and I’m really excited to see them all again.
Have you seen that the way that customer relationships are being developed, do you feel like that’s changed in any way?
Maybe. I think there was a time where people cared a lot more about your follower count and mine’s not especially expansive or anything, but there were people who would get wowed by me in person and be like, my God, I follow you on Instagram. And I’m like, I am just some lady who lives in Columbus and makes pottery in my basement. So I think like people aren’t as impressed by that kind of thing and they aren’t chasing those high follower counts anymore. And I think that’s a good thing for sure. It’s more about, you connecting with someone’s art and not so much connecting about or thinking that they have something inherently impressive because they’ve, shot up in Instagram follower numbers or something like that.
You mentioned reels and the hook and things like that. So are you saying that the storytelling process is becoming a more significant part of the selling process?
Can be, I think. There’s a lot of creators out there who are making really interesting content and getting people interested in ceramics by showing the process. And I really want to get into that a little bit. I haven’t yet been creating any like longer form reels that have a nice solid hook at the beginning and get you to watch a longer video. I’ve mostly been playing around with really short hooky ones and seeing where that goes just to experiment. But I don’t know. I’m trying to think through like how I’m going to show up on reels now that that’s a challenge that I have to tackle as an artist. And I do love video editing, so I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with it, but I just haven’t really found my voice there just yet.
So are you saying that you feel like there’s more pressure to become a “content creator”?
I think so. I noticed myself, doing a market and realizing like what we were just talking about of everybody drinks iced coffee and there’s no babies. And I’m like, could this be a carousel or a reel? And how would the algorithm react to each? And how do I reach the most people with this? And I’m like, why am I thinking that way? It’s an interesting discussion to have. And I have to think like, what is the format for that discussion if I want to have that with a bunch of strangers? And if I even want to have a conversation with a bunch of strangers, I just want to make pots. I don’t know. But it is kind of fun to have an audience to be able to talk to and spit ideas off of, but it’s also kind of intimidating and terrifying.
One last question for you: If you could go back five years and talk to your younger potter making then, what would you warn or what would you tell yourself to do to be ready for today?
Oh my gosh. Well, I’ll give you one artistic answer and one practical answer. One will be very short. Artistically, I’d say don’t wait until you feel ready to make art. You’ve learned by making work and not by thinking about making work. Practically, I’d say make your first kiln a brand new kiln if you can, and I’ll get into why. I bought my first kiln in 2020 during the pandemic when it was very difficult to buy a new kiln because of the long wait times. But my studio shut down and I needed a kiln. So I found a secondhand kiln. It was barely used. It was in beautiful condition. But eventually those elements wore out. And I learned the hard way that replacing elements for an old kiln that’s no longer made can cost quite a bit if it was a really big kiln like mine was. And it almost costs as much as buying a brand new kiln with modern controls. So, buying a kiln can be a little bit like buying a horse. The purchase price isn’t really the expensive part. It’s beating that horse that gets expensive. And in this case, the food was the new heating elements. So if you can stretch your budget a little on the front end, buy something new that you can learn to program the controller and adjust your firing schedules and things like that. I think you’ll be happier in the long run.
Book
Make Your Art No Matter What by Beth Pickens
Contact
Instagram: @iceanddustpottery