Looking for the Sweet Spot | Brooke Peiffer | Episode 423

Brooke Peiffer | Episode 423

Brooke Peiffer is a lifelong Michigan resident. Brooke recieved her BFA from Michigan State University, where she discovered a love of clay. Brooke’s functional work is inspired by the richly textured forests, plants, and beaches of her home state, whereas Brooke’s sculptural work stems from her own internal narrative. Brooke passes her love of clay on to her students, as a teacher of high school ceramics for the last 16 years.

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How does being an artist effect your relationship with your family and friends?

I don’t know if it does, although they can call me if they need something painted. Yeah, I don’t know. I think that my family are my friends. I don’t really have a lot of friends outside of them because they are all close by. So I am not really sure.

Do you feel that they life of an artist is radically different from a work a day person?

I think artists have to put in more hours and it’s all self-motivated so in that way it is quite different. You have to be really disciplined. I know with teaching you can put as much or as little as you want but you still have the same hours and you still get paid. But with working for yourself or being an artist the amount you put into it is the amount you get out of it.

Looking back on your artistic journey what is one thing you would do differently?

I don’t know if I would have gone to school and done the BFA because right now I am still sitting on some student loan debt. I think that maybe if I just would have gone for it I could have done better by now.

How would you define success as an artist?

I think for me it is just feeling good about the work I am doing. So I am working really hard to make that happen for myself whether it is selling or not. If I feel really good about it I will feel successful I think.

How does the idea of running a business play into your planning for becoming a full-time artist?

Right now I have kind of decided to not think about that because I just want to make sure I am doing the work that I want to do before I worry about trying to sell it. I still run my business on Etsy but it’s not super profitable and I am not really sure which way I am going to go. I think that is why I started a lot of the sculptural ideas so that maybe I could explore maybe the route of galleries and see if I like that better because like many artists I don’t really like the packaging and shipping that takes time away from working.

What would the perfect artist’s lifestyle look like to you?

I would probably just work in my studio all day everyday.

What is one of your greatest fears about becoming a full-time artist?

I guess not really being able to make a living doing it.

What is your biggest struggle as an artist right now?

Finishing the probably 100 sculptures on the shelf behind me in terms of glazing. It is the hardest thing for me to do to put surfaces on stuff. I have no problem sculpting the stuff but actually getting to the glazing and knowing what I want to do with it, because I have ruined a lot of work through stupid glaze choices.