creativenachos.com Blog

June 2008:

Photo by Judy Beedle

Judy Beedle Photography has a fabulous new website. Check out http://www.beedlephotos.com/ and then pass it on!

Check out the June issue of Entrepreneur’s StartUps magazine and read, “Creativity Counts: Discover how to take your crafting hobby from downtime to big time” by Kim Orr. It’s an informative and inspiring piece featuring Lorrie Veasey of Our Name is Mud (pictured here) and a several other crafters.

Bridget, a hilarious, fabulously creative and truly supportive woman in my life, and I were recently talking about life, family, work, and the future. I was sharing my concerns about starting my own business when she said, “What if Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream but chose not to share it with anyone?”

I stopped in my tracks. I had never thought about that; it got me thinking.

What if…

-Rosa Parks hadn’t valued herself and simply gave up her seat on the bus?

-Jane Austen hadn’t believed in her ability to write and never put pen to paper?

-Mother Teresa hadn’t believed that she could help change the lives of people in need?

-Albert Einstein had let the D’s he received in school be an indicator of his abilities and, based on that information, chose to simply dismiss his theories as foolish?

-Ian Reilly and Victoria Ludwin had not believed in their ideas enough to sit down and write their novels?

-Jackie Robinson had listened to those who threatened him, who told him he could not do it and never played baseball?

-Mark Twain hadn’t thought his life was interesting enough to write about and thus never penned, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

-Judy Beedle hadn’t decided to take the risk of working part-time in order to focus on her photography?

-Hunter S. Thompson had given in to societal standards of living and never created Gonzo journalism?

-Anne Geddes had never believed photographing children would get her anywhere?

-any person who has ever participated in the Special Olympics had let their disability stand in their way?

-Emily August and Dolores Kilcullen had been too worried about being vulnerable to share their full hearts with everyone?

-Rembrandt thought his idea to try to capture the essence of a person, their soul, on the canvas was stupid?

-Lorrie Veasey had not been believed in her ability to touch people lives with her Our Name is Mud products?

-Salk and Sabine had simply given up when things didn’t initially go according to plan as they developed polio vaccines?

-Danielle thought her own needs weren’t important enough to care for and had not gotten fabulous shoes and PJ’s?

-Gandhi had worried what others would think about his non-violent beliefs?

-Clara Barton had believed she was helpless to assist soldiers in war and, thus, never founded the American Red Cross?

-Lucille Ball had been too self-conscious to do comedy?

-Jon Jensen let the fear of the unknown keep him from traveling to Egypt where he continues to pursue his dreams?

-Nellie Bly had been too afraid to take risks to become a pioneer in investigative journalism?

If you ever think any of your ideas are ridiculous or that world doesn’t need what you have to offer, remember these folks.

I’m off to get to work.

CHEERS TO THE NY GIANTS!!

Right…ok….moving along to today’s post.

A recent post on Lorrie Veasey’s, “Our Name is Blog” was hilarious. The post, “You Know You’re a Mom When” contained many, truly, funny lines but one in particular stood out for me. “You hide in the bathroom to be alone.” I read that and screamed, “Get out of my head!” to the computer but I think I wanted Lorrie to hear me. 

There have been times when I left my husband and my daughter to fend for themselves as I headed (or ran) to the bathroom. I’d remove a book – I’ve been reading Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert for the last six months – from a strategically hidden spot right before the bathroom, and disappear into that little room where I’d cozy up on the floor to read a few pages. 

Lorrie’s blog and my thought about my own time in the bathroom got me to thinking. Whether it’s the kid thing or the job thing or both, it’s easy to find yourself in serious demand. When life’s this hectic, it’s hard to find time for you. Don’t you need some down time for creative thoughts to percolate? Inspiration needs time, no? What about time to simply relax? 

I started to think about what I would do with an extra day but, you know what, having a child has taught me that I’m more productive with less time. So, I changed the option from a day to one hour. What would I do with one hour a day all to myself? I’ll tell you. I would spend half of it reading and the other half I would color (I’m working on a project that requires coloring but, if the truth be told, inside I’m still about 4 years old and love crayons).  Think about it. One additional hour in your day, what would you do? 

Now here’s the more challenging part of the question. Do you see any way to make that idea a reality? Is there anywhere you can build more time into your day?  I’m challenging you to find an hour. I’m giving myself one week to try it. I’ll let you know how I do but ideas are more than welcome. I’d love to hear your comments.        

Business entrepreneur and creative dynamo, Lorrie Veasey, started selling her unique ceramics pieces as a way to supplement her teacher’s salary in her early twenties. Since that time, she has created Our Name is Mud, a unique company that designs products that always feel as though they were created just for you. In this interview, this witty, self-proclaimed craftsperson talks about her beginning, her incredibly moving Tiles for America project, and how she balances running her own company while raising two, fabulously creative children.

CN: What was it like when you started out at the street fairs in NYC? What was the best part of that experience? What was the worst?

Lorrie: When I started on the streets in ‘87, street fairs were very different from what they are today.  It was a carnival atmosphere-full of artists–had someone told us that in 2008 booths would mostly be taken by people selling cheap sheets and nail clippers-we would not have believed it.  Back then, it was primarily people selling things they had made themselves: jewelry makers, potters, bakers, candle & soap makers, card makers, and clothing designers.  You would set up and break down with the same people; when you had to pee you knew who would watch your stuff.  We would show up hung-over, breakfast on grilled corn or fried dough, and break down at twilight together.  We were gypsies in fanny packs. 
 The best part about working on the street was also the worst thing: immediate feedback about what I’d made.  There is something so gratifying about selling a table full of wares, knowing each pot is going off to a life of it’s own; sitting unwashed in someone’s sink or given as a gift.  Then there were moments like this:
WOMAN: O honey, look–some of that pottery stuff.
MAN: We don’t need any more mugs.
WOMAN: O but look honey, isn’t this cute?  This one says “Everything tastes better with cat hair in it”
MAN: That’s not cute, it’s disgusting. We’re dog people.
WOMAN: Yes and it’s not blue.  I would buy it if it were blue.  And five dollars cheaper.  Can you tell the person who made this that it would look SO much nicer in periwinkle?  And cheaper?

CN:  Today, you are the creative force behind your business, Our Name is Mud. What is the hardest part of running the business?

Lorrie: Not “running the business” but letting it “run you.”

CN: Why do you do what you do?

Lorrie: Oh-I could write the answer about making my first pot on my mother’s knee at age 3–but really; I do what I do… because I can.  Anybody can do what I do–which is “craft” and not art– all it requires is that you cut your fingernails and roll your sleeves up.  My favorite quote is: Many were more talented than she, but few were more committed to being talented.

CN: What is your most favorite piece?

Lorrie: The one I am going to make tomorrow.  It always is.

CN: What inspires you to create?

Lorrie: Some strange compulsion–some addiction to joy–I’m sure if I went into therapy I would know for sure.  I only know that I must.  Every damn day.  And if I were attacked by a great white shark and all my limbs were bitten off, I know for certain I would hold a brush between my teeth. I would probably be printing “HELP ME” anywhere I could, but still….

CN: You have two children. How old are they? Tell us a little about them.

Lorrie: Jesse is 6–he is complicated and difficult and the sides of his palms are always covered in marker.  I have a hard time trying to figure out where the boundaries of his creativity should lie: when he removes the legs of an action figure to create new ones out of modeling clay-I applaud.  When he experiments with different drawings with Sharpies on the top of Mommy’s coffee table…well, not so much. Annie is 4 and she is all girlie girl and Mother Earth and seriousness; ”I shall draw pink flowers.  And I shall only draw pink flowers for the next four months until I have adequately explored the boundaries of pink flower drawing.  Then, perhaps, I shall draw a pink kitten.”
Both of my children have grown up steeped in creativity.  We have great pictures of them both in diapers, sitting in the middle of a huge white sheet of paper rolled out on the kitchen floor, covered head to toe in paint.  I am sure they will grow up to be accountants.

CN: What is the toughest part of being a CEO – Creative Everything Officer? How do you balance being a Mom and being the creative force behind Our Name is Mud?

Lorrie: I balance everything by using a series of carefully crafted rationalizations; “No honey, I cannot play ‘go fish’ with you today because I have to go to work because if I didn’t we would all have to ‘go fish” in the East River as there would be NOTHING FOR DINNER, ok?”

CN: What do you do when it feels like it’s all gotten to be too much?

Lorrie: I count my blessings.  Practicing gratitude is the greatest remedy I know for feeling overwhelmed. A bottle of wine and the ability to laugh at things…ain’t life grand?

CN: What keeps you motivated day after day? Lorrie: Lipton tea.  About 12 cups a day.  With milk.  Seriously.CN: You are the original creator behind Tiles for America – an amazingly beautiful project. What made you start it? How do you celebrate it each year? Is it still growing?Lorrie: Tiles for America started because my hands could not do what everybody wanted to do on 9/11–which was dig.  Because if I could have dug, I would have dug.  But since I could not dig–I worked with clay.  I fashioned almost 500 angels on 9/12–inscribed them with messages of hope and good will.  By 9/15 almost 400 of them were gone, and so I asked for help from other ceramic studios across the country.  And people responded in such a generous way.People ask all the time if I resent when people take things from the memorial.  The answer is No.  The greatest gift a craftsperson can have is the ability to make something that is needed.  When people took items from the fence, I always thought they needed them, and I was grateful for the ability to provide something for them.Tiles for America came out of the worst day of my life.  I didn’t personally know anyone who died on that day.  I only knew the death of my own innocence and the birth of pervasive fear.  The only weapon against terror is love.Tiles for America became that–an outpouring of love and sympathy and creativity and anger-and a voice. A voice that I think still is clear; a song of hope that you can hear if you listen to the chime of ceramic banging against the metal fence in the wind.Tiles for America is probably one of the best things I have done in my life–it has touched families and strangers, it has brought me new friends and publicity-and only really wonderful things.  I struggle with the fact that I have so many blessings as a result of so much tragedy.  I think about it often.  This irony is a responsibility.

Tiles for America soldiers on-tiles break, they are replaced–they break again.  For me the whole memorial is a metaphor for loss.  I love how people “stumble upon” the memorial on their way to a fun shopping spree in the Village-how it steals up on them and overtakes them-because I know this is how grief is.  I love how we endure-we shatter, we crack, we break-we are created anew. 

(The New York Memorial is located at 11th Street and Seventh Avenue.)

CN: Do you ever worry that you just used your last creative idea? Do you worry that you will never have another idea again?

Lorrie: Having ideas is SO EASY.  Having Good Ideas….that’s hard. 
I always tell people that creativity is just a muscle like any other.  Use it daily, build it, flex it, and it will only grow.  And when you do that you can trust it…  Like crazy glue on the top of a hard hat when you are hanging from a beam.

CN: What is your ultimate creative dream?

Lorrie: I’m not really sure, but I know it probably involves George Clooney.

CN: If you walked around with a bumper sticker on your back everyday, what would it read?

Lorrie: Caution: wide turns.

CN: If you had a theme song that played as you lived each day what would it be?

Lorrie: “And you wonder where we’re going where’s the Rhyme, where’s the Reason: and if you could just accept it is here we must begin to seek the wisdom of the children and the gentle way of flowers in the wind”Of course, John Denver was probably Rocky Mountain High when he wrote it.

CN: What advice would you give to people who are looking to launch a creative business while balancing a job to pay the bills and/or raising a family?

Lorrie: Life is too damn short — do something that makes you happy.  If you are willing to roll your sleeves up and do the necessary work, success is sure to follow.  Don’t use money as an excuse to hide a fear of failure.                                      For more information visit: http://www.ournameismud.com/