Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Cline.
Hi Emily, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started Daphnia Ceramics during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Daphnia Ceramics is a queer-owned and operated handmade ceramics business run by Emily Cline (She/Her) since 2020. Nowhere to go but the woods and my art studio, I finally had time to play, discover, and find my voice in the ceramics studio. I loved combining functional pottery with hand-drawn screen-printed imagery. In my work, you’ll see pieces printed with the local flora and fauna of Ohio…and a few fantastical creatures for a bit of fun.
I’ve loved working with clay since I was a small child. Endless hours were spent creating sculptures out of clay and drawing furiously. Following my creative interests, I studied at Ohio University and graduated with degrees in both Art Education and Printmaking in 2010. I spent the next 10+ years teaching art to elementary and middle school students.
I left public school education to make pottery full-time in 2021. Leaving education was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. I’m passionate about the importance of youth arts education and cherish all of the years that I was able to facilitate creative experiences for all of my students while working in public schools. I hope that I can continue to inspire with the work that I am creating and through the private lessons at my home studio and group classes at Bare Clay in Worthington.
My work brings so many opportunities to experiment and bring new ideas to life.
It feels unreal that I get to keep making art every day.
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Things they don’t tell you in art school: running an art-centered business is HARD! Learning how to be a business owner, marketer, accountant, tech person, vendor, and production artist all at once has definitely kept me on my toes this year. I wish I could say that being a full-time artist is just making art every day, yet the reality is I’m often trying to juggle all of the other parts of running a business that I didn’t realize I would need to know when I started Daphnia Ceramics.
I’m incredibly lucky that my partner runs their own business and is pretty savvy with all of the tech, budgeting, and strategy—and they are a writer and editor to boot! I can’t emphasize enough how lucky I am to have them in my corner.
I cherish the days that It’s just me and the wheel, or I’m transferring images to ceramic pieces. The texture of the clay, the repetitive motion, the endless creative decisions are all a really great outlet for me. The days I am not making, I crave the regulating feeling of working with clay.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a printmaker turned ceramicist, and revel in the ability to design my own screen-printed designs that I can transfer onto my ceramic work. I hand draw or digitally design each pattern or image, expose screens, screen print my own images, and transfer them to the ceramic pieces as part of my process. When I first discovered that this process was possible, I knew that this was the kind of art I wanted to make.
I love the freedom that screen printing gives me. A simplified explanation of the process is that you use a fine mesh screen (think window screen but much smaller) and use it to create a stencil of the image that you want to use. I won’t bore you with all the technical jargon, but the same screen can print on paper, clay, t-shirts, and more depending on the ink you use. I love the versatility of this. I print my ceramic transfers on paper, and that put them onto the clay-like a decal, which allows me to cut, collage, and experiment endlessly.
Each piece I make is thrown on a pottery wheel or hand-built with slabs of clay. Every item is made by my hands in my (quite) tiny spare bedroom studio in my home. A garage studio is in the works, and I absolutely cannot wait for the increase in space, not to mention getting the mess out of my house.
I’m always finding new inspiration from what I see and what I am learning, but most of my inspiration for my work comes from my time in the woods. Being outside in nature always creates a sense of awe and wonder for me. I spend as much time as possible at a cabin on my family’s land in the rolling Ohio Hills. I revel in moments of awe and wonder in nature, and love every tiny detail I see and experience, along with all there is to learn about the living world. Now the flora and fauna I discover on hikes become integrated into my art…and into your favorite mug.
What matters most to you? Why?
Beyond my ceramic work, I’m still an educator at heart and care deeply about working with youth. Since 2014 I have been organizing with an amazing group of people to put on a music and creative arts camp called Grrrls Rock Columbus. Together we create a safer space for girls, transgender, and non-binary youth to learn, write, and perform music. These campers inspire me every year with their strength, bravery, and creativity. The transformative power of our camp is a bright and shining light for me every year.
At camp, I teach a screen-printing workshop every year and help run various activities aimed to build self-esteem and foster empowerment. Go to www.grrrlsrockcolumbus.com to check it out and learn more about what we do.
Contact Info:
- Email: emily@daphniaceramics.com
- Website: www.daphniaceramics.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/daphniaceramics
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/daphniaceramics
Image Credits
Emily Cline
Ally Schnaidt
