We had the good fortune of connecting with Vicki Conley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vicki, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I always wanted to be a stay-at -home mom and believe the value of that to be immense. I worked very hard at building a pottery business around the needs and schedules of my children doing arts and craft fairs all over the southwest to sell my pottery.. When they were grown my business continued to grow I opened a gallery Pinon Pottery in Ruidoso Downs, NM.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a studio potter I made mostly functional pottery for the home. Throwing the same items over and over for over 40 years became very repetitious. Making and selling pottery is physically hard work and after a couple of health problems I decided to retire from pottery. I know my customers who collected my work were sad when I retired, but I am really enjoying the creativity of making new original fiber art pieces now.

My pottery business started out slowly selling at arts and crafts fairs and then as my gallery business increased I was able to phase out attending those shows. Doing all the traveling and putting up the booth and taking it down was very hard work. Now I enjoy working in my studio and shipping work to exhibitions around the world.

It is very hard to make a living as an artist and my advice to people wanting to pursue art as a career is make lots of work and get out there and try to sell it. Now not only are there art fairs and galleries but also social media. For me social media is hard as self promotion is my least favorite thing.

My brand has changed from distinctive pottery with hummingbirds on it to landscape art quilts inspired by the national parks. I believe that most creative people enjoy more than one type of media.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love to travel and experience new beautiful public lands. I live in the mountains of southern New Mexico and would begin the itinerary with hiking in my area. Then I would suggest a road trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, about a 3.5 hour drive. On another day in the opposite direction I would take my friends to White Sands National Park with a stop in the cute town of Cloudcroft, NM either coming or going. My own town of Ruidoso is a destination tourist area and features cute shops downtown, horse racing and casinos, moderate temperatures in the summer and skiing in the winter. There is something here for everyone. My favorite restaurant is the Cornerstone Bakery.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would have to say my husband Doug Conley. He has always been supportive of my creativity and goals of being a full-time artist. He helped build my studio, built my car-kiln, hauled the craft-fair booth around and now that I am a fiber artist he takes all the professional photos of my art.

Website: vicki-conley.com

Instagram: @vicki_conley_art_and_design

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicki.conley.73

Image Credits
Photos by Doug Conley

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