Lucky Charms

Local artists and metalsmiths Jay Sharpe and Susie Ganch provide insight into their past, practice, and projects. Both agree that hard work has a lot to do with luck. They discuss their dedication to creative careers and advice for young artists.

Susie Ganch, artist and educator, is currently inspired by the “material we call waste.” She has fallen in love with plastic and collaborates with the material to communicate messages about the environment. Susie shares her advice for young artists and how to catch luck before it falls off your shoulder.

HOPE: Okay, starting off easy. What inspires you to make?

SUSIE: The desire to make is like an itch that I can’t scratch. I can’t reach it, and so the only way I can get close is to make something. And then sometimes my inspiration is my dissatisfaction with the thing that I just engaged with. Sometimes, inspiration begets inspiration and that’s so critical. So many of my artist friends talk about how if you don’t have a strong umbilical tethered to your studio, you will lose that conversation that makes more conversation. When I’m making art it’s often considering my environmental values and my artistic values. That’s often what drives me to make something I’m curious about showing, discovering, or saying. Right now with this series, I’m using single-use plastic bags to make tapestries. The plastic bags are messaging humanity but it’s a one-sided conversation; we are not talking back. The plastic keeps sending a text over and over and they’re emoticons, but no one knows what emoticons mean. I certainly don’t and that’s why I purposely chose emoticons. It felt like the disconnection of lost translation would be immediately apparent. So already the problem is there, and I’m driven to do that, to communicate a simple message.

HOPE: So you’re having a conversation with the material right now?

SUSIE: And through the material. Coming from a craft discipline, I always have a strong relationship to material and honoring an allegiance and a legacy. I’m always curious what the deeper metaphor of the material is going to be like. What is its potential to say something if I collaborate with it? And if it’s not the right material, I switch.

ALEX: What is the most important part of your practice?

SUSIE: I bet I would answer this differently every day if you asked me but today, it is my relationship to my studio. Gosh, my studio is like my lover. I have my partner and my partner sometimes knows that he has to send me to the studio. Even if I’m not in a good mood, or if something’s going wrong in the world, it’s not Jared that fixes the world. It’s really my studio, my relationship to the studio, my relationship to an idea, and the connection to a thing I’m making. Maybe the most important thing about my practice is time, because none of this happens without unfettered time. When you have an assignment, and there’s a deadline, the deadline actually can kill any idea. The muse doesn’t whisper in your ear, if you’re stressed out with a timeline. She doesn’t care.

HOPE: How does using waste material influence your practice?

SUSIE: It influences every part of my practice! It’s my favorite challenge! I had a residency at Kohler, and every day I would go through their dumpster and take out the wet greenware that came off the molds that didn’t work, and I would cut it up and make things out of it. My relationship to waste materials feels like a bottomless well of potential and excitement to me. I’m interested in mining this material we call waste, because what is waste?

HOPE: I was wondering how you feel about that word? Waste.

SUSIE: I think in nature, there is no waste. The word hurts my heart. Waste, waste. I hate saying it. Even the idea of wasting time has a negative connotation with waste, which is so cultural. It’s so easy to vilify and yet, there is no other material that we have come across or invented that replaces the amazing material called plastic. It does clog our landfills and our waterways, but what’s interesting about plastic is that it does not affect the pH or acidity of a landfill. It’ll sit in there forever, but it’s not the villain. We vilify this thing, but we invented it, we decided it, I don’t think plastic decided for herself, that she was a villain. She didn’t ask for that.

Hope: We’re the villains.

SUSIE: We are the villains! When I started, I was like- no, I hate plastic and I’m just gonna hate it more. But, after spending all this time with plastic, I feel like I’ve become an advocate for and against the things that we conveniently throw away. I think we put strong hierarchies on material. From a metalsmithing perspective, we value gold and silver and materials that are infinitely recyclable, and we value those above all others, but what about the potential of these other things? Is it our responsibility when we invent something to also understand its full lifecycle before we start using it, or assigning it a title called waste?

ALEX: And do you have a favorite material to work with?

SUSIE: My true love in life is metal fabrication. But in all honesty, plastic. I haven’t missed metal since working with plastics.

HOPE: What does your creative practice look like? Day to day or project to project?

SUSIE: I’m a teacher and only a portion of my life is even available to be spent in the studio. When I’m thinking about ideas, they often come to me after I’ve had a break. And you know, there’s hours and time spent just walking, putting one foot in front of the other is where I really start to mull over every idea. It’s almost like an accumulation, slow accumulation, a trickle. So time and time again, I have to try to find it, and I don’t know what she’s going to be like yet. I know the material, the idea, where it comes from and what I’m thinking about. I have to find out what she looks like and then I’ll start doing tests. During the making phase, I’m not surprised by the things that aren’t done. There’s a lot that goes into the beginning part, even from pragmatics. Then, once I start working, it’s like chasing a mouse. Sometimes I know what it’s for, but sometimes it’s good to just make things and then find a place for them in the world.

ALEX: What’s one piece of advice you have for young artists?

SUSIE: That’s such a good question. A few things: School is not a realistic slice of what your artistic life will be in the future. The timeline for things in real life is different. I think it’s really important if you are an artist for your first identity to be an artist. Even if you’re a barista by day, when your barista shift ends, you are an artist. I read an article, that some of the most famous artists we know in the world spend maybe 20% of their time in the studio; the rest is on the other stuff. So, what are the choices you’re going to make to make your artist life happen? Make sure you open your eyes and do it consciously because it won’t happen to you. You have to make it happen. I worry about that for our young people because I think everyone who wants to be an artist should and can be an artist. I refuse to believe that you can’t.

HOPE: Luck is the theme of this issue. Do you think luck has had any influence on your success and where you are?

SUSIE: I think luck happens like the Muse. The Muse flies over and she drops something on my shoulder but if I’m not available, it falls right off. So, if an opportunity arises and I’m not ready for the opportunity, I can’t take advantage of the luck because I’m not ready. So there’s a combination of luck, like “Right Place, Right Time,” and being ready for luck. I often think, how do I make myself ready to receive luck? Sometimes I know I’m not ready. Is my resume updated? Do I have my artist statement? Did I take images of those pieces? Because luck comes when the curator calls and says, “Hey, I’m thinking about this show for you in September, do you have images of this and this?” And if you say “No, I don’t” luck just passed you by.

ALEX: Do you have a lucky charm?

SUSIE: So, I have two pairs of earrings. I’m a fourth generation jeweler. My great-grandfather was a jeweler and he had every single one of his 11 sons learn the trade before doing anything else because he believed that an education and jewelry prepares you for anything. What do you think Hope?

HOPE: Yeah, it’s true.

SUSIE: Problem solving, right? A total understanding of how to fabricate a piece, from start to finish. My grandfather was the only brother that pursued the trade after learning. He was actually a master. He made a pair of earrings for my grandmother and my mother, and I have both pairs. So, for certain events I always wear those earrings. I never met my grandfather but I feel like those earrings tie me to this important lineage of people.

Jay Sharpe, jewelry designer, believes luck comes when you’re ready for it so it’s all about “Being ready, just being ready. Having something for people to see because one piece won’t cut it.” Jay has been creating jewelry since the 80’s and he credits his longevity in part to his loyal clients.

ALEX: What’s one piece of advice you have for young artists?

JAY: Commitment. It’s crazy. I think you’ve gotta commit huge. If you want to be the best or if you want to really do it, the commitment has got to be there because everybody can do it at the end of the day. You have to really go that extra mile because everybody’s so talented and so good. Those studio hours mean something. You might spend the night if they let you. I used to go in the building when it was shafer court. We would come in early in the morning and wouldn’t leave until the evening time. You came in at eight and you left at eight. You don’t leave until security goes home, and then you get out. That’s how long you stay, and it’s hard but then you see the end result happen. So, you kind of switch your schedule around where you can really commit those hours like that. And if you think you’re in a relationship, I don’t care what kind of relationship it is, you’ve got a puppy, a dog or cat, you’ve got to get rid of them. You are going to come back to feed it, to walk it. You’ve got to submerge. And the professor is going to see it, too.You’ve gotta be that kind of vibe until you really get to a point where you can balance it out, until you’re like, I’m done today. I’m not working this weekend. But when does that happen?

HOPE: Seems like probably never.

JAY: It will happen, it will happen

HOPE: We’re in the thick of it right now. The overnighter is rough. Obviously, there’s a lot of hard work and struggle that’s gone into it, but the theme of our issue is luck. Is there any luck that you think has gone into your success?

JAY: Being ready, just being ready. Having something for people to see because one piece won’t cut it. So it kind of goes back to putting that work in, and putting the hours into producing the work. Being resourceful, too. I think that’s why if you have something to show, then you might be lucky, but you’ve got to put the work in, and if you don’t have anything to put in, you won’t be lucky. I mean, you’ve got to work, and that’s going to create luck- if that makes sense.

HOPE: So, we noticed you did a lot of sketches of your pieces. Is that a big part of your process, like drawing your design?

JAY: Yeah. I always kind of drew and sketched anyway, so it was just another added dimension, because a good amount of jewelers don’t draw or illustrate. They just use the cad machine. But back when I started nobody was doing it, at least not in this city. So I had the opportunity to go both ways, to sketch it out, present it, and then win the customer over. So that was a big part of it, being able to do this so they could see it without having the actual piece, and get a good idea of what it looks like.

HOPE: I bet your customers appreciate the hand drawn sketches.

JAY: Especially when, as you explain it, you are also sketching it for them.

HOPE: How do you connect with customers and get them to buy your pieces?

JAY: Well, I guess for me now it’s just been longevity. So I kind of dragged them along, and I’m still doing it, so it’s not like I was in and then I was out. This production has pretty much been consistent the whole time. I mean I’ve had other jobs on the side. I had to cut grass for awhile, three years ago because of COVID, and that was horrible. But I mean, I laughed all the way through. Literally, I would get up and because I couldn’t come in this building, because they wouldn’t let anybody in, I was like what am I going to do? Still need to eat. Still need to pay the bills.

HOPE: So you’re talking about working with clients. Do you prefer that or doing your own designs?

JAY: I’ve outgrown my old designs. It worked when I was doing Nordstrom’s because I had my own designs. So I would kind of do whatever I wanted to do, but now I just do one-off’s, and whatever the clients want me to do. I also do repairs, and I used to do work for other jewelers. You do whatever to survive as an art maker. You just have to figure it out, you have to keep digging deep…