Meet Trina Piercy | Potter

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

Hi Trina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was going through a really hard time in my life and felt the need to pour myself into something. Everything felt really out of control…but a business of my own, I could control that. I just wanted to silence all the voices and create what I was feeling and not what was trending, or what everybody wanted me to create. It was a quiet space I could go and pour my heart out into the clay. If it was “successful” great, but not that was also fine. The goal was to create and discover my own style and connect with other hurting souls. Meraki means to put a piece of yourself in your work. I wanted to know myself and my style and quite all the other voices and just create because I liked it. It was a really beautiful way to start a business that has lead to so much joy and healing.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have always had a love for art. I used to checkout comic books from the library and copy the drawings. I still have all of my sketch books starting from when I was 8. I studied graphic design for a year because I thought if I wanted to actually support myself or a family as an artist I had to be a graphic designer…but I hated sitting at a computer all day designing something for someone else and not having creative liberty. So I changed my major to counseling because I love kids and wanted to help in the community and I did that for years. It wasn’t until my own life started spiraling that I decided to return to art. Again, it wasn’t about being successful or making money. I had spent my life trying to make everyone happy and be what everyone wanted me to be. After my family disowned me and I had multiple miscarriages I felt so lost. I realized I had never really spent time doing anything for me…I didn’t even know what I liked anymore. So I decided to step outside my comfort zone and create publicly. It’s a very vulnerable thing to pour your heart into something then post it for the world to see. You hear everyones opinions and critiques. Not everyone loves what you out out there….but then there are these wonderful people who connect with your work. Who cry with you and share their won story of hurt and how much your work means to them. It’s been so beautiful to connect with people on such a deep level over something as simple as a mug.

It’s been a lot of hard work to get to where I am now, but I love what I do. Ive learnt a lot about myself. Mostly to let go of perfectionism and to trust my gut. As an artist I often want people to see my best work…but sometimes you have to make a lot of “lesser” “ugly” items to get to the final result…and those vessels…those mistakes are a beautiful part of the process too.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would go to a different coffee shop every single day because Greenville has so many good coffee shops! And Tandem, I absolutely love Tandem. I would want to take her to all the markets and art festivals around and have a spa day at the Omni Grove Spa. And we would probably walk around Falls Park and talk non stop since we haven’t seen each other in so long. I would introduce her to my son who is named after the little boy she lost a few years ago, and meet her daughter who has my name. I would want to take her to see some of the other art studios around Greenville and id take her to my studio and give her a pottery lesson.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As my journey with pottery started I felt so supported by my husband, Stephen. He’s been my biggest cheerleader and support in all of this. He has always pushed me to create and believed in me…even when we didn’t have the money for clay he somehow made it happen with the most cheerful attitude. When I was worried I wouldn’t make enough money to cover an application fee to a show he’d be like “so what.” He just really believed in my and that motivated me to try even harder. And even now he’s coming to all of my shows, bringing me coffee to the studio, unloading car loads of heavy clay etc. He’s the best. I love him.

Website: https://www.merakipottery.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/merakipottery/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrinaPiercyPottery/

Image Credits
Will Crooks
Trina Piercy