Meet Gina Lawson Egan | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gina Lawson Egan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gina, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
My work life balance has changed throughout my adult life in order of importance with each decade. In my twenties I was an art student. My priorities were paying for school, holding a job so I could eat, and doing well in school. All while having fun during, after, and in between. This involved friends and sometimes boyfriends. My balance was always chaotic at this time because I was trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted.

In my thirties I focused on stability. These were years I was working in an art related job I loved but did not make enough money to stay permanently. My three kids were born during my thirties, which made the importance of balance big! My priorities were my family, but I always made time for my longer-term goals which meant making art and applying for better teaching jobs. Fun during this time was built in with my family and young children.

My forties were a continuation of the thirties except that I got better at everything which made balancing easier. Parenting and family take on a life of its own, through experience my teaching got better. I found time to advance my art career by participating in local art sales and exhibits. Fun came in the form of my family, friends, and outdoor activities.

My fifties were unexpected. The balance of my life became more complicated because I did not foresee loss and caretaking added to the mix. While our kids were becoming independent, we began to lose loved ones and care for our parents. Balance was most important during this decade and difficult. I began teaching ceramics at Calpoly Pomona and stopped looking for another teaching job. Artmaking and running were vital to my personal balance and mental health. I found that the fun in my life had to be found in all the everyday events and the unexpected because I did not have time for any other method. The loss of family and friends put a new perspective on our lives.

Now I am in my sixties! My kids are now young adults with jobs and lives of their own. The last three years of teaching were my best teaching years by leaning into the positives at and not worrying about the rest. I wish I had realized this years ago!
I am now just recently retired and looking for my new balance. Making art, spending time with family and friends, traveling with my husband, going for a run with my dog or just sitting in our backyard taking a break are all on my new calendar and I am excited. As a creative my advice about balance is to take care of the most important things first which means you need to understand what is most important and just as important is to make time for the things you love and have fun. Don’t worry so much because if you stay true to yourself, everything falls into place.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a ceramic sculptor, working primarily with a coarse, red clay body and muted colors from nature. My method is the slow and steady coil and slab building techniques that allow my mind to simmer with full focus. While working in clay I am transported and lose all sense of space and time. I have worked in clay for over forty years, and it is this power that clay has over me that keeps me coming back.

My figurative work began with emphasis on the head and facial features and has organically progressed to investigate the archetypal female figure. Joy is evident in the playfulness that is sprinkled throughout my work. In my quest for balance, humor finds its way in, helping to cancel the rush of life moving fast and digital noise that can keep me distracted from simple pleasures. I create narratives using the image of women as a mother, sister, friend, or lover, often a keeper of stories and secrets. It is through my sculptures I share my love of family and the place that defines home. It is my hope that the viewer can look on and reminisce about their own sense of place.
Not every ceramic piece is a great success but each one that I create leads me to the next. I may start with a rough sketch or maquette but ready to let my imagination fly and discover more within my original idea as I work. Getting to this point I call the “zone” takes practice and is a great place to be when it happens.

Challenges for me would be when I have moments (more than moments) of insecurity. My work has never followed the norm of what is popular or in vogue because I have never been able to or wanted to make anything that I feel is inauthentic to me. I have been fortunate and have had sales and exhibits throughout my career, but I have never had any major gallery representation. Like many artists I excel at making but do not excel at self-promotion. I can overcome my insecure moments by getting back in the studio. I am always excited to be working on a new piece and liken it to infatuation. After it is finished sometimes, I am still in crazy love with it, other times I am wondering why I thought it was great because I notice all kinds of imperfections. This really reminds me of real life and makes me laugh at myself.

My life has recently taken a major change because I just retired from teaching ceramics at CalPoly Pomona University. This is both exciting and mind blowing for me because I have been working most of my life. I remind myself that most importantly I now have the gift of time. More time to do all the things that I love and discover new people and places. Being an artist is not the easiest path to take in life, but I cannot see myself in any other profession. I was born with this gift of creativity. I sculpt shape and form from clay to express myself. This is a primal form of communicating for me. It is why I am here.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
A fun day with me would involve something physical! Running, hiking, bicycling, swimming!
My kids who are now young adults groan on my birthday and Mother’s Day when I get to pick an activity. It will be a hike in the local foothills, a bike ride, sometimes a nice long walk after dinner. One of the best reasons for living in Southern California is the weather and outdoor activities.

There are many great hiking and running trails. Marshal Canyon in Laverne, Bonelli Park in San Dimas, Griffith Park in Los Angeles and all offer great views and choices. For a good biking option to stay off of streets, I use the Pacific Electric Bike trail which starts in Claremont and runs east all the way to Rialto. The convenience is you can go as far as you want and turn back as needed. I will sometimes go biking with a friend and drop south on any of the main streets from the trail and hunt for a spot to have a beverage or bite to eat.
I also enjoy participating in the Ciclavia which is a free bike event that meets four or more times per year in different areas of Los Angeles. These fun rides can easily take up an entire day cycling, people watching and taking advantage of food trucks and resteraunts in different locations along the route. I recently rode a route that was in Watts and came across the Watts Tower Art Center campus. This was a happy chance occurance that mix biking and art.
For more art, check out the American Museum of Ceramic Art in downtown Pomona. They have multiple galleries to explore as well as a beautiful ceramic studio where classes for wheel-throwing and hand-building are offered. For more art in this area you can check out downtown Claremont, Scripps College and Square i Gallery nearby at the Monte Vista Business park.

A list of other art events, galleries and shops we like:
Claremont Museum of Art
Scripps College- Mahr ceramic collection. You need an appointment to see this but anyone who loves clay and wants to see an incredible collection should check it out.
Folk Music Center in Claremont is another good place to take guests. Check out the calendar online for small concerts that are located in a small venue inside.
Evolve Distillery, Claremont has delicious cocktails and mocktails with live music regulalry. This is fairly new and we have just discovered.

As for food, after a hike or run ( or whenever!) I enjoy Creme bakery or Somecrust bakery in downtown Claremont. They offer all kinds of wonderful pastries or sandwiches that I like to order to go and find a spot outdoors to sit and enjoy. One of our long time favorite places to eat lunch or dinner is Los Jarritoes, which just recently reopened in Claremont from Pomona. When my mom used to visit from Michigan every year, we always ate dinner at Los Jarritoes on her first night in SoCal. They have the best food!

For me personally I really love having a friend drop in my studio. If they bring a project to work on, all the better. I will feed them and give them any drinks I might have on hand and we spend a morning, afternoon talking and working together. I have a comfortable chair in my studio which is perfect for friends and family. Our wonderful dog Pia who is only three will join us with her dog toy she may lie on your lap!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A Shout Out?
My first recognition would be for my mom, Laura. When I moved to California for graduate school at twenty-four, she had all the faith in the world in me. She was proud and supportive as I moved cross-country to study art. What a gift this was. She passed in 2014 and I think about her every day. She was a force of nature with her energy and abilities. Sewing, quilting, refinishing furniture, painting, mosaicking walls, floors, stepping-stones, birdbaths, and anything else she could think of were just a few of her hobbies. Every year my mom would visit me and my family of five from Michigan for a few months. In addition to her projects, she had energy left to help us cook meals, do laundry, organize, and clean our house each year on her long visits. I am one of three girls in my immediate family, and we all became artists who have inherited her work ethic. We call it the curse because it is hard to turn off. We laugh about it but also appreciate it and realize how special and generous our mom was.

My second shout out would be my professor and friend, Paul Soldner. He reinforced the idea that one could make anything with ingenuity and resourcefulness. He also believed that an artist did not need a big space to create art. Paul worked with the same amount of space that the rest of the students all had. His workspace was not closed off and private, he worked on his sculptural forms in an open space alongside his students. After I graduated, he was still always willing to share knowledge when I would call or drop in with a question. Paul Soldner’s ability to do so much with less reminded me of my parents’ traits that I learned to respect.

My last shout out is to all who have ever purchased a piece of art from me, or who were willing to barter, big or small. As an artist the monetary support and personal connections I have made over the years through my artworks have been vital to me. Their generosity and support have helped me to keep creating and moving forward with new goals.

Website: https://www.ginalawsonegan.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginal

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

Image Credits
The professional images of my artwork were taken by Gene Ogami. (all but the cake image and the images of me)