Meet Erin McAnany | Ceramic Artist

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

Hi Erin, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
For me it’s just the only thing I’ve ever felt good at, but I always thought I would be too scared to try and do as a career. That is until my brother Elliott decided to leave his construction job to be an artist full time. I was basically like “Oh wait are we actually going to do this??” I was totally inspired by him and ended up leaving my job shortly after. My brother and I decided to go all in and rent a studio/gallery space and I think a lot of parents would react with a little hesitstion/concern but Nancy didn’t skip a friggin beat and simply said “Well I’m happy about that!” Our mom has run her own perfume store since 1990 and our dad was an incredible abstract artist so I was so lucky to be raised by two beautifully passionate people who showed us how amazing following your own path can be. I really blame them.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I was younger my favorite thing to do was make tiny sculptures out of clay with sculpey clay, then in high school I played around a lot with real ceramics and loved it. I mostly made ceramic animals, which led to making my favorite animals- frogs. (Technically my favorite are toads but frogs are cuter, I don’t make the rules) So now my art leans on the cartoony side in the best ways. I went through a phase of making only frog things- bowls, cups, wall hangings. Now I’m in my car cup era. Car cups are my newest series of just super tall mugs that, you guessed it, fit in your car holder. I was sick of bringing my regular mug into the car and getting coffee literally everywhere and so Car Cup was born. They come in a ton of colors, most recently a beautiful blue that makes it look denim, us at the studio have been calling it the “Jup” or Jean Cup. I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am in the ease of making them without my studio friends. When I first joined the studio I was so scared of people commenting on my pieces/my technique being wrong that I would literally make all my pieces at home and just bring them in to be fired. WELL turns out you can totally do that but the growth happens in the studio. My mantra became “I am safe to be seen.” And VOILA! Studio members hit the scene. Studio babes Audrey and Kelly have been so major in this journey. SO many tips and tricks, some gentle suggestions, some not so gentle suggestions, but helpful and growth invoking nonetheless. The many members of Still Life have helped make me the artist I am today no doubt. There is never a drought positivity and it makes for the safest space. The encouragement you get from the members is what I hope everyone finds in their artistic field of choice

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As a midwest gal who still hasn’t gotten over the fact that I live where I can see the ocean every day, I would make a beach day the first thing on the list, I like to keep it pretty simple. I would head down to grab lunch on the way from either Sunny Blue or one of the best salad places around in my opinion, Alfalfa, both off Main Street in Santa Monica and head on down to the water. Another day would probably be spent on the east side either doing a lil hike during the day or grabbing coffee (I’m convinced coffee is better over there) but absolutely ending the night at Moonlight Roller Rink because your girl loves to skate. It’s not in the city but I love driving up to Topanga and taking friends in town to Cafe 27 because its like you’re having brunch in a fun treehouse and its’ such a fun drive to boot. I would also have to treat them to a Sunday morning Farmers market in Santa Monica with Barbara and Carmen. Barbara and Carmen have lived in Santa Monica for over 30 years and are electric women who are Santa Monica mavens. Barbara still does jazzercise 3 times a week and is the peppiest woman over 70 you will ever meet and Carmen will make you laugh the loudest you can laugh. My favorite Sundays are meeting them at the market, doing our shopping and then doing brunch at Shoops.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shout out is to Irma Starr! I have always been so inspired by her and was lucky enough to live in her neighborhood growing up. I got meet her and take a tour of her studio when I was younger of her studio and I was just so in awe. It was just a moment where I was like oh she’s doing exactly what I want to do and it was so substantial to see it was possible. She’s a terrific talent, has impeccable style and hands down has the best landscape in Kansas city.

Website: ewwwthatscute.com

Instagram: ewthatscute

Image Credits
Audrey Horner Photography