Today we’d like to introduce you to Camila Greco.
Hi Camila, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Art in all its mediums has always had a special place in my heart! My earliest memories are of exploring different materials and creating whatever came through my hands! I was born and raised in Brazil, where ceramics is not widely offered in schools. I’m not sure I would have ever been introduced to it in Brazil even with its rich ceramics culture! Luckily, my journey led me to the United States. I moved here as a child, and many years later, I had the chance to take a ceramics course in college. I was immediately hooked! Everything about it called me, the visceral feeling of clay in my hands, the freedom to create an object from absolute scratch, make mistakes, obsess over tiny details, use my fine motor skills, and creative expression in an endless array of techniques, I couldn’t get enough! I repeated the course at Eastern Florida State College as many times as I was allowed to!
Then life took a different, more logical turn, and I chose to serve as a Veterinary Nurse after college. I assisted in surgeries and nursed countless animals back to life until my creative urge incessantly called to me. Miraculously, ceramics came knocking at my door 11 years later! By complete happenstance, and through magical unforeseen forces, a position of potter’s apprentice came up at a local studio! I jumped ship from the veterinary world into this creative calling! I still can’t express just how grateful I am that I took that leap! Within just a couple of years, and with the support of family and friends, I began investing in my own studio equipment. I went through a period of having to convince myself that I was worth following my dreams and that I could create my life just as I create my art. Forward 3 years, and now I have my own home-based business, which gives me absolute creative freedom and flexibility to be with my kids and work from home!
I love everything about being a business owner in a field I am passionate about! I see the beauty in following a calling and exploring it to its full potential. I love to teach ceramics, I love to make ceramics, and I love enjoying the pieces that I create in my day-to-day life! I know it brings joy to myself, my family, and those that own my pieces and take my classes. There is so much beauty in making a real object appear out of the hidden world in our minds and dreams! My hope is that these pieces bring many people joy and that as I share my craft, more people may come to be inspired to find their own creative flow and trust their own inner creator!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There were many times when I doubted or ridiculed myself for dreaming that I could make a living out of this craft. I had to convince myself, to pay attention to signs that kept coming when I was feeling doubtful. For example, when I was having a fearful or doubtful, or regretful day, some big sale, deal, or teaching opportunity came along. I had to train myself to listen to those signs, and give them more credit than I was giving my doubts. There are still times when I let the weak thoughts get to me, and I have to consciously choose to overcome them with a positive outlook. I choose to believe that beautiful things, made from beautiful intentions have more power than negative ones. Sure enough, by some bigger forces outside of me, these choices continue to prove themselves through continuous successes.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I make handmade, slow-crafted, stoneware ceramics for the home, garden, and soul! I’d say my students know me by the connection, inspiration, and motivation they feel when we share time together. I enter a deep flow state when I create or teach and my pieces reflect the feeling I hold when creating them. I am most proud of being able to be true to my feelings and inspirations. I am always inspired by the natural surroundings of my homestead, all of nature’s patterns and colors, sounds and music, and even the nostalgic, tropical feelings of my home, Brazil!
So maybe we end by discussing what matters most to you and why?
I want people to know, or remember what it’s like to use an item that was made with intention, from a connected state of mind. I want everyone to reconnect with the simple and imperfect details of handmade. I wish the whole world would remember what it’s like to value something made from the heart vs. mass-manufactured, soul-less wares that are easy to discard and contribute to our planet’s declining state.
Contact Info:
- Website: greenbeeceramics.etsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenbee.ceramics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenBeeCeramics
Image Credits
Alexis De Lisle Photography
