Today we’d like to introduce you to Jodi Younglove.
Jodi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was eighteen when I took my first pottery class as a college freshman for fun. Ceramics made me feel like I could make something, finely crafted, of lasting value to enjoy with those around me. I changed majors, changed schools, and started on a journey that led me to an M.F.A. in ceramics at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The year I received my degree, 1997, I started teaching. The 15 years that followed, I taught everywhere, private high school, community colleges, private college and at community arts centers. I finally landed at Fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles where I am the Program Director and teach 2 days a week. I built my studio in the basement of our small Sears kit home and am always looking for ways to expand it.
I generally spend the Summer months making functional ceramics for fine craft shows and the winter months making sculpture. Recently I started exploring combining throwing techniques with hand building. This has created a way of working that has freed my forms. I have always been interested in botanicals and am an avid gardener. The freedom I have found combining techniques has been a very fun and rewarding way to approach sculpture.
I have found great success selling locally. My functional pots are loved by the customers at the local French Market. My sculpture has been in multiple shows at Fine Line Creative Arts Center and regularly sells. While the Wheaton French Market has been very good to me, I have decided to focus on sculpture for the next year and have my sites set on the American Craft Exposition Show at the Chicago Botanic Gardens for 2019.
Has it been a smooth road?
When I first received my MFA, the only option for me was to teach. Thankfully, I was hired to teach at a Private High School, part-time. Because that job was part time I had to find other teaching opportunities and to make a living wage, I had 5 jobs at one point. Those jobs included teaching and curatorial work for a college gallery.
Space and time are other major challenges. I am so lucky that I am able to have a home studio but it was not easy building that studio. Now that I have it, making the time to be in it is my major challenge. Balancing being the Program Director at Fine Line, teaching and still maintaining a prolific studio regime is not easy.
Being in the studio, creating is the best time spent.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the J. L. Younglove Ceramics story. Tell us more about the business.
J. L. Younglove Ceramics was started as a functional ceramics business selling at Wheaton French Market and through my Etsy site, https://www.etsy.com/shop/jlyoungloveceramics. While I still sell on my Etsy site as pieces become available, just this year, I have decided to focus more on sculpture and sell at the high-end craft shows in the area. I am planning to apply for the American Craft Exposition for 2019.
My current sculpture is organic and botanical in nature. It evokes a sense of life and beauty. I use porcelain with underglazes, satin glazes, and china paints to create a lot of depth within the pieces. The “flower” parts and the pots are all thrown separately and attached while still wet. Each piece has 4 firings to achieve the different layers of color and depth.
Contact Info:
- Website: jodiyounglove.com
- Email: jyounglo@hotmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodiyounglove/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jlyoungloveceramics
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