Artist of the Week: Hana Brewster

Posted by Christy Eriksen · July 12, 2019

"Try not to get discouraged if something doesn’t turn out how you envisioned. If you look at your “messed up pieces” with a fresh perspective, you might find you actually like them even though you planned on something different."

Presenting our Kindred Artist of the Week series! We are big fans of all the artists we work with and we are so excited to share their stories!

This week’s featured artist is Hana Brewster, the one woman show behind Quiet Clementine. We love the playful, colorful, energetic nature of her work - receiving a new batch feels like opening up a box of ear candies!

Who are you?

My name is Hana Brewster and I’m the owner and maker of Quiet Clementine, a line of colorful ceramic jewelry and decor pieces. I live in Arkansas with my husband and work out of a spare bedroom in our home.

What do you do?

I create ceramic jewelry and small decor pieces inspired by vibrant color palettes and playful patterns. In the last year and a half, statement earrings have become a large part of what I make.

Who/what inspires you?

Color, geometric forms, and simple repeating patterns are the main inspirations behind my work. Playing with different combinations of all three of those elements provides endless possibility to create different designs. Sometimes I take earring pieces that haven’t been assembled, lay them next to each other to see how different color combinations work together, and end up discovering new shapes and designs that I haven’t thought of before. I love how such small pieces can allow for so much variation and that new ideas can sometimes be accidental. Hopefully that means I won’t run out of them!

What’s your favorite moment in the process?

During the actual making process, I love the glazing phase. My forms are fairly simple, so my pieces really come to life once I apply the surface designs. Other than that, I love the moments when I open a glaze or a gold luster firing. It’s so fun to open the kiln and see all of the color and shiny gold pieces waiting for me.

What’s a trick of your trade, or a piece of advice for other artists in your medium?

Clay and glazes have a mind of their own, so make test tiles of your glazes to see how they look so you don’t mess up something more important. Also, learn to be patient and enjoy the process. Ceramics is slow and labor intensive, taking several weeks just to complete one piece, even something as small as a pair of earrings. The process is fun and seeing those finished pieces at the end of it can be really exciting, and sometimes, disappointing. Try not to get discouraged if something doesn’t turn out how you envisioned. If you look at your “messed up pieces” with a fresh perspective, you might find you actually like them even though you planned on something different.

What’s next?

I’m always thinking of new earring designs, so definitely creating more of those. I recently started working with a speckled stoneware clay and I’m looking forward to experimenting with it more. It’s so different than my white clay and the glazes react differently since it fires at a much higher temperature, so I still have some testing and learning to do. It gives my pieces a different feel, but my colors and patterns help connect it to my usual work. I’m so excited to see what I can create with it!

See more of Hana's work here!

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