Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Clark.
Caroline, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Raised in the woods of rural South Carolina, I have always been immersed in nature and the cycles of birth, decay, and renewal. As an experienced-educated sculptor, this environment continues to inform my work in wood, ceramic, and polymer clay. I have always loved art and had taken a pottery class here and there over the years in community art centers, but don’t have a formal art education. I always considered myself more of a “maker” than a Capital-A-Artist, dabbling in embroidery, repurposed furniture design, and whatever else caught my attention. After my son Taran was born in 2016, postpartum depression robbed me of my desire to create, and I profoundly felt the loss of that part of my identity. When he was 2, my son developed an obsession with coral reefs, and as we read, watched, and listened to everything we could about them, the beauty, savagery, and essentialness of the reefs took root in my brain and I felt ready to create again. When the pandemic hit, I learned through experience how to carve wood and sculpt with polymer clay.
In 2021, after a decade of living in New York City and three years in the Lowcountry, my husband, son, and I moved back to my childhood home in Lugoff to care for my parents and build a home among the pines that nurtured my imagination as a child. I began taking ceramics classes at the Arts Center of Kershaw County in earnest and in January of 2022, joined Soda City Market and sold my first piece.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The changes that came with becoming a mom have been the biggest struggle for me. My postpartum depression was obviously a huge difficulty, but the loss of free time and mental bandwidth that come with a child also made it difficult for me to create. Now that my son is older, we work on projects together and he’s my biggest cheerleader. My husband Josh is incredibly supportive in giving me time to create in isolation as well as go out into the world to share and sell my work.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a sculptor, creating in wood, ceramic, polymer clay, and found items. Most of my work is functional art; jewelry, ceramic mugs, and repurposed vintage glassware feature heavily. My work focuses on the relationship between decay and rebirth, utilizing playful integration of the imagined and real and settling firmly in the tradition of Magical Realism.
I believe in magic. Not the potions and poof! kind, not the creation of another more beautiful and mysterious world, but the deep and unshakable knowledge that this, our world, is more extraordinary, strange, and awe-inspiring than any I could create. My work highlights that magic, refines and amplifies it, creating a world nestled into the fabric of our own.
How do you define success?
I’ve been working on unlearning the traditional definition of success (make money, buy stuff, be “better” than other people in your field) in favor of an idea of success as feeling content with how I spend my days. Do I look back at the day and feel that I’ve helped someone, contributed in a positive way, made time for the people I love and activities that bring me joy? If so, I am successful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.revisioniststudio.art
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/revisioniststudio
- Other: www.etsy.com/shop/RevisionistStudio
