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Marsha Neal Studio Blog
Marsha's Garden Blog
A Blog For My Mom

I would have to say that most recently in my life, there are a few key things that are influencing my current body of work since 2007:
1. My love of nature, doodling, texture, and color (1975 – present)…
2. Becoming a mother to Chloe (December 2007)…
3. Shockingly losing my mom to Leukemia (September 2007)…
4. Realizing that I love my husband more and more every day. Not in the cheesy way, but in the: I am honored to be in your life & I like to look at you and “see” the person that you are, and love you more for it every day…
5. Thinking about relationships in my life – the good and not so thrilling to deal with ones…
6. Wondering how to get out of this “bubble” I feel I’ve been in for a few years now. How did I let so much pass me by? And how can I catch up…

So here is a little about me so far in my life…

I was born in New Castle County, DE in 1975, which makes me just about 34 years old. Family history is a bit broken up and too complicated to explain. Divorced family, lots of family members, lots of family drama (what else would you expect), so poor at times we qualified for free lunch & food stamps. Started working in high school to try to get out of the house (boyfriend & work in high school – barely remember life at home – didn’t really want to – I felt trapped at home). I was a fairly average student in school. I put myself through college full time while working 2 to 3 part time jobs. I have only had a few jobs, but they lasted a long time: retail sales (Sears), bartending (where I happened to meet Dave), and teaching children about art and nature.

I have always had a bit of a controlling obsessive personality, although I do try to think about the “shoe on the other foot” in every situation to make the best of things. I have learned that is ok to make mistakes, and that being wrong is something I may not like, but can admit to because it almost always helps resolve a situation. And when I get into a mood, let the person on the other end know that I’m a little out of sorts and dealing with something – so I apologize ahead of time for “the mood” while I’m working it out.

In recent years, I have made attempts to listen more than I used to. I have had way too many foot-in-mouth situations that I just got sick of hearing stupid comments come out of my mouth then wondering “where did that come from” or “that could be taken in such the wrong way”. Maybe it is an “age” thing but I find that I become a stronger believer in myself and my decisions as I listen to others ramble on and think – when will they figure out it is better to keep quiet and listen sometimes. I try not to get on defense unless I really need to. I’m a Taurus – grounded and pretty easy going. But watch out if you piss me off. I truly go by my heart, and my head often follows well behind. I have a hard time lying and you can often read me by my expressions. I wear everything on my sleeve.

And nowadays, more than anything, I love to be with Dave and Chloe. We laugh and enjoy each other constantly…

About my artwork & how I got here:
I two degrees from the University of Delaware:
1. BS in Entomology (Insects) concentrating in Wildlife Conservation in 2000
2. MA in Ceramics in 2001

I fell in love with clay after taking an elective course as an undergrad in the spring of 1997. I will always thank Steve Erikson for telling me “you know, you’re pretty good at this. You should consider taking the next level course”. He was the first “professional” person in my life to ever tell me to continue with something that I absolutely loved. I guess he could see into my work and how much I enjoyed being in the studio. And I will always remind Dave that he was the one person that encouraged me to sign up for the ceramics class in the first place. No matter how messy our house (studio) gets…

The logical person inside my head told me that if I truly wanted to work with clay after graduation, I would need to have a product to sell that I enjoyed making and could enjoy the production of it. So I started with Vases & Tiles. This didn’t get me too far and with school loans going into repayment, I got a job working with Dave’s parents in their lighting business office. It was a great job with wonderful people and I learned a lot about running a business – on the customer service end of things. My friend Corky taught me a lot. There was a 50-year difference in our ages, but we were “sister-like friends”. I always said she was like a warm knife through butter and could get through any situation by calming people down then getting things figured out. She always encouraged me to pursue making my artwork – especially once I started making the pendants from tiles. She always nudged me towards having others help me out with production so I could be the “artist” and come up with new stuff.

During this same time period, I was working at the Urban Environmental Center in Wilmington, DE. I taught Art & Nature classes, mainly to children. And I loved everything about it. I always felt energized after teaching a class. The women that run the UEC and that go there for clay classes have always made me feel like I was on a pedestal with my clay work. And for that I will always be grateful!

My first bead show was Bead Fest Philadelphia in October 2003. Since then my line of pendants has developed and is constantly changing. I am adding new shapes, textures, and glaze colors. And of course, for beaders – more holes to hang more beads from…

Soon after, I started to do more bead shows, taking about a year to really get into the bead show circuit. After deciding to sell my pieces at The Manning House Bead Show in Tucson during February of 2005, I really started to hit the mainstream bead market. A lot of this is because people were making finished jewelry and getting it published in magazines, and giving Marsha Neal Studio the credit for the focal pendant. And because I started to advertise in many of the main beading magazines, people would come up to me and tell me that they saw my ad – some even wanted pictures taken… Pretty funny actually...

I ran the business for a few years where I did shows on the weekends and production during the week. I got so busy with orders and sales I had to hire some ceramic artist friends to help me with production. I think at one point there were 5-7 people helping me out.

Now you would think that running a business like this would be bringing in a lot of monies… but truth be told, this is where I am not all that great with business. Mind you – we take the deductions, and when there is a large “profit” we’ll be getting slammed with taxes. It was like I was running on full speed ahead, and burning myself out to do for others – which was doing for myself, because I like making pieces for people to make jewelry with. I liked being able to say that I was able to help my friends make money so they wouldn’t have to get a “regular” job outside of working with clay. And as Dave says, I would give things away if I could. I love seeing people happy… 

By late 2005 I was really starting to burn out with all the shows. Enter my friend Darlene. She and I shared ceramic studio space at UD as undergrads. I was always impressed by her knowledge of metal smithing, jewelry making, art interests, dedication to what she was doing, and her ability to juggle working and going to school together. She worked at an upscale restaurant in Wilmington, and I remember always being impressed at her ability to up-sell anything (the __ wine goes great with the ___ food: but in a fancy way). The conversations we had left me a little “huh – that sounds fancy – and I’m so impressed and sold on it that if I were a table you were waiting on, I’d take that one you just suggested”.

Needless to say, in December 2005 when Darlene and I ran into each other again, I immediately asked her if she would be interested in helping me run my bead show tables. She said yes, and since then, she has taken almost all the shows off my hands and they are now being run through her business D7 Studio (she travels to bead shows and sells artist beads and jewelry designing components). The selection of artist work she has is quite wonderful – and she is always looking for new stuff to sell to keep the show tables fresh and exciting. She has one of the best “must see” tables at bead shows (as do a couple of other friends: Allene’s Beads and Joan Miller Porcelain).

So that brings me to 2006. Dave and had moved into a bigger house because my studio had been taking over the townhouse. I wanted lots of gardens with some woods where we could spend lots of time exploring with our future children. We have a house that was built in the mid-80’s and has been dubbed “the money pit” by Dave. I am just now – mid 2009 starting to really feel like I can get settled into the house (4 years after moving in…). I have been in a “bubble” for a few years with my mom – whom was in general, a healthy person, becoming sick in mid 2006 – not feeling quite herself through the end of 2006. Then being diagnosed in Jan 2007 with Acute Mylinear Leukemia with Trilinear Dysplasia (AML). At the time she was diagnosed, the Dr. had mentioned that she had a 20% chance of making it suggested that she take part in a study to try a test treatment that if she responds well to it, it may help her. She fought a long and hard battle but died in September 2007. She ended up dying from pneumonia and sepsis due to underlying Leukemia. Basically her body was shutting down and she couldn’t breathe on her own. About a week before she died, she had seizures and went into a coma.

I think going through this with someone really makes you realize how hard it is to take a stand and fight something like cancer. And how brave people can be at times. It is hard to imagine anyone of us going through life, not having to deal with cancer of sorts at one time. So it is important to try your best to avoid coming into direct contact with things that cause cancer. They never said what caused her cancer, but from what I read, it seems like chemical exposure is the leading cause for her kind of Leukemia. She ran a nail salon type business from some of the various houses we lived in growing up with poor ventilation – if any. And direct contact with a lot of liquid materials that had some nasty stuff in them is probably what caused her illness. Maybe it was something else – or a combination of things…

Chloe was born soon after my mom died. My mom, when she was feeling somewhat ok, would rub my belly and talk to Chloe. She even got a kick from Chloe late one evening in August, a week before her seizures started to take her.

Becoming a mother without your mom is something I never imagined I would have do. Never in a million years would I have guessed my life would have taken that turn. But it is what it is… And in the last year and a half I’ve adjusted to my new life without my mom, and as a mom myself. It has been very hard at times, especially with it seeming like a time in my life where all mother figures that I’ve know are distant, going away or gone. My core group of mother figures I now have in my life are my sisters and my friends. I had never really thought that would be the way, but I’m happy to acknowledge it, and want to focus on thanking them for their support and guidance. It is true that change is a big part of life – often unexpected.

So this is the bubble I’ve been in for the last couple of years. And now I am feeling a bit refreshed and ready to start to rediscover what it is that I want to do. The slowing of the economy has been a bit of a relief to the creative side of me because there is a lesser pull and demand for my work. I’ve got enough stock made up to allow me to glaze up orders while working on new ideas.

I have started to get back to my doodles and drawings. Inspirations, which had fallen by the wayside in the past 2+ years, are slowly coming back into focus. I’ve now got a Mac, and soon hope to have an iPhone to keep me up with technology and my recent addictions: Blogging, reading blogs, Facebook, Etsy, and sharing pictures.

My clay focus has taken a bit of a back seat – in the way that I want to get my brain into order and inspired. There is so much mixed media out there that I’ve always loved looking at and have had ideas for – but have never done things. So maybe a mixture of work – refocusing and expanding in new directions…

In time this part of my life will be a memory and an influence for what is to come. I hope to enjoy it and share it with everyone…

Thanks for your time in reading this! Keep being creative in little ways every day to make things special!

Marsha Neal Studio © 2012