A 26-inch ceramic flower with steel medallion by Spector Studios.
Photo courtesy of Spector Studios.
When you gaze at a clay object made by Spector Studios, you are seeing a contemporary piece of art with nearly visible roots to historical craft media, such as handmade tile, textiles, and architectural ornaments. The carved pattern on a sculpture may echo a Japanese oribe basket or a Morris Arts-and-Crafts-period wallpaper design. Adam and Sarah Spector love to take inspiration from history and transform these ideas into something modern that’s infused with nature.
For the past 15 years, this couple—business partners and husband and wife—have built a studio together and live together in the Finger Lakes region of New York, with frequent travel to art and craft shows. They have learned to divvy the workload and explore many different technical processes through the clay they love. Sarah says, “We’ve made so many different bodies of work…. It’s interesting to see how one body of work informs the next.”
Adam says that making new work is actually his favorite part. “I love experimenting with new techniques and processes,” he says. Sarah agrees that the new pieces are also her favorite, but because they “hold the most mystery and potential.”
The couple met at Alfred University. Adam studied ceramics as a teenager in a private studio and in his high school’s clay program. He said, “I knew early on that I wanted to do ceramics professionally. My parents were supportive and let me make a big mess in the downstairs storage room.” Before his junior year of high school, he participated in the summer program at the New York State College for Ceramics at Alfred and then he applied for early decision, and eventually completed his BFA with a concentration in ceramics.
Sarah knew she would be involved in an art field in some way, but as she says, “I didn’t think I would ever be a self-employed artist.” Her father has always been self-employed and she saw how hard he works. In high school, she fell in love with clay and decided to continue those studies at Alfred, graduating with a BFA. But it was Adam who showed her it was possible to be a self-employed artist. “He convinced me with his unending optimism,” she says with a smile and chuckle.
Their first projects were practical pieces such as kitchenware—bowls, plates, and serving pieces—with raised designs of flowers, birch trees, and leaves. Spector Studios sold these pieces at art festivals across the eastern United States and in art galleries and boutiques in 19 states from Rhode Island to California and by commission.
As the years went on, the couple’s work evolved to bigger projects, including sculptural porcelain ceramic pieces to hang on the wall. Big, hand-built flowers have been in demand from their customers. Sarah explains that the flowers are “made petal by petal from flat sheets of clay called slabs and assembled while the porcelain is still wet. We’ll often emboss the surface of the clay with patterns that we’ve hand carved…. When a piece comes out of the kiln for the first time, we decorate it using bottles filled with our glazes that we’ve formulated . We’ll then brush on a liquid wax over these accent colors and finally dip the piece in the main glaze color.” The wax burns off in the next and final kiln firing, so what remains are side-by-side glaze colors. Sarah admits that opening the glaze kiln when it is full of pieces “makes me a little giddy!”
“I love experimenting with new techniques and processes,” says Adam.
Sometimes the Spectors include steel elements in the porcelain sculptures. And often, they divide the work. Sarah loves drawing the outlines of each piece, carving new patterns and making the center of flowers. She also thrives on figuring out the technical challenges of how all of the different parts can go together. Adam does the texture grinding and patinas pieces. He also, according to Sarah, excels at coming up with new ideas and how to implement them. They both love having a partner with whom to brainstorm.
“Every so often, a piece will come out that you feel a strong connection to,” Sarah says. “When that piece goes home with someone that you can tell has an equally strong connection to your creation, it is magic.”
Yet both admit that sometimes separating work and home time can be difficult. “Communication is the key,” Sarah says. “Letting the other know it’s okay to talk about a to-do list or a technical question while you are weeding outside or are in the shower is important.” She admits that arguments happen when trying to make joint decisions, but that they try to move on from those quickly. “Inserting humor is important,” she says, as is taking some time out for themselves by exploring all kinds of foods and by hiking or trail running with their two dogs, a beagle/Lab mix named Chloe and a Boston terrier/chihuahua mix named Dexter. Adam, who plays guitar, has started learning flamenco, and Sarah practices yoga and meditates.
This time of year is extra busy for the couple since it’s the art and craft show season, and they travel to 20 shows within a nine-hour radius of their home. Shows are important, the couple jokes, because it forces them to “put on real clothes rather than our usual pajama-inspired studio attire.”
Sarah says that they enjoy the freedom that juried art shows give them. “We can follow our creative inclinations without restrictions.” They also enjoy seeing people’s reactions to their new ideas and work. “Every so often, a piece will come out that you feel a strong connection to,” she says. “When that piece goes home with someone that you can tell has an equally strong connection to your creation, it is magic.”
Of course, the success of a show depends on many variables such as the weather, events in the area going on simultaneously, booth location, and show advertising, but the Spectors think all of the packing, display and set up, and traveling are worth it, even though they miss the “furry little faces” of their dogs while they are gone.
Both are so grateful that they have found work they love to do, an audience for that work, and the opportunity to work together and live and love together, all at the same time. More of the work and its evolution can be viewed on their website or on Instagram @spectorstudiosporcelain.
Jill L. Ferguson
contributor
Jill is the author of ten books, an artist, editor, entrepreneur and consultant. She is the founder of Women's Wellness Weekends (www.womenswellnessweekends.
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