Meet Gabrielle Gewirtz | Artist, teacher and Graphic Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gabrielle Gewirtz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gabrielle, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?

I never thought about work/life balance until I met my husband – 17 years ago – when he pointed out I was working 6 days a week and sleeping 5 hours a night. At the time I was pursuing music and running a graphic design business and working for another branding company. Once he pointed this out to me – I realized I had to make a change.

Today I run our graphic design business, Inside Wide,  while also focusing on ceramics, as well as teaching ceramics – but with quality of life being at the forefront of everything. We moved to Colorado 11 years ago, from New York City, so we could play more outside. This move brought ceramics back into my life because of the studio at the Gilpin Rec Center. (I did my undergrad in studio art focusing on ceramics)  The move also gave me the ability to work from anywhere (for my design business) – and so we go on work/play road trips – where we discover new places and spend half the day working and half the day exploring – could be snowboarding or hiking depending on the season. We will take off from a week to up to a month at a time. If we go overseas – it is at least for a month.

When my husband sees I am working too much again (I am a workaholic in everything) – he gently points this out to me and I make sure to find my way back to a feeling of balance. (my husband is also an artist, a surrealist painter).

Balance to me is taking time to get outside, whether hiking or snowboarding. To also do the more artistic side of clay – experimenting and playing with the material and color, as well as letting myself read or watch something (like netflix) – which I don’t do often.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I did my undergrad with a focus in ceramics at Hunter College, in NYC. The woman who ran the department, Susan Peterson, let me become a TA within my first year of being in the department. I had two of the most incredible teachers, Bruce Dehnert and Bill Shillallies, who both encouraged experimentation: Learn to use the material and let your creativity shine. I was a sculptor in school – not a potter – in fact, I was horrible at throwing, BUT I could hand-build anything.

I was also really fortunate to have parents (I had 3) – who encouraged me to pursue anything creative, as long as I could support myself. My stepmom hired me to work as a design assistant – which is how I learned about graphic design, and while working I went to school for clay and performed as a singer/songwriter at night at the cafes and small venues in NYC.

When I graduated from Hunter, I was also painting at the time – and had to give up clay because I could not find a studio I could afford to join. I worked building my graphic design business, freelancing at the time, painting and singing. I spent 10 years pursuing music – touring and recording, while also doing design. Every once in a while Bill (Shilallies, my teacher from Hunter) would invite me to come to wherever he was teaching at the time (on Long Island) – and would let me play with clay and help around the studio.

In 2008 right after I met my husband – who was also a graphic designer, the recession changed a lot of things. I stopped performing as much, stopped recording, I lost my permalance design gig, and a few of my other clients went under. David and I decided we would start our own design company, find our own clients and partner with them. This is my current company, Inside Wide Design.

I love people and networking…I am a social butterfly. I love creating connections between people. So using these traits, I built a successful graphic design/web development company. The balance of large and small clients keep it interesting. The intention of not getting too big because we want to be able to play (there’s that balance) – made me learn how to say no to projects (once we got our momentum) that I did not find fun or financially viable for us.

When we decided to move to Colorado, we did not tell anyone for the first two years – to see if anyone would notice we were no longer in NYC (no one did). During this time I found the clay studio at the rec center in Gilpin, met Steve Briggs, and totally became re-obsessed with my first creative love – clay. I started throwing – and with Steve’s guidance – I got really good at it. SO I started making functional pieces more than sculptural ones.

Two years after I joined the studio Steve asked if I would be interested in Teaching. It turns out – I love teaching – but it’s not just about teaching folks how to use clay as a medium, but how to release their own creativity, to show them that they can do anything with clay – to give them the space to experiment and explore the same way it was given to me. To witness their “AHAAA moments” is the biggest gift. It has been an absolute blast to share my successes and failures with the medium with my students and to learn from them when they discover new things. That is what is so great about ceramics – no two people do it the same way. Even if we all learn the same techniques – every person approaches it differently. It’s fascinating, and inspiring.

I love design as well – but it does not have the same continuous spontaneity and serendipity that clay has.

I call myself the imperfectionist – because i don’t want to be bound by any set of rules outside of what is absolutely necessary for pieces to reach their finished state. No two pieces I create are exactly alike. Everything is free-hand drawn. I use colors that feel right together in the moment. I hand-build, throw on the wheel, combine both techniques, pushing my limits, which keep changing as I learn more, trust more, leap more.

I started doing art fairs sometime in 2017, sharing my imperfect and colorful pieces. I started submitting to juried exhibitions as well – getting into things like the Denver Art Students League’s Delectable show, and the High Peaks Art Festival. I also joined the Mountain Artisans Guild – which Steve Briggs introduced me to and participated in their Spring and Holiday Festivals. My most recent fair was Boulder Mountain Handmade this past November.

When COVID hit, and everything closed (and I had to go to NYC to take care of my mom – who was very ill at the time) – I did not realize how prepared my husband and I were for something like this. We already worked from wherever we were for years. I was able to take care of my mother & keep running and growing my business. 2020 was an incredible year for our design business. Projects people had put off because they had no time…businesses they always wanted to start…they reached out to me to see if we could take care of them.

When I came back to Colorado (in October 2020) the rec center was closed. I have a small studio in my house (the size of walk-in closet – but it’s my sanctuary) where I do all my glazing – and had JUST gotten a used wheel earlier in the year, but I had no kiln. I decided it was time to finally get my own – and bought a used one from another local potter, Bri Raushbaum of Spinning Silica in Nederland. My friend helped me wire up the electricity, and install it in my garage. Once I had my own kiln, my work started to change even more. The freedom to make as much as I wanted and play with firing schedules – it was explosive to my creativity.

I started posting more and more of my work online – and commissions started coming in from business owners like The Stage Stop and Melt Coffee in Rollinsville, and The Very Nice Brewery in Nederland – and also from interior designers. Each commission shifts how I work and look at clay. It feels like I am in school with each new ask – how can I make this work, have it be beautiful and make the client happy. It’s like my design business – but with my favorite medium.

I am about to teach a new month long class for advanced students this winter, and in the spring a month-long sculpture class. I have commissions I am working on for a business, for someone in Canada, for someone in NY, our design business is going great. We are doing work for companies in Colorado, NYC, California and Utah. We get to barter with local business as well when they want to. Life isn’t perfect – would we know it if it is? But what my little bubble of a world is – is pretty awesome. I even get to sing once in a while with friends again.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I am a mountain girl now – so if I do venture to a city – it’s usually Boulder, and I always take folks to the Dushanbe Tea house for lunch, AND if they like clay – I take them to the Boulder Pottery Guild and the Pottery Lab.

Most of our friends that come to visit, want to be outside. I take them hiking or if in the winter, snowshoeing or to Loveland to ski/snowboard. So for a week long trip we build up their hiking ability at our altitude – starting on less elevation gain hikes and then slowly go higher and longer. We live right near the Moffat Tunnel, Brainard Lake recreation area, Golden Gate Canyon State Park, and Indian Peaks Wilderness – – there is A LOT to do right by our house. You can even climb up to Rollins Peak just by walking out the door.

I take everyone to Nederland, to walk around, drink at one of the breweries, usually the Very Nice, since they have gluten reduced beer (I am GF) – and maybe over to Kathmandu or Crosscut Pizza to eat. Tres Gringos is pretty great too – depending on my guest’s food preference. AND I make everyone ride the Carousel of Happiness.

We call our house Camp GADA – where everyone comes to play. Both my husband (he’s from Spain) and I are really into cooking, and I also bake a lot – so we feed everyone pretty well when they are here. If we do go out to eat, it’s usually only once or twice during a visit. I also offer to do clay projects with visitors if they want – if I am teaching they can sit in on my class too (that’s always a lot of fun). People leave tired and happy.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

First shoutout – my husband, David Serrano. He has encouraged me in my artistic pursuits without every holding me back. He is also my support in my design business and partners with me on projects when I need him to. He also encourages me in all the sports I love – most recently rock climbing.

Steve Briggs, who runs the Gilpin Pottery Studio, in the Gilpin Rec center. He gave me a place to find my way back to clay and then encouraged me to start teaching – which I love.

There are more folks – I have had incredible mentors across all the the areas I love. But these two, at this moment in time, are at the top of my list.

Website: gabart.co (ceramics site) insidewide.com for design (it’s so woefully out of date – so you may not want to share)

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabartceramics/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielleg/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabrielle.gewirtz/ or https://www.facebook.com/gabartco/