Featured Artists Start’s Arts

Clay, we play with it when we are little, squishing it around in our hands and creating fantasy worlds for hours at a time. Our mothers find globs of dried clay under the furniture embedded in her cookie cutters; but as we grow our clay becomes a thing of the past. Well, not for everyone!

Beverley Start was always surrounded by creativity thanks to her mom who loved both craft and music.  She currently lives in Kingston ON Canada with her girlfriend of 3 years and their furry kids.  She enjoys a quiet life writing, biking, playing guitar and coffee!  She found that as a tactile person, working with her hands was as natural as breathing; so much so that Beverly spent some time as a pastry chef at True Confections Dessert Restaurant in Vancouver BC!  She worked her magic on pastry and other confections much to the delight of her customers. Beverly also was a Plastics Research Technologist at Polymer Engineering Company…how do these two jobs work together?  Polymer clay artist!

Beverley loves the fact that clay can take on any shape or form or texture she is in the mood for.  The colors keep her eye fascinated and the results are amazing.  She did not set out on this path of poly clay artist but was given a necklace by a friend made of the stuff and she could not believe it.  After hours of YouTube videos she was off to buy clay for herself and Start’s Arts was born.

This talented artist jumped in with both feet after finding her passion for clay, selling right off the bat so that her customers could see the development of an artist as she learned and grew. Beverley sells her creations at a couple of local shops and loves to hear the praise for her growth from her customers.  She also sets up as local craft fairs so that she can get face to face feedback as well as seeing the look of awe when she explains that her treasures are not painted, but in fact created with colored clay!  There is something very rewarding about talking about your process and Beverley has turned it into an art.  She admits, however, that there is a downside to selling her treasures, and that is when she has to let a favorite piece go to its new home with its happy owner.  She admits getting attached to certain pieces as I’m sure most artists can understand.

Beverley is encouraging to all those that are thinking of joining us in selling their own handmade creations as advises them to jump into a local craft fair or two.  The face to face conversations will help you grow as an artist and provide much valuable feedback.  She also puts in a plug for joining a forum like the HandmadeArtists where feedback and encouragement from other creative people fuel the fire to create and help ground you when you are going in the wrong direction.

If you are new to Polymer Clay art or think you have seen it all, I will encourage you to check out what can come from this imaginative lady!  Think back to your younger days playing with clay and then check out what a talented artisan can do with it!  Start’s Arts is easily found on the HandmadeArtists as well as on Facebook, and Twitter.

Tags: artisan, Creative Handmade Artisans, handcrafted, Handmade, jewelry, pendants, polymer clay

Posted in Featured Vendor