Danielle McDaniel, aka The Clay Lady, shows us the role rituals can play in business, life, and art.
Danielle McDaniel, also known as The Clay Lady, believes that rituals are not habits, traditions, or routines: rituals are a series of steps taken intentionally to create a safe stable and sacred moment to connect with your creative energy and flow. Leading us through her creative journey, from teaching children and having clay parties to owning and expanding The Clay Lady Campus to over 500 creatives, Danielle shows us how rituals have played a role in both her business and personal life. She walks us through her goal setting ritual, a practice she’s used for decades, to help give direction to big dreams, always keeping her mission and needs for balance, life-long learning, and creative family at the forefront. By creating this sacred space, we open ourselves to the ability to listen as well, taking in signs from the universe that we’re moving in the right direction.
About the speaker
Although Danielle McDaniel~The Clay Lady® is best known since 1982 for a clay teaching program in the schools of middle Tennessee and The Clay Lady Way® teaching modality for art teachers nationally, it has always been her dream to create a community of artists in a supportive, mentoring and educational environment. In 2007, Danielle and Tami Archer purchased Mid-South Ceramic Supply and merged The Clay Lady’s products and educational outreach into a facility on Lebanon Pike.
In 2011, the business acquired an adjacent 10,000 square foot building and created The Clay Lady’s Artist Co-op & Galleries to expand the educational outreach to emerging and professional artists.
The Clay Lady’s Artist Co-op & Galleries is a 10,000 square foot building providing studio space and gallery opportunities in a mentoring, supportive and educational environment. We are committed to create a community of artists who support one another to succeed individually as we facilitate a love for creativity in ourselves, our friends and family and our city. We sustain this commitment by sharing resources, experience and opportunities. We expand this commitment with four community outreaches per year to create the energy of giving which is at the heart of cooperation.
In 2013, a third building was acquired and opened as a co-op for art businesses, Studio B. The addition of the third building to an already thriving community created the need brand not just the businesses but the location as a destination for artists and art enthusiasts. The Clay Lady’s Campus is the home to The Clay Lady’s Studios, The Clay Lady’s Artist Co-op & Galleries, Mid-South Ceramic Supply and a dozen small art businesses in Studio B.
The Clay Lady’s Campus is home to 45 on premise artists, over 65 Co-op members, 125 students enrolled in on-going pottery classes, and hosts 100-200 children field trips per week. Annually, we host 4-6 community outreaches, 6 gallery shows, 6 weekend workshops and host 4 Co-op events. We rent our Campus out to art programs for workshops, conferences and events; ARTable, Tennessee Craft workshops and events, Potter’s Council Conferences, VSA and have even had a couple of weddings in our courtyard.
We honor our local, regional and national clay artists with shows and workshops. We host community outreaches to share our abundance and our commitment. We offer our campus for other programs to grow and connect with the community.
We invite anyone to visit us or join us and see what happens when artists create together!
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