Today we’d like to introduce you to Layl McDill.
Layl, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in Gillette, Wyoming where I loved to make things- Smurf villages, crafts for 4-H, marionettes, and all my inventive clothing. I also ran an international sticker club which had over 250 members and sent out newsletters every month made on a photocopier.
I think this is where I earned to be an entrepreneur. I loved art class but I didn’t know that I could be a full-time artist so I decided to go to school for illustration with hopes of illustrating children’s books. In art school in Columbus, Ohio I was part of every extracurricular activity I could do including a community outreach program called “Color Wheels”. In this, I was able to create activities for children and the elderly. I soon found that making these kinds of mixed media art projects was the most fun thing I did in art school.
I also found that I could sell whatever I made at the annual school festival. When I graduated from art school in 1993 I was determined not to get a real job and try to make a living off of selling my art. I started doing art fairs all over the country and showing at galleries and art centers. I convinced my then-boyfriend, Josh Blanc to move to Minneapolis because my aunt who lived in St. Paul said there was. a lot of art there. She was more right than she realized.
We became very active in the arts community right away- joining arts organizations and starting new organizations when there wasn’t one already. We married in 1996 and started our business “Clay Squared to Infinity”- he creates handmade tile and I created sculptures from mixed media and polymer clay. So far I’m 31 years in and have not had a “real” job, it’s been a roller coaster but we now own our own arts building with another artist couple and I continue to show and sell my work all over the country.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey as an entrepreneur artist has been a constant struggle. I was very determined to live off as little as possible early on. I would shop at thrift stores and cook very economically, rarely eating out. We always planned our travel around a festival or a gallery exhibit.
One of our most challenging times was the recession in 2009-2011. I piled on the art fairs in 2009 – sometimes doing two festivals a weekend. It was such a stressful time that I ended up in the hospital with an autoimmune disorder in the fall. Then in 2011, we nearly closed our business down but my husband noticed all the empty storefronts in downtown Minneapolis so we opened a popup shop for November and December. We spent all our savings on our friend’s art and displays. By the end of November, we had broken even.
December started okay but not amazing and I thought I was finally going to have to get a job to make it through the winter. But the last ten days before Christmas were magical- all the business people downtown finally came in and bought everything we had- we made our entire profit for the year in those ten days! This is when I learned that you don’t have to just be frugal you need to be inventive and daring. We continue to have this as our model as we keep expanding our business to this day.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been working with polymer clay as my primary medium for many years. I have worked to master the technique of millefiori- layers of colored clay put together to create an image in the clay about the size of a paint can then I stretch this out to be about 20 feet where the image shrinks – every slice has a tiny picture. I use these slices to layer on my larger sculptures.
Sometimes I am just covering an object like a vessel or a teapot but I hope to transform that object into something new often animals, especially birds. In recent years, I have been adding in more mixed media – using found objects as a substrate to make large-scale animals- usually wall pieces. The themes of these pieces usually relate to environmental and social causes.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I think it is very important to find a mentor and network in your field. I have always done this by becoming part of an organization. Volunteering for a cause that is important to you is also very helpful.
This has been the key way that I have made most of my friends and gotten to know other artists. I also started my guild when there wasn’t one already. Being in a guild that is specific to my medium has helped me learn more about all the techniques out there to try even if I don’t do them all myself. When I first started as an artist I didn’t know much about the business side of art.
I didn’t know how to submit my work to galleries or how to file my taxes. The mentor that I found through a women’s art organization was extremely helpful. When I meet artists today that are starting I recommend asking other artists that you admire if they will mentor them. It can be casual or more structured.
You shouldn’t expect the mentor to give their time freely – ask if you can offer something in return- maybe you can help with something they need like social media or assisting with a project.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laylmcdill.com
- Instagram: @laylmcdill
- Facebook: @laylmcdill
- Linkedin: @laylmcdill
- Twitter: @laylm
- Youtube: @laylmcdill
- Other: www.claysquared.com
Image Credits
Madelina Keller
