Interview with Amy Davis Roth

1. Can you share a little about what you do? 

I am a multimedia artist who runs a handmade ceramic jewelry business called Surly-Ramics ( https://www.etsy.com/shop/surly ) I am also a painter, illustrator and photographer. I am co-host of the podcast Makers' Hustle that talks about the business of being a maker. ( http://makershustlepodcast.com ) I just published the illustrated book called The Feel Good Bar and Grill - A Book About Robots You can Color.

2. What made you choose this career?

 I grew up in a family of women artists and was raised from a young age to be creative. I started out as a painter and graphic designer and at one point opened and ran my own art gallery. That business failed so I went on to try to find other ways to make money making art and that is when I started making jewelry. It has just been in the past few years that I returned to illustration and painting. I find those talents a bit harder to make money off of particularly because women are taken a bit less seriously as artists, We can be crafters, that is considered socially acceptable and respectable, one of the reasons my jewelry business does well, but breaking into 2D imagery for profit can be daunting as our work is often looked at like a hobby or not legitimate work.

3. How long have you been doing it? 

I have run my Jewelry business for ten years, I do illustrations and then make molds to create my jewelry but as I mentioned I was a painter before that so I have been creating art for about 20 years now.

4. Do you do your own illustrations or do you have help with them? 

I do all my own illustrations. I don't have any help with that.

5. If people wanted to purchase your work where can they do so? 

I'm everywhere on social media as @SurlyAmy and my website Surlyramics.com is a portal to everything I do, plus you can check out, https://www.redbubble.com/people/surlyamy, https://www.etsy.com/shop/surly and my recent book is available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2qWZnK2 I also have a patreon where I create art every week and sent out monthly stickers and other fun stuff to my patrons: https://www.patreon.com/SurlyAmy

6. Do you have anything new in the works?

 Yes! I am currently working on a short story about birds who live in a post apocalyptic future and make art out of the objects left behind by the humans. You can follow the progress of that book and get all the illustrations as free downloads by pledging to my patreon.