Daily Inspiration: Meet Chrys Bonnay-Lewis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chrys Bonnay-Lewis. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Chrys has been a ceramic artist in the Detroit area since leaving her career as a metallurgist and mechanical engineer 20+ years ago. 

She studied at and graduated from College for Creative Studies before becoming a ceramics instructor at a number of Detroit colleges, universities, and non-profit education art studios. 

In 2021, she opened Chrys’ Porcelain as a working learning studio practice to promote her ceramic work and offer art instruction and experiences to people of all skill levels. 

Chrys exhibits her work nationally and internally and has been a fellow for the National Council for the Ceramic Arts Education. She designs and creates functional porcelain objects for an everyday chic lifestyle. 

Chrys’ studio is a busy, creative, safe space for all that want to explore the ceramic arts. 

Can you talk to us a bit 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 biggest challenge has been educating the consumer as to why artistic expression is an essential element to our everyday life and humanity. The arts do not get the favor they deserve as a valuable way to make and create a life. Overcoming that perception is a continual challenge since as children our artworks are posted proudly on the refrigerator, but are replaced with other school subject tests as soon as possible giving the child the perception that one school subject is more important than the other. As a result, many have the perception that they are not creative (when they are, but the creativity just hasn’t been nurtured) or the message is that it’s (artistic expression) less important than a career as an Engineer, etc. As an artist and engineer, I can see how one informs the other. And I challenge people to see artists and the act of creation from a view as shown in Raphael’s Italian Renaissance painting “The School of Athens” a fresco painted by Raphael (1509 – 11) which depicts scientists and artists on the same level, seen as equals working together to advance humanity. On the business end my other challenges relate to overall supply costs and shipping delays. The same struggles as most small businesses.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Chrys works with porcelain both on and off the potter’s wheel. She enjoys making porcelain functional objects that enhance our everyday chic lifestyles. 

Chrys has years of experience in educational studio settings, as a maker, educator, and manager. She has taught college courses, been an educational department head, and now teaches private ceramic lessons. 

With ample experience working and building different kilns in various studios, (Chrys is a master kiln builder and mold maker). she offers an opportunity for other artists, instructors, and studios to learn from her knowledge and studio experiences as a maker and educator. 

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Having the ability to take risks is essential to the creative process. When a ceramist runs the kiln or works with clay, the medium has a way humbling us and reminding us that within each so-called fail there are wins in the learning process. Ceramics, raising a family, and gardening all taught me patience but none of them would have happened without me taking the jump or risk. 

I’ve never thought of failure as a bad thing, I like to think that any failures or disappointments that I’ve experienced are wins in that I learn something and therefore I am evolving as a better maker, educator, and person. This process would not exist without taking risks. 

Moreover, every idea is just that until it’s explored, engineered, and created. The vision that we see in our minds when we start a project will evolve and change as we go through the process and taking the risk of failure. It’s only after trial and error that we can really know if it works as intended and that would not happen without risk. 

Pricing:

• Lessons are $30 per hour for adults
• Lessons are $45 per hour for children under 12.
• Pottery Parties (“Pot Parties”) begin at $30 per person.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.chrysbonnaylewis.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrysporcelain
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/functionalclay
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNNEKDVjvZUyjQA3aWSdEKQ
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@glammapotter

Image Credits
Chrys R. BonnayLewis