Krista Grecco, Ceramics artist

Job: Ceramics artist, Decatur

What I do: Candy bugs are just the sort of study in contrasts that ceramics artist Krista Grecco creates.

"It's my way of taking something that's gross and making it attractive," said Grecco, 35. "Now somebody will want to have it in their kitchen."

She specializes in earthenware, porcelain sculpture and sculptural pottery. Her works on display at the Signature Shop & Gallery in Buckhead include sculptures of bugs, heads of women wearing unusual outfits and whimsical teapots.

She prefers to work in clay, because "you can do anything — make it look like metal or stone."

Grecco has a kiln in her studio — a garage-size building at her Decatur home. There, she also researches techniques and styles and constantly tests new glazes to find just the right color.

She also keeps an office there for the business side of selling her art and for her teaching jobs at Kennesaw State University and local art centers.

When she's not making art, Grecco said she is seeking inspiration. That can come from diverse sources, including the Atlanta Botanical Garden, television cartoons, candy or dainty antique figurines.

What got me interested in this: "I sort of fell into ceramics," Grecco said.

She always knew she was going to be either an artist or an actress. In college, however, the only art class that was open to her was ceramics, which she approached with trepidation because her ceramic artwork in high school was bad, she said.

But Grecco had a supportive teacher, who also inspired her to become a teacher herself. She took every ceramics class the college had to offer, then transferred to get more.

"I wish I had those old pieces from high school," she said, just to compare them with her work today.

Best part of my job: "There's a lot of room for creativity," Grecco said. There's also a lot of flexibility, which allows Grecco — who describes herself as a multitasker — to work on several projects at once.

Most challenging part: "You have to learn to manage your time," she said. "Making something with ceramics takes time," including making the piece, firing it, glazing, firing again and letting it cool. Even when there are deadlines for shipping her work to galleries or shows, she has to allow for accidents. "Clay can crack; things can break," she said.

What people don't know about my job: "Being an artist is not therapeutic. To me, it's a job."

And it's more than just creating art, she added. She also has to run a business, market her work to shows and galleries, and balance her budget.

"Some people think it's romantic. It is — if you're not trying to live off it," she said.

What keeps me going: "The support of my family and partner," she said.

Grecco added that teaching helps her to stay current with trends, methods and new artists as well as to try new things. "Encouraging [my students] to experiment encourages me to experiment. When I see students break the rules, I see that I don't need rules."

Preparation needed for this job: In addition to artistic talent, you need to spend time in a studio to work on your art, Grecco said.

While a college degree isn't required to be an artist, going to college gives a person a great deal of studio time.

You also have to have a thick skin to deal with critics and rejections by galleries — and then have the ability to learn from those experiences.

Grecco has a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Alfred University in New York and a master's degree in fine arts from Ohio State University. She is a part-time assistant professor at Kennesaw State and has taught at Denison University in Ohio, Ohio State and the Cleveland Institute of Art in addition to art centers around Atlanta.

Her work has been exhibited in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Calif., and Switzerland.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.

CORRECTION

In the June 24 Why I Love My Job feature on the biplane pilot, the correct word for stunts performed in the plane is "aerobatics."