Social Responsibility: Arc Solutions

As my wife and I continue to develop and launch JARPottery, we continually look for creative ideas and good partners. While brainstorming about ways to take this business, we wanted to do something that gave to the community and helped the world around us. We chose to partner with Arc Solutions because we believe in who they are and what they are doing. Arc Solutions was birthed from fellow Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) Alumni to actually do something about the problems in the world. Christian Taylor founded Arc Solutions to tackle the issue of lack of clean water that over 700 million people don't have. This lack of clean water causes many preventable deaths. 

I first heard about the need for clean water while attending Taylor University. I learned about the lack of clean water and the diseases it leads to and how preventable it is. I supported different projects to filter water. This passion of mine died down and was dormant until I heard Christian speak at a BSSM Alumni meeting telling about his non-profit and the work he is doing in war torn countries. 

It is inspiring to hear about what normal people do to change the world, but I didn't think or really know how to partner with them. While talking with a mentor of mine and he sharing about some of his business, he off-handedly suggested about doing some kind of social product like Toms Shoes. Immediately my wife and I ran with it and we knew who exactly to partner with: Arc Solutions. We believe in having a global impact no matter how small we may seem and so we decided to make our Signature Mugs the flagship for this partnership. We wanted to say that JARPottery is not just a creative business, but a socially responsible one as well. 

To support this endeavor all you need to do is buy one of our signature mugs. 1 mug gives access to clean water for 1 person. 4 mugs would give a family of four access to clean water. Head over to our store to purchase your mugs and help solve this problem of clean water. 

For more info about clean water and Arc Solutions, go to www.ilovearc.org. 

How I Got Started in Clay

When I was a kid in first grade, art was my favorite class and Legos where my favorite toy. I loved playing and creating. However, it was a short-lived passion. I hated art for the next 9 years or so. I was a math guy. I liked to read but my favorite subject beside recess was math. So, how did I get into art? How did I decide to get my degree in art? What made me want to start a pottery business?

In elementary school you had to take art classes. I didn’t really enjoy it after first grade. The only thing I remember creating that I liked was drawing my Rebook basketball shoe in fifth grade. I didn't realize it at the time, but that assignment to draw my shoe was a set-up.

In sixth grade, we had to choose an elective class for seventh and eight grade and art was one of those options. None of them really interested me but to get into the art elective you had to try out by drawing a shoe. Aha! I knew I could do that, so I drew my shoe again and got in.

Once I got to high school, I was getting bored with art classes. I still didn’t like it. I was just doing it because I knew I would be good at it. My intro to art class my freshman year was awful. I wanted to quit. I was going to quit. My freshman year was going to be my last year doing art.

Somehow I was convinced to take one more art class my sophomore year. (I think my parents were involved in that). I decided to take Intro to 3D Art. I was hooked. From the moment my hands touched the clay, I felt I could begin to manipulate art the way I wanted. I loved using my hands, feeling the unlimited potential I could create with clay. You see pen, pencil, paint, chalk, they were all too distant for me. I needed to be in the art. I needed to wear the art, to use my hands to move and shape the things I desired.

My teacher, Mr. Holmes, saw this spark of flame and breathed passion into it. Holmes was by far the coolest teacher in school. He was laid back, let you do what you want, and helped you at each step of the way. Over the next three years, I found myself leaving other classes to go to the art room, staying after school to finish art projects. However, this passion could easily have ended when I graduated high school, but Holmes saw the potential in me, and said, “I don’t say this to everyone, but you, you could make it doing art. You have what it takes.”

It was those words, it was his belief in me that made me want to do this, that made me believe I can do this. The clay was already in me, flowed through my veins, but it was Holmes who breathed life into that passion, who gave me the assurance that I had what it took.