When the global COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Erin McSweeny ('26) knew it was finally time to bet on herself.

After the company she worked for went out of business, McSweeny decided to pursue her true, lifelong passion -- art.

"They gave me a little severance check, and I took it straight to the pottery store and bought a wheel, because I hadn't thrown a pot in 12 years," says McSweeny.

Since then, she hasn't looked back.

McSweeny keeps her schedule full of artistic ventures, including working as a supplier, co-owning a community art studio, teaching art classes and participating in an upcoming artist tour. And she likes it that way.

"Somebody told me a long time ago, if you stay close to the arts, the arts stay close to you," she says.

The Journey

Art has always been a part of McSweeny's life.

"I moved around a lot as a kid, so art and animals were the things I've always clung to for meaning," says McSweeny. "I know that those are my stabilizing forces in this world."

At 19, she began attending college at Northern Arizona University, studying ceramics. However, after a year and a half, McSweeny had to drop out, bringing her art studies to a halt. She entered the hospitality industry -- a field she would stay in for over a decade. But McSweeny, who had moved to Dallas, imagined a different life for herself.

"I'd been dreaming about going back to college pretty much the entire time I wasn't in school," says McSweeny.

After being laid off from her job during the pandemic, McSweeny knew it was time to move forward. While working at Trinity Ceramic Supply in Dallas, she often encountered UNT art students shopping for materials and felt inspired to pursue her own studies again.

"I saw how fulfilled they were, and I saw the work they were making," says McSweeny.

McSweeny enrolled in UNT's art program -- majoring in interdisciplinary art and design studies: arts management, while minoring in sculpture -- which helped McSweeny grow personally, instilling self-confidence and teaching her to give herself permission to create whatever type of art she wants, regardless of what others think.

"If you can understand why you make the work you make, and you can learn how to tell a room full of people, 'This is what I make, and this is why I make it,' those practices give you the tools to validate anything you make," says McSweeny. "That was a piece that I didn't have before. I thought I had to make something that other people would validate."

In the same vein, she learned to assert herself as an artist.

"I didn't know you could just email somebody and say, 'Hey, I want to put my art there,' and they say yes or no," says McSweeny. "You're not bothering anybody. The world needs more art."

The 'Quirkiness Of The Human Experience'

McSweeny also realized that she wanted to make art for the community, such as outdoor sculptures or artwork in public spaces.

She lent her artistic talent to the university, making meaningful projects for campus grounds, such as the UNT Sustainable Arts Garden and UNT Community Garden's Seed Library. The library features tiles, a medium that McSweeny has incorporated into different types of murals -- such as tile murals, hand-cut tile murals and mosaics.

"I think that if there's a piece of art somewhere that makes a place more beautiful, or inspiring, or makes people feel more connected to where they are, then they're more inclined to care about that place," says McSweeny.

McSweeny and her partner John Campbell, who is also a ceramic artist, currently run FCS Clayworks in Garland. The pottery studio provides art classes and workshops for the community, functioning as a hub that brings fellow artists together.

This fall, McSweeny will be joining the White Rock Lake Artists Studio Tour. The yearly exhibition gives guests the opportunity to visit artists' studios and learn more about each artist's unique creative process.

McSweeny's artwork is inspired by observing the world around her -- the "quirkiness of the human experience," she says. Much of her work focuses on the struggles that people have in life -- something that she has firsthand knowledge of. McSweeny's mother has Alzheimer's disease, which McSweeny has often created artwork about.

"I did not have the easiest path to where I am now," says McSweeny. "And all of those things just make me want to make work that makes people laugh, or puts a smile on their face, or makes them really love where they are."