“WTFpots, putting the anal into artisanal.” Sarah Jane Sharp and her strange aesthetic creativity
- Oana Orzac
- Apr 26, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 27, 2022
By Oana Orzac
To come to your creativity, creative things must surround you. This is not the case for Sarah. She works part-time as a receptionist in a Facilities Administrator’s office, the least creative place. Still, Sarah creates the weirdest and most unusual pots. Where did her creativity come from?
Sarah Jane Sharp, 37, came from Essex but moved to London eight years ago to live independently. She explains that she has always been creative, even as a child, but her vocation came during the lockdown.
“I have always been creative. I have a GCSE in art and graphics. Then I went to art college for two years but stopped because I didn’t excel in anything.”
Creative in the office?
In this situation, what can you do? Sarah explains, “So, I go straight to the office job, which wasn’t creative. It was just… basic. And then I went from one office to another and didn’t do any art. I completely forgot about it. But I think I express my creativity in my appearance, like different hair colours and makeup.”
During the lockdown, she was under the furlough scheme for five months. Being at home, she brought a bag of clay. Sarah said, “I wanted to make pots because I had some plants I brought during the lockdown. So, I made the most shocking thing, a rectal prolapse.” Sarah explained the shocking shape: “I wanted to think of the most offensive thing and something that no one else on this planet had probably thought of making before.”
Video from @WTFpots on TikTok
However, the shocking pot didn’t go into the living room. “I have horrified my housemates, who told me that that thing would not stay in the living room because it’s disgusting. But I loved the reaction.”
Her housemates’ reaction makes Sarah want to shock other people with her unusual creations. “I was on an art group on Facebook, so I put my pot there to see what people may say.” But, Sarah added, “it was just a joke, and then people started to tell me it is amazing and want to buy it. So, I didn’t think to sell it. I only wanted a reaction.”
James Baker, 33, a friend of Sarah who works as an artist, says: “I heard somewhere that ‘art should make you uncomfortable, and I think Sarah has pretty much nailed that. It also makes me laugh and express concern about her mental state.”
Sarah decided to create an Instagram account and an Etsy shop to share her work with people who may want to disgust guests with their decorations.
“I still work in an office because [her business] is not very profitable. But I’m never going to give up because I feel like I’ve unleashed the creativity I’ve been longing for my whole life,” she said.
“The job of art is to chase ugliness away”, Bono
If people find her take on art ugly, she takes it as a compliment, being more excited about the ugliness of art than the beautiful side.
“I hate pretty. If I wanted to put something on my wall, it would not be like a nice pleasant sunset or pretty landscape. I find that boring.”
Photos from WTFpots on Instagram
She has also branched out in creating customised pots with people’s faces or pets after someone asked her to design something after a dead relative. “I was terrified to sell custom pots because people are like, ‘can you make me a pot with my brother who passed away?’ This was my first request, so I was so stressed. I don’t think it looked that good, but she loved it.”
Her friend Laura Pratley, a 32-year-old assistant producer, sums up Laura in a few words. “She’s always been a strange lady, and it’s great that she can express this through her art.”
Banned from Facebook
Sarah is now banned from Facebook due to her realistic shapes. “I’m struggling with it because they keep seeing my art as too good to not be real. Like somebodies, the algorithm bots think it’s nudity, so they banned me, but you’re allowed nude art. They have this in their regulations.”
She now focuses on creating pots inspired by 1980s pop culture, which is becoming more popular.
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