On Building a Creative Life & Finding Community at Eastworks
Jewelry artist Erin McNally, the maker behind Tiny Anvil, didn’t set out to build a business. She set out to solve a problem: how to make something beautiful
What followed was years of curiosity, constant learning, and a creative journey that eventually led Erin to Eastworks, where she has now been a tenant for a decade.
Erin’s story is one that many artists may recognize: resourceful beginnings, unexpected opportunities, and the search for a place where both creativity and community can flourish.
From Experimentation to a Creative Path
Erin’s origins as a jeweler began with a simple challenge: a pair of earrings she loved but couldn’t justify buying on her salary as a waitress.
“I was like, Wow, I can’t imagine spending that kind of money on a pair of earrings, not at the income level that I’m at. I think I could make something like that.”
Curiosity turned into action. She made earrings for her coworkers and friends, then began selling upcycled material jewelry while living on a small island in Puerto Rico. “That built me up more as somebody who was producing more work and had more of an industry around that work,” Erin shares.
Like many working artists, she didn’t begin with formal training, but with making, followed by more making, and then teaching herself whatever she needed to know next.
From Northampton Boutiques to Tiny Anvil
After returning to Western Massachusetts in the early 2000s, Erin’s work found its way into local boutiques. It was a turning point. “Somebody went into a boutique in Northampton that was called Ode. They were wearing my jewelry and it ended up evolving into getting an invitation to do a bazaar there of other local hand-mades during Arts Night Out, and eventually, a capsule collection.”
At the same time, Justin Brown (Assemble) offered to carry her work. Suddenly, she had visibility, demand, and the beginnings of an identity as a professional maker. “With two downtown Northampton businesses stocking my work simultaneously, I came up with Tiny Anvil.” Ode, Erin says, played a big role in legitimizing her work and helping her recognize its value and charge accordingly.
Building a Life in Handwork
Erin’s process is rooted in the depth of the medium, experimentation, and self-teaching: “I like endeavors that you can continue to learn from forever. I feel like the way to stick with something is to always have an opportunity to do something new with it…jewelry is certainly like that.”
“I never really waited for permission to do a process…I discern from watching how others do what they’re doing, and then I figure out how to make it into my own process.”
Jewelry wasn’t just craft, it became a way to engage with materials, history, cultures, and people’s emotional connections to objects. As Erin’s skills expanded, so did the need for a space that could support the work.
Finding a Creative Home at Eastworks
Before moving to Eastworks, Erin shared a mixed-material studio with ceramicists — a difficult arrangement for a metalsmith. Through a friend, she learned that jeweler Heather Beck had space available in her Eastworks studio.
“Heather’s a very welcoming energy…sharing a studio with her was really pivotal in my business building.”
Eastworks offered something Erin hadn’t had before: a place to create without isolation. “If you don’t have opportunities to decompress all the things that you feel about trying to operate a creative business, then it can be very hard to sustain…the folks here have been really important in that support system.”
A Studio That Evolves With the Work
Erin has been at Eastworks for ten years, growing from a single bench to a full, multi-station workspace. “You can do all this work on one bench, but it’s nice to have a bench dedicated to every part of what you do.”
The space supports her workflow and her production scale, which Erin’s found is essential for a maker whose business relies on steady output.
Thriving as a Creative Business
For Erin, Eastworks Open Studios has become one of the most meaningful weekends of her year — both financially and creatively. She hosts five other artists from the Berkshires and Hudson Valley, bringing cross-pollination and fresh energy to the event. “They are just totally enamored with this experience. The energy of the community coming through for the whole weekend has been really dazzling.”
Open Studios is also a chance for her longtime customers to return, reconnect, and show off pieces they’ve had over the years. “I encourage people to wear my work during Open Studios because I do a special discount for everybody who has been a customer…it’s fun because I get to see that people have held onto something for like 15 years.”
Beyond Eastworks, Erin is part of an artist-run retail collective in Great Barrington, where 15 makers share space, responsibility, and stability. She also sells at Field + Supply in Kingston, NY every fall, one of the most respected maker fairs in the region. These opportunities grow from the foundation Erin’s built: consistent production, creative integrity, and supportive environments.
A Universal Aesthetic
When asked about her style, Erin doesn’t reach for labels, “I play around with all things that seem to have mattered to people without direct reference.”
She prefers her customers to create their own relationships to the work: “The relationship that people have to jewelry in particular is super personal…I don’t want to interfere with what their relationship will become…”
Tiny Anvil pieces become talismans and touchstones, shaped by Erin’s hands, but given meaning by those who wear them.
Explore More from Tiny Anvil
Visit TinyAnvilJewelry.com to find stockists and shop Erin’s work.
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