Michael T. Hamlin on mon 21 apr 97
This is a very simple aproach and may not be given much respect but I was
told at one time that a piece is worth whatever the person is willing to
pay...
I am awful at pricing my work....I am continually told that I underprice....
However, I'm interested in my pieces being available to everyone...not just
the higher income of society....When I was an undergrad, my teacher told me
it was appropriate to price low and gradually increase the price over the
years. This will cause the work to more readily hit the market and the
artists name becomes more recognized. Thus when people are wanting to
collect the work they will be willing to pay the increased price.
Although, through the grapevine, I've been informed that some very
internationally known potters have had to completely change their work. They
got to the point where they could price their pieces higher because of the
collectors demand. However, the collectors bought all they wanted and the
potters found that they couldn't sell the pieces because the lower incomed
buyers wanted the work but couldn't pay the prices. The potters couldn't
lower the prices because then the collectors would have been cheated.....One
of these individuals left the pottery career , while the other was required
to change the type of work.
These were some thoughts that came to my mind when I was reading these
debates...
I may not be addressing the same issue but thought that this may open up some
more debating....
Any new thoughts?
Take care!!!
Michael
MTHpots@AOL.com
D. Rush Tucker on wed 23 apr 97
In a message dated 97-04-21 10:47:50 EDT, you write:
<< Although, through the grapevine, I've been informed that some very
internationally known potters have had to completely change their work. They
got to the point where they could price their pieces higher because of the
collectors demand. However, the collectors bought all they wanted and the
potters found that they couldn't sell the pieces because the lower incomed
buyers wanted the work but couldn't pay the prices. The potters couldn't
lower the prices because then the collectors would have been cheated.....One
of these individuals left the pottery career , while the other was required
to change the type of work.
>>
sounds like the only way 2 make consistent money in ceramics is 2 work by the
hour slipcasting 4 the corporations.......or make production pieces on a
large quanity basis.............or teach.........................all of which
have very little 2 do with being a ceramic artist
i must have 2 much metal in me or something....i keep pulling pieces out of
the kilns which r 1 of a kind, original,.......i continue 2 research
directions.......4 me 2 do any kind of realistic good old 25 percent profit
pricing....my pieces have 2 sell higher than walmart shoppers price
range........u can pay $30 4 a 1 qt slipcast caserole with crooked decals at
Kmart........if i couldn't make a better piece than that i WOULD
quit......everytime i go there to add some mass production items 2 my
lifestyle, i check their ceramics prices.....still, i drink their cheap
coffee out of $50 coffee cups....and i like it that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so does that leave teaching????and going back 2 being a part-time
artist......i don't think so........i think i will remain a professional
artist.....and maybe cut my ear off...........................r there other
options i don't know about?
this clayart thing really has potential 4 clearing up a lot of
issues.....that is if the moderators don't censor it anymore.......the 2
posts of mine that didn't make it past them didn't contain any 4 letter
words....i wonder what it was i said ?...don't U ?
thunder shower last night.....sunshine this morning....in dallas
rush
artimator @aol.com
Sherry mcDonald Stewart on wed 23 apr 97
I think the best way to go is to do what you want to do, and don't
compromise..at all! Enter shows, try to get your work published. Mine
was published by some art consultant who saw it in the first show I
entered, so i lucked out. If you continue with this, you will be in the
race. I don't believe in compromising on changing work just because
certain work gets into shows, either. you have to be willing to evolve,
and grow, independently. If I had compromised, I'd probably be known a
bit more, but I would not have found my true love, which is arch. tiles.
Which, I am not doing, now, But I know they are good, and I am always
thankful that I moved ahead, not compromising. One day, I'll have my
large public installations! All I need is the studio......someday...I
keep looking!
Dannon Rhudy on thu 24 apr 97
No, there are no other options. Pity about the ear.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
-------------------------Original
going back 2 being a part-time
artist......i don't think so........ will remain a professional
artist.....and maybe cut my ear off...........................r
there other options i don't know about?
wonder what it was i said ?...don't U ?
Sherry mcDonald Stewart on thu 24 apr 97
In the best of all possible worlds, ceramicists would be known for the
important people they are, In this less than best of all possible
worlds, we all have to work to make a case for the benefit of clay, art,
and what it provides our culture. We have to think, and we have to pull
ideas together, from a broad context, the place from which many of us
find the source of our inspiration, and drive.
According to studies in creativity, from the larger Universities that
have been studying creativity for almost 30 years, the creative mind has
been found to be very different from the uncreative mind (or less
creative mind) The theory about right and left hemispheres was, to my
knowledge, shot down long ago, and was replaced with the knowledge that
the creative minds source is frontal lobe of the brain, and the
receptors on the frontal lobe. Einsteins brain had more of these
receptors than any other brain they had examined. The brain is
considered, not a source, but a receiver. Creative people, they learned,
have certain things in common, most of which I have forgotten, but I
identify with, such as motivational factors, we aren't motivated by
money, or grades, generally. We think in a broad context, and solve
problems only after we consider all the wild variables out there, then
we illiminate variables. We can solve problems this way, instead of just
changing them! Our minds take quontum leaps when we are thinking, and
speaking, and others don't know what to make of us, but get us all in a
room, and we all zip along harmoniously! All the things we already know
about how we are different, they (psychologists) are studying. Once,
they, figure us out, we will be acceptable! Once, They, say we are as we
already know we are, we will become real boys and girls, no longer made
of wood!
Scientists are creative people. Creative people like to solve problems,
we are analytical. I set up problems to solve. I want to get this glaze
to do something else...then I go for it...that is how we work. We love
it , are consumed by it, and the problem of making a living, a very real
problem, just isn't as intriguing to us as something else is, We don't
want to deal with that, it is mundane, it is unexciting, and besides, it
is preordaned by an economy already set in place that we have no control
over. I have no doubt, however, that if we applied ourselves to this
endeavor, we could, and would, change the world! I think, when we stop
disagreeing over what is more important, a cup or a sculpture, clay, or
paint, and come together as a group of people who know something about
life that the rest of the world has either never thought of, or rejects
because power is more their issue, we could really make a dent in this
clay ball we live on, a dent that would be seen all over the world! So,
that is my opinion, for what it might be worth to anyone, on the money
verses art issue! SMS
The Shelfords on fri 25 apr 97
I have heard that Mike Dodd, (a well-known and very good and very pricey
potter in Britain - specializes in ash glazes - see chapter in Phil Rodgers
book on "Ash Glazes"), maintains a line or two of reasonably priced
functional ware, good quality but not heavily "value-added", for those who,
in "Phil from Chicago's" words,
> truely appreciate fine quality artwork but simply can't afford it (I count
myself in that number!)
I like Mike Dodd's idea and am thinking of doing something along the same
lines. Then the specialty work can be priced higher.
Veronica
____________________________________________________________________________
Veronica Shelford
e-mail: shelford@island.net
s-mail: P.O. Box 6-15
Thetis Island, BC V0R 2Y0
Tel: (250) 246-1509
____________________________________________________________________________
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