Sherry mcDonald Stewart on mon 28 apr 97
I guess I have another story, this one about pricing, and then it seems
to work it's way into the subject of art, Maybe someone will enjoy my
thoughts!
The method of pricing in this economy is to get what the market will
bear. It is supposed to be based on demand and supply. I can give a nice
example that is also another short story you might enjoy.(not to say you
don't know supply and demand, it's just an interesting story!)
I have a child, her name is Daisy, and two years ago in school, they
had a fair, a day when they could use play money accumulated in the
class from having work completed to buy items everyone brought to sell.
Now, Daisy, being the creative child, not being motivated by play money,
was a little short on play money to begin with.
It was Christmas, and I had ordered beeswax candle sheets for her to
make gifts with , and we had made some ornaments as well. So , I
suggested she take some candles that she would make,along with the
ornaments she had taken off the tree, and sell them. She is a pretty
savy kid, she said, no, lets just cut the wax, and the wick, and they
can make their own! (kids know it is better to do, than to watch
someone do!)
I thought it was an enlightened idea, and it turned out to be just
that! Daisy went to school, and people were trading play money for all
kinds of things. One boy at school brought beeswax candles already made!
He was selling them for 5 bucks each! But everyone wanted to make their
own, and buy hers. She started at 5 bucks, and as the demand came in,
she raised her price to 7, then 10, then to 15 dollars (each)! She made
out like a bandit!
She is a creative business woman at 13, and she knows how to make
deals, and to say no.( She doesn't doubt herself, that is both good, and
bad at times! When it comes to deals tho, this kid has the upper hand as
a result of knowing what she wants. You know, I learn a lot from this
kid, and other kids! I don't even believe in teaching anymore as a
result of doing things with these genuises! I can guide them and work
with them, however!)
People detect that sort of confidence when you are dealing with them
one on one . Confidence is very important. By the way, even Daisys
teacher noticed how she turned the tables on her own situation of not
having much money. She ended up with more than anyone in the class that
day! And, she is an artist that people often surmise when seeing her
work, "you will do something with your art!" I don't know what she will
become, she will continue, like all of us, to be motivated to do things
that were part of our makeup even as a child, the things we love to do,
we are motivated to do, and studies have shown that we will gravitate
towards those things intrinsic in our nature all through our lives. We
will be happy when we are doing what we enjoy, and it is foolish to take
more money, to do something you don't want to do, over happiness doing
what you love, because you will only excel when you do what you love!
Also, being happy is a greater predictor of longevity than any other
single factor! I have noticed myself that I will try to do what i am
good at doing, in a job, even if I was not hired to do that particular
task, I try to change the job to suit my talents. All of us do that!
An example, I was doing data entry (yeah, survival therapy) and I had
not worked on computers, but in my first week, I figured out what was
ineffective coming from the other side of the set up, and I wanted to
change it. My boss wanted me , not to be effective, but to do things the
same old way because she had a personality that always did things the
same way, while I always do things differently. A better match for me,
would have been trouble shooting from the side of the program that makes
it work effectively. I never desisted in trying to make things work more
effectively, and doing problem solving, and she never desisted in trying
to control me! If you look at yourselves you will probably all recognize
similiar experiences.
We all have different gifts! It is important to use our gifts! That is
perhaps the art of life!!
I am broadening out here, so try to bear with my crazed way of
thinking, it ties together with many of the topics discussed on clayart.
What is functional, or non functional is irrelevent! Having your own
sense of purpose is what matters. Doing what you love, and doing it
well, and being happy is what matters! Some people think they are more
important because they do art. It is just a part of their own
personality, what motivates them. It is okay that they want their shot
of limelight, thats what makes them tick! Functional potters may not
really be motivated by limelight, but they don't want to feel they are
unnecessary either, or that their gifts are not important. Can't we let
the artist have his limelight, and the potter his love of potting,
without putting someone down? That...is the crazy part. It seems to be
reduced to a childish, "I'm more important than you," kind of scenario!"
It is beneath us all!
If you want to get really broad, it doesn't matter what, is made of
earth, a humming bird feeder or a soap dish, or a sculpture. The idea of
art is to move people into broader and broader thought processes, to
make you think, to include all. If earth has been tamed, formed, molded
by man, when the earth has for centuries been an enemy of man,( he
plants his garden, and there is no rain, or a wind comes, and the dust
blows it all away. Everyday, contemporary man showers, washes his hair,
and his clothes, vacuums the house, cleans the office...of what? Dirt!
Earth! We battle earth continually! And in the end, we are returned to
earth. The earth always wins!) then, with the forming of clay into
anything at all, man wins a small battle! I just feel, personally, that
this is something we all know, somewhere inside , deep inside of us, and
I think that is why, we are drawn to clay, as those who work with it, as
those who admire it, as art, or as pots. What I have learned working
with the stuff is incredible. Clay gets into my pores and goes to my
head, and tells me stories( as you all suspected, huh?) It does,it takes
me to places and times and countries, and cultures, and it gives me
breadth of thought. I have not learned this from just a sculpture, or
just a pot, I have learned this from watching the totality of what I
perceive working with clay, and being involved with it on many different
levels. Clay is art! Sherry M Stewart
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