douglas gray on thu 18 sep 97
> I have followed the 'making a living' debate with interest, esp
> as I derived my entire income from making pots for the first
> 16 years of my life. I would suggest that "those who have a
> burning desire to DO, will. Those who don't will teach, or be
> consultants, or do something else."
Hmmmmmmmm!
In my experience the ONLY
> potters who make a GENUINE living from their craft are production
> ware people - teaching/lecturing etc is making a living from your
> SKILLS which is a different matter.
OK, I can buy that
In order to be a successful
> production ware person you need a lot of space, first class
> equipment and a wide range of other skills such as welding,
> woodwork, engineering etc. To ignore or shy away from the
> acquisition of these extra skills is to not do justice to your
> core craft because you will inevitably end up compromising.
> Hence make your own clay, build your own kiln, build your
> workshop, build your display space etc etc. Commitment to
> your work shines through and the average buyer can see this;
> commitment tends to engender quality, and quality sells.
I feel this list adequately desribes the qualities / characteristics needed to
be a good teacher as well. Interesting. I am glad to see that those who DO and
those who teach have so much in common.
with respect,
doug
=========================================================================== =)
Douglas E. Gray
Assistant Professor of Art, Ceramics
Francis Marion Univeristy
Florence, South Carolina 29501
dgray@fmarion.edu
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