mel jacobson on thu 28 mar 96
Shows, Sales, and making pots.
I think that potters should take a very careful look at themselves and ask the
questions,"why do I make pots, for whom do I make pots, and how does the
making of
pots affect me".
If you are a functional potter, and you sell your work, it is very important
to know and
understand your customers, their likes, tastes, and budgets.
If you are a professor at a "land grant" university and you are charged with
research,
showing, exhibiting and publishing, it would be very important I would think
to know
and understand the total scene of exhibitions, ceramics shows, and perhaps
being on the
cover of "Ceramics Monthly".
Too often I believe, potters confuse themselves by not understanding what it
is they are
trying to do. Are you making and selling, are you showing, is it a
marvelous avocation, a
job supplement or are you just enjoying yourself. We become confused by
ego, or the
need to be recognized, or we just think we are supposed to "enter shows".
And of all the confusion that is out there, the confusion over art and craft
seems to lead
the way... and when that confusion hits "you" it is even more vital to step
back and ask
yourself the question"why do I make pots". If you can answer that question
with
honesty you will be able to continue making clay stuff for a very long time.
There is a great deal of room in the world of ceramics.. you can make pots,
build
sculpture, make funk, paint and draw on your pots, make figures, and even
use molds and
paint them. One can fire to cone 10, use salt, pit fire, or fire at the
senior center. And I
would be willing to bet that every person that opens a warm kiln gets almost
the same
feeling, and probably, sort of, likes what they are making. And I have
never met a kiln
that gave a damn if a man or a woman was firing it, I have never known a
clay body that
could distinguish gender, and when we open our kiln at the "farm" and ten
heads are
stuck in it, and eye brows are getting burned, and we are seeing the pots,
we are all eager
and excited, and that kiln gives us better pots than we ever put in ,or
deserved, that is
when you start to understand" why we make pots".
So, as my dad used to say "let's get on with it, and stop the fussing". We
have not even
started to tap the resources of clay and as someone said a few months back
"if you only
know what you like, you don't know very much". And I add to that, "if you
know why
you are doing it, it makes the job easier".
mel jacobson
Jack Phillips on thu 28 mar 96
>Thanks Mel,
for your message. What a wonderful, rewarding thing it is to work with clay!
To get to do this for a living is more fun than I can bare sometimes. Ya I
have strugles, but the control of the clay far outways the problems! I
worked for 20 years as an autobody repairman, -hard work, high pressure,
busted my body in many places, so that I could get the boot for some young
buck that could move faster! As long as America has clay and fuel to fire,
it will be a great place.
Sometimes I can't sleep thinking about the next thing I'm going to make. So
much clay, so little time! Viva la MUD!
Jack - who never needs a haircut, the flames just keep the front trimed!
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Shows, Sales, and making pots.
>
>I think that potters should take a very careful look at themselves and ask the
>questions,"why do I make pots, for whom do I make pots, and how does the
>making of
>pots affect me".
>
>If you are a functional potter, and you sell your work, it is very important
>to know and
>understand your customers, their likes, tastes, and budgets.
>
>If you are a professor at a "land grant" university and you are charged with
>research,
>showing, exhibiting and publishing, it would be very important I would think
>to know
>and understand the total scene of exhibitions, ceramics shows, and perhaps
>being on the
>cover of "Ceramics Monthly".
>
>Too often I believe, potters confuse themselves by not understanding what it
>is they are
>trying to do. Are you making and selling, are you showing, is it a
>marvelous avocation, a
>job supplement or are you just enjoying yourself. We become confused by
>ego, or the
>need to be recognized, or we just think we are supposed to "enter shows".
>
>And of all the confusion that is out there, the confusion over art and craft
>seems to lead
>the way... and when that confusion hits "you" it is even more vital to step
>back and ask
>yourself the question"why do I make pots". If you can answer that question
>with
>honesty you will be able to continue making clay stuff for a very long time.
>
>There is a great deal of room in the world of ceramics.. you can make pots,
>build
>sculpture, make funk, paint and draw on your pots, make figures, and even
>use molds and
>paint them. One can fire to cone 10, use salt, pit fire, or fire at the
>senior center. And I
>would be willing to bet that every person that opens a warm kiln gets almost
>the same
>feeling, and probably, sort of, likes what they are making. And I have
>never met a kiln
>that gave a damn if a man or a woman was firing it, I have never known a
>clay body that
>could distinguish gender, and when we open our kiln at the "farm" and ten
>heads are
>stuck in it, and eye brows are getting burned, and we are seeing the pots,
>we are all eager
>and excited, and that kiln gives us better pots than we ever put in ,or
>deserved, that is
>when you start to understand" why we make pots".
>
>So, as my dad used to say "let's get on with it, and stop the fussing". We
>have not even
>started to tap the resources of clay and as someone said a few months back
>"if you only
>know what you like, you don't know very much". And I add to that, "if you
>know why
>you are doing it, it makes the job easier".
>
>mel jacobson
>
>
| |
|
