tony clennell on wed 1 oct 08
CC wrote:
And, we artists have been SLOW to catch up.
Chris: If artists are slow to catch up I guess that means they are
following and not leading. No wonder craft is the poor cousin not
considered to be one of the High Arts. Does this mean we should bring
home wallpaper swatches and paint chips to use as reference material
for the making of our works. Please tell me it ain't true. I can't
ever she Sheila not buying a piece of art because it doesn't match our
sofa or the colour of our bedroom. I know those people exist but not
in the world I want to inhabit.
When this kind of conversation comes up i like to turn to Page 236 of
my very old Pioneer Pottery by Michael Cardew. Don't let the title
fool you. This guy was a very forward thinker on the arts.
I wrote a passage from it for y'all. More good stuff on the page but i
encourage you to read the whole chapter. .
The maxim of commerce is that "the customer is always right".
Which customer?????????
Those that look at pottery from the commercial point of view only are
in the habit of referring to a reverend abstraction "The Public". They
talk as if their particular public, which is one they have created in
their own image, was the only that exists.
The essential thing is the potter does not merely follow what his
public wants but leads it, so that in the end they want what he wants.
He will have to wait a long time before he is accepted. He makes life
hard for himself at first, but later on his public will come to him
because in his workshop the potter's art is alive.
I don't make my work for the whole of society to love. Fortunately
there are enuff of them out there that share an aesthetic that I love.
I am two hands and can't possibly make the number of Ford Focus cars
that society demands so I'm happy to make a few custom built hot rods.
I hate to admit that 20 years ago I watched the paint stores for
trendy colours. I was younger then and wanted to make more work. Now i
want to make less work and charge more for it.
Best,
Tony
James F on thu 2 oct 08
> Does this mean we should bring
> home wallpaper swatches and paint chips to use as reference material
> for the making of our works. Please tell me it ain't true.=20
> The essential thing is the potter does not merely follow what his
> public wants but leads it=2C so that in the end they want what he wants.
> He will have to wait a long time before he is accepted.=20
> I hate to admit that 20 years ago I watched the paint stores for
> trendy colours. I was younger then and wanted to make more work. Now i
> want to make less work and charge more for it.
> Best=2C
> Tony
Tony...
As the saying goes=2C "nice work if you can get it". It is indeed a lucky =
soul who can earn a living making precisely what he or she would have made =
in the absence of economic considerations. I'm guessing that such souls ar=
e exceedingly rare=2C or just happen to possess an aesthetic that is in har=
mony with popular trends. Keith Haring licensed lots and lots of his fun b=
ut silly works.
I tend to agree that if the work is genuine then folks will eventually come=
around to it=2C but the wait could be inordinately long. George Ohr sold =
only a handful of his "mud babies" during his lifetime. He made his living=
slip casting generic Victorian pitchers. Van Gogh starved.
All the best.
...James
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