Joyce Lee on thu 6 apr 00
Response to David Hendley....
> I'll help you understand, Joyce.
> This is NOT, repeat NOT, how I feel, but it's pretty easy for a
> struggling potter to resent educators who seems to have it
> so much easier. ('Seems' is the operative word; we know things
> are often not as they seem.)
I do understand that perspective, David. But it does seem to me to be
at least similar to my being resentful, for example and which I am NOT,
of all the potters before me who opted to spend their time, money and
energy perfecting their art and craft whilst I was off trying other
paths. I chose to be an educator; later, I just as whole heartedly
re-chose to be a potter. I'll never catch up with others of my age, and
even like abilities, who elected 20 or 30 years ago to be potters while
I chose to trod the halls and dodge the bullets of academia. I thank the
fates, and possibly education, that I have no such unrealistic
expectations. It is frustrating that I no longer have a comfortable fit
in either world. So be it. I am happy with both choices, but if I were
not, I would not blame or resent those who operated their lives
differently and now are very successfully reaping the rewards of their
perseverance. I might have a ping now and then of "but for the ignorance
of my younger self, I too might have been an artist," but in my depths
I'm sure that if I'd made THAT choice, I'd be here today thinking that I
might have been a dynamite educator IF I could have just plowed through
the dreck of academic requirements ...... And, for the record, I think
that it's morally reprehensible for an educator to be able to use time
on the job to produce works he later sells solely for personal profit
.... unless the institution involved says okay/fine .... then my
disagreement MIGHT be with the institution, but not with the potter.
And, no, I do not intend this to reflect that I have such a shallow view
about any other remotely similar practice........
Joyce
In the Mojave firing a whole bisque load of mentee's indians ... never
thought back in August that I'd be mentoring indian
creating....jeez....I'm a FUNCTIONAL potter ......who is just starting
the exercises in the Potters Workbook, which arrived yesterday....not an
indian in the whole book......
Connie Christensen on sat 8 apr 00
Joyce Lee wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message-------------------------
>...I'll never catch up with others of my age, and
> even like abilities, who elected 20 or 30 years ago to be potters while
> I chose to trod the halls and dodge the bullets of academia. I thank the
> fates, and possibly education, that I have no such unrealistic
> expectations. It is frustrating that I no longer have a comfortable fit
> in either world. So be it. I am happy with both choices, but if I were
> not, I would not blame or resent those who operated their lives
> differently and now are very successfully reaping the rewards of their
> perseverance. I might have a ping now and then of "but for the ignorance
> of my younger self, I too might have been an artist,"...
Hi Joyce
I like that you wrote "I am happy with both choices." I didn't touch
clay until I was almost 40 and also wonder if I'll catch up to where I
might be if I'd started 20 years earlier. Even though my "life before
clay" wasn't in academia, all my experiences brought me to where I am
now. It took me a long time to find out I wanted to be a potter and if I
had started in clay sooner, my life would have been much different. I
don't know if different means better or worse. I keep telling myself
that the choices I made were the right ones at the right time and try to
leave behind "if only I'd discovered this sooner." My life sort of runs
on intuition instead of logic and scares me sometimes. I'm hoping the
wisdom I gained in those years makes up for starting late (older means
wiser, right?).
This is slightly off subject from academia issue, but your comment on
being happy with your choices grabbed me enough to respond. (And you
know, as a registered lurker, it takes a lot to make me respond.)
And, I have a feeling a lot of artists live between two worlds.
Connie
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