Richard Jeffery on thu 29 mar 01
I've been holding off on this topic - one of the more interesting posts in
recent times, for its range of views - suitably opposed....
let's do the hard bit first - in the mouth of an outsider, the following
relationships denote the same attitude - play:art [substitute own term];
psychobabble:meaningful scientific process [substitute own term].
Outsider? well, take your pick - anything from a non-customer(typically the
spouse who doesn't want to be where he/she has been brought) to the press in
their less enlightened moments.
There are serious (I mean income-related) implications stemming from this
attitude. We have a particular problem with the press in the
Bournemouth/Poole conurbation that occupies most of east Dorset (south coast
of UK). The local press - with one notable exception - have made it clear
that their editors couldn't give a fig for the arts - so the only time there
is a mention is when something can be portrayed as going wrong, or could be
laughed at. You can guarantee that every public (and sometimes privately)
funded statue/installation will be met with a paper conducting its own vox
pop on where the money could have been better spent. (I typed that as vix
pop first time round - can't remember enough Latin to track that back to a
root, but it's close enough to vice for me to like it...). We have a major
arts event in Dorset every two years - Dorset Art Week - a wonderful,
organised, artist-led showcase of exhibitions and open studios that brings
in visitors from afar. You would hardly know it is going on in Bournemouth
and Poole....
So does that make Mel right? Inasmuch as we must constantly educate and
enlighten our poor innocent potential customers, and attack entrenched
cynicism where it does us harm - yes.
But there is another side - the way we perceive ourselves and our activity.
Yes - what we do is work, if we live solely or partly from our craft
[substitute own term], or even if we take it seriously enough to give it
that importance. But for many, art/craft is a hard won alternative to the
9 - 5 grind we have endured and escaped. What word can we use then? "Work"
has too many connotations, too much history.
It certainly isn't play either. I sometimes wind up my old/ex-colleagues in
post-industrial, land-locked Sheffield with tales of spending the day
walking the beaches of Dorset, collecting driftwood (I'm at the whimsical
end of all of this - about 60% of what I make at the moment (there - I
avoided saying "work") is a range of driftwood clocks with raku faces -
although I would like to be a potter when I grow up...). Sounds like fun -
and it is - but yesterday I spent 5 hours packing about 6 times my own body
weight of wet timber along several miles of shingle beach at Chesil in a
force 5, going on force 6 wind. Actually it was quite splendid - but it was
also hard, physical graft - not play. I'm typing this wondering if I can
start to claim my chiropractor bills as part of the manufacturing costs.
So where does that leave us? I think what I'm trying to say is that we may
have a more formal choice of words to remind the outside world that this is
a serious occupation, but that for ourselves we may define what we do in a
manner that distinguishes it from what we may have done before, and that
tries to capture the excitement and enthusiasm we have for what we do... I
worked for the government in various guises for 20 years before making this
leap - I don't recall enjoying any of that in the way I enjoy what I do now.
MESSAGE ENDS... NOW FOLLOWS SHAMELESS PLUG.....
Dorset Art Weeks - next runs in May 2002 - if any of you are thinking of
visiting the UK next year, you will miss out if you don't spend some time
here. Dorset seems to have more than its fair share of national level
artists (and most of the others are only an hour or two across the borders
by car) - and that includes a good selection of potters. We're working now
to get organised for next year - the old web site is at
www.dorsetartweek.com. We'll be adding to this over the coming months - one
of our ideas is to tie in hotel accommodation and the like. I've just taken
on the maintenance of this website, so any feedback would be very welcome,
especially from non-UK, and non-English native speakers. Colour scheme will
change - this was based on last year's booklet design.
Time for a coffee, methinks, and to shut up. I started thinking about this
as I was lugging my last load along the shingle yesterday - so excuse the
length....
Richard
Bournemouth UK
www.TheEleventhHour.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of steve dalton
Sent: 29 March 2001 02:41
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Play?
Greeting,
Here's my view...work is something you hate or dislike. The dirty four
letter word...W...O...R...K... Job is something that is there or is boring.
Play? I would say is what a child does, what a parent does with a child or
what we are selves do to have a little fun! The latter is also know as a
hobby, ie model railroading or target practice.
So where does a potter or even an artist fit in? We could say career, but
that sounds to much like a 9-5 job for 30+ years of our lives.
What I like to say when people ask what I do for a living..."I'm a potter!"
And if they sneer or roll their eyes, I just reply with, "Atleast I'm having
fun with what I do!"
Steve Dalton
sdpotter@gte.net
Clear Creek Pottery
Snohomish, WA
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