Imzadi D. on fri 15 mar 02
jeffs@KSNI.NET writes:
<< I got a bit of a disappointment yesterday, a co worker of my fiancee'
offered to sell some of my pieces at the shop she also owns. I sent up 50
or so pieces, waterfall brown, Caribbean sea green / oatmeal, and red on
black. She's sending 2/3 of it back, you know what she wants??????? OPAL
BLUE!
Maybe I should have just kept every piece I ever made, glazed it blue and
sold it to her, rather than waiting until I was comfortable with my ability
and found some glazes that have character.
>>
NO! NO! NO! That woman totally infuriates me. (Or maybe I've had too many
sips of caffeine this morning. ;-) ) You will unfortunately have to gently
educate this woman on what I call "Artist Literacy": that You are a special,
unique potter and artist in your own right and style. (Regardless of your
current level of skill or expertise, your STYLE will ultimately be your style
unless you spend years compromising it.) Your own artistic instincts and
style led you to wait <<< until I was comfortable with my ability and found
some glazes that have character.>>>
Just as there is another current thread about the need to educate gallery
owners about the quality and time spent in a piece of work that ends up
broken and they don't feel there is a need to pay for it, I feel educating
the public about PERSONAL STYLE and the time, effort and integrity that
takes. We aren't production "machines" even those of us who are production
potters. Go to Target if you want a generic, mass produced bowl that someone
else can make. Or lead them to a potter who is doing what they want.
Follow your own artistic instincts, they will be your own personal "vein of
gold" as film director Martin Ritt was once quoted in Julia Cameron's book
"The Vein of Gold". He said while Meryl Streep can certainly play comedic and
lighthearted characters (as in "Death Becomes Her" with Goldie Hawn) or an
action adventure flick ("The River Wild") because she is of course a skilled
and accomplished, professional actress, who knows her craft and can create
ANY character. Her vein of gold is those strong women faced with
heartbreaking, gutwrenching choices and decisions that few people like Meryl
can go to. ("Sophie's Choice", "Bridges of Madison County".) Every time she
follows her personal vein of gold, she wins an Academy Award nomination --
the most of any actresses, except Kathryn Hepburn.
You don't go to a Meryl Streep movie expecting the same kind of performance
as Madonna or Michelle Pfeiffer, (each of which was at one time cast in the
movie Evita.) Their performances would have been totally different from each
other, even playing the same role.
Harrison Ford's "All American (Reluctant) Hero" is far different from Bruce
Willis' as the "Yippie kye-yi-aye Mother F*cker!" American hero in "Die Hard".
Can you make OPAL BLUE bowls? Sure. Do you want to sell your pots? Sure. But
this woman has another artist in mind and has probably seen another artist
who DOES make those exact opal blue bowls she wants. (But they aren't selling
with her.)
So you bring in opal blue bowls and because they lack the partucular quality
inherent to that artist, then she'll say, "Can you make the rim on these more
like..." Or "Can you make honey dippers for me instead of (whatever your
current forte is that you so painstakingly worked on,)" because she has those
uniquenesses of the other artist in mind that she wants duplicated. hoping
that changing your shapes or wahtever will somehow bring on that elusive
qualty she wants. And afterall, you changed your color for her, WHY NOT also
change the rim, the shapes, etc., etc.
Don't let SCARCITY of selling places determine your style of work. When I
first was moving in to my own commercial, retail gallery and studio in the
heart of NYC,10 years ago, even as the boxes were being unloaded from the
truck, a neighbor said, "Oh good! There was a purple and green bowl I once
saw somewhere that I didn't get at the time, it has stuck with me ever since.
Now YOU can make it for me." Even though he didn't have a picture of it and
could barely describe it. My first thought was to want to please him, to get
a potential customer. Only I don't make purple and green bowls. I don't even
own purple or green glazes.
This neighbor hadn't even seen MY bowls yet, MY style, what _I_ was
passionate about doing. He had an "idea" of what a potter was and does and a
lack of education and experiences in the multitude of various styles and
techniques according to his lack of "Artist Literacy" He had no way of
understanding that whatever quality had "stayed with him" about that
particular pot, was intrinsic to the ARTIST that made that particular bowl.
Even if I were to make a similar pot, which I finally had no intention of
doing, he would have somehow felt there was an unexpressed, unexplainable
quality lacking that he couldn't put his finger on. But I know what it is: I
am not THAT potter with those qualities. I don't have to be.
Years ago, I had closed down my studio even though I was selling
successfully. After an eleven year hiatus -- learning many different
multimedia decorative arts, other than pottery and gaining a sense of what IS
my own style, regardless of media, I have been taking these past 10 months
getting back up to speed back in pottery again. I sold for the first time
again this Christmas at a fair. While I was apprehensive on how they would be
received after such a long absence, it somehow must have beenexpressedthat I
have a sense of integrity about my work: THIS is MY style and colors, if you
want the uniquenesses of what I have to offer come here. Not a single person
asked me for glazes other than what I had. I did learn a lot about refining
some shapes and sizes to be more user-friendly, according to their reactions
and comments. Those comments helped me to grow, what can be improved upon,
and what people want WITHIN my style, but that is quite different from
changing my STYLE.
As I have approached different fine art & craft stores and puled out my work,
there is an audible gasp of surprise and delight when they first see my pots.
I hear a "These are good!" each time. I have no idea what image they had in
their heads when I told them make functional pottery, but I realise, they had
been bracing themselves in case the worst came out of the boxes. Instead they
WANT and appreciate what I have to offer. They don't ask for different
colors that what I do.
What I am ultimately trying to say is: If you were planning to make opal blue
bowls anyway, great, go to it. You obviously have a definite outlet for them.
Otherwise, tell her "You are happy and grateful for the pieces she did accept
and yes IS intending to sell. Sorry that there a misunderstanding in
communication beforehand in the kind of work you do, but that you do not make
opal blue bowls. If you find of another potter in which that is his vein of
gold, you will happily pass on the word." Then his bowls can sit NEXT to
yours and the three of you win.
Wait for the day when people will be gasping and delighting over your own
uniquenesses. It will be worth the wait. It has been some of the highlights
of my own life and an affirmation of me.
Imzadi
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