Mark Potter on thu 21 mar 02
Alexis et al:
You raise quite a few fascinating issues - this could turn out to be another
giant thread! I quote:
"I suppose that I am wondering if it even possible (of course it is
desireable) to live a hand-made life."
"And when the choice exists, is it pecuniary considerations that direct
us toward the usually cheaper factory-made item instead of the usually
higher quality hand-made item?"
Well said.
I once had the good fortune to live an entire year in Paris, on a houseboat,
on the Seine, anchored beneath the Tuilleries. I used to look up at the
Orangerie from the deck of the boat. I totally lucked into the situation.
What's more it was cheap. It was a wonderful experience, so wonderful, that
I could recieve no pity whatever on two other points that more than slightly
blighted my experience 1) I was dead broke and 2) the boat had no heat at
all, none, whatsoever. I was on the Seine, in December and January and I
nearly froze to death. Truthfully. It was fun, looking back, but for two
months I lived in cafes sleepless, in order to be tired enough to get
through a night on a metal houseboat without heat on a river with ice
floating in it.
I remember telling people about the place I was living and saying I had no
heat, and they would say, 'oh poor you' in a mocking way. All were envious.
I wanted to spend the night in their houses because they were warm. They
wanted to live in mine because it was interesting.
So with our house of pots. We live there because it interests us. And
interests the world as well, so the price exacted for living a life that is
interesting, is poverty. Simple.
The wealthy will buy expensive hand-made shelves for their books because
they can afford it, but the woodworker when you talk to him, is broke all
the time, can hardly afford new blades, and says 'I can't even afford my own
work'. The potter, because he makes volume, is broke, so his prices are low,
but he sells for less than the stores something made with love, and has to
front end all the worries of consumers from repairs to health to 'can't you
come down a little'.
. . . . . . ... ....
What about the price thing. Let's clarify - handmade furniture costs far
more than machine made whereas handmade pots, for the most part, cost less
than machine made. Disparity? Not at all. In both cases, the profit to the
producer, is far less for handmade items than machine made items. The potter
and wordworker both are very near or below their break even points. Price
itself does not tell the full story.
The hand producer is subsidizing the industrial economy by keeping life
humane, adding a personal touch to an otherwise impersonal world. He does
this at his own cost, because he wants to. In other words, even though
handmade is more coveted than machine made, for some inexplicable reason,
the handworker is exploited and can be had for less, simply because he wants
to be.
In an essentially sexless world, we're the ones willing to sleep with
anyone. . . . .
So , the hand-made life, as you put it, is worth more. After all who
wouldn't, given a choice, live the hand-made life, free from machine
stresses, artificiality, impermanence . . We have to accept that poverty may
be the price of living an otherwise coveted existence.
The average American, Westerner, and to a growing degree, Asian, and world
denizen, have for the most part - no or little idea where or how their
phones, computers, bread, rugs, wall coverings, paint, furniture, canned
goods are made, much less know any of the people that work in these places.
Those of us that work in these halls of production, or work at computers
monitoring this production machine, care little about the social thread that
has broken down between producer and consumer of goods in this society.
The handworker may be the last frontiersman bridging this gap between those
that make and those that use. In every other aspect of our lives, that
connection has been ripped up. The cost to us of preserving that connection
is that we inherit the anxieties OF OUR ENTIRE CULTURE.
And we live in an extremely anxious culture. The SUV driving shopper who
burns more gas in a week than many farmers do in a year, takes it out on us
and recovers some lost sense of control by beating us up on the cost of a
wedding present - (and feels virtuous on top of it), by getting our price
down another 10%.
After all if you are anxious, you express it! Who do you express it to?
Anyone at all through / road rage / terror / vandalism, or to anyone who is
in the BUSINESS OF LISTENING / the mailman / the barber / the taxi driver /
the person making and selling his own stuff.
Like it or not - we are in the business of LISTENING. We share the yoke with
teachers, and barbers and cab drivers.
. . .. . . . . . .
We are on the frontier, not of a civilization that is expanding, but rather
of a civilization IN COLLAPSE!!!
Population going wild - civilization in collapse. The production machine has
gotten out of hand, and psychologically, at least, there is a greater demand
than ever before for handmade goods. BUT THAT DEMAND IS NOT ECONOMIC, BUT
RATHER PSYCHO-SOCIAL.
Motivations are not always monetary. In fact I can probably argue that the
return from making handmade pots next year will be less than this year, and
less the year after next, BUT, more handmade pots will be made as a
proportion of population, merely to assuage the psychological damage done to
society by an industrial machine out of control.
It used to be you wanted flour you went to the miller, you wanted beer you
went to the brewer, you wanted a wheel you went to the wheelwright.
Production has changed all that and has totally changed the role of
craftsperson as well. The artist, like it or not, has a role today as a
healer, and what a wound there is to heal!
The person who will beat you up on a ten dollar mug has a lot of healing to
do.
That momentary exhange, and how we handle it, is the measure of our worth.
I therefor submit, that how we pass on our pots, how we sell, or give, or
market our work, is as important, perhaps even MORE IMPORTANT, than the pots
themselves. . . . . . . .
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Alexis Yildir
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 6:00 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: a hand made life
Hi all,
Sometimes I notice that there is a note of bitterness when some potters
discuss issues of pricing and how an uneducated public thinks nothing of
paying alot of money for factory-made ware and cringes at the price of
pottery. My question is: do potters seek the handmade in every aspect of
their lives? Or do they succomb, as does the general public, to the lure of
GAP advertising and branded merchandise in general?
I suspect that the answer is probably more or less "No" - that they have
clothing made by a talented seamstress or tailor when possible (and when
funds allow) and that they would prefer anything to eating at McDonalds or
Wendy's. If they are like me, they must sometimes accept that they cannot
always afford a custom-made sofa and that hand-woven draperies are a dream
for the future.
I suppose that I am wondering if it even possible (of course it is
desireable) to live a hand-made life. It is true that organic food is more
available than before - but until I gave up gluten, I had to make bread
daily to have decent bread - this part of my town doesn't really care about
real bread.
And when the choice exists, is it pecuniary considerations that direct
us toward the usually cheaper factory-made item instead of the usually
higher quality hand-made item? Or are we all unsuspecting victims of Madison
avenue's assault on the wallet? I for one, found out afew years ago that
baking soda (okay, it isn't hand-made, but I think that this fits my
scenario) does a better job of cleaning most kitchen grime than anything
you'll ever hear about on television or read about in magazine ads. But
there is no money in advertizing something that only costs 1$ a box. and mom
didn't know until shortly before me.
I have a friend who rarely writes, but when she does, it is always on a
handmade card which I eventually get around to having framed. I'd rather
have a short note on her cards than a cheque from Hallmark.
Wishing you all a handmade life (when it's preferable),
Alexis
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
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Kathy Maves on thu 21 mar 02
BRAVO Mark!
As a professional potter and the daughter of a master
craftsman who makes custom furniture, I know firsthand
exactly what you are taking about. For the last few
weeks my father has been making his first large piece
of furniture for himself. It's a large set of
bookshelves, computer desk, and china hutch. It's so
beautiful, luminous and warm. He's been in the
business for close to thirty years. He first planned
this project in 1980.
My parents can't afford a completely hand-made life,
nor can I. Still, I don't think my dad knows exactly
what he bought with all his years of sacrifice and
passion; my memories of the curl of his lathe, the
afternoon silence of his workshop, the poetry he used
to read by the fireplace. He paid for all of that, not
just with a simple lifestyle, but with the constant
pain in his back, the long hours and lost family time.
My father gave me something no college or purchase
price could. I am still sorting through this abundant,
complicated gift. Knowing well the price, I am proud
to pay it.
Sincerely,
Kathy
Barronett, WI
kathymaves@yahoo.com
--- Mark Potter wrote:
> I once had the good fortune to live an entire year
> in Paris, on a houseboat,
> on the Seine, anchored beneath the Tuilleries. I
> used to look up at the
> Orangerie from the deck of the boat. I totally
> lucked into the situation.
> What's more it was cheap. It was a wonderful
> experience, so wonderful, that
> I could recieve no pity whatever on two other points
> that more than slightly
> blighted my experience 1) I was dead broke and 2)
> the boat had no heat at
> all, none, whatsoever. I was on the Seine, in
> December and January and I
> nearly froze to death. Truthfully. It was fun,
> looking back, but for two
> months I lived in cafes sleepless, in order to be
> tired enough to get
> through a night on a metal houseboat without heat on
> a river with ice
> floating in it.
>
> I remember telling people about the place I was
> living and saying I had no
> heat, and they would say, 'oh poor you' in a mocking
> way. All were envious.
> I wanted to spend the night in their houses because
> they were warm. They
> wanted to live in mine because it was interesting.
>
> So with our house of pots. We live there because it
> interests us. And
> interests the world as well, so the price exacted
> for living a life that is
> interesting, is poverty. Simple.
>
> The wealthy will buy expensive hand-made shelves for
> their books because
> they can afford it, but the woodworker when you talk
> to him, is broke all
> the time, can hardly afford new blades, and says 'I
> can't even afford my own
> work'. The potter, because he makes volume, is
> broke, so his prices are low,
> but he sells for less than the stores something made
> with love, and has to
> front end all the worries of consumers from repairs
> to health to 'can't you
> come down a little'.
>
>
> . . . . . . ... ....
>
> What about the price thing. Let's clarify - handmade
> furniture costs far
> more than machine made whereas handmade pots, for
> the most part, cost less
> than machine made. Disparity? Not at all. In both
> cases, the profit to the
> producer, is far less for handmade items than
> machine made items. The potter
> and wordworker both are very near or below their
> break even points. Price
> itself does not tell the full story.
>
> The hand producer is subsidizing the industrial
> economy by keeping life
> humane, adding a personal touch to an otherwise
> impersonal world. He does
> this at his own cost, because he wants to. In other
> words, even though
> handmade is more coveted than machine made, for some
> inexplicable reason,
> the handworker is exploited and can be had for less,
> simply because he wants
> to be.
>
> In an essentially sexless world, we're the ones
> willing to sleep with
> anyone. . . . .
>
> So , the hand-made life, as you put it, is worth
> more. After all who
> wouldn't, given a choice, live the hand-made life,
> free from machine
> stresses, artificiality, impermanence . . We have to
> accept that poverty may
> be the price of living an otherwise coveted
> existence.
>
>
> The average American, Westerner, and to a growing
> degree, Asian, and world
> denizen, have for the most part - no or little idea
> where or how their
> phones, computers, bread, rugs, wall coverings,
> paint, furniture, canned
> goods are made, much less know any of the people
> that work in these places.
> Those of us that work in these halls of production,
> or work at computers
> monitoring this production machine, care little
> about the social thread that
> has broken down between producer and consumer of
> goods in this society.
>
> The handworker may be the last frontiersman bridging
> this gap between those
> that make and those that use. In every other aspect
> of our lives, that
> connection has been ripped up. The cost to us of
> preserving that connection
> is that we inherit the anxieties OF OUR ENTIRE
> CULTURE.
>
> And we live in an extremely anxious culture. The SUV
> driving shopper who
> burns more gas in a week than many farmers do in a
> year, takes it out on us
> and recovers some lost sense of control by beating
> us up on the cost of a
> wedding present - (and feels virtuous on top of it),
> by getting our price
> down another 10%.
>
> After all if you are anxious, you express it! Who do
> you express it to?
> Anyone at all through / road rage / terror /
> vandalism, or to anyone who is
> in the BUSINESS OF LISTENING / the mailman / the
> barber / the taxi driver /
> the person making and selling his own stuff.
>
> Like it or not - we are in the business of
> LISTENING. We share the yoke with
> teachers, and barbers and cab drivers.
>
> . . .. . . . . . .
>
> We are on the frontier, not of a civilization that
> is expanding, but rather
> of a civilization IN COLLAPSE!!!
>
> Population going wild - civilization in collapse.
> The production machine has
> gotten out of hand, and psychologically, at least,
> there is a greater demand
> than ever before for handmade goods. BUT THAT
> DEMAND IS NOT ECONOMIC, BUT
> RATHER PSYCHO-SOCIAL.
>
> Motivations are not always monetary. In fact I can
> probably argue that the
> return from making handmade pots next year will be
> less than this year, and
> less the year after next, BUT, more handmade pots
> will be made as a
> proportion of population, merely to assuage the
> psychological damage done to
> society by an industrial machine out of control.
>
> It used to be you wanted flour you went to the
> miller, you wanted beer you
> went to the brewer, you wanted a wheel you went to
> the wheelwright.
> Production has changed all that and has totally
> changed the role of
> craftsperson as well. The artist, like it or not,
> has a role today as a
> healer, and what a wound there is to heal!
>
> The person who will beat you up on a ten dollar mug
> has a lot of healing to
> do.
>
> That momentary exhange, and how we handle it, is the
> measure of our worth.
>
> I therefor submit, that how we pass on our pots, how
> we sell, or give, or
> market our work, is as important, perhaps even MORE
> IMPORTANT, than the pots
> themselves. . . . . . . .
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards®
http://movies.yahoo.com/
Mark Potter on thu 21 mar 02
Kathy,
You are blessed. The neuron connections in your heart and mind tingle with
the blessing of that gift -
We are made more by example
Than crucible
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Kathy Maves
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 11:42 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: a hand made life, pricing it, in a machine made society
BRAVO Mark!
As a professional potter and the daughter of a master
craftsman who makes custom furniture, I know firsthand
exactly what you are taking about. For the last few
weeks my father has been making his first large piece
of furniture for himself. It's a large set of
bookshelves, computer desk, and china hutch. It's so
beautiful, luminous and warm. He's been in the
business for close to thirty years. He first planned
this project in 1980.
My parents can't afford a completely hand-made life,
nor can I. Still, I don't think my dad knows exactly
what he bought with all his years of sacrifice and
passion; my memories of the curl of his lathe, the
afternoon silence of his workshop, the poetry he used
to read by the fireplace. He paid for all of that, not
just with a simple lifestyle, but with the constant
pain in his back, the long hours and lost family time.
My father gave me something no college or purchase
price could. I am still sorting through this abundant,
complicated gift. Knowing well the price, I am proud
to pay it.
Sincerely,
Kathy
Barronett, WI
kathymaves@yahoo.com
--- Mark Potter wrote:
> I once had the good fortune to live an entire year
> in Paris, on a houseboat,
> on the Seine, anchored beneath the Tuilleries. I
> used to look up at the
> Orangerie from the deck of the boat. I totally
> lucked into the situation.
> What's more it was cheap. It was a wonderful
> experience, so wonderful, that
> I could recieve no pity whatever on two other points
> that more than slightly
> blighted my experience 1) I was dead broke and 2)
> the boat had no heat at
> all, none, whatsoever. I was on the Seine, in
> December and January and I
> nearly froze to death. Truthfully. It was fun,
> looking back, but for two
> months I lived in cafes sleepless, in order to be
> tired enough to get
> through a night on a metal houseboat without heat on
> a river with ice
> floating in it.
>
> I remember telling people about the place I was
> living and saying I had no
> heat, and they would say, 'oh poor you' in a mocking
> way. All were envious.
> I wanted to spend the night in their houses because
> they were warm. They
> wanted to live in mine because it was interesting.
>
> So with our house of pots. We live there because it
> interests us. And
> interests the world as well, so the price exacted
> for living a life that is
> interesting, is poverty. Simple.
>
> The wealthy will buy expensive hand-made shelves for
> their books because
> they can afford it, but the woodworker when you talk
> to him, is broke all
> the time, can hardly afford new blades, and says 'I
> can't even afford my own
> work'. The potter, because he makes volume, is
> broke, so his prices are low,
> but he sells for less than the stores something made
> with love, and has to
> front end all the worries of consumers from repairs
> to health to 'can't you
> come down a little'.
>
>
> . . . . . . ... ....
>
> What about the price thing. Let's clarify - handmade
> furniture costs far
> more than machine made whereas handmade pots, for
> the most part, cost less
> than machine made. Disparity? Not at all. In both
> cases, the profit to the
> producer, is far less for handmade items than
> machine made items. The potter
> and wordworker both are very near or below their
> break even points. Price
> itself does not tell the full story.
>
> The hand producer is subsidizing the industrial
> economy by keeping life
> humane, adding a personal touch to an otherwise
> impersonal world. He does
> this at his own cost, because he wants to. In other
> words, even though
> handmade is more coveted than machine made, for some
> inexplicable reason,
> the handworker is exploited and can be had for less,
> simply because he wants
> to be.
>
> In an essentially sexless world, we're the ones
> willing to sleep with
> anyone. . . . .
>
> So , the hand-made life, as you put it, is worth
> more. After all who
> wouldn't, given a choice, live the hand-made life,
> free from machine
> stresses, artificiality, impermanence . . We have to
> accept that poverty may
> be the price of living an otherwise coveted
> existence.
>
>
> The average American, Westerner, and to a growing
> degree, Asian, and world
> denizen, have for the most part - no or little idea
> where or how their
> phones, computers, bread, rugs, wall coverings,
> paint, furniture, canned
> goods are made, much less know any of the people
> that work in these places.
> Those of us that work in these halls of production,
> or work at computers
> monitoring this production machine, care little
> about the social thread that
> has broken down between producer and consumer of
> goods in this society.
>
> The handworker may be the last frontiersman bridging
> this gap between those
> that make and those that use. In every other aspect
> of our lives, that
> connection has been ripped up. The cost to us of
> preserving that connection
> is that we inherit the anxieties OF OUR ENTIRE
> CULTURE.
>
> And we live in an extremely anxious culture. The SUV
> driving shopper who
> burns more gas in a week than many farmers do in a
> year, takes it out on us
> and recovers some lost sense of control by beating
> us up on the cost of a
> wedding present - (and feels virtuous on top of it),
> by getting our price
> down another 10%.
>
> After all if you are anxious, you express it! Who do
> you express it to?
> Anyone at all through / road rage / terror /
> vandalism, or to anyone who is
> in the BUSINESS OF LISTENING / the mailman / the
> barber / the taxi driver /
> the person making and selling his own stuff.
>
> Like it or not - we are in the business of
> LISTENING. We share the yoke with
> teachers, and barbers and cab drivers.
>
> . . .. . . . . . .
>
> We are on the frontier, not of a civilization that
> is expanding, but rather
> of a civilization IN COLLAPSE!!!
>
> Population going wild - civilization in collapse.
> The production machine has
> gotten out of hand, and psychologically, at least,
> there is a greater demand
> than ever before for handmade goods. BUT THAT
> DEMAND IS NOT ECONOMIC, BUT
> RATHER PSYCHO-SOCIAL.
>
> Motivations are not always monetary. In fact I can
> probably argue that the
> return from making handmade pots next year will be
> less than this year, and
> less the year after next, BUT, more handmade pots
> will be made as a
> proportion of population, merely to assuage the
> psychological damage done to
> society by an industrial machine out of control.
>
> It used to be you wanted flour you went to the
> miller, you wanted beer you
> went to the brewer, you wanted a wheel you went to
> the wheelwright.
> Production has changed all that and has totally
> changed the role of
> craftsperson as well. The artist, like it or not,
> has a role today as a
> healer, and what a wound there is to heal!
>
> The person who will beat you up on a ten dollar mug
> has a lot of healing to
> do.
>
> That momentary exhange, and how we handle it, is the
> measure of our worth.
>
> I therefor submit, that how we pass on our pots, how
> we sell, or give, or
> market our work, is as important, perhaps even MORE
> IMPORTANT, than the pots
> themselves. . . . . . . .
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards.
http://movies.yahoo.com/
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Jonathan Kirkendall on fri 22 mar 02
Hi Everyone,
My partner has just finished a book with the fascinating title "The Gift:
Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property," by Lewis Hyde. From the
Barnes and Noble website: "The first half of this book is a theory of gift
exchange and the second is an attempt to apply the language of that theory
to the life of the artist." (Introduction)
I haven't read it, but much of what Scott tells me about the book has to do
with this thread so I wanted to pass on the title, in case others might be
interested.
I'm off to Colorado today for a week, and when I get back, I'll be reading
it!
Jonathan in DC
where the tiny cherry blossom buds are wondering where the hell this artic
blast of air came from this time of year...
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Kathy Maves
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 11:42 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: a hand made life, pricing it, in a machine made society
BRAVO Mark!
As a professional potter and the daughter of a master
craftsman who makes custom furniture, I know firsthand
exactly what you are taking about. For the last few
weeks my father has been making his first large piece
of furniture for himself. It's a large set of
bookshelves, computer desk, and china hutch. It's so
beautiful, luminous and warm. He's been in the
business for close to thirty years. He first planned
this project in 1980.
My parents can't afford a completely hand-made life,
nor can I. Still, I don't think my dad knows exactly
what he bought with all his years of sacrifice and
passion; my memories of the curl of his lathe, the
afternoon silence of his workshop, the poetry he used
to read by the fireplace. He paid for all of that, not
just with a simple lifestyle, but with the constant
pain in his back, the long hours and lost family time.
My father gave me something no college or purchase
price could. I am still sorting through this abundant,
complicated gift. Knowing well the price, I am proud
to pay it.
Sincerely,
Kathy
Barronett, WI
kathymaves@yahoo.com
--- Mark Potter wrote:
> I once had the good fortune to live an entire year
> in Paris, on a houseboat,
> on the Seine, anchored beneath the Tuilleries. I
> used to look up at the
> Orangerie from the deck of the boat. I totally
> lucked into the situation.
> What's more it was cheap. It was a wonderful
> experience, so wonderful, that
> I could recieve no pity whatever on two other points
> that more than slightly
> blighted my experience 1) I was dead broke and 2)
> the boat had no heat at
> all, none, whatsoever. I was on the Seine, in
> December and January and I
> nearly froze to death. Truthfully. It was fun,
> looking back, but for two
> months I lived in cafes sleepless, in order to be
> tired enough to get
> through a night on a metal houseboat without heat on
> a river with ice
> floating in it.
>
> I remember telling people about the place I was
> living and saying I had no
> heat, and they would say, 'oh poor you' in a mocking
> way. All were envious.
> I wanted to spend the night in their houses because
> they were warm. They
> wanted to live in mine because it was interesting.
>
> So with our house of pots. We live there because it
> interests us. And
> interests the world as well, so the price exacted
> for living a life that is
> interesting, is poverty. Simple.
>
> The wealthy will buy expensive hand-made shelves for
> their books because
> they can afford it, but the woodworker when you talk
> to him, is broke all
> the time, can hardly afford new blades, and says 'I
> can't even afford my own
> work'. The potter, because he makes volume, is
> broke, so his prices are low,
> but he sells for less than the stores something made
> with love, and has to
> front end all the worries of consumers from repairs
> to health to 'can't you
> come down a little'.
>
>
> . . . . . . ... ....
>
> What about the price thing. Let's clarify - handmade
> furniture costs far
> more than machine made whereas handmade pots, for
> the most part, cost less
> than machine made. Disparity? Not at all. In both
> cases, the profit to the
> producer, is far less for handmade items than
> machine made items. The potter
> and wordworker both are very near or below their
> break even points. Price
> itself does not tell the full story.
>
> The hand producer is subsidizing the industrial
> economy by keeping life
> humane, adding a personal touch to an otherwise
> impersonal world. He does
> this at his own cost, because he wants to. In other
> words, even though
> handmade is more coveted than machine made, for some
> inexplicable reason,
> the handworker is exploited and can be had for less,
> simply because he wants
> to be.
>
> In an essentially sexless world, we're the ones
> willing to sleep with
> anyone. . . . .
>
> So , the hand-made life, as you put it, is worth
> more. After all who
> wouldn't, given a choice, live the hand-made life,
> free from machine
> stresses, artificiality, impermanence . . We have to
> accept that poverty may
> be the price of living an otherwise coveted
> existence.
>
>
> The average American, Westerner, and to a growing
> degree, Asian, and world
> denizen, have for the most part - no or little idea
> where or how their
> phones, computers, bread, rugs, wall coverings,
> paint, furniture, canned
> goods are made, much less know any of the people
> that work in these places.
> Those of us that work in these halls of production,
> or work at computers
> monitoring this production machine, care little
> about the social thread that
> has broken down between producer and consumer of
> goods in this society.
>
> The handworker may be the last frontiersman bridging
> this gap between those
> that make and those that use. In every other aspect
> of our lives, that
> connection has been ripped up. The cost to us of
> preserving that connection
> is that we inherit the anxieties OF OUR ENTIRE
> CULTURE.
>
> And we live in an extremely anxious culture. The SUV
> driving shopper who
> burns more gas in a week than many farmers do in a
> year, takes it out on us
> and recovers some lost sense of control by beating
> us up on the cost of a
> wedding present - (and feels virtuous on top of it),
> by getting our price
> down another 10%.
>
> After all if you are anxious, you express it! Who do
> you express it to?
> Anyone at all through / road rage / terror /
> vandalism, or to anyone who is
> in the BUSINESS OF LISTENING / the mailman / the
> barber / the taxi driver /
> the person making and selling his own stuff.
>
> Like it or not - we are in the business of
> LISTENING. We share the yoke with
> teachers, and barbers and cab drivers.
>
> . . .. . . . . . .
>
> We are on the frontier, not of a civilization that
> is expanding, but rather
> of a civilization IN COLLAPSE!!!
>
> Population going wild - civilization in collapse.
> The production machine has
> gotten out of hand, and psychologically, at least,
> there is a greater demand
> than ever before for handmade goods. BUT THAT
> DEMAND IS NOT ECONOMIC, BUT
> RATHER PSYCHO-SOCIAL.
>
> Motivations are not always monetary. In fact I can
> probably argue that the
> return from making handmade pots next year will be
> less than this year, and
> less the year after next, BUT, more handmade pots
> will be made as a
> proportion of population, merely to assuage the
> psychological damage done to
> society by an industrial machine out of control.
>
> It used to be you wanted flour you went to the
> miller, you wanted beer you
> went to the brewer, you wanted a wheel you went to
> the wheelwright.
> Production has changed all that and has totally
> changed the role of
> craftsperson as well. The artist, like it or not,
> has a role today as a
> healer, and what a wound there is to heal!
>
> The person who will beat you up on a ten dollar mug
> has a lot of healing to
> do.
>
> That momentary exhange, and how we handle it, is the
> measure of our worth.
>
> I therefor submit, that how we pass on our pots, how
> we sell, or give, or
> market our work, is as important, perhaps even MORE
> IMPORTANT, than the pots
> themselves. . . . . . . .
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Mark Potter on fri 22 mar 02
Jonathan,
You are on to something here. The idea of a gift - a life gift - placing
yourself squarely in front of what needs most and then answering that -
fearlessly - without ego - hmmmm..
Ben Franklin said the best way to defeat an enemy was to borrow a book.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Jonathan Kirkendall
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 9:26 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: a hand made life, pricing it, in a machine made society
Hi Everyone,
My partner has just finished a book with the fascinating title "The Gift:
Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property," by Lewis Hyde. From the
Barnes and Noble website: "The first half of this book is a theory of gift
exchange and the second is an attempt to apply the language of that theory
to the life of the artist." (Introduction)
I haven't read it, but much of what Scott tells me about the book has to do
with this thread so I wanted to pass on the title, in case others might be
interested.
I'm off to Colorado today for a week, and when I get back, I'll be reading
it!
Jonathan in DC
where the tiny cherry blossom buds are wondering where the hell this artic
blast of air came from this time of year...
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