primalmommy on thu 21 mar 02
There is another way to measure the value of your work. It has to do
with how you'd be making a living if you were not making pots.
We choose to live a pretty frugal, simple life -- because it's good for
the environment, because we don't support international sweatshops and
object to being "marketed at" by multimillion dollar corporations with
bad ethics. Because we've rejected a lot of the materialism of our
culture. But here's the real, honest-to-goodness, selfish reason:
We don't want to give up any more hours than necessary living "second
hand". I wonder if I can explain this. I could work a 9 to 5 "pantyhose"
job, making enough money to afford the best child care/schooling for my
kids... or I can cut out the middle man and stay home and raise/teach
them myself. I could work a 9 to 5 and be able to buy produce flown from
other countries, fresh and canned fruits and veggies, prepared and
frozen dinners, crusty expensive bread... or I can stay home and grow my
own, can my own, bake my own. I like the feel of garden soil better than
the feel of money in my hands. My little girl smiling with warm brown
eggs in her pockets, an afternoon in the steamy kitchen canning the
year's tomatoes or peaches, a house that smells like fresh baked bread,
creamy homemade yogurt... what would I pay to replace that with the work
of someone else's hands? How many hours would I give to a job to buy the
contentment I find in the day-to-day necessities of hanging wash on the
line, turning compost, making fruity wines, living the lives of
generations of my farm grandmas? We have a small house and half an acre
of yard right smack in the middle of town... but there's room for six
hens, some tomato cages, a clothesline...
Making pots by hand just feels right in my life; it fits our philosophy.
It is hard work enough to give me a sense of accomplishment and suit the
family work ethic, but creative enough that I am restrained only by my
own imagination. The kind of people who think it's cool to know a potter
-- (even the wealthy ones who like to have "their own potter") -- tend
to share our values. I teach clay to homeschooled kids, and do spiritual
projects with women, and do clay with scouts, and work with the urban
gardens project, turning vacant lots into community gardens... which
means I have a "tribe" around me and my family all the time, and my
studio seems to be the "village well" that brings us all together.
So I figured out I need to make $22 an hour, for classes or for pots,
and don't go below that...carefully adding in kiln loading, class
planning, driving for supplies, etc. per piece. I will raise the price
if the market allows, and am careful not to undercut fellow potters
whose work is at the same level as mine (so many are miles and dollars
ahead of me.) I can afford to price in a way that keeps pots going out
the door, because money is only a part of the reward clay brings me.
This choice (and my husband's outside income, for which I am grateful)
pays in a sense of satisfaction... in hammock time... in the hours spent
with my children...
Yours, Kelly in Ohio... where we're all still sick and the snow is
flying, but I am sketching plans to paint my garage and studio doors
with the geometric patterns from Elca Branman's lovely book "African
Canvas" by Margaret Courtney Clark...
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