Anji Henderson on tue 16 apr 02
What happened with this post?? I was intrested in
others thoughts... I think it got lost between the new
CD and pencils somewhere...... :/
Anji
--- Dale Neese wrote:
> Presenting your work in slides to a jury is indeed a
> paradox to some of us. Most of my pottery income is
> from "craft fairs". I don't "work" for galleries at
> 50%, don't produce wholesale and very little
> consignment. I notice that many of the shows are now
> called "Art Festivals" instead of Craft Fairs. I
> started out when burlap in your booth was cool. So
> now is that why I see so many people carrying "art
> on a stick" at these Festivals? Cute bent wire
> butterfly with glass bead eyes on the end of a brass
> rod. Some vendors will sell thousands of these
> things. Get in a crowd there and risk having your
> eye put out. Is this art? Hardly craft. What do the
> "artists" write on their artist's statement about
> their "art"? These "artists" seem to get selected
> for every show.
> So being primarily a functional potter for 25 years
> and because usually 9 out of 10 customers to my
> booth will buy a batter bowl, mug, plate and the
> like. Usually one customer will gladly spend $250 to
> $350 for one of my decorative large Shino, or ash
> glazed, crackle slip covered jars just to have the
> pot perform no function other than to be a nice, big
> beautiful pot. So do I submit slides to the "Art
> Festivals" of my batterbowls and risk being rejected
> as "just another potter" or will showing a large jar
> in with my slides of just mugs and bowls tag me as
> not having direction or consistency? Does having
> slides of the same glaze combinations on all of my
> work show consistency? What happens when I show a
> carved porcelain celadon piece in with my dinnerware
> slides? If I get juried in to a show on just my
> slides of large amphora jars and then have mugs in
> my booth? Can the show organizer ask me to remove
> the mugs because I misrepresented my cohesive body
> of work? Does the potter have the advantage because
> of consistency of production? I tend to think that
> is not always true. The last "Festival" I attended
> you could count the number of truly functional
> production potters on one hand out of 300
> exhibitors. Some of the other "award winning ribbon"
> clayworks were shown on pedestals in slick gallery
> like booths, maybe only 30 pieces of work on
> display. Yeah, I must say it all looked alike. The
> $300 to $500 a piece price tag was about the same
> consistency too. But there I was, sellin' and
> sackin' my always top quality $12 mugs, $15 bowls
> and $35 plates like crazy. Isn't that the idea?
> Selling or just having a big name? Can't take your
> big name to the bank. I guess I am missing the
> credibility of consistency issue somewhere in the
> past 25 years now when a juror doesn't see it in my
> set of slides.
> Dale Tex
=====
Good art does not have to match your sofa!!
-Fred Babb
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
http://taxes.yahoo.com/
| |
|
