Stephani Stephenson on fri 6 dec 02
While on the subject of potter's income and lifestyle .....
I thought the 'comment ' section in this month's Ceramics monthly was
interesting and then odd.
the author was drawing comparisons between engaging in a life in
pottery and running a marathon.
I thought there were nice analogies..... I was reading along.... greatly
identifying with the marathon
concept.... (especially at the close of this year and the year before
that and the year before that.....)
I found myself taking heart , as the author of the article described the
grit, the determination of the marathon runner.
then suddenly, in the last paragraph, the author took an unexpected
turn .
in the last few paragraphs he says, after extolling the virtues of the
marathon runner,
(and I paraphrase as I have lent out my copy of CM)
that the best thing he ever did was to quit pottery and get a full time
job and now he does fewer sales, makes better pots and feels better
about it.
I guess the turnabout in the article came as a surprise. I almost felt
like the author almost got ME to the finish line,cheering on the
marathon runners, then ditched us all in the home stretch!
maybe it was just that the segue (sp?) from the main theme / body of
the article to the last paragraph was , er, subtle... in fact i finished
the whole thing before I thought... wait a minnut.!!!!.. what IS he
saying? What is the conclusion here? Is he saying he is not a marathon
runner (in the clay/race analogy), or is he saying that switching gears
is simply one way to stay IN the race......
I'm not sure I will go the distance either, but I felt mildly let down
at the conclusion of the article in an odd way, (probably because I
already did the 'work a full time job during the week /make and sell
pots on the weekends' lifestyle... I ended up being MORE exhausted and
less happy with the work)...
anyway, food for thought, just wondered how others read it.
Stephani Stephenson
steph@alchemiestudio.com
Janet Kaiser on sat 7 dec 02
I will not receive CM for some weeks... But, it sounds like you got it in
one from your brief account, Stephani. Everyone suffers from burn-out to
some degree, sooner or later. I hardly left the starting box before it
happened, but others can go on for years in the fast track, without showing
any signs of the speed affecting them. No signs of stress... Doesn't matter
what the weather or the driving conditions, they just plough on...
Some make it to the finishing line in one piece, but left the road a couple
of times on their way. Others have to change wheels, swap cars or take
different roads along the way and some eventually arrive after a massive
detour...
As there are no winners of the ceramic race not to mention a finishing line
everyone can agree upon, there are all ways of running the race.
Tortoise or hare? Above all, it depends on your personal temperament...
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser - You are as bad as me, Stephani! Didn't you know we all turn
into pumpkins at 00:00 hrs? :-)
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
Subject: more on potter's living: CM "comment" this month
From: Stephani Stephenson
Time: 00:03 06/12/02
>What is the conclusion here? Is he saying he is not a marathon
>runner (in the clay/race analogy), or is he saying that switching gears
>is simply one way to stay IN the race......
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