=?iso-8859-1?q?Katie=20Ellis?= on thu 7 aug 03
I'm (very impatiently!) waiting for my very first
glaze firing to cool down enough to open the
kiln...I'm too excited to eat anything, do
anything...just keep walking back and forth from the
back patio to the computer, can't wait to see the
results!!!
Anyway, this marketing/slogan discussion is quite
interesting to read...if every potter out there is
making something unique, something that they
particularly are interested in (whether it be slip
casting, hand building, tiles, whatever), why should
the consumer base be the same? Why should their
prices be the same? Why should it matter if your pots
are five bucks or five hundred? Each person is
different, so their prices and the way they deal with
consumers is different, too. I imagine (and it truly
is imagining...I'm not near ready to sell my pots!)
that for some people, parting with their pots can be
extremely hard. For me, by the time my pots go
through all the firing and care that it takes to make
something beautiful (well, beautiful to me!), I truly
feel connected to it because it contains a little part
of me. Not many of my pots make it that far. I
rewedge probably 60-80% of the stuff I make because
I'm not happy with it. I like to hope that I am as
malleable and as teachable as the clay that I've
turned into something, and that somehow that fact
links me to the piece. Granted, I don't plan on
selling my pots for large lumps of money (cause that's
just not me), but I hope the form says something
about me. Being so new to this, sometimes I'm not
sure what I'm trying to say through my pots. Guess
that's why I'm starting my college education in less
than a month and am desperately trying to get enrolled
in a ceramics class (freshman register last, and all
the classes are full. Both my pottery teacher and
myself have written the ceramics professor at
school...haven't heard anything...but there will be
clay...!!!!)
I care who I give my pots to, and where they end up.
(Yeah, I suppose I'm a bit too attached...I'll need to
get over that...) Pricing seems crazy to me because
all prices seem to expensive, yet too cheap. I
suppose that's why I keep giving things away (guess
I'm REALLY going to have to get over that, too...).
I've learned that as a hopeful potter, I see things
differently...the rest of my family wouldn't
understand why I paid $16 for a hand thrown mug
because it felt perfect in my hand...that's why when
my dad saw a Hamada pot in the Victoria and Albert
museum he told me that "gee, that guy isn't even that
great...can't even center his clay!"....people see
things differently, and I've learned that it's very
hard to make people see things the way you do. And
that is okay. We are all different.
As for slogans, my artist's statement was the hardest
thing I've ever had to write. I can't imaging summing
up the whole thing and trying to relay to people why
clay is so awesome in some short catch phrase. But
good luck to anyone who tries...
Well, I think that kiln might have cooled off by now
and I really can't wait to see the results...I'm
sending Rush a little pot from this firing...I figure
it'll give him something to laugh at :) ....
~katie
on whidbey island
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