Connie Schumm on fri 28 jan 05
Hi - You don't know me, but I know you because I have been reading clayart
for years but rarely contribute. I have been reading the thread about mug
making and how potters have to now grow up from being hippies. I am just a
few years too young to be an old hippie, and a wrinkling Gen-Xer so I can
see both directions.
As an almost completely self-taught potter I have done ok in the couple of
years since I "turned pro." My business has paid for itself and I bought
myself a brand new kiln and heat, insulation, and good lights for my barn
studio. Next year I get running water and maybe a profit. This is while
doing art very part time and parenting full time. (I hesitate to invite you
to look at my lame website - www.connieschummpottery.com )
Except for complete sets of dishes that a few people have ordered, all my
pottery sales are one of a kind. One mug, one salad bowl, one platter. A
complete and wonderful surprise is that what people are really excited about
buying from me are the tedious, expensive mosaics (table tops, mirrors etc)
I make with a combination of pottery shards (I make slabs to smash),
nostalgic china, mirror, glass and polished stones.
Anyway - I am writing to highly recommend a book I'm reading called Purple
Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin. He is
writing about companies like Starbucks and Jet Blue, but it totally applies
to my experience (described above) of starting a weird little business and I
think it might speak to the condition of other artist/entrepreneurs. I'd
love to know what anybody else thinks of it.
Connie
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Terrie Raphael on sun 30 jan 05
Connie - Thanx for sharing your story. Congratulations on finding and
building a niche for your work. The sgraffito designs are especially lovely. I, too,
am a regular reader/rare correspondent on clayart...with a newly empty nest
that gives me more time for clay and, thus, thinking (with trepidations) about
taking this seriously enough to making my clay work eventually pay for itself.
I haven't yet read Purple Cow but look forward to doing so and appreciate the
recommendation. Currently, I am reading Robin Hopper's book Stayin' Alive -
Survival Tactics for the Visual Artist as a result of an earlier clayart
thread. It addresses some of your interests from a different angle. Best - Terrie
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