Jacqui Kruzewski on wed 3 aug 05
>The question is asked, REPEATEDLY; is someone who earns a living off
>selling
>pots a more real potter than someone who does not? If so are professors
>or
>teachers of pottery "real potters", since they earn their livings primarily
>as teachers? If someone can pot full time because of a pension (as from a
>college) disability, alimony, trust fund, an oil well in the back yard, is
>that person a real potter? Obviously there is some sort of insecurity out
>there, like that of people who worry about who is a real man, a real woman,
>a real anything. WHY?
I have thought about this a lot since Lily asked the question, and I have
thought about it on and off since I the time I felt I could call myself a
potter.
I quote this extract from Lily's post because I think this idea that someone
may have an alternative income or occupation (not necessarily the same
thing) may be at the crux of the matter, yet I feel that it is irrelevent.
Economies (household and National) are kept together by people who have more
than one job. Is an office cleaner not a cleaner because he/she also works
in a laundry? Is a bank clerk not a bank clerk because their partner is a
solicitor and they don't really need the income from their job? Is a nurse
not an nurse because he/she also cleans houses? Do the other nurses care?
only if said nurse is too tired to do their job properly.
The difference with the crafts / arts fields is that they have certain
romantic notions attached to them. I don't think (though I may be wrong)
that a bank clerk wanted to become one because they love the feel of money
passing through their fingers. And although nursing is a vocation, I've
never heard anyone say "Ooh, how lovely" when they meet one.
You can not enter most jobs or proffessions at hobby level. Any hobby bank
clerks around? I thought not.
By the same token, in my opinion, a person who makes their entire income
from clay can not necessarily be judged "a serious potter". I know a couple
of people who's only income is from clay. The public buy their work in
droves, they even get wholesale orders. They've both been doing this for a
long time (tens of years). Despite that their work is has never progressed
beyond nightschool standard - cutesy stuff and badly thrown, shoddily
handbuilt, heavy euk. But it's "cute" and it's cheap.
There is no proffessional training or qualification that denotes that one
can call oneself a potter. And please don't say "degree". I know people
with ceramics degrees who can't even stack, let alone fire any sort of kiln,
who can't begin to think about mixing glaze, and some who can do all of the
above but whose "pots" are held together by a wing and a prayer. Some of
these "potters" are the ones who will glaze the inside of a mug with a
barium glaze because it looks nice and the curriculum didn't cover safety in
glaze. Some of these people will go on to teach - but I digress.
Members of the public will buy what ever appeals to them. Well made or badly
made, what colour is it? Does it match my couch? Is it cute? Is it cheap?
That is the standard many of the public go by. We can not rely on sales to
give us our answer.
To me it all comes down to skill and seriousness of intent -and the
judgement of ones peers. That in itself is a shadowy area for some.
Me? Well my work is domestic. Mostly it involves sprigging. Some Celtic
sprigs, but mainly shells, seahorses and the like, and also flowers - all
moulded from the real thing. And my pots are blue - that's what sells. Do I
detect a few raised eyebrows? I get the odd sniffy comment because my work
has "appeal" and I constantly want to change it to do something more
serious. Every time I'm dragged back by "popular demand". BUT - my peers,
whom I admire (great throwers, well known potters) tell me I'm a decent
thrower, they tell me I'm very good at sprigging, that it is a skill.
I am a potter. I supplement my income with a few largely enjoyable hours at
the local supermarket. It makes no difference. I'm still a potter.
Jacqui
North Wales
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Elizabeth Priddy on wed 3 aug 05
Are you by any chance,
Conwy Pottery in Wales?
I have an absolutely beautiful sprigged griffon,
blue, small drinking cup brought back to me from
Wales by an apprentice off traveling. I have told
all of them to bring me something or else.
Out of all the things in Briton that he saw, this
is what he thought was best.
The blue is satin, varying from purple to green.
Wales can't be that big. Or is it?
If this is you, and even if it is not, she is
right as rain.
E
Jacqui Kruzewski wrote:
>The question is asked, REPEATEDLY; is someone who earns a living off
>selling
>pots a more real potter than someone who does not? If so are professors
>or
>teachers of pottery "real potters", since they earn their livings primarily
>as teachers? If someone can pot full time because of a pension (as from a
>college) disability, alimony, trust fund, an oil well in the back yard, is
>that person a real potter? Obviously there is some sort of insecurity out
>there, like that of people who worry about who is a real man, a real woman,
>a real anything. WHY?
I have thought about this a lot since Lily asked the question, and I have
thought about it on and off since I the time I felt I could call myself a
potter.
Me? Well my work is domestic. Mostly it involves sprigging. Some Celtic
sprigs, but mainly shells, seahorses and the like, and also flowers - all
moulded from the real thing. And my pots are blue - that's what sells. Do I
detect a few raised eyebrows? I get the odd sniffy comment because my work
has "appeal" and I constantly want to change it to do something more
serious. Every time I'm dragged back by "popular demand". BUT - my peers,
whom I admire (great throwers, well known potters) tell me I'm a decent
thrower, they tell me I'm very good at sprigging, that it is a skill.
I am a potter. I supplement my income with a few largely enjoyable hours at
the local supermarket. It makes no difference. I'm still a potter.
Jacqui
North Wales
_________________________________________________________________
Elizabeth Priddy
252-504-2622
1273 Hwy 101
Beaufort, NC 28516
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
*If you are an extra-sensitive
or easily-offended type:
Remember that what I say is obviously
just my opinion based on my experiences
and that I, like most people, don't go around
intending to step on toes and make folks cry.
Take it with a grain of salt.
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Jacqui Kruzewski on wed 3 aug 05
Elizabeth priddy wrote:
>
>Are you by any chance,
>Conwy Pottery in Wales?
>
>Wales can't be that big. Or is it?
>
No, Elizabeth, I am not Conwy pottery. I belong to a co-operative IN Conwy,
but I live and work 40 odd miles south of there. My work and there's does
have similarities, but it's not the same. They are a big enterprise -
virtually every heritage place in Britain stocks Conwy pottery. And for an
enterprise that is very commercially run, the product is nice.
There are lots of potters in Wales - perhaps more than you'd think for the
size. it's an area that creative people have flocked to ever since the '60s.
Sorry i can't own up to making your mug!
Jacqui
North wales
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Taylor from Rockport on wed 3 aug 05
Howdy y'all:
I see the light at the end of my DIY bathroom project, so a nice
insightful post is in order. Too bad I can't oblige you.
I have often thought of this question Mama Lili posed. I suspect I have
thought of it too often, but what Mama Lili takes the time to pose, I feel
compelled to hear.
Because I have spent too much time thinking on this issue (instead of
wiring up a kiln or throwing the dust off my kickwheels), I have begun to
abandon the notions that what Jane Q. Public calls of you or even what
John Q. Potter calls you are important. Too many issues cloud things. To
take into consideration one thing, one must abandon other important
things. How I arrived at the appellation corresponds in no way with how
you might arrive or where you might arrive or even how you got there.
What is forming slowly in my mind as a notion is what *I* label *myself*
as. I have the feeling that what a person names herself says alot about
her, an awful lot. I do NOT call myself a potter though I can throw
plates, bowls, pull handles, spouts. I do not call myself a potter though
I can mix and sieve my own glazes, repair build my own pottery tools. I
even do not call myself a potter though I have two kilns I can opperate
with competence to produce saleable ware. I do not call myself a potter
because I have not done these things LONG enough, and that for me is an
important thing.
Taylor, in Rockport TX
http://wirerabbit.blogspot.com
http://wirerabbitpots.blogspot.com
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