david mcbeth on tue 4 oct 05
Does it really matter whether a teapot costs 25 dollars or 2500
dollars. Are we buying the teapot because it is Teresa Chang's or
Ron Meyers' or John Neely's or David McBeth's or because it cost 600
dollars or because it in some indescribable way it speaks to us?
Because there is something about the shape or angle of the spout, the
color of the glaze, the flashing of the fire or the shape of the
belly that causes me to say - Hey little friend you need to come home
to my house. I need to look at you on those morning when I am having
a hard time getting started. I need you to help me celebrate a
special morning with my mom, or daughter or who ever. I need to pour
tea out of you on the first snowy morning of the winter. I hope we
pay 600 dollars for the celebration of the object and events not the
idolization of the maker.
Dave
--
David McBeth, MFA
Professor of Art
Assistant Director of Honors Programs
330 B Gooch Hall
The University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, Tennessee 38238
731-881-7416
Farfl's House on wed 5 oct 05
I was going to write something along the lines of Lee's response, but my
take on things is a little bit different. If an object "speaks" to me and
resonates with me enough, and I absolutely fall in love with it, I'll try
my hardest to somehow come up with the money to purchase it. The monetary
value somehow becomes secondary. I've worked out creative payment plans
for oil paintings, and most recently I fell in love with a giant gong.
It's a luxury item, but I also use it with my band! It dwarfs everything
else onstage...even our singer...and he's the size of Meatloaf! ;)
> --- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, david mcbeth wrote:
>
> > Does it really matter whether a teapot costs 25 dollars or 2500
> > dollars.
>
>
> There is a "real" and "practical" difference: I am
> easily able to buy a $25.00 teapot but I really can't afford a $2,500.00
> one not matter "how much it speaks to me." One end is more suited to
> use while the other is more a luxury/consumer/investment object.
>
> Lee Love
Lee Love on thu 6 oct 05
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, david mcbeth wrote:
> Does it really matter whether a teapot costs 25 dollars or 2500
> dollars.
There is a "real" and "practical" difference: I am
easily able to buy a $25.00 teapot but I really can't afford a $2,500.00
one not matter "how much it speaks to me." One end is more suited to
use while the other is more a luxury/consumer/investment object.
As a maker, you have to ask: "Why am I making this work?" It
really helps you set prices that reflect your values.
--
Lee Love
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://spaces.msn.com/members/togeika/ New Weblog!
"We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us
that they may see, it may be, their own images, and so live for a moment
with a clearer, perhaps even with a fiercer life because of our quiet."
-- W.B. Yeats
| |
|
