Elizabeth Hunt on sun 27 nov 05
Amen!, Brother Tony;)
>
> Dear Grannie: You're absolutely right that it isn' all about money or we
> wouldn't have sent our best pots to a gallery and get half price for them.
> the truth though is that we subsidized that show at that gallery. Sheila
> and
> I must pay for our butter, our mortgage, our car payments and insurance
> etc,
> etc with money earned from clay. Money is always on our mind. It has to be
> since we don't have trust funds, rich parents, pensions or the security
> that
> allows us the luxury of doing it for the team. I could probably do a few
> dozen workshops in 2006 if i agreed to do them for the airfare and a few
> square meals. truth is I have to come home on Monday and pay the bills. So
> I
> do workshops for money! I make them work for me. i sell pots, I sell
> videos,
> I collect a workshop fee and i put on a performance that makes everyone go
> happy including me with a pocket full of cash.
> Potters are not any different than folk singers. they go to a town, put on
> a
> performance and need to get paid so that they can do it again next
> weekend.
> We can't sleep on the floor, eat worms and say it ain't about money it's
> about the music.
> We're professionals and need to get paid professional wages.
> It is about money or we don't get to do it again tomorrow.
> Cheers,
> Tony
>
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Liz Willoughby on sun 27 nov 05
Dear Claybuds,
Tony and Mel were going on last week about how much it costs to be a
part of a show or an exhibition. They were right as far as figuring
out how much money is made or lost, etc.etc.etc.......Well, it isn't
all about money.
This has been in my head since Tony said, "I forgot to mention these
were our very best pots from 6 wood firings that I could have sold to
my very best customers for full retail, but oh no, I
needed to puff up my ego."
We have talked a lot in the past on this forum about making a living
from our craft, and we have talked occasionally about the "balanced
life", and about "choice". Have we mentioned how many of us need to
feed our ego? Especially nice when our colleagues like our work, and
invite us to be part of a show, or give us an award, or ask us to
give a workshop. Not only does this feed our ego, it helps us to
make better pots, and to give better workshops. Some of us need
constant approval more than others. Many of us work alone, and that
ain't easy. We need the contact of being around other potters
occasionally, it helps to fill that lonely spot inside, and also
brings friendship into our lives.
We need more than money to survive in this life of being potters or
artists or craftspersons (take your pick). If doing other things
besides being tied to the wheel gives pleasure, satisfaction, and
even growth as a human being, it is worthwhile doing it.
But we all have the choice to choose, whatever it is that makes us tick.
Liz
--
Liz from Grafton, Ontario, Canada
"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are . . . something
to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
Joseph Addison
clennell on sun 27 nov 05
Liz Willoughby wrote:
> Dear Claybuds,
> Tony and Mel were going on last week about how much it costs to be a
> part of a show or an exhibition. They were right as far as figuring
> out how much money is made or lost, etc.etc.etc.......Well, it isn't
> all about money.
>
> This has been in my head since Tony said, "I forgot to mention these
> were our very best pots from 6 wood firings that I could have sold to
> my very best customers for full retail, but oh no, I
> needed to puff up my ego."
Dear Grannie: You're absolutely right that it isn' all about money or we
wouldn't have sent our best pots to a gallery and get half price for them.
the truth though is that we subsidized that show at that gallery. Sheila and
I must pay for our butter, our mortgage, our car payments and insurance etc,
etc with money earned from clay. Money is always on our mind. It has to be
since we don't have trust funds, rich parents, pensions or the security that
allows us the luxury of doing it for the team. I could probably do a few
dozen workshops in 2006 if i agreed to do them for the airfare and a few
square meals. truth is I have to come home on Monday and pay the bills. So I
do workshops for money! I make them work for me. i sell pots, I sell videos,
I collect a workshop fee and i put on a performance that makes everyone go
happy including me with a pocket full of cash.
Potters are not any different than folk singers. they go to a town, put on a
performance and need to get paid so that they can do it again next weekend.
We can't sleep on the floor, eat worms and say it ain't about money it's
about the music.
We're professionals and need to get paid professional wages.
It is about money or we don't get to do it again tomorrow.
Cheers,
Tony
Liz Willoughby on mon 28 nov 05
Ah yes, Tony, it is about the money, but it isn't all about the
money. The reason that you have agreed to teach, to do more
workshops, to make a video, is because you need too. For whatever
reason.
The point I was trying to make, was that we do indeed need ego
stroking, and that is not a bad thing if we put a positive spin on
it. And we can make a choice on whether to spend 12 hours a day
making pots, or spend some time away, doing other clay related
things, for money.
Why do we really send images into books for publication at our own costs?
Why do we enter juried shows at our own costs?
Why do we put our work in galleries instead of selling them in our
own showroom, the 50 mile radius thing?
Why do we spend money for professional slides for our Resume, or Biographies?
Why do some of us publish?
If we have the means to have a showroom where we work, and can make
money there, why do we do all these other things?
Well, some of us need too. It feeds us.
And yes, we are professionals, and should be paid as such.
Money is on everybody's mind, even if you are rich. My brother in
law comes to mind. He still sits at the kitchen table every Sat.
morning cutting out coupons for groceries, and my sister drives a
caddie.
There will always be those that have another means of support,
without needing the income from clay. But that is not what I am
talking about. It kind of sounds like sour grapes. But that is
life. And we all know that life is not a bowl full of cherries.
I think that you are finally learning to have more of a balanced
life. Now, don't come back next summer and start complaining about
all the money you didn't make because of not being in the studio.
Ah, I bet you do anyway!
Cheers to you too,
Liz (who unfortunately, will never be a Grannie!, except in Tony's eyes)
>Dear Grannie: You're absolutely right that it isn' all about money or we
>wouldn't have sent our best pots to a gallery and get half price for them.
>the truth though is that we subsidized that show at that gallery. Sheila and
>I must pay for our butter, our mortgage, our car payments and insurance etc,
>etc with money earned from clay. Money is always on our mind. It has to be
>since we don't have trust funds, rich parents, pensions or the security that
>allows us the luxury of doing it for the team. I could probably do a few
>dozen workshops in 2006 if i agreed to do them for the airfare and a few
>square meals. truth is I have to come home on Monday and pay the bills. So I
>do workshops for money! I make them work for me. i sell pots, I sell videos,
>I collect a workshop fee and i put on a performance that makes everyone go
>happy including me with a pocket full of cash.
>Potters are not any different than folk singers. they go to a town, put on a
>performance and need to get paid so that they can do it again next weekend.
>We can't sleep on the floor, eat worms and say it ain't about money it's
>about the music.
>We're professionals and need to get paid professional wages.
>It is about money or we don't get to do it again tomorrow.
>Cheers,
Tony
--
Liz from Grafton, Ontario, Canada
"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are . . . something
to do, something to love, and something to hope for."
Joseph Addison
Lee Love on mon 28 nov 05
Of course, you never said money didn't have an aspect. All we have to do
is read the subject. Creativity isn' ONLY about da' money.
On 2005/11/28 14:08:32, lizwill@phc.igs.net wrote:
> Money is on everybody's
> mind, even if you a
Not everyone's mind. ;-) .
I remember in 9th grade in high school, the great relief I felt when I
first read Thoreau's Walden Pond. I thought, "I am not the only one who
thinks money and success isn't everything." I was happy to find one
person in the world who felt the way I do: that it was better to spend
your life in the woods with a dog than to have to jump through hoops to
get things that don't last. I found similar minds later, in Gary Snyder
and Wendell Berry. Imagine my joy when I found Hamada and Leach!
I have never thought much about things in terms of money. I always think
in terms of a more valuable commodity: Time. I think: I have to work
this long to get this or that. Is it worth this amount of time?
As you get older, you better understand the precious nature of time.
--
李 Lee Love 大
愛 鱗
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://seisokuro.blogspot.com/ My Photo Logs
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft
"With Humans it's what's here (he points to his heart) that makes the
difference. If you don't have it in the heart, nothing you make will
make a difference."
~~Bernard Leach~~ (As told to Dean Schwarz)
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