Elizabeth Priddy on tue 13 dec 05
Perhaps in addition to your other standards, one should be
that 1/3 of your membership should be under 50 yrs. old.
Some of your older members will balk and have to move to
working in their own studios. Shouldn't they anyway? As
the older potters move to making things they just feel like making
instead of stuff for the sale, they shift out and there is room
for newer members. Maybe even have the guild honor such
members' contribution by gifting them with whatever they need
to be able to work at home.
You might make a senior potter membership for those who have
been with the guild the longest, where they offer input but do not
use the facilities; they cannot just stay in cause they
have always been there. The position of "advisor" should be an
honor and a relief to many older potters who may be cranking out that
fifty because of obligation rather than love.
I don't know, something to chew on for you.
I tried to start a guild here. I did not succeed. The area is strange.
I would have joined an existing guild. For fellowship, not access
to kilns. When the initial group of potters got together a few times,
there was the same 6 people, each with their own studios, own friends,
own lives, no real need for the guild. and the local community college
class, which I taught for several years, is always full of people sitting
on the fence. Not interested enough to get their own equipment. So
we have people too busy to be in a guild, and people too unskilled to
offer much to others.
So I let it go and started going elsewhere to find fellow potters, Bailey.
Which, ironically, is the tiny town I was so eager to leave as a young
person. And it is not a guild in Bailey. It is one man's vision, his property,
his morals, his nature. If it were run by committee, it would be a wreck in
2 years. But fortunately, it is controlled by one person. A lot like I hear of
Hay Creek. But a lot closer. And still further than I can manage with
a little baby-0 in tow. But it will be there when I have the means and the
time. And I know he will be there. It isn't a game or a lark for him, it is
his life. We just get to participate in it, which is amazing generosity,
because he could surely do without all the hassle of other people being
in his space and using his stuff. (Thank you for that, Dan.)
I never mention Dan on list, because I tend to get in scrapes and bullsh#@
arguments and I don't want to sully his fine name and reputation by any
association with me, but he taught me how to make pots when I was a
teen-age girl and taught me how to be an adult and a teacher by long
association. You cannot do any better than to learn from Dan Finch. He is
a fine person who's ego is a driving force rather than a cumbersome bore,
a rare feat in any field, especially the arts.
And I have found that the best potters I have known are much more like him
than unlike him. The few truly cumbersome bores I have known don't ever
really make it. Because people sense this and stay outside their field of
influence. They surface occasionally due to talent and hard work. But they
never really reach a shining star status, the kind that others mention, not
the chest thumping from the source. People notice things like an undeveloped
personality or deep insecurity. And they get enough of that from people
who are NOT potters, and to bring someone like that into their private clay
world is just not gonna happen for most people. They might have superficial
interactions with people like that for prudential reasons, but the ties only last
as long as the "star" manages to be on top.
And as Andy Warhol taught us, that tends to be about 15 minutes. I prefer
the company of people whose inner star shines for a whole lifetime, not
a few minutes blaze across the sky.
EP
Elizabeth Priddy
Beaufort, NC - USA
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
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L. P. Skeen on tue 13 dec 05
You would get in trouble with the federales over that one E. Age
discrimination is a no-no.
L
----- Original Message -----
From: "Elizabeth Priddy"
> Perhaps in addition to your other standards, one should be
> that 1/3 of your membership should be under 50 yrs. old.
lela martens on tue 13 dec 05
> Perhaps in addition to your other standards, one should be
> that 1/3 of your membership should be under 50 yrs. old.
>
> Some of your older members will balk and have to move to
> working in their own studios. Shouldn't they anyway? As
> the older potters move to making things they just feel like making
> instead of stuff for the sale, they shift out and there is room
> for newer members. Maybe even have the guild honor such
> members' contribution by gifting them with whatever they need
> to be able to work at home.
>You have touched on something that has bothered my mind for awhile.
It is a rule, one instituted decades ago, of our guild that no
`professional` potters be included. I have talked about it at our meetings
about what the longer termed members mean by `professional`. One said
`earning your living at it`.
Maybe I`m scrabbled but my way of thinking is perhaps a `proffesional`
potter might like to share, teach, add to the organization. But no..one
said `We are a not for profit group and no one is allowed to make a profit!`
So, I remain librairian there, connect with good friends and in the meantime
have set up my own equipment, sell to outlets on the sly so I won`t be
bounced, and try to figure out a way to get more members to attend meetings.
From Lela who is in constant confusion on the prairies where a woman just
came by from the AIDS house that educates and helps those afflicted, across
the street who was handing out flyers to notify neighbours , another law,
that they are planning a rebuild and construction would be going on. She was
afraid we`d object..so relieved when I said they would get no opposition
from this property.
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Chris Campbell on tue 13 dec 05
Lela reported this reasoning ( NOT hers ) for not
allowing professional potters into the guild she
belongs to ...
We are a not for profit group and no
one is allowed to make a profit!`
DUH ????? SAY WHAT ???
The only way this makes the slightest amount of
sense at all would be if everyone contributed their
earnings to the Guild.
Earnings are personal ... dues are the only money
they need to worry about ...
... well OK ... they also need to worry about having
a 'Guild' where you get kicked out if you improve.
Chris Campbell - in North Carolina - still shaking my head !!
Chris Campbell Pottery LLC
9417 Koupela Drive
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Fine Colored Porcelain since 1989
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lela martens on wed 14 dec 05
I`m not kidding , Chris.!
I`m glad I`m not the only one who couldn`t get their head around it.
Lela, who needs another warm bath, but it`s very dry here., the wind just
rips the humidity from everything..will put some bath oil in the water
tonight, maybe some lavender too. Boggles, doesn`t it?
>Lela reported this reasoning ( NOT hers ) for not
>allowing professional potters into the guild she
>belongs to ...
>
>We are a not for profit group and no
>one is allowed to make a profit!`
>
>DUH ????? SAY WHAT ???
>
>The only way this makes the slightest amount of
>sense at all would be if everyone contributed their
>earnings to the Guild.
>
>Earnings are personal ... dues are the only money
>they need to worry about ...
>
>... well OK ... they also need to worry about having
>a 'Guild' where you get kicked out if you improve.
>
>Chris Campbell - in North Carolina - still shaking my head !!
>
>
>
>
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