Being an Expert

The Master of the Pot


One thing you can usually say about an artist's work: It will change.

I've seen lots of my fellow potter's work and progress and change over the years.

And I have observed that a clay artist's works can change more radically and sometimes more quickly than other disciplines.

A contributing factor may found in the very nature of artists who chose to work in clay.

Maybe it is because of the versatility of clay.

Maybe clay artists are naturally disposed to be more inquisitive and adventurous than, say, a painter or printmaker.

Maybe it is because of the material we work with; the huge range of raw materials and variety of techniques available for potters to explore.

Many of us come to clay from a variety of other disciplines.

Clay is very receptive to the application of other techniques. It can be woven, printed on, painted, drawn on, paired with metals and woods, sand blasted, etched, patinated, etc.

My interest in clay has always been exploring it's versatility. Building from slabs, wheel throwing, design and solving problems.

I spent time doing historical research. I was very lucky to be in places where I could see actual examples of many kinds of examples from prehistoric to modern works.

I liked trying to duplicate some of the techniques just by working out how things were done. I'm not one who likes to go to workshops. Workshops sometimes turn out little "Mini-Mes" of the teacher. However, if you learn the technique, it behoves you to make it your own and re-interpret the technique into your own style.


On the other hand, some artists find a formula that works for them and they stick with it. They make the same thing over and over again. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. If you have a good thing going and it intrigues you, go for it. There's lots to be said for establishing a trademark.

In some ways, it's very good because they become closely identified with a certain form or style and it becomes their identity. In the world of art merchandising, a quantitative source is a valued thing. The public at large and art dealers can pin down and put a price tag on easily-identified signature work. It fits into the commercial framework.

There is no 'right way' to make art. The key is figuring out what works for you.


Become the expert of  YOUR work.

Become Master of the Pot--Advice to Artists

My Advice to Artists








Keep your best work.

Consider making two of each thing and keeping one. Keep the better of the two and sell the other.

If you hit a creative snag, get out of the studio, go do something else, visit a museum, look at other artist's websites, go back over your notes from firings, look at your photo archive. Visit galleries, look at art books.

Your mind may be digesting and assimilating your art. 
It may be a needed part of your creative process. 
Let it happen. When you are ready to create again, you will know it. 



Relax.

Keep learning. Don’t rely on somebody else to teach everything you need to know. Teach yourself whenever you can, you’ll learn better that way.

Take notes.

Photograph everything you make.

Follow every impulse.

Even if it seems crazy, do it. 


Do it, even though it has not been done before by you or anyone else.

Learn your flaws and work to correct them.

Search out your own truth.

Avoid looking at ugly. 

It's okay to steal, but only an IDEA. Take it as a springboard and make it your own.


Listen to everybody. Ignore bad advice. Keep only what feeds you.

Set your standards high. I mean HIGH. So high you will always have to chase them. 

Keep returning to your own themes.

Find your market niche.  


Find your flock. Only other artists understand your life as an artist. 


Don't fool yourself by thinking, "I'll remember that next time." You might not and it will be lost to you.

If a piece doesn’t sell, pack it up and don’t look at it for a long time. Then unpack it and look at it again. Decide then if it should be kept, sold, or destroyed.

Don’t offer anything for sale you would be embarrassed to see again.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Book: Art and Fear

I highly recommend this book to any artist!

Confidence builder, sympathetic sounding board,

No, you are Not crazy.

 Encouragement resource.

This book is all of this and more.


Any creative person can benefit from  this book.  Read it through or take snippets to ponder.

Dip into when something doesn't go right.

Artistic frustration can be as sharp as a knife.  If we didn't feel it; we wouldn't be artists in the first place.

When you are at a low ebb and all around you are crooking their eyebrows and looking at you sidewise, read it.


Available from Amazon and as a PDF version at http://www.libertyeyeschool.com/ap2d.cfm?subpage=1655939

GET IT!

I absolutely LOVE this guy's work,

He is a New Zealand potter; lives on the western side of the South Island in Hokitika, a place where New Zealand jade is plentiful and jade galleries abound in town. We marveled at a solid jade breakfast table and a bolder the size of a small settee.      

Weaver's main gallery space is a nice showroom at the edge of town. When we arrived, the owner said he had just left. He was one potter I really wanted to meet. I so admire his work. I had intended to buy one of his black teapots, but found a sauce pot I liked even better.

I don't know if he steam bends the wooden components of his pots or if someone else does them, but they always look just right on the piece.  I especially like the yardstick handles.

Break a lot of bad pots; Keep a lot of bad pots.

Photo by the very talented Erik Johansson. See more at http://www.alltelleringet.com/

Break a lot of bad pots.

My rule is, if it offends me, I break it.

If the piece glued itself to the floor of the kiln and I had to break it off, definitely break it and stick it into the bottom of a flower pot.

If the piece has a crack, a break, a dangerous glaze result and doesn't contribute to the "look", break it.

If the structure or the glaze just didn't work, break it.

BUT

If the piece was a good idea gone bad, keep it.

Photograph it.

Analyze it.

Try it again.

Or pack it away and forget it for a while.

I have to admit that there have been a few pieces I've applied the hammer to that I wish now I hadn't been so hasty. Or so persnickety. That was when I first started making ceramics and had this image of perfection embedded in my mind. After I went to a few NCECAs and looked carefully at a huge variation in other people's works, I edited my ideas of what is and isn't perfection.

I do have a series of mugs that I thought would be a good 'family' with variations in shape, but uniform in glaze and unique (same) handles. I still think it's a good idea, just didn't pan out that time. They are sitting on a shelf in the studio as a reminder.

So, trash the 'failure', don't trash the idea.

P.S. Don't forget your goggles while you're happily smashing stuff!

Advice for Artist - Feed Your Inner Potter

Become Master of the Pot

Art books are expensive, but they really never go out of date.

I still have my old Daniel Rhodes' Clay and Glazes for the Potter textbook. I keep that book more out of nostalgia than for use.

I try to keep only the books that are relevant to me. I sell ones I've 'outgrown' or find are not relevant anymore.

You can find some great books in used bookstores and thrift shops. And if they are a bit worn, so what? They fit nicely in the studio where you don't have to handle them with kid gloves.

"Working" books in my library are written all over, have pages turned down and notes and bookmarks jammed all through them. "Keeper" books are in the house lined up in bookshelves and kept pristine.

Great art books like great cookbooks are enhanced by finger marks, dog ears and splashes....don't you think?

Magazines are good too. Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated, Clay Times and are the leaders.

The Studio Potter is pricey and is published a few times a year.

Crafts, a UK publication, are excellent magazines, though pricey, it gives you a good idea of what is current in the UK and Europe.

Ask your local library to order them. Librarians are usually delighted to get input from patrons for

their orders budget.

Make it known that a subscription to one of these magazines would be a welcome gift for your birthday or Christmas.

There are some good discounts are available through Potter's Council membership for Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated and Clay Times.

Check out the online site Ceramic Arts Daily to see information and other artist's work. http://ceramicartsdaily.org.

UK Art Magazines on Google is another great art magazine online. I particularly like Danish clay work.

http://www.veniceclayartists.com is another international site full of works from Europe.

Don't limit what you look at to only clay-related publications. I keep images of baskets, weaving, jewelry, glass, metal work and other kinds of work I like. Even a piece of pottery on a coffee table in an interior design magazine gets put in my files. Many can inspire you and feed your inner artist.

Rules for Artists - Work Environment

Find your own best work environment:

This would work nicely, but the turret needs some kiln vents....

For years, due to my husband's occupation, I had no workspace of my own for clay. A spare bedroom or the dining room was fine for other things like weaving, painting and drawing, fibers, etc. But clay is a different matter. Finally we settled in one place where I knew I could plan on returning to working in clay.

My first studio of my very own was an old dirt-floor garage/ex-chicken house ca. 1940 on a small farm we bought. It had drafty barn doors, single pane windows and was about 30 feet from the house. There was a standpipe outside the studio door for water.

The first thing I got was a kiln. There was already shelving at the back of the garage, so I bought plastic sheeting to keep the moisture in and used that to store my works in progress.

I poured a concrete floor for the kiln space and, using pre-formed concrete deck footings built a floor for the rest of the space.

I heated it with an old-fashioned kerosene heater. I had an old drafting table I covered in plastic and canvas, an old wooden stool and I was in business. That first year I made sculpture and slabwork pieces.

Since then, I have been lucky enough to expand to a two-car garage with wonderful lighting and big, bright windows. The only thing bad about it is there's more space to clean! So aside from the physical space, what other aspects of a workspace is best for you?

Solitude or in a Group Setting?

I prefer solitude with music. It helps my concentration.

But sometimes--

I like working in a group because I like the give and take of conversation and being with other artists. I learn a lot that way. Sometimes working in a group studio setting is the only way you can go, but if you have a choice, Ask yourself these questions:

Do you work best by yourself?

Do you find others distracting?

Do you feel pressure to 'perform' well in a group? Are you competitive?

Do you need positive reinforcement from others?

Do you learn better when watching others work or when you can work it out by yourself?

Do you need to have someone show you how to do something or can you solve the problem by using a book or video or working it out alone?

Do you pick up a 'vibe' by working with others?

If you work alone:

Is silence the best atmosphere for you?

Do you like music?

Do you listen to discussions on the radio or like to hear recorded books?

How about your physical surroundings?

Are you bugged by mess? Does everything have to be clean before you can get down to work?

Do you need :

Lots of elbow room or only a small space?

Lots of tools or only use a few?

Do you like to work in your own area or are you comfortable in a shared facilities situation?

Do you like to work a while, leave it, then return to work more or are you one of those Stay-up-all-night Gotta-get-it-done-before-the-inspiration-leaves kind of artist?

Rules for Artists - Safety First

First and foremost, you must school yourself in clay safety.

Sure, you will hear people say, "I've been spraying glaze/looking in the kiln/sweeping out the studio/ for years and it hasn't affected me." Or something else of that ilk.

Maybe it hasn't affected them..............yet.

How would they know until it is too late? Hazardous materials have a way of building up in your body. You may not have symptoms for years. But when and if you do, it could be devastating.

How many times have you walked into a pottery supply place where classes are going on and a kiln is firing in the back? You can smell it the minute you walk in!

Or have you known someone who lets their toddler play in the studio while they are working? I even had an instructor (internationally known artist and author who shall be nameless) say when she was a child, she played with a box of powdered asbestos her clay-artist father (also famous and nameless) had in the studio when she was a child. "And it didn't bother her." (!!)

Always take care of yourself and be mindful of others' safety when working with materials and firing. There are no prosecutable laws governing material content of clay, glazes, colorants, or handling. It's up to you to school yourself. If you can't find the information, proceed with judgement.

Safety of materials is not usually a part of the arts curriculum, but in my opinion, it should be the FIRST thing covered in any program.

For instance, I never handle glaze, underglaze or any material that could possibly be hazardous without wearing surgical gloves. As a matter of fact, surgical gloves can actually help in handling freshly-glazed pots because the glaze doesn't come off or smear. The gloves are cheap, disposable, easy to use once you get accustomed to them. (There is an ad that runs in clay magazines showing a young girl with a paintbrush in her mouth and hands covered with colorant that just sets my teeth on edge.)

I never mix powdered substances or clean the studio without a respirator on.

I never fire lead or other hazardous glazes in the kiln because I know the residue can stick to the walls and affect future firings.

I never eat or drink in my studio or invite others to do so. (I can't tell you how many classes and workshops I've attended where food and drink is available. I even went to a class where I wondered if it was for clay or eating!)

Here are some resources:

The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide - Monona Russell - available at Amazon.com

Artist Beware: The Hazards of Working with All Art and Craft Materials and Precautions Every Artist/Craftperson Should Take - Michael McCann - also available at Amazon.com

You can review both books by sourcing them on Google Books)

Websites:

http://www.amaco.com/html/amaco_safety.html

http://www.claytimes.com/reference-guide/health-safety.html

Good videos for safety and other subjects can be found on:

http://www.ehow.com/video_4946355_pottery-clay-making-safety.html

SIGN YOUR POTS!

Whose Pot is This?

It is reoccurring theme that appears on CLAYART discussion list as well as many other pages on the internet.

"Can anyone tell me who made this pot?".

Most of the time no one knows. Even fellow potters.

I find this most puzzling.

Artists who work in two dimensions nearly always sign their work. It is expected to find a signature or distinctive mark in the corner or on the reverse.

So why don't potters do the same? Granted, we do not seem to have the same copyright issues of artists who could have their work reproduced in print form. But does that make it really any different? And we have considerably less space to work with for applying our signatures.

We in the West have been heavily influenced by oriental craftsmen over a long course of time and, the mystique of 'the unknown craftsman or artisan' has been associated in tandem with the aesthetic.

It seems to me to be a sort of dreamy romanticism that doesn't serve the artist of today. And believe me, the modern craftsmen of Japan as well as the rest of the world does not seek to be anonymous.

Identity = Income these days. Branding plays an enormous part in marketing just about anything. And any savvy artist who wants to make an income on their work must market it in the face of stiff competition.

The first step, of course, is to master your art--that goes without saying. Quality work speaks for itself. Sometimes style can be so distinctive that it renders signatures redundant, but not that often. And it's a mighty long road to THAT destination, I can tell you. You still are in the clutches of the publicity monster no matter how you cut it.

Note: A few minutes' search on the web resulted in these images.

The pots are marked, but the marks are not enough to identify the maker.

Take a look at the bold signature beautifuly incorporayed into the design on English artist Sandy Brown's platter. Believe me, everyone knows who made that piece.

Or you could take the Robert Arneson tack and just do portraits of yourself and/or use your name prominently.