CeramicArtsDaily.com

This new site looks like a good resource. I joined and elected to receive the glaze book, (what a stunner of a cover!) but if you go further into the site, there are two other choices--I'm assuming these are alternates and that all the books are not offered at once; only the choice of one download-able per subscription. The cover of the 33 Tried and True Glaze Recipes (pictured) is enough to make any potter salivate.

(Except that my printer went "BIORK" when it got to page 17 and kept wanting to reprint everything from the start all over again. Oh, you infernal machine of little brain capacity!) Had to resort to printing every page individually, but it was worth it.

I think they're ahead of the game here; much more of our interaction in the future will be through electronic networking and we're only seeing the beginnings of it. CLAYART, the email ceramic discussion group, is/was a pioneer in the establishment of a professional network. After all, artists are the ultimate cultural hunter/gatherers. We are sensitive to influences of our time; many times much more so than the general public. We are usually either at the front of the wave, 'way ahead of it or the creators of the wave in the first place.

From all I read about marketing in Europe and the U.S., social and commercial networking will become a huge part of our lives. With accessibility becoming more portable through hand-helds and future devices, we will become connected in many new ways. I already do a good bit of my shopping and almost all of my correspondence electronically. For the past 6 months I've been reading blogs pretty heavily and although there's a lot of stuff out there I'm not interested in, there's a heck of a lot more out there I would have never have had access to and people I wouldn't have ever, ever found.

It now makes a whole lot more sense to have my own web page to market & sell work. I've already gotten my electronic toes wet (zzzzttt Bad metaphor) selling to a niche of buyers. It has been surprisingly successful. The future may be a combined blog and selling site.

It's not a matter of Either/Or. It's AND. The electronic connection is just another enhancement and opportunity.