Monday, July 26, 2010

Rant du jour

How's the heat out there for everyone?(except for those of you on the other side of the globe) I personally think having 100 degree days just sucks, but then I was complaining about the 20 degree days not to very long ago. I'm less than motivated with the heat like it is, economy in the toilet and the rich just getting richer. Brandon's post today just pisses me off. He is such a great potter as many of you are out there, and like many of you, is struggling with sales. Those that can afford to buy art are just not supporting it. It seems to me that artists are mostly supporting each other. We will buy a pot or a painting or another piece of art when we barely have grocery money. Come on people, SUPPORT YOUR ARTISTS!! Do you want to live in a gray world with no beauty?!?!? I think I might have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Last night we watched the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy again and I knew I would be like this when I woke up. It is such a social commentary on the times we are living in and I just get so annoyed with it all! Here's a little flash back to colder days to get us all through August. Can't you just feel that cold air! Let's all put a smile on our faces and get some great art made, if for no other reason than some great blog posts, haha! Happy Monday all!


9 comments:

Linda Starr said...

Something I have been thinking about lately - creative ways to market art, unfortunately I think the economy plays a bigger part in all of this than we realize.

Anonymous said...

i was so excited to see that your post was going to be another rant. i'm afraid to rant because once i get going, there's no turning back and i can't stay civil. i'm with you on this one, the world is truly upside down. i was channel switching the other night and they were replaying "dances with wolves" and i understand that the movie is a bit romantic but you do get the feeling that the tribal native societies had a superior way of life, no worship of technology as the answer to everything. but i guess it's never that simple.

Sister Creek Potter said...

Tracey, I've been trying to find the record for last summer's temps but haven't yet. We had more than a month--seemed like the whole summer-of temperatures over 100 degrees EVERY DAY--day after day. This summer we had NOT had a single day in the 100s yet. August may bring some but it has been incredible here--mostly the low 90s. So strange to see this big switch. I do know how the hot days really takes it out of you.

Hollis Engley said...

Rant on, Tracey. As always, I'm torn between not wanting to do the things necessary to market the work and more or less HAVING TO market the work. Once in a while, you do meet someone who makes marketing unnecessary. Or painless, anyway. A couple from Ohio were here yesterday, after finding me online. Stopped for a short time on their way to the airport and bought a half-dozen pots, including one from the upstairs gallery. Lovely to start the day that way, no matter the temperature.

S_crack said...

" I don't worry 'bout a thing, 'cause I know nothing's gonna be alright."

"I Don't worry about a thing"
- Mose Allison

Dennis Allen said...

I didn't realize you wanted cooler weather. I'll get right on that. Expect results in 6 to 8 weeks.

cookingwithgas said...

we really need you to speak up!
I have had two of my customers say they love to read you because you really say what you mean.
Go girl- nice to know you have all our backs and we have yours as well.
I hope things turn around soon.
I don't know where to start looking for a job.....

Julie Whitmore Pottery said...

I used to be in a place in Carmel, and the owner was a former window dresser for Saks Fifth Ave.
boy did she know marketing. she used to say they are buying a piece of art, but also a perceived way of life, romance, story, memory.
Will all that fit into one paper bag???

Peter said...

Tracey, I'd love to be able to report that things are better over here... but....Aggggghhhhhhh.....! The only good thing is that it is cool here (snow forecast for tonight in some areas south of us I believe). The sales thing is really scary.

I hate to say this, but I think that we are likely to be several steps worse than you in the States (it is one of the things I would like to look at in more detail when I come over to NC).

Our market is so tiny that there have been hardly any potters at all in NZ making a living from their pottery for a long time now. Probably most died out in the 1980s. One thing this leads to is an erosion of the skill base. Not enough potters to pass on the trade through taking on apprentices, and (for instance) if there is simply no way of selling more than a handful of mugs a year, than making a hundred at a time is pointless. Trouble is... you need to make lots and lots of some things in order to really become proficient at making them! And you have to keep making lots of them to keep up the skill.

Another thing that happens is that where there is no market, it is hard to price work. Real distortions come in. Some work is priced so low as to hardly cover material cost, and other work is abnormally high. There is little prospect of making a living through selling domestic ware here, so some opt to try to solve this through making "gallery pieces", others do really low cost "gift ware" or souvenirs.

I'm not saying that there are no good potters here anymore, but I am saying that it is a very, very difficult environment to succeed and develop in.
There is a risk of becoming stunted and crippled, becoming good, or eccentric, but not excelling!