Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sell art, buy art, but talk about it, ugh....

 Hollis posted these bowls on his blog last week and I started drooling. My Hatchville pottery collection is growing, but Hollis makes such useful and beautiful objects and they fit my aesthetic perfectly. So I have new bowls to find a place for in the cupboard and he added a bonus bowl in the shipment, Thanks Hollis, they are even better in person than they are in photos. Sorry I didn't shoot better pics, but it's pouring rain outside and the only place I had was the kitchen table with some light coming in.
Wesley is home this weekend and we have been curled up on the sofa all day watching Woody Allen movies. Rainy Saturday with my kid and movies, sooooo nice. I picked up Annie Hall and Manhattan at the thrift store the other day to add to Wesley's film school DVD library. A film student has to see Annie Hall!
Went over to Goldenbelt in Durham last night for the artwalk with my art pal Laura. All the artists had their studios open and there was lots of alcohol and the best kettle corn I have ever had, so all was great. Except conversation with people you are just meeting for the first time. It goes like this:
This is my friend Sue the artist
Hi how are you (shake hands)
What do you do?
I'm an artist too
oh, what do you make?
sculpture
What kind of sculpture?
Clay
what kind of clay sculpture
houses, uh, barns, uh, it's hard to explain.....
Sue: oh......

I was talking to Gerry this morning about how difficult it is for me to introduce myself as an artist and then answer the unavoidable questions about my work. I find it very difficult to talk about and explain. I can show you a photo and explain it on my blog, but face to face, forget it. I cringe every time.
I need to come up with a format for what follows when you say those dreaded words, I am an artist.
Here is what Gerry said to say:
Hi what do you do
I'm an artist
what do you make
clay sculpture, you wouldn't understand, fag off!

This made me laugh
of course I would never say that, I appreciate people's interest in art, interest in my work and I do want to talk about my work, I just need to figure out how to do it!

19 comments:

Ron said...

My name's Tracey, I'm an artist and I make really cool clay barns and houses. Here's my card, see that's a picture of one right there. I make all sorts of them though so none are just alike. I incorporate found objects sometimes too. I work out in my kick ass studio in my back yard in Chapel Hill. Yes, I know I'm living the life you wish you had. What?, you're a corporate lawyer, yuck, that sounds like shit. Okay, well I gotta go get another glass of wine. Nice talking to ya. Hey, be sure to check out my blog, the address is right there on the card.

Hollis Engley said...

Yeah, what Ron said.
And you're very, very welcome.

Laura Farrow said...

wow, Ron nailed it! print and repeat!

Judi Tavill said...

What ron said and i will be filling in my info as i have similar issues!

Tracey Broome said...

RON! This is perfect!!! Where were you last night? Except that I have some friends that are lawyers and they have a really nice life, so I will leave that part out :)
they wouldn't like that! Meredith, yes come on over, hmmm, what will we eat in them?
I'm printing this out and carrying it with me, no more worries about what to say!

Melissa Rohrer said...

That reminds me of one time a visitor saw a jar I made. He seemed very enthusiastic about my pottery and asked me how I describe my style.
Ummm....

andrea gardiner freeman said...

Amen. lovely. And Ron... you made me laugh out loud!

Michèle Hastings said...

one of the things i learned in sales is to create a script for yourself that you can easily spew out and perhaps adjust a little depending on the audience... of course i can still easily rattle of the real estate thing but stumble over the "artist" script... i think it has to do with it being a little more personal.

Linda Starr said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tracey Broome said...

Andrea, Ron made me laugh out loud too.
Michele, I think that's the thing, when it's personal it's harder. Linda, yeah, I'm fine if my work is there with me, like a prop or something :)

Candace Thomas said...

Tracey,
When we met at YART in October 2011 you talked about what you did with such passion. You talked about what you did, why you did it, where you wanted it to go, and to top it off you talked about the reservations you had about incorporating some images and icons in your art. I wanted to hear and see more, but I had to get back to my booth. By the way my friend Sauda said the same thing.
So, next time just act like your having a conversation with me...smile
Peace and Stitch,
Candace

Hannah said...

Ron Philbeck you are hysterical! What a wonderful response, you should write us all one. Tracey I know exactly what you mean. I can't offer any help at all but I do understand teh problem.
I went to get my hair chopped last week, my hairdresser was lovely bt she said and what do you do. I said I'm a potter. She said "whats one of those, I never heard of one". So I told her, in far too much detail I would imagine and said that that would explain what the brown gunk in my hair was, I hope she believed me.

Tracey Broome said...

Hey Melissa, I once made this double dish and this guy asked me to explain the meaning of the two cups being connected. Uhhhh...... they just are....
But Candace! you are like the easiest person in the world to talk with!!! and I felt a connection with you instantly :) but I know what you mean, I need to work on this, clearly.
Hannah! how on earth do people not know what potters are!?!? and yes, clay in the hair for me too, most all of the time :)

cindy shake said...

Sorry, but I can't imagine you at a loss for words :)

Tracey Broome said...

Never at a loss for words,except when I have to talk about my work,it's crazy!

ang design said...

go Gerry!! there are days like that :P and one should be able to express oneself appropriately....enter ron :))

sheapottery said...

"fag off"???

Really?

Not cool.

sheapottery said...

Sorry, Tracey, but it is an offensive term. And it is a derogatory gay reference.

Here's what Urban Dictionary has to say:

Has nothing to do with fuck off ! It's used instead of "stop being a fag!"

Sites dealing with British slang either didn't mention it or said something similar.



If I said "Ni**er off" or "C*nt off" would that be ok because it just meant fuck off?

Intentions count, but so does word choice.

I'm moderately confident that you and your husband are good, tolerant people, based on your blog posts.

That's why it bothered me so much to see that just tossed out there so cavalierly and endorsed by others.

You're a good writer, an excellent sculptor and based on everything I can see, a good person. I was really bothered by the word choice precisely because of that.

Please don't think I'm beating up on you, that's not my intent.

Tracey Broome said...

oh well, I'm not perfect, I took vulture parts that are federally protected too. I've been a bad bad girl.....