ODE TO THE MOTHERLODE - THE UBIQUITOUS MUG! Part 2. THE JOY OF REPETITION WORK. For thousands of years, the local potter was a core person of the community. In some cultures it was womens work, in others it was mens work. They made and serviced what was needed for daily life in vessels for eating and drinking from, cooking and storing in, and for contemplation and as a final resting place for the deceased. Potters were a significant part of the community they served. I really enjoyed being part of that process, making objects of use for regular life. On average, I devoted two-thirds of my working time to production work of this nature and one-third making artwork to satisfy my soul. The production work always produced a reliable income that supported the speculative, more personal contemplative work that nourished my soul. I was doing this work for my livelihood not as a hobby. It required much skill training and discipline to master making multiples of things for use. Gaining this discipline gives the freedom to produce objects with ease, not continually fighting the idiosyncracies of the material. Fighting the clay usually results in work that has gone through a battleground and shows every detail of the fight! When I was a student, I vowed never to do Production work. Then the reality of staying alive kicked in and I realized that the only way would be to do a range of repetitive domestic ware. This became the support structure for several families whose efforts produced income. As time wore on, I got to really enjoy trying to satisfy this market. It was not boring as I had feared, but energizing, as our customers reported how much our work meant to them. The skill, speed and efficiency of repetition throwing gave a fluency to working in the ceramic media that is seldom, if ever, achieved by the educator/potter. He, or she, is at the beck and call of ADMINISTRIVIA that constantly erodes energy levels. SKILL EQUALS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION! SPEED, DESIGN AND EFFICIENCY OF WORKING CONTROLS INCOME POTENTIAL! GO FOR IT!
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:47:15 +0000
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