I find myself in the art-entrepreneur corner of Threads, where there's an ongoing conversation about making and selling art while maintaining your vision, your sanity, and the roof over your head. The differences in priorities, the different strategies...I find it all fascinating. Since a lot of what I have written about here for the past tumpty-ump years is about the business of art, and my clay & business journey, I wanted to introduce myself to my new friends on Threads.
I've been a potter since before some of you were born - took my first class in 1987. I've worked production & had various non-pottery jobs over the years but since 2011, it's been all clay, all the time. I teach classes Portland Pottery for some of my income, and the rest is selling soda-fired ware.
I want to say that I know that I am lucky, in more ways than I can count. I am able-bodied (so far!) & have never felt any urge to have children. To some people that might sound distinctly unlucky, but if I had wanted children, I'm not sure I could have chosen clay as a profession. Especially in the early years - which would have coincided with my childbearing years - the income stream was too unreliable. When I only had myself - & later my husband - to consider, a rice-&-eggs month was no big deal. Oh, what's that, we're out of oil? The wholesale check should be arriving tomorrow, turn on the space heater & put on a sweater! No big, we could ride out any calamity, at least of the financial kind. If there I'd been responsible for a child, it would have been a different story. & there were a few sticky spots like that!
Another way that I've been lucky is I bought my place before prices went insane. Granted I was willing - 3 times! - to purchase in what were considered less-desirable places to live, but that's been the economic role of artists forever. We move into economically challenged areas, & by our presence make them fun & cool. Those are harder to find now, but not impossible - living someplace that wasn't my first choice was a price I was willing to pay.
I've also been lucky to have pottery teaching gigs basically every step of the way. In Minnesota it was the Northern Clay Center & the Bloomington Art Center; here in Maine, I've been at Portland Pottery for more than 20 years. I teach 5 classes a week. Could I make a living without the teaching bit? Yes, but there's no question it would be a lot harder. Part of why I can do stuff like refuse custom work is because I have that net to catch me. More importantly, though, I don't want to! Everybody needs community, and the PP studio provides me with that.
I hope it doesn't sound too arrogant to say it hasn't all been luck. That's where priorities come in. I've been willing to tolerate some of the discomfort & inconvenience that comes with a spotty income stream. I've driven ugly, unreliable vehicles & worn almost exclusively secondhand clothes. My furniture is all secondhand, too. I cook instead of getting take out. My floors have needed to be refinished since I bought the house. I do almost all the repairs. We take camping vacations.
All this has been worth it to me, to be a potter. I decided early on that, since we spend SO much of our waking lives at work, my job should be something I enjoy doing - and that that was more important than fancy vacations or flawless flooring. That might seem obvious to some folks, but so often I find people who say they want to be a full-time artist but aren't willing to give up any of the nice aspects of conventional employment. So, my friend from the arts-entrepreneur section of Threads, that's a thing to think about: what are you willing to do without, to bring this dream within reach?
Nice to meet you! Looking forward to more conversations about the business of art.
You're gonna laugh, because you've probably known this for years, but it's a revelation to me: hashtags make ALL the difference on YouTube!
Anecdata: I made a throwing video last week, the remnant of a live wheelcam event. I don't know if anyone watched live - there's probably some way to discover that, but I don't know how - but in the days afterward, it gained 2000 views. That's a lot, for me - it's an order of magnitude more than any other video I've posted, and some of those have been up for years. Greatly encouraged, a week later I made another.
It got 24 views. And four of those were me.
At first I threw up my hands: social media, whaddaya gonna do? Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. But it nagged at me, & I ruminated on it, & remembered: the first one, I chose some hashtags. I didn't really think anything of it, just did it because I was prompted to. I didn't do so for the next one, not for any reason, just clicked by the prompt. I went back yesterday & edited the post to include hashtags, and now it has 1.2k views! The hashtags are not especially clever or amazing, just stuff like #pottery and #potters wheel.
Anyway! Just wanted to share that here. Part of our journey here has always been the business of art, and in this-here 21st century that includes social media. I don't have a great grasp on it - the best I got is "post a lot more than you think you need to" - but when I learn something, I share it with you.
Here's the video! This might not be the audience for it, as it's just me making pitchers, and most of my readers are potters - watching someone throw is not as fascinating for us as it is for other people. But in case you want to check it out:
Nevertheless it's a pretty good metaphor! One I feel I am conquering lately - a pretty rare feeling for me. I'm photographing, I'm writing, I'm making videos, I'm posting, I'm interacting, I'm getting responses! I'm watering my brand flowers or whatever. Now I need to do all that & also make more stuff. And also teach my classes.
Sometimes I think what we do is almost literally impossible - except some people are doing it! Are they just that amazing, are they just lucky, or is it an illusion that looks quite different from the inside? I suspect that last; it's possible they also feel like they are dancing as fast as they can, even while they make it look effortless.
Anyway! Tend your brand garden, even if it's all dandelions.
Oh, speaking of watering! There's a new post on my Patreon, free to all members. Check it out! If I get to 20 paid subscriber I will publicly do a happy dance.
Chocolate Almond Cheesecake
Crust
Many people love to watch potters throw! With that in mind, I did my first live wheelcam event today, throwing bowls & mugs for about 40 minutes. You can see this video below, but if you'd like to get invites to future wheelcam events, subscribe to my Patreon page at the $5/month level. Bonus: if I get enough subscribers I can buy a quieter wheel!
I borrowed a term from Appalachian Trail thru-hikers: zero days. On the trail it means you achieve zero miles that day, but it's the day you get everything else done: shower, laundry, food shopping. For me it's more literal: a day I get zero accomplished. Although it never quite works out that way: there're always the everyday chores, like dishes & litterboxes, as well as other errands that can't be avoided, so in a way it's the same: I get zero done in the studio. A Z-day.
The "D" in D-days refers to dopamine, the hormone of motivation and accomplishment. I am a dopamine queen, and I love the satisfaction of getting things done - which is 3 times better when it's studio stuff, since there's immediate gratification, creativity, and longterm accomplishment all generating that brain reward.
Side note: do not get me started on the other happiness brain chemicals! They are each amazing in their own way.
Normally I love D-days & hate Z-days, but I do keep in mind that those zeros happen for a reason. In this case, this is the first day since - well, don't know when! - that I haven't had to be busy, due to the Maine Pottery Tour, or my classes. I thought I was going to be doing all the stuff that gets put off in the runup to the tour: lowkey studio tasks like kiln maintenance and mixing glazes, sketches of new sliptrail designs, a good, long, meditative throwing day...but after doing the basic household cleaning, getting my car registered (there's a fun story there for another day!) and taking it to the garage for an inspection sticker, I turned on Young Sheldon and put up my feet. That was 3 hours ago.
Z-days are still not my faves, but I recognize when my mind is telling me it needs a break. I'll be back at it tomorrow - I can feel those new designs, restless in the back of my mind; those sketches are definitely happening soon. In the meantime, another episode is in order, then smoothies for dinner.
I'll be back on the D train tomorrow.
Oh, yeah: if you feel like it you could subscribe to my Patreon page! Just putting this here so I feel like I got something done today.
Weather looks good (today anyway!) We still need to put out the signs & get the snacks but other than that we are ready to roll.
If you are in Maine this weekend, come see me at Fine Mess Pottery. Plan your pottery road trip at the website.
The first time I encountered a pour over coffee, I was in a painfully hip coffeeshop in the painfully hip Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, which is absolutely awash in coffeeshops. I picked one at random.
When my order arrived, it was a carafe of hot water, a ramekin of grounds, a stoneware cone with a filter, and a cup. I was like...what? I have to make it myself?
It came without cream, which I asked for, but when I asked for sugar they acted like they'd never heard of sugar in coffee! Nevertheless it was an excellent cup.
A few years later, I learned from a fellow instructor at Portland Pottery the correct dimensions for how to throw coffee cones on the wheel. I make them regularly now.
I also regularly encounter people who don't know how to use them, although it couldn't be simpler, so I put together this little video. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll show you A) how to throw a pour over cone; B) how to handbuild one and C) how to make a form to use in handbuilding a pour over cone.
I expect to have 3 or 4 pour overs in my next firing, happening (hopefully!) the third week in May.
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| This did not clarify things even a little |
OK I googled it, read the definition, and I still don't know what it means, so, moving right along.
After my weeks-long bout of dopamine deficiency, my motivation and energy have returned and it feels like a miracle, and like all good miracles, it came with an epiphany: I know what I need to do, I know what the next steps are for Fine Mess Pottery! Like all good epiphanies, it felt like I had always known it; like the conclusion of a particularly corny fantasy series, the answer has been inside me all along.
This is a long & overblown way of saying, I just need to do more promoting. Like, a lot more. 2-3 Facebook & Instagram posts a day, maybe 10 Threads - those can just be random thoughts, too much promotion turns followers into unfollowers - a blog post or two every week, at least one free & one paid Patreon post a week, 4 newsletters a year.
Like all good epiphanies, this one comes at an inconvenient time. The next four days are totally devoted to the Maine Pottery Tour, & likely any posting I do will be related to that; but I want to create a posting schedule & strategy as soon as I have time.
Speaking of the tour, I hope to see you this weekend!