Handmade Art You Can Use Everyday
Friday, May 3rd marks the Grand Opening Party of Up Cafe, a new gourmet coffee shop in northeast Minneapolis. Check out their website for the official invite to the party, or RSVP on their facebook page:
http://upcafe.us/posts/grand-opening-party/
https://www.facebook.com/events/226473267495589/
I’ll be there with my pottery wheel performing throwing demos, and you can order a cup of coffee from one of my mugs!
“…a good design in pottery is the product of tension or ‘dialectic’ between the demands of pure utility and those of pure beauty, and only a long experience and continual struggle enables you to achieve a successful fusion of the two.”
– Michael Cardew, quoted in “Michael Cardew, a portrait” by Garth Clark, pg. 46
In recent years, I’ve been drawn to a type of pottery known as “standard ware.” Warren Mackenzie is a renowned Minnesota potter at 89 years young, still making pots in Stillwater, MN. He descries standard ware as repeated forms with the same shapes, as opposed to individual pots with varying forms, shapes, colors, etc. Warren studied under English potter Bernard Leach, who was a pioneer in the resurgence of folk pottery traditions just after World War II.
After studying the Leach Pottery, I was amazed by 2 things: 1.) Bernard Leach mostly created pots as individual art objects, and 2.) The Leach Pottery Studio, largely operated by a crew and led by his sons, found great success through high production standard ware:
Mark Hewitt is a contemporary potter living in North Carolina, who studied similar folk pottery traditions for high production. I snagged this photo from his facebook page recently. The caption was, “180 Sunday, handled today, decorate tomorrow, start loading Thursday. The making cycles seem to get shorter…”
Holy cow that’s a lotta mugs. Isaac Button, a British potter from the mid 20th Century, is another skilled dude that could bust out a ridiculous number of pots each day. He was renowned for throwing a TON of clay in a day…literally, 2,000 lbs. Check out this youtube clip for just a small taste of his skills: (video link)
What place does standardware have in contemporary ceramics? I’ve been drawn to these pottery production techniques because of the pottery I make for the Local Blend and Up Cafe. Restaurant pottery requires:
These 2 little cafes require hundreds of finished pots so people can eat and drink their whole meal from pottery everyday. Plus, the pots sell pretty consistently and break every so often…so the ability to restock with new pottery is crucial. Standardware is a tradition that seems to fit perfectly with these 2 restaurants, as long as I can keep up on the high production as an individual artist….
My new project for more consistent standardware…electric firing? We’ll see! I was gifted this kiln from an aspiring potter and friend Sue. She said, “You just figure out how we can get better, more consistent glazes and let me put them on my pots!” Even at 40+ years old, these puppies aren’t cheap- what a great gift! That’s the excitement that drives me to work towards a standard!
During a time when soaring gas prices and economic hardships are commonly discussed across national media, what role do artists play by selling their handmade works? How much value do local, handmade objects hold in comparison to machine made, globally shipped goods? Should artists participate in art festivals and single day sales? Are these shows meant for crafts, fine art, or both? Are they profitable for the artists? I constantly ask these questions in regard to my own career.
It’s also important to note that my experiences reflect only shows that I am able to attend as an emerging artist, early in my career. While I have not been accepted to more prestigious art festivals and nationwide craft shows, my hope is that this post gives a bit of useful information to young artists who want to begin showing and selling their work publicly.
My short answer is yes! Absolutely these shows are worth it. Depending on the show, these events can provide low cost, low risk opportunities to generate short term cash and connect with new art lovers.
But when do they become too much work for the money generated? At what point do the comments like, “I like this, but $30 is too expensive” and “Well, do you have any in blue?” cause artists to stop attending shows?
In 3 different conversations with 50+ year old potters, they all said the same: “About 5-10 years ago, it was common for me to have a $1,000 day at an art festival, but not anymore!” Over the past 5 years (since my sophomore year in college) I’ve done over 50 different shows. I’ve never had a $1,000 day at an Art Festival.
My Experiences with Art Festivals and Individual Shows:
Most shows involve bringing my pottery, shelving and sometimes a wheel and clay to demonstrate and show/sell work for 1-3 days. The average space is 10′ x 10′ with booth fees ranging from free up to $425. Here are the types of shows that I’ve done, in no particular order:
Some shows are better than others, and it takes time and hard work to figure out which shows to pursue and which to avoid. Here is a selection of 10 different shows that have shaped my career. I’ve included helpful notes and sales figures:
Important Takeaways:
There are lots of other ways to sell: online, through galleries, retail stores, whole sale, commission based, and creating innovative business models. It’s important to note that sales through my innovative business model developed for the Local Blend coffee shop have been higher than all art festivals and galleries combined, and equal to my individual shows and sales. I expect sales at Up Cafe in northeast Minneapolis to be equal or higher than the Local Blend sales in the coming months.
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My hope is that this post gives a bit of useful information for emerging artists that are one the fence about selling their work to the general public. Be open to all opportunities for showing your work, but I encourage all artists to develop innovative ways to show and sell. I’m convinced innovation brings the highest level of success.