Monday, May 18, 2009

Springfield -- Well Worth The Wait


I just got back from Springfield Old Capitol Art Fair. What a charming, well-attended, treat-artists-like-royalty show! I had juried into the show some twenty years ago, but back then I also wanted to try another show (East Lansing -- which, itself is also a very nice show). In making that choice though, I condemned myself to a long wait to get back into the SOCAF show.



The wait was worth it. I met so many nice folks who were serious about good pots -- from an interesting Xing teapot collector, to some folks I'd met in years past at other shows (Louisville and Lafayette). Several other potters with whom I enjoyed gabbing about clay's joys and trials.


The show had some really tremendous pottery too -- Bruce Jordan and Steve Cunningham among the best. If you love pottery, walking SOCAF is a swell way to spend a day.


I've had my trials and tribulations (as I've documented here on this blog) with glazes this year. But as is often the case, with every bad firing -- due to the changes that made it bad -- usually some accident comes of it that makes a few overwhelmingly good pieces too. Such was the case with a series of jars in my maple leaf pattern.


Some potters (like, for instance, John Glick) will actually charge more for a pot based on the serendipity that makes one pot just "pop", while another similar pot merely comes out as intended. I've never figured out how to do such pricing without somehow implying inferiority in the pieces that merely came out as I intended them to come out. But if I ever had figured out how to price special pieces based on just how great and rare I think they came out, you can bet that these jars -- and especially the one pictured -- would be priced to reflect a pretty great and rare firing. I wish I'd taken the time to photograph them in my photo studio because obviously the good folks in Springfield liked them too. They're all gone.



This morning on my drive to go pick up the dogs from the kennel I noticed a new colt had been born over at my neighbor's place. The baby's full of spit and vinegar! I was lucky enough to have been shooting some video as the young'un kicked up it's baby heels and wheeled around the pasture a few quick times.




5 comments:

  1. congrats on the successful show... your booth setup looks great

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  2. Thanks! Funny thing about the booth shot...

    I FINALLY figured out how to use photoshop to straighten out the skewed (keystoned) effect of the lens. Now that I figured that out, I may actually attempt to take a booth shot for jurying into shows!

    By the way, LOVED the drag photos. I don't want to know which of the three lovelies was you!

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  3. Oh, and by the way, what are your views on special pricing for special pots?

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  4. Actually, i always priced them the same thinking that if i really liked them i could make more but upon reading what glick said, it seems that i never can make more and maybe i should reconsider... it makes a lot of sense. i also tend to pick out mediocre pots to experiment on when i have an untested idea and then the idea looks great but it's on a mediocre pot... gotta change that too and not be so precious, just dive in, carpe diem

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  5. "i also tend to pick out mediocre pots to experiment on when i have an untested idea and then the idea looks great but it's on a mediocre pot... "

    It drives my wife crazy that I will experiment on "perfectly good pots". I guess I'm an optimist. No matter how many times it is proven to the contrary, I BELIEVE in my experiments -- so sure am I that they will come out.

    ...and, of course there is the frequent occurance of being blind to how good the mistakes are, so intent are we on what we intended instead of what could be.

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