Thursday, January 20, 2011

Stumblin' Through



Stumbling Through
~Pat Donohue~

Stumblin’ through, stumblin’ through
Day after day, look for a way to make it come true
You take what you get when you do what you do
Mumblin’ past, tumblin’ fast, stumblin’ through

Well, I got me a job, and I did pretty well
And I saved my money, ‘cause you never can tell
And I worked every day like a fool, it seems
‘Cause I found my way, but lost my dreams

Stumblin’ through, stumblin’ through
Day after day, look for a way to make it come true
But you take what you get when you do what you do
Mumblin’ past, tumblin’ fast, stumblin’ through

Well I had me a son, and looks like me
I tried to tell him what to do, tried to tell him how to be
Tried to save him the trouble that I’d been through
But he found his own and he’s stumbling too.

Stumblin’ through, stumblin’ through
Day after day, look for a way to make it come true
But you take what you get when you do what you do
Mumblin’ past, tumblin’ fast, stumblin’ through

Well, I had me a time, I thought I knew the way
I just keep on movin’, I’d arrive some day
But there’s no way of knowin’, and there’s no time to spare
And wherever I’m going, I’m stumblin’ there.

Stumblin’ through, stumblin’ through
Day after day, look for a way to make it come true
But you take what you get when you do what you do
Mumblin’ past, tumblin’ fast, stumblin’ through
Fumblin’ fool, rumblin’ past, tumblin’ fast, stumblin’ through

Have kickwheel, will travel -- from craft fair to theme show to art fair. Such was my 70s and 80s. That's how it began for me. My history doesn't go back to some academic training. I didn't apprentice in some famous pottery. I never even attended a workshop until I was nearly twenty years into making my living in clay.

So my pottery training was done the slow, stumblin' through way. Lots of trial and error. Mostly error.

But I loved those years. I loved those pots.


Oh, I'd change some things -- even probably in the best of the pieces. But I loved the feel of them. And revisiting them as I've had occasion too -- cleaning out desk drawers as we attempt to move the office back into the house.


And I love revisiting the inspiration of those times.

I came by my love of crockery honest (<----that's how a good Hoosier says it. The adverb form would sound a bit hoity-toity there). My folks collected and restored primitive furniture. I still live with much of that furniture as I inherited many of the pieces I grew up with.


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Besides the art/craft/theme show circuit, we also did twice annual open houses. We'd prep the house -- once even going to a local antique dealer friend and bringing in several of his case pieces in which to display the pottery.




We had a local mailing list of just under 1,000 pottery enthusiasts. One of the more enjoyable tasks was designing a new postcard and poster for each year. Here's a much later one -- one I did after we moved out here to the "new" place....



Here's another old piece of Bauman Stoneware literature. My catalogue. I used to advertise in Colonial Homes and Early American Life. Not successfully. Heh.




I finally started to transition away from the crockery and explore new means of expression. Still pretty much on my own. Here's from one of my early series of porcelain teapots ( about 1988)



...and a couple of shelves of transitional porcelain...



Some people collect baseball cards, old cars, stamps. Some people collect pottery. Dar collects cookie (and baking) recipes. Whenever we'd have an open house, Dar would take off the entire preceding month and bake almost non-stop for the event. We would have two six-foot-long tables full of cookie trays and breads for our customers.



Ultimately, as you might guess, it was such preparation that was the undoing of the open houses. It took too much effort -- even if we enjoyed it -- for too little return. An additional art fair or two was more profitable and easier to do.

When we had a "customer" drive through our circular drive, walk into the studio/gallery/open house, load up as many plates of cookies as they could carry, walk right back out the door (thus loaded down), hop back into their car and drive off, we knew the day of the open house was over.

2 comments:

  1. At my most recent gallery opening, many of the customers said they came to the gallery walk each month for the free food and wine. One of the long time potters said she didn't relish being part of the free entertainment.

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  2. I love seeing and reading a retrospect of your pottery, the displays, and your postcard/literature.

    I stopped providing refreshments at my open houses too. Though I never baked like Dar (and still don't!!), it cost a lot of $$$ and did not bring in extra sales.

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