tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313799443819854406.post3247628028666417057..comments2023-09-04T04:59:16.747-07:00Comments on John Bauman: Hold the Dolby, Pass the Life, PleaseJohn Baumanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10910451039953672849noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3313799443819854406.post-70571020781175014742010-12-01T10:21:03.851-08:002010-12-01T10:21:03.851-08:00I guess this post does take on a bit of a differen...I guess this post does take on a bit of a different nuance when placed in the context of the blog-to-blog etsy conversation, doesn't it?<br /><br />I suppose I was being more poetic and less literal in my comparison to, and use of the word, "perfect". More like Jim said -- if by perfect, one means "looking like it was machine-made", then give me imperfect.<br /><br />But I guess that's why I drew the line I did when I said... <br /><br />"So, should thrown pottery be perfect? <br /><br />Yes. In the sense of a craftsman's results coming close to meeting his intentions, yes. Perfection is a worthy goal. Control the medium. No excuses."<br /><br />My poetic use of "imperfection" really was in comparison to the standard of perfection that we associate with machine-made as opposed to handmade. <br /><br />And I'm saying that if we as potters offer anything that is a true and winsome alternative to our technologically obsessed world, it may be that reminder of our hands in our work. Not that we be purposely imperfect as some affectation for nostalgia, but rather (maybe) that we not consider the incidental marks of our hands <i>as</i> "imperfect".<br /><br />As to how this connects to the Etsy discussion:<br /><br />Someday it would be nice to find some half-way meeting point and have some sort of panel discussion with the participants in that etsy discussion. There's just SO much more that could be said about it.<br /><br />It's a hard thing for us to grasp when several things that seem to contradict each other can all be true at the same time. Paradoxes. But that's how Etsy is right now. Full of paradoxes. That's why it's so hard to talk about Etsy success definitively. But simultaneously it's true that on Etsy:<br /><br />1. Lack of quality gets rewarded if the work still has some popular appeal that trumps its lack of quality. <br /><br />2. Good quality gets rewarded -- even if the work is expensive by relative Etsy standards.<br /><br />3. Good quality work doesn't get rewarded because etsy is no different from every other market wherein higher quality often narrows the pool of buyers who are educated enough to appreciate why it is good quality (this one is the one that's probably been most argued throughout art history)<br /><br />4. Bad quality work does not get rewarded, as sometime it actually <i>is</i> obvious. <br /><br />5. Niche work does not get rewarded.<br /><br />6. Niche work does get rewarded.<br /><br />I think we could easily find examples of each of those six possibilities (and maybe even find a few more things to puzzle over).<br /><br />What I tried to say in Ron's blog was that I love what I do -- I make what I like -- I try to make it as perfectly as I can -- I strive for quality ...<br /><br />... but I believe that to some extent my work sells well on Etsy because I did not come through the academic clay world -- neither did I haunt the clay workshop world. Don't misunderstand me -- that lack of training has cost me dearly too....<br /><br /> ...But the accidental payback in my lack of training is that I'm not asking myself (in my work) if some former professor of aesthetics would approve of what I'm making. If anything, I lean toward the practical: Would what I WANT TO make have an appeal broader than my own interest?<br /><br />I'm also not philosophically tied to making "statements" with my work. I'm philosophically tied to making timelessly beautiful work. If I succeed from time to time, all the better.<br /><br />I think I started rambling again, didn't I?John Baumanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10910451039953672849noreply@blogger.com