Monday, March 19, 2012

Slow Walking

There's been talk about putting more effort into less work.
I see it as a justifiable response to the times.

"The harder it becomes to live making objects-the more precious those objects become." Tony Merino

I couldn't agree more.

I've been lamenting in the fact that I no longer feel like i can consider myself a "potter". A well practiced potter habitually produces both quality and quantity.

I haven't been able to produce quantity for a few months now and I'm feeling the deflation of self worth.
 The up side is that what I am able to get done, are works that have been on my bucket list for the past half year. I've got to get these out of the way so I can move on. This is about seeing if I can hit a mark on dealing with issues of scale.
This is all about a personal internal dialog regarding Quality.
As usual, I wont know if it's a hit or miss until everything is out of the kilns.

6 comments:

Linda Fahey said...

a well practiced potter will go through transition like everyone else. The great thing about transition is it allows us the space to look at things from a new perspective and we move through it.

this experience will benefit your work in the end, when you are settled in. Quality? no worries on that score, near as I can tell.

Unknown said...

Wow, I love Linda's comment and totally agree. Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do!

jim said...

hey joel, more effort into less work... i'm with you there.

Linda Starr said...

I agree with Linda's comment as well I feel myself moving from quantity to quality slowly as it's been coming. For me the experimentation and quantity is necessary to continuously try to improve.

carter gillies said...

I suppose its natural to sometimes feel deflated by the risks of being challenged outside the comfort zone. But you are an explorer of mysteries and an adventurer of the soul. And the value of your new work may not have the comfortable resonance of quantity, but the attentiveness to detail and the playful unmasking of mystery are a beacon to those of us in your audience that have been drawn in by your creative search. On the inside of our insecurities it may not seem like much, but from an outsider's perspective the art you carry forth into the world remains a source of inspiration. Keep up the good work! And keep your dreams alive!

Gary's third pottery blog said...

amigo, I have been thinking about this since yesterday: YES, I have never been a guy to make a stack of brown bowls then complain that tallmart sells something like them 4 bucks each from a factory in China, I love making individual pieces and putting myself into each one and having one...why bother otherwise?