29. September 2008 by admin.

I’m just a day back from doing the Peters Valley Craft Fair in New Jersey. It’s sponsored by the PV Craft Center, and is held in the Sussex County Fairgrounds, up in the hills of NW New Jersey, just a hop and skip from the Delaware Water Gap. It’s mighty scenic country, and pretty rural, not what you’d think of when you picture New Jersey. The folks who run it are quite nice, and the proceeds go to a good cause, namely keeping the doors open at Peters Valley, which is getting harder and harder every year as funding is cut back. Last year they had record crowds, but this year was a different story. While people did come out, the threat of rain and tropical storms, along with the uncertainty created by the financial crisis, seemed to take a toll. The area is distant from NYC, but the target audience for the show is NYC and environs, and I heard a lot of talk about people and places in trouble during the show. My sales were down significantly, and most of the other exhibitors I talked to fared about the same. I didn’t have high expectations going in, so I wasn’t surprised, but still, it is a blow when one’s work languishes on the shelves. People did come, and look, but I guess one group’s interaction with me kind of summed up the weekend. These were people who have been good customers of mine in the past, and I know the really wanted to buy, as they spent quite a while in the booth caressing pieces and talking, but in the end, one of them said, “we’re not going to buy anything today…none of us know whether we’ll have jobs by the end of next week.” I guess some serious belt tightening will be in order, but as a potter who’s been at it for some time, I do know that I can go a couple more notches without really hurting that much. Hard times are sadly not a stranger to most craft artists. It is going to be an interesting ride for the near future.
I’ve attached several photos of my booth setup during the show, for anyone interested.
Now I’m going to take some time to rest and clean up before fixing up a nice dinner at home. All of the show food gets old.

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24. September 2008 by admin.

Well, I just finished unloading the latest kiln firing and it was a nice one! Have gotten all packed up and ready to hit the Peters Valley Craft Fair in NJ this weekend. Given the financial problems on Wall Street, and the hurricane that is supposed to hit the area on the weekend, my expectations are not high, but I feel good about the work. What is also nice is that I made this work while being hobbled by a hurting hand and non-functional dominant thumb. So, at least I learned that I can handle up to about 10 lbs. of clay in this condition.
Here are some photos of the kiln and work coming out…

Hopefully the photos will be here…now it is time to start cooking, as we’re entertaining Julia Galloway for dinner. The poor woman doesn’t get enough home cooking, so from time to time we try to give her a good meal. The weather here is incredible, so it’s time for a BBQ with lots of salads and veggies and home made apple pie.

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12. September 2008 by admin.

There’s been a lot going on recently, and I’ve just not really had the time or energy to get back here.

This past weekend saw the Clothesline Art Festival come and go at the Memorial Art Gallery grounds in Rochester.  The weather was iffy on Saturday, but people still came and bought.  Sunday’s weather was glorious and the grounds were packed.  This was especially encouraging for a couple of reasons–first, and most obvious, it meant more sales for everyone showing there…secondly, it meant that the public had given a vote of support for all of the changes that have been made to the show in the past year, with the aim of revitalizing it and bringing it back to where it once was, in terms of attendance and stature.  As one of the members of the committee planning and running the event (the committee is a new idea, as is the presence of an actual working artist there), I had a vested interest in seeing things happen there.  I’d been pushing for changes, and being that the committee chair, Karen Stolt, is a wonderfully open person about it all, and that the committee members are really working for a better production, a lot of good things were in the works.  In order to justify them to the powers-that-be, it was necessary for us to show that the public approved, in terms of attendance and sales.  After all, the event is the museum’s principal fund-raising event for the year, and their bottom line is amount of $$ coming in and positive buzz for the museum.  I hope that all was accomplished on both fronts…we’ll see next Tuesday when we have our first meeting to debrief and run numbers.  Among the changes…a lessening in the admission fees for the public from $7 to $5, with a dollar further off for pre-sale tickets or museum members.  We added another entertainment stage and boosted the number of performances there, with the Mambo Kings presenting the grand finale from the main stage on Sunday afternoon, which really had the place rocking.  We pretty much totally reconfigured the shape of the show, moving many artists around from their accustomed places, in order to facilitate patron traffic and get rid of some of the cul-de-sacs and small confusing areas that had existed previously.  We boosted our advertising and publicity efforts, juried the exhibitors more stringently and expanded the area from which artists could apply.  As you can imagine, all of these changes served to make a lot of people uncomfortable, on all fronts.  Essentially, people seem to shy away from change, and we really had to work hard to sell it all.  So, we’ll see on Tuesday whether we’ll be allowed to continue to proceed in our direction, or whether things will go back to the old status quo.  Stay tuned…

I’ve also ordered a new, computer controlled electric kiln for my studio mates use.  If all works out today, I’ll go and pick it up, and try to get it installed soon.  That should increase the number of options available to them in terms of firing their work.  It means more expensive firings for them, but hopefully the results will justify it. My aim with my “associates” (as I call my studio mates…I’m the leaseholder on the space and they pay me rent) is to give them an environment and the tools to make the best pots they can make.

Lastly, I guess, would be the unhappy news that I’ve been diagnosed with arthritis in my left thumb.  I know, sounds trivial, right?  But try working on pots the way I do with that kind of pain…it’s just not a pleasant experience.  It’s been bothering me the past couple of weeks, and I’ve been worrying about it, so I went and got it examined and x-rayed yesterday.  I’ll see a specialist soon, I hope, and find out what the long term prognosis is, and what measures are likely to prove effective in treating it.  My own computer research doesn’t seem too hopeful, but we’ll see.  I make a lot of larger pieces, and as a left-hander, rely on my left thumb to provide a lot of muscle and support.  It will be interesting to see if I am able to adjust my techniques to eliminate that need when things flare up.  Meanwhile, it’s take the Advil and full speed ahead!

OK, have to get to the studio and get things going.

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