Meat trays and paper dollies
A friend phoned to ask me to participate in a provincial
show he is leading. He wants the show to be by invitation and by juried
application. I told him he is going to be hated by every one that makes their
pots with meat trays and paper dollies. They will want to be in the show. They
expect to be in the show. If they have done any volunteer work they might even
expect to be the featured artist. They
will track him down and brand him with heated cookie cutters, slaughter and
quarter him and package him in meat trays that are no longer able to be used
for slab forms. His hunters will be wearing a war paint of Floating Blue and
Rosie’s Red. The fire will be fueled
with paper dollies and used boxes that contained their prepared glazes. A tip of the hat to you, dude. There are
plenty of venues for pedestrian works. Hell, every town and church has a craft
show that showcases this work. There really ought to be a place in Toronto
(Canada’s largest city) for a show of the best of our country. It is about
time! It is happening in America! What do you think Dick Aerni is doing in
Rochester and Danny F in Washington, DC?
How about the St. Croix River Valley Potters? We always seem to follow a few years behind
and oh yeah Canadians eat their own so be prepared to have your final resting
place be a Styrofoam meat tray.
I send this blog post out as a harbinger of what you are in
for. If it goes off like a bomb like my cookie cutter post did you might want
to consider dropping it and heading for cover. That post had the most response
of any I have ever done by a times of 5. On the other hand you could give a certain
friend of ours near the Nations Capital a call to prepare your defense. Change
never happens because of those that say or do nothing. Get some sleep! Our
friend escaped with her life and now runs two successful Invitational Shows and
is co-owner of the best pot shop in our country- bar none! The General –
Almonte, Ontario.
Hey man, why Toronto? I love The Hammer and The Hammer loves the
arts.
Comments
as you say: there are tons of venues for people who make perfectly nice, adequate pots but until these folks get mentored and inspired their work wont cut the mustard. I dont think you actually get hated for creating an invitational. you just have some folks with some hurt egos for a while until they come and see the quality and diversity in an invitational and then they forget pretty quick and just get motivated. you go wonderful clay dude: make your show happen!! We need it .
There is already a juried show in Ontario - Fusion's Fireworks - and I really don't think that people who get rejected are that upset and they don't take it out on Fusion.
Imagine how this would make your students feel.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
I love invitational shows - they inspire, teach, make me feel good, happy. And most of the meat trays in our household find way into the recycling bin. Way to go we need more of the Invitational shows.