Your Voice
First let me start by sending my condolences to my friend
Carter for the loss of his Dad. Carter I hear your voice. I hear the sadness
and I understand all about feeling a lack of motivation to make-work at certain
times in our careers. Mend yourself man and we await your comeback.
I’m feeling somewhat reflective tonight. Fools think that financial success and
artistic success are synonymous. They are NOT! One of the members of my mentor ship group
belongs to a co-op that accepted a financially successful potter. Now the
financially successful potter has all but killed my mentee’s presence in the
gallery. To my mentee all I can say is keep your voice. You didn’t join a wood
fire mentor ship group to follow the market place. Your choice has been to march
to a different drummer. Your work is
growing! All in the group are urging you on. The people that read my ramblings
each day are not your average everyday potters.
Your work is not destined for the home of everyman but is destined for
someone’s home.
Then on the same day I heard from a friend that has been
fired after over 25 years of teaching at a local art school for having a voice.
A teacher without a yearly contract must keep their mouth zipped when it comes
to what they see as injustice. Question the powers at be and you are toast. The
world needs more voices. Good on you. Take a bow!
I once had a professor Jim Miller that said _ Say something
stupid and all will say “Oh that’s Tony Clennell the guy that said something
stupid. Say something intelligent and they will say “ Oh that is Tony Clennell
that said something intelligent.” Say nothing at all and they will say Tony
Who? So much of the work I see in the market place today says nothing at all. It is a sea of sameness. The big voices whether I like the sound or not
speak above the crowds. Your voice and your work it is one. Sometimes I
wish mine were softer, more refined and more polished. As my boy hood hero
Popeye the Sailor Man said “ I yam what I yam and I ain’t what I ain’t- toot,
toot!
Be authentic!
Comments
Just as I had all but convinced myself to get back a makin' one of my kitties fell ill, and the decline was swift. It took just about all the wind from my sails. She passed last night, and as sad as I am right now I also understand there is a time for everything. Being sad won't stop me from being in the studio the rest of this week. The show must go on.....
Sorry to hear about your mentee getting the raw deal. That person is lucky to have you in their lives. There are other options besides that one gallery. I'm sure you guys will figure something out. If your mentee is using their voice and saying interesting enough things there will be folks out there who will enjoy listening.
I hope your teacher friend lands on their feet too. The world needs more passionate teachers, and I like how you described it as being less what you said than that you made the effort to say something. Without passion nothing much gets said. Say what's inside you and let the world make sense of it. Say nothing and it never mattered what you believed, what you felt, except to you. You won't get to make any difference unless you use that voice to some purpose....
The show must go on.....