The Old Guard

I’m home from the Rochester Potter’s Invitational and my mind is buzzing. On the Sunday afternoon Ben Carter host of The Red Clay Rambler an online radio podcaster was there from California to interview some of the old guard who are responsible for organizing some of America’s Potter’s Invitational Shows. These are potters that have put in 30, 40 and 50 years into making and loving pots. From left to right we have Bob Briscoe founder of the St. Croix River Potters tour (Minnesota) which is one of the most successful in the country, Dan Finnegan of The On the Hill Potters Tour in Washington, DC and Mathew Metz and Richard Aerni of the newly formed show in Rochester. The interviewer is Ben Carter a potter from California. These are potters that were raised in the fifties when the maxim of commerce was “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” They still believe that showing quality is the answer. Walking the walk not just talking the talk is what this was all about. It is on these broad shoulders that the new guard is building a life.  In the audience was the new guard who were asked by the old guard to come up to the mike and give their two cents about social media and what is foreign to many of us old dinosaurs. Doug Peltz, Forest Middleton and Adam Field talked about hash tags, Instagram and Periscope which for me was a foreign language. It is encouraging that these 30 year olds are making such fine work and finding a new way to wave the flag. Thanks to the giants whose shoulders they stand on.