You shoulda’ been a dentist- signed mum

A collector sent me pictures of this pot dated 1976 and signed by moi. He asked if I could give him any information on the pedigree. He also said it weighed a ton.

Well the pot dates back to my first course with legendary potter and glaze guru F. Carlton Ball at Banff School of Arts in 1976,  41 years ago in the beautiful mountains of Banff, Alberta. Les Manning was the head of the Dept and it was the place in North America to go for a course.

Carleton was an amazing teacher and so encouraging. He probably set the course of my life.

He held a sale at the end of the course and I sold enough pottery to buy my first wheel- a Shimpo I bought at Plainsman Clay in Medicine Hat, Alberta. We had to take the front seat out of my 1974 VW bug to bring it home to Ontario. This was one of those pots and how it found it’s way back to Ontario is anyone’s guess. You can run but you can’t hide. You see there is hope for everyone.

I came home and had decided I was going to be a potter. My mum presented me with a tee shirt that read “Unemployed with dignity”. That was a low blow. My parents were very disappointed that their only university educated son was going to be a labourer.

There has been some great discussion on my blog about pricing and making a living. I think the real problem is that we think like potters and think everyone makes an income similar to ours. In Aylmer we have 23 police of which 15 make over 100K. High school teachers in Ontario make good money – after 9 years of teaching the salary is $92,600. Two teachers in a household and you ain’t doing too badly or how about a cop and a teacher?

What does the CEO of your local hospital make? Let’s all give those poor buggers a deal on our pots!

 My friend closet artist DH’s mother bought him a tee-shirt on graduating from art school.

You should have been a dentist- signed mum.