Dearest WTF
A cyber friend and fellow bourry boxer has been WTFing about why her work has not been accepted into a couple of high profile juried shows.
Dearest WTF: I feel your pain. I have been there. I still carry the scar of one of the very best pots I have ever made being rejected. It was 1996 and I made a large probably in the 30 lb range bottle, glazed in shino and experienced for the first time in my life- carbon trapping. I had never seen it before and I was blown away. I strapped this monster bottle on the back of my Harley Davidson Heritage Softail and drove it a hundred miles away to be juried at The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. It was rejected!!! If that wasn't painful enough a potter I knew had a blue and white double dipped teapot with a hose of a spout and a strap handle in the show. It was worse than a kick below the belt. My pot now resides in the collection of my clay supplier Frank Tucker. I still think it is one of the best pots I ever made.
So Dearest WTF if non acceptance knocks ya off your guard I suggest you think a bit like I do. If people like what I do, I stop doing it. If you tell me you don't like it, I do more of it until you start liking it and then I stop doing that and
move on.
So if being like me doesn't suit your fancy and I can see why it wouldn't then maybe you should consider doing what we do here at The Cactus Lounge. We almost always have a post wood firing critique of our work. We are all trusted friends with a keen eye that don't hand out "oh that is so pretty's"!
I think it is very helpful if the juror gives you back feedback. Don't be afraid to ask for it.
But Dear WTF don't become paralyzed by others opinions. They are their opinions.
If you must make the work this way then it sounds to me like this is fate's right hand and this is the work you're intended to keep making.
PS: I've been carbon trapping ever since.
Dearest WTF: I feel your pain. I have been there. I still carry the scar of one of the very best pots I have ever made being rejected. It was 1996 and I made a large probably in the 30 lb range bottle, glazed in shino and experienced for the first time in my life- carbon trapping. I had never seen it before and I was blown away. I strapped this monster bottle on the back of my Harley Davidson Heritage Softail and drove it a hundred miles away to be juried at The Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery. It was rejected!!! If that wasn't painful enough a potter I knew had a blue and white double dipped teapot with a hose of a spout and a strap handle in the show. It was worse than a kick below the belt. My pot now resides in the collection of my clay supplier Frank Tucker. I still think it is one of the best pots I ever made.
So Dearest WTF if non acceptance knocks ya off your guard I suggest you think a bit like I do. If people like what I do, I stop doing it. If you tell me you don't like it, I do more of it until you start liking it and then I stop doing that and
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| A nasty little bugger that I love sharp and prickly- OUT! |
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| Opps another pot stuck on there- you're out! |
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| Excessive walrus sneeze These pots are by Ryogi Matsumiya of Japan |
So if being like me doesn't suit your fancy and I can see why it wouldn't then maybe you should consider doing what we do here at The Cactus Lounge. We almost always have a post wood firing critique of our work. We are all trusted friends with a keen eye that don't hand out "oh that is so pretty's"!
I think it is very helpful if the juror gives you back feedback. Don't be afraid to ask for it.
But Dear WTF don't become paralyzed by others opinions. They are their opinions.
If you must make the work this way then it sounds to me like this is fate's right hand and this is the work you're intended to keep making.
PS: I've been carbon trapping ever since.
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