Mel Griffin
Peter Christian Johnson
Mathew McConnell
This week on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I am featuring a panel discussion on ceramic career paths with Mel Griffin, Mathew McConnell, and Peter Christian Johnson. The conversation starts by questioning the premise of an established career ladder in ceramics and evolves into a discussion about success, living a mobile life, and creating your own career path.
Mel Griffin is a potter and tile artist living in Helena, MT. For more information about her work please visit www.melgriffin.com. Mathew McConnell is a sculptor and educator living in Fayetteville, AK. He is currently a visiting assistant professor at the University of Arkansas. For more information on his work please visit www.mathewmcconnell.com. Peter Christian Johnson is sculptor and educator living in La Grande, Oregon. He is currently an assistant professor at Eastern Oregon University. For more information on his work please visit peterchristianjohnson.com. All three of these artists have been long term resident artists at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT where the interview was conducted.
To subscribe to the Red Clay Rambler podcast on iTunes please click here. To add the podcast to your Stitcher Radio on Demand Playlist click here. You can also stream the latest episode on the podcast tab for this site.
This week on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I am featuring a panel discussion on ceramic career paths with Mel Griffin, Mathew McConnell, and Peter Christian Johnson. The conversation starts by questioning the premise of an established career ladder in ceramics and evolves into a discussion about success, living a mobile life, and creating your own career path.
Mel Griffin is a potter and tile artist living in Helena, MT. For more information about her work please visit www.melgriffin.com. Mathew McConnell is a sculptor and educator living in Fayetteville, AK. He is currently a visiting assistant professor at the University of Arkansas. For more information on his work please visit www.mathewmcconnell.com. Peter Christian Johnson is sculptor and educator living in La Grande, Oregon. He is currently an assistant professor at Eastern Oregon University. For more information on his work please visit peterchristianjohnson.com. All three of these artists have been long term resident artists at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT where the interview was conducted.
To subscribe to the Red Clay Rambler podcast on iTunes please click here. To add the podcast to your Stitcher Radio on Demand Playlist click here. You can also stream the latest episode on the podcast tab for this site.
Back in 2011 Rocco Landesman, the head of the National Endowment for the Arts, addressed a meeting of Theartre professionals and made the now notorious statement that we seem to be oversupplied with art and artists. The insight was that if anything there seems to be declining demand for traditional art forms across the board, and yet there are more people practicing as artists at the same time. This was a controversial suggestion, but as potters we can all probably see how it reflects our own experience. Things are not only tight, but the market itself seems to be fairly saturated. Supply and demand seem to be weighted against us.....
ReplyDeleteThe truth seems to be that the model of full time artists making their entire income from selling their work is now the exception rather than the rule. There simply isn't a large enough pie to be sliced so many ways and still provide for each working artist.....
When I was in school and Linda Christianson taught for a semester one of the insights she provided was that very few artists can make their entire income from just selling their work. There almost always needs to be some supplementary income from some outside source. You guys did a great job discussing several of those aspects.
What I think is important is that we do more to make the case, as one of your panelists described, that art isn't simply a career but a lifestyle choice. I think we need to do a better job of explaining that the model of full time professionalism is mostly a far flung illusory ideal. Most working artists are also teaching, or giving workshops, or have jobs that are independent from their artistic pursuits. Being a full time artist is not a default, and its not really something that is attainable for most people with artistic ambitions. We need to introduce aspiring artists to that circumstance before they get carried away with the romantic myths that have informed most of us along this path.
The question is, how do we make our art practice fit in a life that includes other means of making a living or simply other interests and pursuits? There seems to be an unexamined bias that if you are not practicing art full time you have in some way failed. We need to recognize that the rules for the art industry have simply changed, and we can no longer play the game by its outdated assumptions. The truth is that unless demand for art increases the competition for the same dollars will only get worse. Some may do well, but only at the expense of others who have done less well. And with decreasing demand, the ones who are able to game the system will be fewer and fewer as time goes on. That's not a model for sustainability.
What all of your panelists seem to realize is that this new circumstance requires being adaptable and also that it often means creating our own new pathways. If anything, this discussion was a good effort at debunking the idea that there is a necessary pathway anymore. We will obviously need to invent new ways forward from here on out, and not be as beholden to the institutions that have served and supported artists over the years.
The danger we need to avoid is only looking at the icons, the 'success stories' as our models. The lessons we can learn from them are rarely applicable to any but their own situations. Sometimes its only accidents of being in the right place at the right time, or who you know, that makes things work. But the temptation to look only at these examples is misleading. Their recipe for 'success' will not be your recipe. We can often learn more from those who failed, what things to avoid, where they got in danger. I think we probably need to pay more attention to that than we do....
Another great podcast! Keep up the good work!
Hello Carter,
DeleteMany apologies for my long over due reply. I loved what you said here,
"The question is, how do we make our art practice fit in a life that includes other means of making a living or simply other interests and pursuits? There seems to be an unexamined bias that if you are not practicing art full time you have in some way failed. We need to recognize that the rules for the art industry have simply changed, and we can no longer play the game by its outdated assumptions. The truth is that unless demand for art increases the competition for the same dollars will only get worse. Some may do well, but only at the expense of others who have done less well. And with decreasing demand, the ones who are able to game the system will be fewer and fewer as time goes on. That's not a model for sustainability."
I agree that a "successful" art life is usually one where the artist can accept how their art fits into their life. Too many young artists think that the only way to succeed is the Pablo Picasson model where your entire life to art making. By percentage this ideal is quickly fading. I would speculate that less than 25% of those that call themselves artists fit this model. The other 75% are people that make about half of their income on art. I don't see anything wrong with this dynamic as long as younger artists don't think you fail unless you are not self supporting in our first year of making.
I had an interesting realization about 8 or 9 years while I was a production potter. I realized that I would actually prefer to do something to supplement my income because my body couldn't take working long hours at the wheel everyday. At that point I accepted that I would make art making my mental priority but not my main time priority. Some days I only work a few hours, others I put in a full days work in the studio. Finding the right balance for my body has been key to letting my mind be more creative. The less tired my body is the more freely I come up with new ideas.
As always thanks for tuning in. I did another panel recently on the topic of how our creative selves feed our business or personal relationships. I'll put that up some time next month.
Hope you are doing well. Have a good weekend.
this was such a helpful podcast to me. I came to pottery late (at 25, after I'd gotten a MA and done all of the coursework for a second MA in art history- wish Matt Long had been at Ole Miss when I was there, and wish I'd taken w Ron Dale when I had a chance), looked for an apprenticeship locally, and was advised to just start. So I did. And I've often wondered if I was missing something by not getting an MFA in pottery (and in truth, sitting through a grad review wherein a printmaker shat mightily on a friend who was making gorgeous pots that were useful and not conceptual killed my desire to continue getting my art history degree), but after listening to this, I know that selling locally, listening to y'all on a national level, checking in with my mentors in SF and here in Memphis, I am doing exactly what I should be doing. I am happy being a small fish, making ware for restaurants and gift shops, and selling to loyal customers here in Memphis and online, and building my business slowly (it has been 12 years) and sustainably. It was a great affirmation that I might not have had without this particular conversation. Thanks for that.
ReplyDeleteHello Melissa,
DeleteGood to hear from you. So glad you enjoyed this conversation and that it affirmed you are on the right path. I agree that a MFA is not right for everyone. I also think that most people go into MFA with a lot of misconceptions about why you should go. Increasing your earning potential and therefore your happiness is one of the many pitfalls that the MFA myth can create. Is most important that each artist has enough money to live and enough time to be creative. However that is accomplished is a good thing. At the moment one of my side jobs is being a dog walker/runner. I love it and it has nothing to do with art. I get paid to exercise and work with animals that I love. My happiness quotient is very high and it provides the income I need to make time for creative activity.
Back to grad school... the main reason I went and that I am glad that I went, is that it reinforced my conceptual problem solving skills. In truth I already had problem solving skills but it taught me to use them on all subjects. I feel stronger at chemistry, structural engineering, and all sorts of things that might not even be considered "pure art". I came out after three years learning so much about myself and how to deal with life that is almost seems like I should have gotten an MFA in life skills.
On another note, one of my goals for the podcast is to provide the same type of conversations that happen in grad schools to the masses. The conversation I had with Mathew, Peter, and Mel could easily have been in a grad seminar. For people that didn't go to grad school, or people that did go but need a recharge, I hope the podcast can provide some stimulation. Its been great to see how many people comment that it does just that.
Thanks for listening to the podcast and for reading the blog. Hope you have a good weekend