when and how . and to what degree.
I think about making pots well into the foreseeable future. maybe forever but forever is a long time.
I wonder about becoming an artist, or coming into being an artist, or having been an artist all along.
This weekend i went and heard a panel of "seasoned" (as they were on multiple occasions referred) ceramic artists talk candidly and casually about each of their careers, spawning from one similar undergraduate experience that they all shared together. Classmates . while their stories were inspiring, they remained un-inclusive seemingly unattainable through the contemporary lense. paying thirty dollars for rent, to save money for making is just simply impossible. nonetheless we try, try and try again to live where we want, work where we want and make what we want. but for me this is just the beginning. I'm gaining new experiences in new places to make new work and ultimately have more to offer as a graduate student in a few years. I hope to attain my terminal degree by the time im ... say 30 and then make my own work. with the hopes of becoming an instructor in higher education.
imagine as this discussion comes to an end, one of the artists unhappily reports that by recent polling of his students, each and every one imagines themselves to become a teacher at some point in their future. He says that this proves a severely overlooked shortcoming of arts education and the art community in general. If no one can imagine a career beside that of a college educator, than no one can pursue anything else. And the reality of the situation is that the field can not support or sustain the volume of students out-coming, to eventually feed back in as educators themselves. daunting. upsetting, but true. although we are all led whether right or wrong, to understand and believe it nearly impossible to survive solely as a maker. And only a handful of the hundred plus classmates we graduated with will even begin to come close to this sort of reality.
I haven't the thoughts to conclude one way or the other on the issues at hand. while i found the weekend enriching i also found it a hard pill to swallow. I just don't know.
It is a hard pill to swallow, agreed. While it is sad that only a handful may ever reach the much-envied solely "maker" status... I believe that we are all on different paths. I may look at my classmates from college, and they may be making and creating more than I possibly could right now... they may be further along on the route to becoming the artist we have all dreamed of being... but I don't believe I or you or any of us can compare ourselves to anyone else. My work may not be in as many galleries as another person my age, but hey. I'm getting there. You will get there, too. You have a dream? Go for it with all of your heart and soul and strength, and it will happen for you. Don't worry about the facts. It's good to contemplate them, but I have sometimes let them bring me down because I tend to dwell. You will do great things because I know you, and I know how determined and talented you are. Bonne chance ma chere! Love.
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