So last post was a bit melancholy. No hiding it, it was a poor sale….
And maybe I just needed a good moan, and maybe the timing was just right for me to ratchet up my philosophical campaign on the importance of nurturing the arts. It actually turned into a decent post. The day it went live I came within two clicks of my most trafficked day. Seems I struck a nerve. Maybe that just says that too many of us are in the same fragile state, and that it spoke to some very real concerns folks have.
But as my friend Kevin Yates said in the comments to the post, “Perk up, Buttercup!” If there is a lesson to learn its that talent counts for naught if you can’t pick yourself back up and reenter the ring. Without persistence (and maybe downright ornery stubbornness) all the artistic skills in the world won’t save your dream of a life lived pursuing creative paths. Sometimes you have to bloody your nose repeatedly to learn the lessons or to find the right path forward. So maybe resilience is as important as ability when it comes to sustaining an art career….. Worth considering, at least.
So this weekend I’m getting back on the horse that just threw me, and I’m entering the breach once more. This time with company!
Wish me luck!
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(I was too busy to put together new images, so I nabbed these from last year’s post. Enjoy!)
This time I will be joined by my good friends Geoff Pickett, Jeff Bishoff, and Juana Gnecco. Here are some of their pots:
- Geoff Pickett jar
- Geoff Pickett teapot
- Juana Gnecco jars
- Juana Gnecco display
- Juana Gnecco triangle plate
The sale will be held at my studio in Athens Ga in the Boulevard area At 572 Nantahala ave both Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm.
CARTER GILLIES POTTERY 
I’ve been throwing pots here in Pitman, New Jersey for thirty-some years. My pots and sculpture can be found all over the country, but it took this long for that to happen. Though I could never live on the income, they have provided me a reach through time that money can’t buy. After I’ve long passed someone will cradle a cup and know that an artist once caressed the earth to make it; that that handful of earth survived valcanic temperatures to make it to them. Does it matter that we don’t know “Dave the Slave” or who made the clay army? Whether it’s a cup or a pot to hold your hot glue gun the potter has the privalage to remain through millenia; who else ever gets that?
That is indeed a privilege. And its always humbling to find that the gifts of unusual beauty we bring to the world do find receptive hands to welcome them. I never want to downplay the importance of my pots reaching even one person who might be changed by them. Our art does make a difference in other people’s lives, and I’m continually reminded of what an honor it is that folks will choose to live their lives in the company of something I have created. Kind of mind blowing if you think about it. And I never want to take that for granted.
Only, sometimes that is not always enough to sustain the dream. Just how many pots sold translates to enough to put food on the table? Do we have that kind of pressure on the pots we make? Right now I’m lucky to have income from teaching classes as well. But the combination is really only marginal. I hope to still be there after 30 years. I hope I have the persistence and perseverance to keep going. I’m glad you did. These are dreams that are worth keeping alive, yours, mine, and every other person who mines their imagination for a creative contribution to the betterment of the world.
The question is, how can we help the world to nurture our dreams? How can we help the world to want us to make these things? Won’t the world be better off if creativity is supported rather than crushed from our daily lives? Isn’t the imagination worth cultivating? Do we want to live in a society of dreamers, who can look at the world and imagine something better? Or do we instead settle for a world where only a few are lucky to be able to express their dreams while the rest of the community is bent under the soul crushing pressures of conformity and playing by the rules? How do we make social change? Do we need to? Is it up to us, or is it someone else’s job?
Oops! There I go again shaking my fist against the mountain. I guess persistence is needed in all sorts of places……
Thanks for commenting!