Ceramic Philosophy – Page 10 – Joel Cherrico Pottery

17 November, 201329 December, 2013

Pottery Business Trip: Stamped Mugs for Duluth Coffee Company, Artist Dinnerware for Gallery Paige

“When asked about his chief concern as an artist and potter, he modestly replied, ‘I honestly do not know. I respond to something inside me and I do not know what I am doing until I have done it. The moment of completion is sharing with others. The work is from myself but not for myself.’”

– Jonathan L. Fairbanks, about Brother Thomas, October 2007, from “Remembering Brother Thomas Bezanson,” Pucker Gallery, Boston.

The moment of completion is an exciting part of the pottery process. My old college professor, Sam Johnson, used to say that unloading glaze kilns was like Christmas or Halloween. Either the pots turn out great and cause an adrenaline rush of excitement, or ugly, flawed glazes send you plunging into a pit of despair.

When good pots do come out of the kiln, the artistic process continues to the viewer or user of those pots. Brother Thomas created forms and surfaces with inherent beauty, and he knew that this beauty needed to be shared. His work is exhibited in museums and galleries across the world. Sharing artwork lets artists grow by collecting feedback from viewers. Potters generally do this in 2 ways: exhibition and sales.

I see a lot of common ground between good kiln openings, selling pots, and exhibiting art. They involve the culmination of hard work and reaping rewards. The experiences happen quickly and often bring good vibes that linger for hours. Last Friday, I shared three of these experiences in one, epic day. It’s also worth mentioning 381 miles of travel, which comes to $215 in tax deductions at $.565 per mile according to www.irs.gov.

8:00am Kiln Opening

I opened the Skutt kiln and pulled out about 70 mugs for Duluth Coffee Company, made with a hand carved stamp by Bruno Press. I spent an hour polishing the bottoms of 100 total mugs, packaged them in 5 clay boxes and loaded the car. After a morning of errands, I drove from St. Joseph to Duluth.

2:00pm Duluth Coffee Company Drop-off

Eric Faust, owner and roaster, met me with an awesome cup of fresh roasted coffee and a check. This was an order for re-sale, and it could revolutionize how I make new bodies of work for coffee shops. Last year, Eric worked with a potter that sold about 400 stamped mugs through his shop. The potter moved out of state and Eric has been searching for a potter to rejuvenate this project. I was lucky enough to meet him months ago, when visiting friends in Duluth and scouting coffee shops. I was even luckier when he offered to buy the mugs wholesale- the first time this has happen in my 3.5 years as a full-time potter.

Eric generously let me retain artistic freedom. Too often I have received requests for stamps, carvings, or colors that fall outside my aesthetic interests or capabilities. This project reflects Duluth Coffee Company’s philosophies about roasting and brewing signature, gourmet coffees for the local community.

8:00pm: Gallery Paige, Grand Opening

Paige Dansinger is a renowned painter and art historian who has exhibited internationally, including a show at the Guggenheim this past spring. We met coincidentally at Continental Clay supplier while she was buying machine-made plates and glazes to paint for a commission. I said, “It would be great if a potter could make plates for you” and she replied, “Well, do you make plates?” Also coincidentally, I was at Up Cafe performing pottery throwing demos, that day only. She saw me throw, saw the stack of 500+ pots in their space, and we caught the vibe that we need to team up.

In the 2 months I’ve known Paige, she’s come to my kiln space to paint on my pots, invited me to her studio to view her process and bring more pots, and opened a gallery. That’s right, she opened a gallery in the downtown Minneapolis Skyway mall!

Gallery Paige had the Grand Opening Friday. Dozens of her pieces graced the gallery walls as paint on canvas, painted plates, and her innovative #DrawArt displayed as video and projection. Artists and art collectors streamed in and out of the space for hours. I brought her the first 2 glazed, finished pots from our collaboration and we shared a toast to the next body of work! Her paintings are gorgeous and I feel honored to begin the process of making pots as canvases for such a renowned artist.

When I met Paige she said, “I want my paintings in museums all over the world, hanging next to Picasso.” I think she’s on track to live into that goal!

Photo by Paige Dansinger

Photo by video artist Jim Mcallister. View some of our collaborative work here:

https://www.cherricopottery.com/video/

14 July, 201323 June, 2015

Not Your Typical Cold Call: An Inspiring Conversation with an Elder Potter

Last Wednesday afternoon I was attaching some handles to mugs and I got a strange call from a number in New Hampshire. Normally I let out-of-state calls go to voicemail because it’s often spam. For some reason I decided to wipe the clay off my hands and pick up.

The man on the line was Bruce Dix. He was Google searching a potter named, “Hong Jae Pyo” and he discovered my work. He asked, “Have you ever met this guy? Did you host him at your studio?” I said, “Bruce I don’t really have a studio, today I’m making pottery in my 3rd floor apartment. I’m only 25, I got the pictures of Hong Jae Pyo from a friend and just put them on my facebook.” Then Bruce said, “Oh so you’re a young guy, huh? Well I’m 65 and I’ve been a potter my whole life. I’ve gotta give you some advice while I’ve got you on the phone.”

This was the start of an hour long conversation about Bruce’s life as a potter.

The internet is so crazy. Hong Jae Pyo was a Korean potter practicing Yi Dynasty ceramics, and he toured the U.S. in the late 80’s. My only relation to him was by posting 2 images of his work on my Facebook page, because I’m really interested in his Copper Red glazes…we’ve never met, we’re not “tagged” together in any pictures. I simply typed “Hong Jae Pyo” as the image description and it was enough for Bruce to find him in Google, find my phone number on my website, and shoot me a call.

Bruce went on to describe the time he spent with Hong Jae Pyo and 2 other Korean potters that were on tour with him.

“They were traveling to colleges to give demonstrations, eating Coke and Pizza, I could tell that they were really uncomfortable. They lived in small Korean villages with locally grown, good food. I invited them back to my place and cooked them a feast.”

Bruce went on about the potters. “I had porcelain, stoneware, and terra cotta. Each potter used a different clay and we made pots for days. They spent time by the ocean, walked around outside, away from the city. They were really humble, nice people.”

Our conversation shifted to Bruce’s life and his desire to give me advice. I don’t remember everything he said word for word, but here’s what I took away from our conversation:

Pottery Insurance

“Take your best piece from each firing – the jewel – and put it in a box. In 20 years, you’ll have a show of these pots in New York City, sell $100,000 and be able to retire. Plus, you can pull these pieces out from time to time for inspiration. It shouldn’t be hard to keep from selling these pots right away. You have family heirlooms, you don’t try to sell these, right?”

$0.25 Mugs

“When I was your age, I sold my mugs for 25 cents each. If you can get $25 per mug then you’re doing great, keep going!”

No Art Festivals

Bruce never did a single craft fair.

Word-of-Mouth

“Eventually all of your customers will come to you, it just takes time- years and years. Try unconventional ways to sell your pots. Call one of the big banks in your city and politely ask to speak with someone in charge of marketing and corporate gifts. Put on a white, clean shirt, white pants, and bring them some of your pots.”

Colleagues, Not Competitors

“You should never have competitors, you’re never competing against other potters. Find the potters that you have similarities with and spend your time with these potters.”

Ignore Criticism

“As your career builds, you’ll start to get a lot more criticism. Ignore people who criticize your work. Don’t let it bring you down, just go find like-minded potters.”

———————————————————————————————-

You won’t find Bruce’s work online, he’s not interested in giving up privacy to get his pots out into the world.

Special thanks to Ken Ferber for originally sharing the images of Kong Jae Pyo that he snapped during a 1988 workshop. Ken let me photograph his images, as well as sections of a book that he bought during the workshop.

14 April, 201329 December, 2015

Working Towards a Standard Through Production Pottery

“…a good design in pottery is the product of tension or ‘dialectic’ between the demands of pure utility and those of pure beauty, and only a long experience and continual struggle enables you to achieve a successful fusion of the two.”
– Michael Cardew, quoted in “Michael Cardew, a portrait” by Garth Clark, pg. 46

In recent years, I’ve been drawn to a type of pottery known as “standard ware.” Warren Mackenzie is a renowned Minnesota potter at 89 years young, still making pots in Stillwater, MN. He descries standard ware as repeated forms with the same shapes, as opposed to individual pots with varying forms, shapes, colors, etc. Warren studied under English potter Bernard Leach, who was a pioneer in the resurgence of folk pottery traditions just after World War II.

After studying the Leach Pottery, I was amazed by 2 things: 1.) Bernard Leach mostly created pots as individual art objects, and 2.) The Leach Pottery Studio, largely operated by a crew and led by his sons, found great success through high production standard ware:

Mark Hewitt is a contemporary potter living in North Carolina, who studied similar folk pottery traditions for high production. I snagged this photo from his facebook page recently. The caption was, “180 Sunday, handled today, decorate tomorrow, start loading Thursday. The making cycles seem to get shorter…”

Holy cow that’s a lotta mugs. Isaac Button, a British potter from the mid 20th Century, is another skilled dude that could bust out a ridiculous number of pots each day. He was renowned for throwing a TON of clay in a day…literally, 2,000 lbs. Check out this youtube clip for just a small taste of his skills: (video link)

What place does standardware have in contemporary ceramics? I’ve been drawn to these pottery production techniques because of the pottery I make for the Local Blend and Up Cafe. Restaurant pottery requires:

consistent sizes (for correct food and drink portions)
thick, rounded edges (or they’ll chip and break)
durability (good ole’ Stoneware clay seems to do the trick)
stackability (to fit dish racks)
high quantity (at least 100 for use each day, a LOT more for restocking)
consistent, glossy glazes (for easy cleaning- a coffee mug at the Blend could be washed up to 5 times each day!)

These 2 little cafes require hundreds of finished pots so people can eat and drink their whole meal from pottery everyday. Plus, the pots sell pretty consistently and break every so often…so the ability to restock with new pottery is crucial. Standardware is a tradition that seems to fit perfectly with these 2 restaurants, as long as I can keep up on the high production as an individual artist….

My new project for more consistent standardware…electric firing? We’ll see! I was gifted this kiln from an aspiring potter and friend Sue. She said, “You just figure out how we can get better, more consistent glazes and let me put them on my pots!” Even at 40+ years old, these puppies aren’t cheap- what a great gift! That’s the excitement that drives me to work towards a standard!

11 April, 20134 October, 2016

An Emerging Artist’s Experiences with Art Festivals and Individual Sales: Are They Worth It?

During a time when soaring gas prices and economic hardships are commonly discussed across national media, what role do artists play by selling their handmade works? How much value do local, handmade objects hold in comparison to machine made, globally shipped goods? Should artists participate in art festivals and single day sales? Are these shows meant for crafts, fine art, or both? Are they profitable for the artists? I constantly ask these questions in regard to my own career.

It’s also important to note that my experiences reflect only shows that I am able to attend as an emerging artist, early in my career. While I have not been accepted to more prestigious art festivals and nationwide craft shows, my hope is that this post gives a bit of useful information to young artists who want to begin showing and selling their work publicly.

My short answer is yes! Absolutely these shows are worth it. Depending on the show, these events can provide low cost, low risk opportunities to generate short term cash and connect with new art lovers.

But when do they become too much work for the money generated? At what point do the comments like, “I like this, but $30 is too expensive” and “Well, do you have any in blue?” cause artists to stop attending shows?

In 3 different conversations with 50+ year old potters, they all said the same: “About 5-10 years ago, it was common for me to have a $1,000 day at an art festival, but not anymore!” Over the past 5 years (since my sophomore year in college) I’ve done over 50 different shows. I’ve never had a $1,000 day at an Art Festival.

My Experiences with Art Festivals and Individual Shows:

Most shows involve bringing my pottery, shelving and sometimes a wheel and clay to demonstrate and show/sell work for 1-3 days. The average space is 10′ x 10′ with booth fees ranging from free up to $425. Here are the types of shows that I’ve done, in no particular order:

1-2 day Art Festivals, locally and across Minnesota and Iowa
Art crawls, gallery events, studio tours
Outdoor music festivals
Indoor theater productions, conventions, showcases and expos
Local farmers markets
Individual shows at site specific venues, like college campuses, wine shops, wedding reception halls, and home shows

Some shows are better than others, and it takes time and hard work to figure out which shows to pursue and which to avoid. Here is a selection of 10 different shows that have shaped my career. I’ve included helpful notes and sales figures:

Market Monday: Sartell, MN farmer’s market. 19 individual shows since summer of 2012, alongside food vendors, often demonstrating with my pottery wheel. Cost: about $20 per day. Sales: low of $0, high of $550.
Bo Diddley’s Show/Sale: St. Cloud, MN, indoors in a small restaurant, December of 2012, throwing demo, no other vendors. Cost: 4 free bowls for the owners. Sales: $35.
Women’s Showcase: St. Cloud, MN, 1 day, large setup of my best pottery, next to other local businesses, no other individual artists. Cost: $80 (if I remember correctly) Sales: $61.50.
Celebration of the Arts: Avon, MN, 2 days, large setup of my best pottery, with $5-10 cups and mugs, about 30 artists, 5-7 potters. Cost: $50. Sales: $677 in 2011, $652 in 2012.
Millstream Arts Festival: St. Joseph, MN, 1 day, large setup of my best pottery, about 30-40 artists and musicians, 3-5 potters. Cost: $80. Sales: $794.36 in 2011, $241 in 2012.
Backroads Pottery Tour: St. Joseph area, MN, 2 days, large setup of my best pottery, throwing demos, all potters, 2-3 at each venue, 5 venues. Cost: $50. Sales: $639.10 in 2011, $1,040 in 2012.
Duluth Art in Bayfront Park: 2 days, large setup of my best pottery, about 30-40 artists and musicians, 3-5 potters, consider 3 days time and travel expenses to Duluth. Cost: $325 in 2011, $425 in 2012 (double booth, throwing demos). Sales: $1,648.24 in 2011, $1,163.25 in 2012.
Pottery at First Avenue Wine House, 2012: 2 days in July, Cedar Rapids, IA, outdoors (HOT!) large setup of my best pottery, no other artists. Cost: no cost from the generous owners and family friends. Sales: $4,330.32
Iowa Holiday Show/Sale, 2010: 1 day, late November, large setup of my best pottery, premier showing of my work right out of college, event hall for music shows and wedding receptions in Cedar Rapids, IA, called Gatherings, no other artists. Cost: $300. Sales: $4,339
Iowa Holiday Show/Sale, 2011 & 2012: 2 days, large setup of my best pottery, in Marion, IA at a small coffee shop called Mr. Beans, in their small conference room, no other artists. Cost: 2 large serving bowls for the owners. Sales: $2,725.51 in 2011, $1,678.60 in 2012.

Important Takeaways:

Sales can decrease in consecutive years, even if your artwork improves.
Sales around Christmas are not necessarily higher.
Throwing demonstrations do not seem to help or hurt sales.
Always consider your time, even if you don’t give it a dollar amount. If I sell less than $300 in a day then I probably won’t sign up for a show the next year.
I recommend experimenting with prices. Since January 2013, I’ve reduced my prices from $25 per mug and $85 per serving bowl to $10 per mug and $25 per serving bowl only at the Sartell Farmer’s Market. Sales have been over $500 at 4 monthly farmers markets so far, compared to a $309 high previously. I keep high prices at galleries, coffee shops, and my online store, and reserve these venues for my strongest pots. At the market, I bring my 2nds, 3rds and 4ths…I think that even if a pot has qualities that I don’t like, it has the potential to enrich someone else’s life. Customers seem to understand the “what you see is what you get” model of discounted prices only at certain shows and certain times in my career.

There are lots of other ways to sell: online, through galleries, retail stores, whole sale, commission based, and creating innovative business models. It’s important to note that sales through my innovative business model developed for the Local Blend coffee shop have been higher than all art festivals and galleries combined, and equal to my individual shows and sales. I expect sales at Up Cafe in northeast Minneapolis to be equal or higher than the Local Blend sales in the coming months.

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My hope is that this post gives a bit of useful information for emerging artists that are one the fence about selling their work to the general public. Be open to all opportunities for showing your work, but I encourage all artists to develop innovative ways to show and sell. I’m convinced innovation brings the highest level of success.

5 November, 20124 October, 2016

Wheel Thrown Ceramic Sculptures: Drawing Inspiration from the Pottery Wheel and from Nature

Last week I was throwing some dinner plates and I noticed a really cool texture as I was carving clay away from the wheel. The images below show how I start my 12” dinner plates by throwing a wide cylinder. I cut clay away with my wood knife before folding the lip down into a plate. While carving the clay away, I noticed an interesting squiggly coil. I kept all of these funky clay coils and assembled them into snail sculptures.

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I added a rolled up coil of clay to the backs of these slugs, turning them into snails. I try to use a spiral texture on every piece of my pottery and most of my sculptures. I like using this texture that occurs so often in nature because it helps relate my clay pieces to the natural world. Clay is harvest from nature, so I like to communicate this in my work. Spirals are found in the natural world as infinite shapes and sizes. Similarly, every one of my pots has qualities that set it apart from the rest. Even when I make plates over and over, no two plates will ever be exactly the same.

These pieces were also inspired by my visit to the Redwood Nation Forrest – totally overrun with Banana Slugs and snails.

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These taller sculptures shown below were also made on the pottery wheel, thrown in separate sections then attached. I want my sculptures to give the illusion that they grew from the ground. They remind me of rainforest mushrooms or plants. I’m having trouble coming up with names for these types of sculptures. Any suggestions?

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