Clay is the Way
If you're a Star Wars fan, you know....
It’s been a week, has it not?!?! Thanks for coming back to read the updates for Burnished and the quality content that Burnished Clay Artist Collective is creating for this newsletter.
As you might have recognized, Burnished Clay Artist Collective is creating short video tips on Instagram. Below you will find an example.
Burnished will also have online classes available in the Spring, for those of you who want to take their practice further and start planning some form of business around their clay practice.
SODA
Soda Firings: The February cone 10 is sold out. The March cone 10 soda has sold out. The March cone 6 soda has 1 spot remaining! If you are interested, please register using this link: https://www.burnishclaystudio.com/store/p816/Soda_Firing.html
STUDIO ETIQUETTE
Sharing space: Please make sure that you save adequate time to clean up at the end of the session in every work area you use, including the wedging table, your entire wheel, the floor, splash plans, work and handbuilding table surfaces, the slip/water bowls over the glaze sink, and glaze paddles. Lately it seems people have been forgetting to put all of their things away. While I love all the free tools I have been collecting, my guess is that it’s a bit of a bummer when you realize that you have lost them.
You might recognize the above paragraph from last week. It is not there again because it’s easy to cut and paste. This last week I once again cleaned up a bunch of stuff that had been left behind in the studio. Let’s help each other and be mindful that we are all in a shared space.
Today is the Day!
Today at 1:30 pm Pacific time Burnished Clay Artist Collective is doing their artist spotlight conversation on IG Live with Jane Fung of Golden Gingko Studio. It is sure to be illuminating.
Reminder
This next Sunday, February 25th at 6 pm, is the Burnished Clay Artist Collective Critique Club at Burnish Clay Studio. It’s a great place to learn more about how to make pottery work and get feedback and helpful advice on what you are working on. As a gently push, I have prepared an article below on the benefits of ignoring critical feedback.
Critical Feedback and Pottery
Ignoring useless critical feedback is a great skill to have in so many areas of life, but if you are going to be creative, having this skill is pivotal. The best way to get to this space is surprisingly simple: be proactive and ask for feedback before it is given.
There are many reasons to take this approach, but the most important one is that you will be more prepared for this feedback than you will be when the feedback is unsolicited. Another important element is that this interaction becomes a conversation. If you have requested help, the feedback you receive is an answer to a question that you have posed, which means, yes, yet another reason to use this approach, you can actually guide the feedback you receive with your question.
There is some critical feedback that is actually helpful. It’s the dense, chewy part of this whole criticism thing that can sometimes get stuck in your teeth. Some people actually give critical feedback with the hopes of helping. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that it ends up sounding insulting instead of helpful. If you want to learn how to spot and ignore useless criticism, get really good at providing helpful criticism. Why does this matter? When you are practiced at attempting to be useful, you will more easily recognize it in others. When you receive critical feedback, you will understand, through your own experience, that giving critical feedback can also be challenging. You might even give the person the benefit of the doubt.
When I used to get critical feedback, I would become tense, defensive, and frankly, a bit stabby. Unfortunately, when I am in this state, I will ignore and deflect any criticism on the table, even if it’s helpful. As I have grown, I have practiced giving useful critical feedback, and I have become much more open to receiving it. I have developed the ability, even when I am defensive, to take a step back and weigh whether or not the feedback is useful. I am also much better at recognizing useless critical feedback because I am able to see when the feedback is more about the person giving it than it is about the work they are critiquing.
If you are truly being creative, you will soon recognize that it is a lonely field. Most of the stuff that’s out there is mimicry and regurgitation. We have learned through our schooling and even in the careers we have chosen that most people would rather rely on what’s been done before, even if it’s crap, because it’s “the devil they know”. Our entire society continues to settle for the devil they know, so keep in mind that when you are being creative and receive critical feedback, it might be solely based on the fact that people are uncomfortable with bucking the status quo.
The thought that comes back to me, over and over, as I go through my life in a creative way, is that I am always happier failing as myself than winning as someone else. Recognizing that I need help is smart. Taking feedback, growing as a creator and a human feels liberating. Understanding that some people are threatened by new things because of their innate fear of the unknown helps me to understand, and therefor, not emotionally react to useless critical feedback.
It’s much easier to ignore things that are useless when you don’t take them personally. Most things in life are not personal, especially the stuff that comes at us on social media. The last tip I will give you, and this is a fun one, is how to handle the people who are “trying to help” on social media. I’m not talking about the haters. Those people I put on a “delete, block, repeat” cycle without a second thought.
I’m talking about the people who you know, who might comment publicly on social media “helpful tips” on what you’re doing. Be direct. Contact them. Message them. Let them know that you are happy to have a conversation but that social media is not the place you will interact in that way. Delete their comment if it is in any way uncomfortable for you. If they aren’t willing to have a conversation, then you get to decide what you want to do with people who try to “help” you publicly. I usually cut them off. Choices have consequences, and handling criticism is all about making the choice to have boundaries.
Okay…I can’t write this one without providing a bonus. This one is pivotal. Create a community around you who you trust to give you critical feedback based on your goals, your desires, your values. Surround yourself with people who will support your creative growth. Rely on these people to pick you up when you face harsh criticism. When you have people cheering you on, it’s much easier to dismiss those that don’t.
Even creative people need friends. And having a group of people who support your creative goals will help you get there that much faster.
Things I Wish I had Known Sooner
I honestly didn’t think this article would last very long, as originally, I didn’t think I had that much I wish I had known sooner. As it turns out, as each day passes, more and more falls into that category. Even around pottery. This one is huge.
EVERYTHING CHANGES
When I first started taking pottery, it saved me. Due to the emotions I was feeling around being saved, I wanted to make it my life’s work. Pottery had saved me! I would devote my life to this craft and pay homage at the altar of shards and glazes on a monthly basis, working tirelessly in my studio until the end of my days! Pottery had saved me!
But life did not work out that way. I did not become a potter. My life took me on a circuitous path which would create more opportunities for me to be saved by many different interests and curiosities. I have always held pottery tenderly in my heart as my first savior, but I have moved through my life in a more fluid fashion than I initially expected it would at the age of 15.
What I did learn through years of working with clay is detachment. To outcomes, to expectations, to hopes, dreams, and deep desires. I didn’t realize it at the time, but working with clay taught me over and over that what ends up happening is usually just fine, though it may be counter to what I had pictured or desired.
That alone is a great reason to stick with clay. Maybe not to make it your life’s focus, but to learn to live with the rest of your life as if it is an immensely entertaining set of books about your life.
WEEKLY TIP
Glazing.
When glazing, test out using wax as a resist over other glazes. It is a nice way to do fast but accurate designs while still using the dip or pour technique. You can even scratch through the wax that is painted over your glaze and inlay some other glaze within it, creating yet another layer of glaze with which you can dazzle your friends and family.
I know. Simple but brilliant.
Artist Resources
Every week I scour the internet trying to find resources for artists who might be looking for ways to expand their pottery/clay/art practice.
Residencies
The right residency can be so much more than just an opportunity to enrich your personal practice. Some residencies truly have the power to help launch your career as an artist. Here are a few:
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
Whitney Museum of Art Independent Study Program
National Parks Arts Foundation
The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Grants with rolling deadlines-
Pollock Krasner – Rotating, No deadline – Information here.
Awesome foundation – No deadline – Information here.
One Grant Library for Research Online- Foundation Center.
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants – Information here
CES Artslink U.S. and International Grant Opportunities – Information here
2024 Deadlines –
NYSCA/NYFA Grant – TBA – Information here.
Rome Prize – TBA – Information here.
Adolph and Esther Gottlieb – TBA – Information here.
Guggenheim Grant – Next cycle begins August 2024 – Information here.
Upcoming grant deadlines
Harpo Foundation offers grants to under recognized artists. To submit you must be at least 21 years of age and there is a $15 fee for entry. Grants of up to $10,000 are awarded to multiple artists dependent on yearly budget. In order to receive further information about deadlines for submission, visit the website and sign up for email notifications.
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation supports representational artists emerging artists who demonstrate a commitment to a lifelong career in the arts. Grants are awarded on an ongoing basis in the amounts of $15,000 and $18,000 Canadian. For more information and to apply, visit the foundation website. Deadlines are rolling.