Da Blues

Well fellow mudslingers I know you have been waiting for my reflections on NCECA. I also know ya can't fly on a plane to Whereever America,  afford to stay in a luxury hotel, drink $8 whiskies and eat at overpriced restaurants. I get it! Most of the educators present are being paid to be there, as well as having expenses covered and the pots they sell are money to top up the wine cellar. I did pay tribute to y'all in my talk and will write about you in my next book entitled "The Unknown Potters". But then you won't be unknown will ya?
If ya want a precis of my talk at NCECA I included two essays in my book "Stuck in the Mud". I kept changing my mind as to what to address. I started with plastics and technology in one essay and moved over to a weak foundation in ceramic education and instant gratification in another. Dunno!
After the talk I heard that I should have addressed Health Care as that is keeping potters poor or searching out jobs bennies. I also heard it was the shrinking middle class that was created by union jobs. To address this I might have been shot by a t party member and there could have been a brawl out there with Republicans and Democrates. I may be handsome but I'm not stupid.
One thing about my return from Whereever America is I am always a bit blue about my work. I come home thinking I should make better work. I get in a slump for awhile but that is not a bad thing. I think it good to be placed on the  pedestal that Robin "Grass" Hopper occupies and then come home to the reality of paying for the butter, the phone, the insurance and life in general. I repeat this time and time again in Stuck in the Mud- if it were easy, everyone would be doing it!!!
Here is a blue drawing for y'all. t
PS: Hey I'm still pimping my new book "Stuck in the Mud". Gotta pay for those $8 whiskies somehow! tony.clennell@gmail.com 

Comments

Dan Finnegan said…
I've likened that feeling to post-partum blues...how is it that after all these years one can still feel inadequate in the face of all the great work in the world?! Museums can do that to.
Unknown said…
Well I just got back from my first ever vacation in Mexico and I'm trying to get over blissville so I can get working on some orders. We were enjoying $10 (bottle) tequila but as I don't have a teaching gig to sustain me it's just me and my wheel so I must get cracking
Anonymous said…
Tony-I know the feeling... We had a quote by Robert Hughes that hung in the shop that said "Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize". Chin up!Our work should bum us out sometimes...it means we're wrestling with it and that's good, right?
Stayed home and worked through nceca...when I read about the panel 'where have all the studio potters gone' i thought...well,we're at home...working...wishing we were sipping $8 whiskies at nceca with Tony
I know you did the unknowns proud.
E

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