Personal Criteria Of Acceptance

[moh]

Hi all,

I'm curious what are some of your personal criteria(s) for keeping your new pieces are.

 

Mine looks like this:

1. Polish: Are the bottoms trimmed perfect? No unwanted clay left stuck to the piece? No spotted glaze where I had not intended?

2. Balance: I like thin rims, but does it *work* for the particular piece?

3. Visual Flow: Does the piece flow from bottom to top, top to bottom? Not too much ornament that blocks the flow of the piece?

4. Tactile Feel: How does it FEEL when I carry it? Is it light? Pleasant texture?

 

[Chris Campbell]

For functional wares you have nailed the basics needed to keep a piece.

Well formed, a good fitting glaze, fully fired, properly finished, functions as it should and weighs what one would expect.

 

I create non functional vessels so my approach is different in that it has to be well made, without obvious flaws ... but I also have to like the results ... it has to accomplish the visual goal I set for it.

That said, I have learned over the years that my own judgement is terribly flawed when I judge my own work at first sight. I leave 'iffy' work to sit for a while then come back to it later when I can take a more objective look at it.

Sometimes years pass and I will find an old rejected piece and be surprised at how much I like it ... and the opposite can happen ... I see a old piece I really liked and wonder what the heck I was thinking.

[moh]

Chris, that's exactly the same experience I've been having and the inner space that I wrote the post from.

 

I had a lady come up to me while I was making a bowl (functional, but for me it's all the same, functional pieces I also often see as piece of art), and said "I LOVE it. I'm just drawn to it." while looking at it and feeling it.. without touch, but just feeling.

 

I can relate to what you're saying. I have the same feeling as the lady loving my bowl, but it's quickly followed with "Uh, what is this.." after a few days.

This up and down cycles in a short span happens consistently enough, so I wanted to see what are some personal philosophies other artists have that's useful for working through this.

[Marcia Selsor]

I make a lot of non-functional pieces as well. Form and surface are my criteria what I think of the total composition.

Functional ware has to have the criteria you listed.

Marcia

[Chris Campbell]

I have been making for over 30 years and the see saw doesn't quit. Fortunately, many of us have short attention spans so the ups and downs don't last that long! :-)

 

Personally, I can't judge my work from what others think of it ... never have been able to whether the news is good or bad. I get more from someone remarking on a specific aspect of the whole piece or the design.

[glazenerd]

A perfectly formed crystal:

 

 

Nerd

[Stephen]

Certainly needs to meet that criteria to be top shelf but I've stopped having 'do I like it' to have it be a keeper. Now I won't keep making it but one thing I have learned is that a good pot is a good pot and it is still part of my inventory. Those pots sell as fast or sometimes faster than the ones I love. The most notable place I see it is my misc mug section. This is mostly a collection of mugs that are one offs and what I considered prototypes and came out fine but I hate them for one reason or another (ugly glaze combo, handle experiment that I don't like etc) and eventually the right person comes along and just loves it.  Same with gifts, my sister in-law for instance just loves glaze combos that my partner would try and we hated so they were junk to us and prized pots to her.

[oddartist]

I agree with Stephen. Everything eventually finds its person. I take stuff to some sales that I use simply to fill a shelf, but it amazes me how many people want that weird, misshapen bowl or that mug with the strange glaze combo, especially since I price them so cheaply. I make a couple of dollars to reimburse my materials and someone gets a cool handmade item.