Looking for a few good mentors

[Logan]

<br id="yiv203685359yui_3_2_0_17_1326230316308146"><br class="yui-cursor">Hi Everyone,

 

The Potters Council is looking for some help with the new mentoring program. As you can imagine there are a lot of folks looking for mentors & no where near enough mentors to go around. I couldn't think of a better place to look for people willing to help. Some folks are looking for help with :

Skills & Technique

Business sales 101 (how to begin)

Business plans

Marketing plans

Critiquing work

How to Publish

Photographing work

Book recommendations

Website review

Specific firing techniques

Glaze help

Just to name a few things. This is no different than what we do every day. These folks just need some one on one time by phone or

e mail or if you are geographically close enough even in person if both parties want that. You don't have to be a teacher at a school with a hand full of degrees. ( not that any of these folks would be turned away from the program) All you have to do is be willing to share what you've already learned with people that don't know what you know . If you can't answer a mentee's question maybe you can guide them in the right direction so they can find an answer themselves. You never can tell, the person you help may be able to help you solve a problem you've been having with something or inspire you in a direction you hadn't considered.

 

Please don't let the word mentor scare you away. I "shared what little I knew" with a wonderful gal who posted to Clayart by answering some questions & it turned out she was a clay newbie that was just hired for an art teaching position in a school & had inherited a ceramics program included in the art classes. It would take me days to express how good I felt knowing I was helping her keep both her & her class safe , fun and cost effective for the small school she was teaching at. At the time neither of us thought of what we were doing as mentoring. I was "just sharing" what I had learned with a friend & helping her keep things safe for her & the kids. Not to mention through her I helped teach & influence the next generation of clay artists . I can honestly say there is no better reward or compensation than knowing I've actually done something (& will continue to do) for the future of the medium that I love & that's given me so much .

 

Check out the Potters Council website . Here's the link to the mentoring page:

 

http://ceramicartsdaily.org/potters-council-members/potters-council-mentoring-program/

 

Hope to see you in Seattle !

Logan

[Carolyn Dorr]

What an amazing community... We have had three new mentors step up in the past two days... We are processing the applications and making matches... We still have over 2O mentees who need a mentor... We have made over 25 matches... I hope more of you can help other artists...