Sept. 23 - Dec. 16, 2013 | Manchester, Nh | Open Studio With John Baymore

[Guest JBaymore]

Come "pick my brains" in the ceramics studio on Monday evenings this fall/early winter at New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester, NH. The Open Studio format I've been doing for many years is basically like having a group of people all individually doing "Independent Study" approaches. This community education class is open to non-matriculated undergraduate or graduate students. (This class is not suitable for beginning students.)

Ceramics Open Studio

This course is the perfect opportunity for intermediate to advanced level ceramists to work independently with John Baymore on-hand for guidance. Students will receive personal help on the wheel and in handbuilding, glazing, and firing.

Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Wheelworking or Fundamentals of Handbuilding, their equivalent, or permission of instructor.
 

Limit: 12 MCER004/B

 

Mon, Sept. 23 – Dec. 16   7 – 9:50 pm / 12 Weeks

 

Amherst Building 001
 

Tuition: $264 / Studio Fee: $25

 

New Hampshire Institute of Art

http://www.nhia.edu/community-education-home

[clay lover]

John, were you at the show this summer at Sunapee?  I accidentally found it while visiting.  Wonder if we met?

[Guest JBaymore]

John, were you at the show this summer at Sunapee?  I accidentally found it while visiting.  Wonder if we met?

 

No, I wasn't at Sunapee this year.  Sorry.  I am a "State Level" juried member of the League..... but don't do any "craft fairs" anywhere anymore.  (Plus it seems like I now spend most summers working in Japan  .)

 

I did the annual League Sunapee Fair every summer for many years.  But I have found that the whole concept of the "craft fair" is pretty much a "dead horse".  Even one with the history and "tradition" of the League Sunapee Fair.  It is a great fun event for the people visiting the fair though.

 

For that fair to make any sense at all to do, the Dollar volume has to be HUGE.  It is a 9 day event with two days of setup and one of breakdown.  Add in packing the day before and unpacking the day after... and it is basically two weeks of being a retailer, not a potter.  If you look at the published average booth sales for clay over the last 15 years or so........ from my point of view it doesn't support the time commitment.  Even well above average sales did not make sense to me for my work........so I stopped doing it.  It was the last craft fair I did and I did that well beyond any other fairs.

 

I also found that for years I was seeing the same faces at the Fair.  Not just people who bought from me... but the "faces passing by".  Overall it was not getting many new customers.  At some point.... folks have their collection of my work pretty well fleshed out.  They'll still buy the occasional piece of my stuff.... but not at levels that work well for me. 

 

I find that putting the same time, money, and effort into other marketing approaches for finished work yields better results.

 

I do miss the "gathering of the clan" aspect of that Fair a lot though...... it is a fun place to be ............ but I can't afford to indulge that luxury.

 

best,

 

........................john

[clay lover]

I do under stand the drawbacks.  I wondered about the week day sales potential, most shows I do are only 3 day, weekend.  We enjoyed it as spectators.  Yes, people do get a collection of one's work and then visit instead of buying.  I have that at some shows.

The thing that stood out in my mine was the quality of the ^6  oxidation work.  In my southern highlands area, the serious, skilled, long time potters tend to be gas or wood fired, and have a dismissive attitude about electric firing.  A large majority of ^6 potters around me are hobbyists, or "ash tray makers'.

I talked with several ^6 people who were using many of the same recipes that I use from M^6G, I could recognize them, but the depth and color quality were superior.  I came home determined to figure out what they were doing that I am not.  Same firing schedule, same recipes, dipping, not spraying, so I really benefitted from that trip.  Complacency does not sit well with me.

[Guest JBaymore]

The League jurying process for "State Level" is strong.... that is a first requirement for being in the fair...... then there is a second Fair Jury the first time you apply to sell there also......... so yes... the quality of work at that fair is great in general.

 

A lot of the pottery community (and NH's population) is from the "souther tier" of NH..... the Manchster, Concord, Nashua area..... and electric kiln installations are far easier to put in than gas kilns in the more urban / subruban areas.  A lot of folks you likely saw have taken ceramics classes or workshops at NHIA whether as degree students or as CE students.  NHIA is in Manchester...... and Manchester is sort of right in the center of the population area.  Yes, there are a lot of excellent ^6 electric firing potters here.  But there are quite a few gas firing folks in the state also.

 

Interestingly for a state that is SO forested and rather rural...... the woodfiring community here is very small.  I have the largest wood kiln in the state and I am pretty sure I am the person doing woodfiring for the longest continuous time in the state (broke ground on the noborigama here in 1980).  There are only about 5 or 6 other wood kiln owners in the whole state ...... as far as I know.  We are planning at NHIA right now to put in an anagama next summer at our second campus out in the more rural Sharon, NH (where the grad school program is centered).

 

Salt firing got killed in NH due to problems with the EPA a long while back.  One particular pottery (a large production place) got into a kerfluffle with the environmental folks and thought they could just ignore them about their emissions...... wrong.  Created a salt kiln "witch hunt" for a while.  AFAIK, there are two salt firing potters still firing in NH now.  We do have a soda kiln at NHIA.

 

best,

 

.................john

[clay lover]

A good bit of salt firing in the Spruce Pines, NC area.

I missed this the first time through.  You said....., "the published average booth sales for clay over the past 15 years",  I was really interested in what a fair like that would produce for the better sellers.   Always planning my next step....

[Biglou13]

I wish I could do the class.....

The 18 hour drive would be a rough commute.

 

Do keep us posted if you any seminars.

 

Please