Arch

You are so right - we are plankton in the world of art - maybe even amoebas!
And we are not respected at all!

I get Architectural Digest - just to look at what people are putting on
their shelves and on their kitchen counters as decorative art. I can tell
you that it is a difficult task to find a turning in any issue! If you do
find one, it is obviously a mass produced hunk of non-descript wood that has
no character and no evidence that a man's hand touched it in the making
process!

Also, these art and architectural types put so much emphasis on ceramics and
stoneware and glass - it makes me want to spit! I can see glass having a
place of esteem as it is a difficult thing to work. But pottery - I am
sorry - even if the potter tries to make the piece interesting with their
glazes and other features, they still have a long way to go! Plus the
pieces are heavy, clunky looking and scratch or mar the surface of their
shelves and tables!

And the kitchenware - they have these big honkin ceramic bowls that look
like they weigh 10 pounds! To match the scale of some of the modern kitchens
the bowls have to be large! So why do they not have a beautiful wooden
salad bowl - probably because they can only find the glued-up junk that
Williams Sonoma or Pottery Barn had made from scraps of trash wood in
southeast Asia - that's why!

I think we should be held to a higher level of prominence than potters -
heck their large stuff sells for $55 a piece! If I sold something for $55
it would probably be a nut bowl or ornament (otherwise, my wife would be
very mad at me for wasting my time!). Plus, you can go to Wal-Mart and buy
any old bowl and it will be just as good as any run of the mill potter's
work. Try finding a wooden salad bowl that was cut from a single piece of
wood at Wal-Mart or Target or any other retail store. Very difficult
indeed.

It would be nice to be able to make 100 pieces a year and sell them all for
$1000, or 50 pieces and sell them for $2000 - but I am sure that even the
luminaries in our field have trouble doing that! It would be even nicer to
see us get the respect of the broad base art and architecture community for
the skill we exhibit and for the obviously beautiful work that we do!

I could rant all day on this topic! Thanks Arch!

Ray Sandusky
Brentwood, TN