Imperfect, a Perfect Experience

I bought a mug at a workshop I went to a couple of weeks ago. I bought it right from the potter at the beginning of the workshop day. Then, in the company of other potters, I watched him work his magic at the potter's wheel through the course of the day.

I learned some things about working with porcelain I didn't know, because my experience is with earthenware and stoneware, and each clay has its own, different working properties. I decided right then to buy some porcelain clay for my studio, and "have a go."

Well, I've been using that mug since then. I'd probably drunk tea out of it over the course of a week and a half before I noticed the faint space between the top left edge of the handle and the body of the mug where it was attached. I happened to be gazing into the complex, micro-crystalline glaze surface, made to sparkle by a shaft of sun on my kitchen table. In the wonderful light, that space-not-quite-a-crack appeared just as if it hadn't been there before. It had been, of course. I just hadn't noticed. It is quite a fine little void of a line.

Tonight, holding the mug of tea warm in my hands, I looked for the not-quite-a-crack and examined it closely. I kind of fell for it. The hand-of-human aspect in the making had become so obvious. The truly handmade imperfectness. It was perfect.

I was in the supermarket this morning. I saw four different styles of mugs on a shelf, for $3.99 apiece. They were all okay. They had no not-quite-cracks on their smooth, unvariegated, glazed bodies. They were...soulless, and... okay. I would not have to experience anything particular holding one of them, except what was in it, soon ingested.

Raised-Leaf Tall Bowl; Only on Sunday group

Chinese Blue-Green is strong enough to stand on its own merit. It pools into carved lines and is thinner on raised areas, making it interesting on this narrow-footed, triangular-profile bowl. Third in the tall bowl series, although shorter than the others, this one is 6" tall, 8" at the mouth and 2.5" at the foot.

It's interesting inside as well as out, because the raised areas on the exterior were formed by carefully and gradually pushing out places in the interior. (It is $45 from my studio, plus shipping, and tax if you're in NJ; e-mail me at mimi@mimistadlerpottery.com to purchase.)

In other news, my website is being worked on and should go back up, fresh and robust with a new look, sometime in the pretty near future. Rena is the graphic designer we needed, and Web-a-Deb and I are back, armed with method and madness to get this sucker rolling.

More on the piggy-toe of a dream from a previous post: I am looking to talk with artisans who are in NJ and can't do the regular weekend shows because they don't "do" Saturdays. I don't have a plan in place, just a few ideas, but would like to talk about forming a traveling group of artisans who would like to put together home and community center shows on Sundays now and then. My reason? Besides the Sabbath thing (no commerce on Friday evening/Saturdays), there is the 50% galleries often take to make it worth their while to show our work. It's not that galleries don't deserve a decent cut- they deserve a profit for showcasing artists' work, and their rents are high per square foot. Besides rent, it takes plenty of work and overhead to keep a gallery going. But it's a difficult line for me to walk to keep prices accessible without radically shortchanging myself, and at the same time adequately compensate the gallery.

So I also need to have some other options in addition to galleries. Maybe you do, too. If you want to talk about perhaps forming a NJ group of artisans looking to show and sell together, (for this moment and so far only in my mind called "Only on Sundays"- not really the name to end up with), e-mail me and put "Only on Sundays" in the subject line. We'll discuss. Remember, talking does not guarantee inclusion, assuming this puppy ever gets off the ground, but I'm game to talk and look at your work. The only promise I am making is that I will be opinionated, and this request is not a guarantee or even offer at this embryonic juncture. Let's just dip a little toe in the water and see what the temperature is.

Maybe something artsy and interesting will begin to come together.