That's all Folks

Well its actually been two weeks since I opened my studio and I have been so busy I have not had a chance to stop and think. The day after Open Studios I delivered some pots for a gallery up north - Fifiefofum and on the way back got caught in the most amazing (scary) thunderstorm - traffic was brought to a standstill - on the motorway!! - just by the sheer volume of water dropping out of the sky. We were surrounded by opaque whiteness and nil visibility - quite spooky!! Then this last weekend I went to London to deliver to the Harlequin Gallery in Greenwich - and again a disastrous journey across London which took me 4 hours!! It took me longer to go from North to South London than it had taken for me to get there in the first place. Anyway its done now and I am very much patting myself on the back for delivering the work several weeks early - that HAS to be a first for me.

Back to Open Studios. Of course we were only open one day and that day went well. We had more visitors than last year I think, there was a fairly steady flow - with no room to move at one point in the afternoon. I made some sales but not my fortune!! It was little things that sold, so there may be a moral in there somewhere... I do KNOW that small pieces sell more readily, but I just peversely continue to make large work. If I had more time in the studio I think this would change. As usual comments about the work were good - the ones that were allowed to reach my ears anyway, though also quite a few comments about the difficulty of "placing" my work - it needs its own special niche and also, even more demandingly, needs lots of space AROUND it. Would be so much easier if it would sit nicely on the mantelpiece.

I wasn't sure about my display - I had laid out plinths around the studio, but then felt quite nervous of people and their bags and leaning on the plinths. I'm not sure the backdrop of the busyness of the studio was good - in the past I have disguised it all with hanging cloths - but then people come to see the working space as much as to see the work so that's a compromise to be made I guess. One of my fellow potters at Persistence has a sort of permanent gallery area at the front of her studio which works very well - something for me to work towards I think.

It was also quite alarming when people walked beyond the plinths into the workspace as the intention had been for them to mark a boundary beyond which public were not meant to go - this clearly was not obvious enough. and it can be quite nerve-wracking - pottery is after all quite vulnerable. and there are some hasardous substances lurking behind there..

Which reminds me my Public Liability Insurance needs renewing. I might try the a-n (Artists Newsletter) offer through AIR - have any other potters used that? (Public Liability for potters can be quite hard to find at a decent cost because of using kilns - particularly if you do raku or wood-firing!)

Party tonight for Open Up artists at the Cubana in Sheffield - don't think I'm going to make it - Sunday night not a good night when you've got kids - especially if they are in the middle of revising for exams and quite stressed...Shame as I missed the party last year too.

Well you know, I think that's all from me. I shall post some final photos and start preparing for next time!! Have a good year.

Sarah