How to start a path toward making pottery a career? Beállítások

[beneathftr]

Hi... so I’m a 25 year old who has been slowly been struggling towards a college degree. Overall I’ve done poorly, largely due to struggles with depression(which I’m now receiving treatment for) but also due to lack passion/drive for what I’ve been studying.

However I think I’ve found something I am passionate about: pottery/wheel ceramics.

I’ve been taking weekly pottery classes at a local art center and it’s all I can think about. I spend all of my spare time reading and watching videos about ceramics. I’m also a lover of quality teas, particularly those from China and Taiwan, so my focus has been on creating Chinese/Taiwanese-inspired teawares. While I’ve been learning fairly quickly, I certainly understand that I have a lot to learn.

While I’m not fully ready to commit yet, I’ve become more and more entranced with the idea of becoming a professional potter. I understand that it will take a lot of work and is generally not the most lucrative profession, but I think I’d be fine with living a simple life if I can have a career that I’m passionate about.

My question is how best to start the path towards making a career out of pottery. Should I take ceramics classes at my local college? (Their only offering are ceramics I and II classes). Should I try to find an apprenticeship? About 45 minutes away there is a clay center that I’ve been to that rents studio space, should I ask around there?

TLDR: I’m a young amateur ceramicist considering trying to make it into a career. Theoretically, how should I go about that?

[fillerjupiter]

If you explore the business part of the site, you will see frequent discussion among people beginning to launch ceramics careers and those who have had successful careers for decades.

I suggest you do some searching there right away, as well as in the Studio section!

To help you get started searching, shawnhar has been at this only about four months. yappystudent has done pottery for several years but is only starting a career at it recently. Look at their threads.

Mark C, on the other hand has been doing this 40 plus years and Marcia Selsor maybe 50 years. Min, GEP, Pres, and Callie have all been professionals for many years and give lots of guidance on the forum that you will have at your finger tips as soon as you start searching.

I noticed you referred to the appeal of a "simple life. " I don't know whether having your own business necessarily is the simplest life. I don't know that needing to market and sell your wares alongside everyone else who is trying to do the same is necessarily simple for everyone. It fits some people's personalities well and some poorly.

Good luck to you.

[ambiguousscourge]

Welcome to the Forums.

There are plenty of people here, with near limitless information, including those, who do make a living selling their work.

So, I suggest you start off, by looking through the Forum topics, as Gabby suggested. You may have questions that have already been asked and answered. Use the search bar on the top right.

If you have a question, that hasn't been asked, ask away. Like I said, there is a lot of experienced, knowledgeable posters here.

You've already started classes, which is great, as being hands on is the best way to learn, and figure out if something is for you or not.

Keep at it, and don't get discouraged. Nobody got good at clay work over night. There will be frustration, there will be failure. But there will also be a lot of excitement, and sense of accomplishment.

[bining]

Whether as a full time, income generating, business or a satisfying low income job or part time avocation, know up front it will be expensive. I took small business classes as I earned my BFA in ceramics and was able to plan out a "how to, and how much" if I were to pursue clay work as a career. I did not go that route and only returned to it a few years ago, establising a home studio after I retired. Knowing the cost projections was very helpful--if I went in blind about the start-up and ongoing expense I would have been sorely disappointed at how long it could take for any investment to begin to pay off.

With issues such as depression, or any health challenge, it is important to factor in the wear and tear, the known cycles, the possible practical limitations, and the obstacles any such condition might pose when trying to ignite enough fire to sustain interest and push through over the long term. It is easy to compare oneself to others who seem to be having an easier time of it and misjudge the reasons as having to do with talent or motivation (i.e. self-blame or lack of encouragement from others) rather than confronting the reality of the fallout from a serious health condition. I had an instructor who chastized me when I disclosed I was having health problems that were affecting my work but that the work was keeping me going. He told me "art isn't therapy" and suggested I should quit. I was almost crushed, but my nature is to scrape it off my shoe and say "Oh yeah, watch me", so I came through OK. Lesson learned, support from people who understand such dynamics is crucial for channeling my passion into a steady state that is at balance with the rest of my life.

 Becoming a professional potter is no different than establishing any other career--requires hard work, time, money, ability to withstand set-backs, and above all the willingness to learn the tools of the trade (the chemistry, the techniques, the history etc.) Take the best, most comprehensive courses/workshops you can find. Also check to see if there is a local or regional Potters Guild where you are and join it.

[Guest_sdghsfgn_*]

I've moved this topic into the Business part of the forum, because I think it might get some more views over here, and I think this could be a really good thread.

 I've had my own battles with depression, and have definitely found being a self employed potter is a lot better for my personal mental health than trying to work for someone else. But that is largely due to the causes behind my particular case of depression. Being self employed in any capacity can be beneficial in terms of having flexible hours, but extremely unforgiving and stressful if you don't have the wherewithal to make, but you need the product to have an income. Add to that the fact that ceramics really does take years to get good enough at to have a *long term* viable business, starting a pottery business is definitely a huge undertaking. Depending on your triggers, it can either be really good for you, or set you back horribly.

My suggestion for a first step is to get good at making pots. This part is going to take a really long time. It's like playing a musical instrument: there is no substitute for practice. Obtaining some good technical education is a must. If you're looking at colleges, do some research into the program to make sure you're going to learn what you want to learn there. Not all of them are created equally, or have the same focus.

[beneathftr]

One thing I would add is that pottery definitely becomes a passion and if you battle depression it might really be a great thing in your life regardless of whether you do it for a living or not. The deeper you get you will realize that there are just a ton of directions to explore and they are all both fun and involved.

[fillerjupiter]

I've never had a problem producing an income from pottery. The first year was mostly learning. Actually, it's one of the easiest businesses I've owned. I don't explore much on the artistic side. Started a full line jewelry business to go with the pottery. I stick to free standing retail, since it's a business model I have done well with in the past.

Not sure how people go about making a purely creative pottery business. I just find pieces that work and produce them over and over. Experiment with color, but stick to 5 to 6 best selling colors. This Christmas season, I will pare down to 2 to 4 colors. Half my sales are November/December.

The economy is BOOMING. I'm seeing 50% plus sales increases this year. I don't expect that to extend to November & December, because my sales were close to cap last year. In most businesses I've owned, you see exponential growth for a few years from tweaking. After that, you set "plan" to about 10% growth. Only way I saw exponential growth was going back to that old product/market paradigm. New products/same customers always seemed to work well for me. This year the jewelry did expand my customer base somewhat by appealing to the more local market. Before, my business was 70% destination. Now it's around 50%.

[ambiguousscourge]

great post above. I am giving up on trying pottery from boxes approach. I know GEP and Mark (and plenty of others here I'm sure) have made it work but I just don't see it for most folks in the areas I've been in (NW, South). It's not just me, it really seems like all the pottery booths I interact with do light sales at all the shows I've done. We sell pots but once you back out expenses its just no where near enough for even a meager living.

Mark said early on he struggled to find the right mix of shows and shops. He made it work but by his own account it took many many years. Average/low-end local shows just don't produce anywhere near the sales you need and high end road shows are so hard to string together and the fees are so high that the risk is huge and you need 9-10 5k+ profit shows to make a living. With $6-700 booth fees and road cost you can be into a show a fifteen hundred/two grand. First 50-60 pots are just to cover being there.

If you're established then its the cost of doing business but on the way up a couple of misses and you're screwed. Its not just the money your out but the time of doing 2 three shows like that. I know the old pros will say patience and it will gradually increase but I just think for the average Joe you are just going to resign yourself to just being a struggling hobbyist with no real chance of success.

 I think a retail location is the better approach.

[Xmodgames]

Nice info xmodgames