The ever Onward march of Studio Pottery. Guardian article.

Eddie Curtis put up a 3 part blog post on FB about his working life and CAL and how hard it is to make a living if both partners are potters. After a decade or more of being a regular at CAL and having the highest sales of the year via that location, he did not get a place for 2018, although his wife did. Needless to say he was hopping mad and is cancelling his membership. Several other big names have also dropped their membership over the years, for various reasons, eg, Phil Rogers, and the discussion was whether CAL alumni should automatically get a place, or whether there should be an automatic rotation, or, as happens now, it’s on ‘merit’, ie, the panel are presented with a set of photos of that potters work and a unanimous vote is required to get selected since pressure for the 90-odd stands is so high.
But there are new fairs setting up like Aberystwyth and York, snd some closing like Art in Action, and as a collector I don’t really want to see the same faces at every fair, so there needs to be a balance.
Tim Lake has said he’s taking a year off. Mark Griffiths is considering selling direct, online, rather than waste money paying for stands and travel and accommodation. Etsy is an excellent resource

Potty wrote:

NaomiM wrote:Etsy is an excellent resource

For "crafts" I agree, but not much on there in terms of "higher end artists/potters" (i.e. cpa level+ potters), in my opinion at least. I can think of 1 maybe 2 good potters that use it from the US, but more as an occasional selling platform than always having items for sale there.

I have 50-odd pages of good potters in my favourites on Etsy; over 1000 potters. Some big names are on there. Mostly from the US but also from the U.K., France, Australia, etc - Sabine Nemet, Steve Booton... yes, some just use it was a fairly static advert but others regularly list new work

I do not believe The ‘golden age’ has passed, but rather that A ‘golden age’ has passed. There will always be golden ages, and with new glazes, and better and more controlled firing, I think we are in one now. There are wonderful ceramics being produced today which potters could only dream of 30 or 50 or 70 or 100... years ago.

Well I dont limit myself to just UK potters, but Matthew Blakely, Lisa Hammond, Peter Beard, stuff coming out of the Oxford Anagama kiln, Yo Thom, Chiui Wu, Mikki Saunby, Steve Booton.... I could go on; they are all at the top of their game and several are training the next generation. but I think maybe the problem is, if you have a mature collection then you get picky. It’s not any lack of good potters but more that one’s own collecting priorities change

philpot wrote:Got Peter Beard and Lotta Lisa Hammond (who notably are not spring chickens!). Matthew Blakeley....now there is an interesting case in point. Got a number of his earlier ice Blue pieces, but his present work leaves me cold.
But where are the giants of the field? The teachers, the masters the individual talents that spark ordinary people?? The Bernard and David Leach, Hans Coper and Lucie Rie, Michael Cardew.... Why have Goldmark have had not one single British Leach/Cardew potter from a younger generation?
             Moreover -as Dan says- people nowadays rent more. Move more often. Have fewer possessions. The younger generation are simply poorer, with less money to spend on nice things.
           

Because most don’t become recognised as giants until after the fact. Both Hammond and Blakely (to take just two examples) are heavily involved in setting up the Clay College in Stoke. g’Give it a couple of decades, when their students are established potters and singing their praises, and they will be recognised as giants in their field.

Money is spent on hobbies. If that hobby is collecting studio pottery then that’s where any spare cash will go. Youngsters think nothing of spending £600 on a phone or a camera, but a pot depends on perminance so they have a place to put it. There’s little point in buying an expensive pot while there are kids running round who can break it - most of the ceramics my parents bought when we were kids were safely tucked away in the back of the wardrobe and under the bed out of our way. Most collectors buying higher end ceramics are older because they have fewer spending commitments once the mortgage is paid off and the kids have left home, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a large and extremely keen pool of younger collectors coming up behind them, cutting their teeth on the cheaper end of the market.