Mudslinger Pottery & Gallery
Escape your world and play with clay.
January 2010 Newsletter
I offer Greetings to all that have somehow been a part of
Mudslinger Pottery in the past. I
hope that you are all in good spirits and are fairing well at the start of
another year. It seems that this
time of year is the best to examine the past, so that one can look forward with
encouragement, excitement and hope in the future.
Mudslinger Pottery just had its’ 4th
birthday.
I’ve been working in the studio full time now for nearly 2
˝ years, finally having freed myself from corporate servitude.
It hasn’t been easy; in fact, I work twice as hard
as I ever did before with one important difference.
I’m happy.
I have discovered, or finally realized, that I
really enjoy helping people discover the creativity and Art that is inside them.
Just the other day, one of my students that has
been taking classes off and on for some time, was explaining her project to
another student.
I was so impressed with her confidence as she spoke
that I had to stop her in the moment so that she could see for herself how much
she had grown and developed as an Artist.
It made me feel good to see how proud she was of
herself.
There’s too many other stories of discovery and healing to
tell right now, but you know who you are!
Interesting 12 months.
It seemed like the whole first quarter, most
everyone was in shock after the collapse of the market and the recent election.
My father-in-law, Byron, mentioned that during the
last depression people would escape their world and go to the movies.
One of my slogans is “Escape your world and play
with clay.”
Well, business was a little slow the first quarter and I’m
sure my wife was glad we had a little room on our credit cards, as we waited for
our tax returns – like most other people.
Mudslinger
isn’t a movie theater, but something better.
My best product all year was the “GetAway Day in
the Clay.”
It brought in 35 to 50% of the business each month and
really helped to keep this little boat afloat.
My regular classes that I sometimes call “Clay
therapy for over stressed professionals” accounted for an average of 35%, and
retail sales came in close to about 26%.
There is a wide variety of people
that come into the studio for GetAways: families, couples, birthday parties, but
usually “ladies day out parties.”
I jokingly say that I can’t handle any more than 8
women at a time.
The GetAways are really a lot of fun.
It seems like the same thing every time, people
will walk into the studio like a “deer in the headlights,” not knowing what to
expect.
Then about halfway through the lesson, they get it and
have a hard time leaving the studio at the end of the party.
People usually bring in a fancy picnic with snack
trays and sometimes a crock-pot full of something, and their favorite beverages
of course.
I’ve noticed that some people really do need at least one
glass of wine before they can slow down and relax enough to play in the clay.
I just try to make a relaxed environment as
possible so that everyone can enjoy themselves, then I do all the work trimming,
glazing and firing.
The nice part is that everyone gets a piece of
pottery that they helped make.
Every time they use their pottery, they can
remember the nice time they had with their friends.
I don’t do a lot of advertising, but
in the last few years I have regularly attended several venues that have worked
well to let people in the area know about Mudslinger Pottery and what we have to
offer.
My schedule in 2010 will probably be similar to last year.
We participate in the St. Paul Art
Crawl in the Spring and Fall, and our location is in the lower level atrium of
Park Square Court on the corner of 6th
and Sibley.
I don’t get as much traffic as some of the other
buildings, but it’s a really nice place to show off my work.
Pat Hanley of the Lowertown Group, a professional
website development company, has been kind enough to offer the space to me and
another artist for several years now.
I don’t know how many people out
there have heard of “Stillwater Summer Tuesdays.”
It is scheduled on 9 Tuesdays throughout the months
of July and August.
We have tried to attend at least half of the
scheduled dates each year.
It’s really a nice thing to do in the middle of the
week on a Summer day.
They have an open market by the bridge from about 5
to 8:30pm with music in the park by the river, followed by a movie after the sun
goes down.
This was our first year doing the
Washington County Fair.
It was a bit draining being there 10 to 11 hours a
day for 5 days, but it was time well spent.
I brought a wheel and demonstrated off and on.
I also had 3 people brave enough to sit down and
let me make a pot with their hands.
I often felt like a broken record every time
another person would walk into my little display booth, repeating my “spiel”
over and over and over again.
That’s part of the game.
This was our 2nd
year doing the Selby Ave. Jazz Fest.
It should be called a BBQ and Jazz Fest.
My goal was to just sell enough pottery to buy lots
of BBQ.
They usually have about a dozen food vendors right next to
each other filling the air with BBQ Ambrosia.
Sittin in the Hood watching interesting people,
listening to hip jazz, and eatin some of the best summer food you can imagine.
Fall was better than I hoped for.
I’ve never been busier. It
seems like usually over 90% of the kiln is filled with work from the classes and
GetAways. I actually exceeded my
goal for the year, and using Quick-Books has really, really helped.
Well the mad rush building up the Holidays is over and I’ve finally found
time to clean off the top of my desk.
I have a canvas on a desktop easel waiting to be painted on and clay
waiting to be turned into little pieces of Art.
A few more words of wisdom from Capt. Mudslinger: Slow down,
observe and enjoy the beauty that is all around us; and of course, “have fun and
love” (enjoy the gift of today and put others first).
Happy Everything,
Capt. Mudslinger
Mudslinger Pottery & Gallery
mudslingerpottery@comcast.net
Kevin P. O'Hara
3032 St. Croix Trail South
Afton, MN 55001
651-270-3330