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Mudslinger Pottery 2014 Newsletter
Written 01-06-2014
It’s time for my yearly reflection/newsletter.
I’m writing on both my 8th anniversary and the coldest day
in close to 2 decades. The
window thermometer said -18.6 this morning as I woke.
The News stations were bragging that it was -25 or -23 with a
wind-chill of -40 to -60. When
it gets that cold it really doesn’t matter what the number is.
I’m
looking forward to a better 2014, and I’m quite pleased that 2013 is now in
the past. I hope that this
economy finally turns around.
The News Media keeps saying how wonderful Wall Street is doing but rarely
run stories on how difficult it is for the average person that is trying to
make ends meet. I was just
re-reading my 2013 Newsletter and I find myself still feeling many of the
same thoughts.
(So is Mudslinger Pottery
Established? I don’t know. I’m still here, even in this
market. I just bought a new calendar to hang on the wall to scribble
in more names. I look to the New
Year ahead and think to myself, “WHAT THE HELL am I DOING!” Where are
those names going to come from? Who will they be? Where will
they come from? When will that big commission finally come in?
How am I going to be able to keep up with my responsibilities and expenses?
Sometimes I’ll suggest to people that, I’m helping them do something that
they could never do on their own. Well – I guess that, by Faith I’ll
keep going, and He will keep helping me do something that I could never do
on my own. The POTTER, helping the potter, helping people to be a
potter.) I had copied it from the 2013 letter, which I had copied from
the 2011 letter.
The
ordeal that I was dealing with at the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013
was rather disturbing to me and didn’t help 2013 start off very well.
In a nut-shell, an old student that I
hadn’t seen or heard from for nearly 2 years decided to sue me for $200.00
because I wouldn’t give him back $100 for studio time that he had already
taken nearly 2 years before. The
judge was less than honest and fair and would not let me say my peace.
Must have been whatever he had for lunch.
I ended up having to pay $138.00.
Any of you that know me even a little would agree that I am a very
sensitive, deep thinking and caring person.
This ordeal tested my Irish temper and self-control to my wits end.
On a
positive note, according to my year-end records on Quick-Books, In the past
8 years I’ve taken just over 1700 people by the hands and have helped them
create a piece of pottery out of clay.
It is very rewarding to me to be able to teach people time and time
again that they
can create something.
One amazing day happened this past July.
“Grammy S.” brought 3 of her grandchildren in for a GetAway Day in
the Clay. She has been bringing
them here for a couple years now.
Well, I didn’t get the memo.
Two of them had been here before, but her 12 year old grandson had
not. They walked in and he is
missing the lower half of his left arm.
I thought to myself, “well – I’ve never done this before – here we
go.” I am left-handed, so I
thought I would try to make a pot using only my right hand during the
demonstration so that I would know better how to teach him.
Half way through the demonstration he motions to his half arm and
says, “I can use this!” We did.
We made a pot together using his right hand and left arm.
While I was helping the other 2, he was happily content playing on
the wheel. Melted my heart.
She said, “I was going to tell you beforehand, but I knew you could
do it.”
People often ask me if I do many Art-Fairs.
I do only a few Art Fair throughout the year, primarily because they
are too expensive. On average,
Art Fairs cost about $225 just for the booth.
This does not include your time preparing, being there or the gas for
your vehicle. I usually try not
to spend more them $50 or $60 so this limits the Fairs that I can attend.
This
last year I attended the St. Paul Art Crawl again in both the Spring and
Fall; I believe this was our 6th or 7th year.
The Spring Crawl went well, but the Fall Crawl was a disaster.
The Art Crawl administration deleted my on-line application, but took
my application fee. I ended up
in “the bowels of the Tilsner”, a large dark room that few people knew about
or could even see. In 3 days, I
sold 1 pot for $30.
In
April I had a few of my things on display in the Art-Reach St Croix Gallery
in Stillwater and that was a nice experience.
They are some really nice people and they do a great job promoting
Art in the St. Croix Valley.
We
attended the Chateau St. Croix Winery Spring Art Fair in June.
It’s a nice venue but it was over an hour drive and it rained.
Every year we host “Camp Mudslinger” during the 4th of July
Holiday. Relatives often set up
tents in the yard and the BBQ goes 2 or 3 days. We borrow a flat-bed trailer
and decorate it for the parade that goes down the main street of Afton.
We always finish up with fireworks.
This last year they all went off without a hitch.
The year before I scared the crap out of a few people when I threw a
fountain that I thought had already been burned into the fire pit.
That’s when it lit
J
I still need to fix that chair that broke when someone was trying to
escape the fountain flames shooting out of the firepit.
Byron and I have been doing that Washington County Fair now for at least 5
years, I’m losing track. If it
weren’t for all the flyers we hand out every year I’d be a little more
discouraged. After counting the
entrance fee and sitting there for 5 days, I had a $4 profit, not including
food and gas to get there and back.
I think I heard people say at least 500 times or more, “you do
beautiful work, I hope you sell a lot.”
Funny thing is that I find myself saying the same thing to other
Artists when I am at a Fair I’m not showing in.
We
attended the 1st Annual River Falls Bacon Bash in early
September. Being a potter, we
didn’t really have anything to do with bacon but we had fun people watching
and I sold some pottery.
The
last Fair that we do of the Summer is the Selby Ave. Jazz Fest.
It’s on the 2nd Saturday of September and I think it has
been going on for 11 or 12 years.
We have done the last 5 years and both Byron and I just love it.
My goal is to sell enough pottery to eat food from the vendors all
day and people watch. I’m here
to tell ya, aside from the Minnesota State Fair, the Jazz Fest has some of
the best music, food and people watching anywhere.
I
try to have a Holiday sale every year around Thanksgiving but have had
relatively poor attendance results until this last year.
I pushed a little harder this year with emails and Face-Book and
actually did okay. The best
sales results for any one sale all year have to go to my Holiday sale at
Ultimissimo in Hudson WI. Here
is a shout-out and thank you to Rebecca E., the owner of Ultimissimo, a
Salon in Hudson.
http://www.ultimissimo.net/. She
once again so graciously allowed me to display some of my pottery in her
shop during the Holiday season.
If anyone needs to be fussed on, hair, nails, etc., go there.
I’m gunna schedule a pedicure for myself real soon.
Anyway, I’m glad that 2013 is over and I’m hoping and trusting that 2014
will better with less aggravation and more love and somehow be able to pay
all my bills. By the Grace of
God, I finished 2013 with just barely enough to pay all my bills and have a
couple bucks left over.
One
miracle at a time – The Captain.
Captain Mudslinger -
At Your Service
Mudslinger Pottery & Gallery
mudslingerpottery@comcast.net
captain@captainmudslinger.com
Kevin P. O'Hara
3032 St. Croix Trail South
Afton, MN 55001
651-270-3330