Warning: Complete honesty
ensues. (I tried to find a good smiley face to insert here to indicate that this post isn't as serious as it sounds; however I couldn't find what I was looking for, so imagine a bright, yellow, cute, 70's-style smiley face right, smack dab next to this sentence.)
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If you suddenly became wealthy and didn't have to sell
your jewelry anymore for income, would you still sell it? Would you still
make it? Why?
Before becoming part of
our blog carnival, I intended to answer this question for myself in a separate
blog post at some point in the future; however, the group beat me to the topic
and I guess I must tackle it sooner rather than later!
I broke the question down
into both “short” and “long” answers to help me think through the post. Hope
you don’t mind.
Short answers:
- If you
suddenly became wealthy and didn’t have to sell your jewelry anymore for
income, would you still sell it? Maybe,
but not actively.
- Would I still
make it? Absolutely.
Long answers:
If I suddenly became
wealthy and didn’t have to sell my jewelry anymore for income, I would not actively
pursue selling it.
I’ve thought a lot
about this particular question since I began fabricating jewelry. One book that
helped me really start digging into it is Zen and the Art of Making a Living
(I haven’t yet finished it but--cut me some slack, it’s huge and contains a ton of
introspective questions). Since, for the moment, I must do this for the purpose
of “making a living” and I don’t necessarily *want* to do it for that reason,
the book helped me put a lot in perspective.
I do know that, if given
the opportunity to cease selling actively and concentrate solely on learning
and fabricating, I’d do so in a heartbeat. My preference is to make jewelry
solely for the purposes of learning, appreciation of the art and media, and for
personal enjoyment of the processes. [I guess this is kind of an advance answer to the
last question…]
As a jewelry artist and
metalsmith, an important thing I’ve learned about myself and the way I work is
that I am slow at fabricating: I’m learning as I go along, and I’m a perfectionist--I'm picky, methodical, and contemplative when I work. And, like many other artists, my
inspiration and creativity comes in spurts. As a result, it is difficult for me
to try to keep up with dates, deadlines and the whims of the consumer. That is
actually part of the reason my website hasn’t been updated in such a long time
(and why I keep pushing off the update dates, hehe—if you hadn’t noticed, tax
time is long over and my updates are way overdue).
Sometimes I find it
almost painful to try to design things solely for the purpose of trying to sell
them. But, because the IRS demands otherwise at the moment, I do.
In my ideal situation,
I would make jewelry for the reasons I mentioned above, and then if someone
wanted to buy the resulting projects, fine. On the other hand, sure, every once in a while
it’s kind of cool to fantasize about being the next John Hardy, David Yurman or
Lois Hill. The only thing with that is, it seems like you’d be locked into
always having to design to sell. I have no doubt in my mind that is not what I want to do.
Would I still make
jewelry?
Absolutely. Heck, I’d
probably make more of it. Again—no restrictions, no pressures, no deadlines or
whims to have to cater to. NOW, going back the first part of the question for a
moment, I guess that after I had amassed so many “art for art’s sake” pieces, I
would either have to recycle the stuff I didn’t like, donate it, or—sell it.
Were I to ever get to a
point where, say, I came up with a new, distinctive fabrication process or
style of design a la Steven Kretchmer, I would love to sell my work to
a museum, to galleries, or to people who enjoy the work for the purposes of
education and aesthetic appreciation. But, I have a long way to go before
that’s ever a possibility. It’s something I hope to achieve at some point,
perhaps.
Why would I still make jewelry?
I love fabricating.
Most aspects of fabricating jewelry put me in “the zone”—everything from sawing and filing, to measuring, to setting stones. I love the art, the history, and
the science of most all of it. You wouldn’t believe how Zen granulation and the process of granulating is for
me. This one quote by Hirotoshi Itoh sums up how I feel about fabricating:
Work
always from the heart. Love the hammer, let every blow gently knead the
metal... listen to the metal and do not make it cry. Love the metal and it will
love you back."
-Hirotoshi
Itoh
It’s funny because just
yesterday on NPR, there was a story on about “outsider artists.” Similar
to the whole debate among jewelers about who is a “real” jeweler or not and to
what extent one is (metalsmiths vs. beaders vs. goldsmiths vs. PMC artists,
etc.), there also exists the seemingly ages-old debate about who is an artist
or not. In this story, there are “mainstream artists” and there are “outsider
artists.” The distinguishing feature between the two is that “outsider artists”
make art solely because they MUST, not for the sake of selling it or becoming
famous. Per this piece, mainstream artists do it for the opposite reason.
Because of the way they were described, I felt that I identified strongly with
being an “outsider artist.” [Again though, in case anybody at the IRS is
reading, I am a business and I am indeed out to turn a profit!]
I currently do my “art
for art’s sake” jewelry “offline,” so to speak; and then I
ever-so-slightly-begrudgingly do my “business art” jewelry for the sake of
trying to make money. My plan at the moment is for the “business art” jewelry
to support both itself and the “art for art’s sake” jewelry. In the windfall
scenario I wouldn’t have to worry about the “business art” jewelry side of things at all. I’d
make my “art for art sake jewelry” simply because I feel compelled to do it.
–I'd completely indulge in my own learning desires and creative whims.
At some point, maybe I
will enjoy making jewelry for the purpose of selling it more. I don’t know.
This whole thing has been an evolutionary process for me. I started off with
beading, telling myself that I wasn’t interested in metalwork—and now I can’t
live without metal fabrication.
Needless to say, I’ve
stopped telling myself what I’m *not* interested in. I'm open to all possibilities.
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Other bloggers have
answered this same question as part of our April Blog Carnival. Please visit
their blogs to hear (well, see) their thoughts!
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*If you are a
metalsmith, goldsmith, PMC jewelry artist, etc. with a jewelry-related blog and
think you might be interested in participating in our May blog carnival, please
feel free to contact me or any of our other blog carnival participants and
leave us your name and blog URL.
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Alright, I gave this question a little thought. I hope to become independently wealthy someday too so this has crossed my mind. Yes, I would continue to make jewelry. I would likely make high karat gold and platinum jewelry with fine/rare gemstones, just enjoy working with the finest of materials. And yes, I would likely still sell my work. You mentioned learning from this craft. Well selling has taught me a great deal so far. It has taught me to listen, document and negotiate. It has pushed me out of my comfort zone repeatedly. Though the process can bring many headaches, I think I need and benefit as an artist from some of that pushing. My retailers and customers exhibit different motivations and personalities. How we interact and the feedback I receive from them continues to inform me as a business owner and artist. I use to wish that I could just focus on making and not have to fuss with all that selling involves. I now realize how much value is imparted by that part of the process and I welcome it, headaches and all.
Posted by: carrie | Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 12:47 PM