Sometimes when I make animals, they 'speak to me'. Like this big crow bowl, for instance. This big crow bowl is saying, "If you stay up really late carving something when your arm is already sore, you're going to give yourself tendonitis!" .
Which I did. Ow, my arm! I made a few more things (didn't take pics of everyone) but am not sure if I'll get a firing done before Christmas. I like how these owl cups are turning out though.
Finally this is a piece I'm super excited about, I got the idea to start making wall-hanging doves that I can carve The Serenity Prayer and other helpful things into. Such as the Four Agreements, the words "Let it Be" (from the Beatles' song). Being symbols of peace I think doves are the perfect messengers for helpful messages.
Ironically, as I begun making the doves to carve into I started watching this awesome lecture which ended up referencing the Serenity Prayer.
I love the suggestion in this lecture to make a list of things you are worried about, and figure out which things you can and cannot change. I've realized that the only things I really have the control over changing are my thoughts and actions.
I've been thinking a lot about my last post and want to point out that I'm aware that my craft idea is far from being a complete solution to the problems at hand. I worry that I could come across as flippant or thoughtless, but the truth is, I actually spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve the world and thought up a whole new field of science earlier this year "Human Conservation Biology".
I did write a series of blog posts with other ideas to help Nova Scotia's economy this past January and Feburary - these can be seen by clicking on the months in the side bar of my blog.
Having married a native of Cape Breton I'm well aware that the suggestion of promoting local craft may offer little immediate relief to Nova Scotian families who have to watch their kids move out west for work, while the province fills with 'come from aways' like myself, and squawking about how everyone should buy pottery may actually irritate those who are broke and struggling.
Here is the problem with some of us "Come From Aways (CFAs)":
Just as seniors are flocking to Nova Scotia to retire, so are younger people who maybe had good jobs in Toronto or Vancouver, were able to sell their homes at a huge profit, and move here with a bag of cash. The problem is, even though wealthy CFAs buy buildings and employ tradespeople to fix them up, living off this cash does nothing for increasing the province's revenues aside from when we pay property taxes, property transfer taxes and sales taxes, unless the people doing this can earn enough to be taxed (I'll point out here that there are those that do, and build businesses that have created jobs).
So while it would just be one small part of the solution, increasing the wealth of artisans in this mob through the ideas mentioned in my last post would lead to more income tax revenue. As with the ship building contract awarded to Halifax, when good jobs are created these support spin-off jobs in the service sector. One good example of an artist I can think of who created jobs, wealth, and raised the profile of Canadian sculpture is Joe Fafard. One of Canada's best known sculptors, Fafard moved to a rural town outside of Regina and opened a bronze foundry that employed people.
Better promotion of local arts and crafts outside the province could also be used to attract tourists from areas that have less of an arts scene, but more money for art. This is already being done in various ways, but I think the province could use a "pottery advocate". I hope that someone with a way for words and a love for art, who isn't an artist themselves and has a business background, might come forward and start blogging about all the great pottery and other art and fine craft in this province, with an eye to freelance articles to publications out of the province.
Nova Scotia still needs more good jobs though.
The craft idea in my last post, and another post I wrote identifying myself as a factory, has made me think about other value-added items that could perhaps be manufactured in Nova Scotia. I think what it comes down to, is we're buying all this stuff made in China and not making stuff here anymore.
I'll point out here that many potters work with Lantz clay, a luscious red clay mined from Lantz Nova Scotia. Now how is that for value added products? Potters adding value to our own ground!
In another post I've mentioned an idea for a real Christmas ornament factory that would employ NSCAD students, but what about the potential for value-added wood products, like furniture, and hockey sticks? My husband is a hockey fan and he's pointed out to me that hockey sticks are now made in China and they bust apart easily.
It seems with all the trees around here, and readily available labour, there would be an opportunity to dream up some value-added wood products that would lead to jobs for more than just a handful of artisans. Building supplies, furniture, hockey sticks, I don't know, but there must be some things that can be made, sustainably and affordably, at a scale large enough to create jobs.
I think the key to higher wages for everyone is specialization. The person who is good at making something isn't necessarily the same person who will be good at marketing, promoting and selling those things. The challenge that artisans face is that many take on the challenge of making things from scratch and getting those things to customers themselves. I think, however, everyone has their 'favourite thing to do', and those are the things they'll be most happy and productive doing. For me I like to get my sculptures to the 'greenware' stage, and then I start to drag my feet.
Maybe instead of having just a few craftspeople who make things that are at a high price point that is out of reach for most, making the purchase of cheap imports from China the only choice for many, there is a middle ground to be found here. If we do start to make more stuff, maybe a key to increased efficiency and productivity is to create a system that people can plug in to at the point where they feel like they have the most to offer.
Maybe some of the craftspeople working away in relative isolation making pricey things would have ideas for useful products, that have a large demand, and could design things that could be made in this province at a larger scale and smaller price point and provide "manufacturing" jobs that would benefit more people.
Maybe, for example, I should quit giving myself tendonitis, get over my idea of having my all of my things be hand-sculpted, and pass my ornament sculptures off to someone who likes making molds. Maybe I could take a page out of Joe Fafard's book, create a few jobs, and give that Debbie Travis some real competition. Well I'm probably not likely to be that organized but maybe some other artists are.
Ornaments, hockeysticks, flooring, wooden instruments, whatever someone can think of - we have the labour force ready for jobs, the space, the cheap buildings and land. We even have a College of Art and Design. Perhaps the ideas presented in my last post could be used a stepping stone towards even bigger solutions. There seem to be a lot of "links" lying around, maybe the question is how to link them all together.
To end this post, I started searching youtube for videos of Christmas ornament factories. I'm mainly posting them here to keep track of what I find. First, a couple of interesting videos about Mexico. The first video is more promising than the second! The last video is not about ornaments, but I found it a bit disturbing.
Fun cartoon from 2008:
Last one... so I got strayed off the ornament track, but this is disturbing. California is broke and building a bridge they need in China is supposed to be a good thing? I don't quite get the logic. I think about the ship building contract awarded in Halifax and it makes me wonder what would happen if Prime Minister Harper decided, meh, let's get them built in China...
