I'm going to share another Nancy quote with you from the Arts Business Institute conference I've just returned from.
"Nancy" is Nancy Markoe, owner of Nancy Markoe Gallery http://www.nancymarkoegallery.com/, whose consistently appears in the Niche Top 100 and Top 10 Retailers of Fine American Handcraft. Nancy is also a faculty member of ABI and serves on its board of directors.
But Nancy started out as a potter.
Nancy gave the keynote speech at the ABI-Haywood NC conference last weekend. She brought up many points and thoughts that have kept my little brain busy the last few days, but one especially leaps out at me.
Her heavy-hitting point was the value of doing good work.
She spoke about the discipline of working daily with your medium. No time for distractions, friends, phone calls, she says. Bye bye, ego...hello, clay. You work from a centered space in yourself, because that's what goes into the work.
And there are NO SHORTCUTS.
Why?
Because it takes at least seven years to get control of your medium.
Seven years.
Interestingly, seven years comes up often in history when it comes to learning a craft, mastering a skill or moving on to a new life stage...
It comes from learning the rythms of your medium and learning the rythms of your body. It takes the discipline to move past what comes easily to you, to tackle what comes hard. To challenge yourself and move on to the crucial next step...
Becoming a MASTER of your medium.
And that, in her estimation, takes ten. Long. Years.
Is it true? I don't know. But I certainly respect her opinion. She's seen a lot of fine craft in her career, and though we all have our preferences for style and theme and color, I'm assuming she knows good work when she sees it.
I know if someone tells me they've been working at their craft "all their life", and the work isn't that good, that something is wrong--either their story, or their eye, or their reasons for making work that isn't that great.
I know when someone tells me they've been weaving for a year and they're ready to jury into our state guild, they are only fooling themselves no matter HOW dedicated and talented they think they are.
I know it takes more than just one's good opinion of their work to be successful.
The point here is, despite the importance of getting your name and work out there in the public eye, despite the importance of acquiring good business skills, despite the apparent "luck" some people seem to posess, all of it goes nowhere until....
The work is good. Really, really good.
Work that's "good enough" will get you so far.
But if you want to go the whole distance, make sure it's really, really, really good. In fact, why not make sure it's WONDERFUL?
Nancy feels that good work sells itself, and she may be right. I have another person whose opinion I respect, who would add diplomatically, "It HELPS to have good work." She--and I--feel it's also important to do the other stuff, too--self-promotion, good business skills, being proactive about finding the best way to get your work out into the world.
But all that is so much easier when the work is good.
Is my work "there" yet?
I take the fifth.
But Nancy's words inspire me.
I want to go the distance.
