Martin Rice on mon 20 aug 12
Not too long ago there was a discussion on Clayart about signing our work. =
All sorts of views were presented -- as is usual and good on Clayart -- and=
the discussion was fun to read.
I thought that I'd mention something I just experienced about signing work =
that, in this instance, is from the collector's viewpoint rather than the m=
aker's.
My wife and I spent a fantastic weekend at Leicester, NC where they held th=
eir 7th (I believe) studio tour. There were 24 open studios in the area and=
with the help of a great map, you drove from one to the other, viewed, vis=
ited, and hopefully bought. I was simply blown away by the generally outsta=
nding quality of the work. There were potter's, painters in several media, =
fabric people, jewelry people, and others. The tour lasts 2 days from 10 to=
6 and you really need the two days to visit all the studios and take enoug=
h time to appreciate what you're seeing.
The first stop on the tour was the studio of Sue Grier, whom I'm sure many =
of you know. We didn't know her work and we were just thrilled by it. I was=
struck by the outstanding, truly unusual -- at least in my experience -- o=
riginality and creativity. I just had to have one of her pieces for my coll=
ection and we were lucky enough to find something we loved and could afford=
.
When I got home, I decided to go through my collection carefully and rearra=
nge it where we have it displayed. I like move the art we have around to di=
fferent places in the house fairly frequently so that we can become newly a=
ware of pieces we enjoy so much but that tend to get overlooked after some =
time because we get so used to their being in the same place that we don't =
really see them.
So as I was going through our pottery, I realized that I had from time to t=
ime neglected to put the potters' cards with the pieces and it became obvio=
us that I had forgotten the names of several of the artists whose work I ad=
mire so much.
I decided that I need to identify those pieces without cards and I began lo=
oking for signatures. What I discovered was that a few of the pieces have n=
o signature marks at all. I doubt that I'll ever know who made these and I'=
m sad about that.
Then there are pieces that are "signed" but are still impossible to identif=
y. Some of them have a signatures that are essentially marks rather than na=
mes. For example I have one that has what look like three slashes of varyin=
g length. Who did it? I have two beautiful pieces that are easily identifie=
d as by the same person because of concentric circles scratched into the bo=
ttoms and the same glazing technique. But I have no idea who did them.
Then there are others with marks stamped on the bottoms or on the lower edg=
es. But the marks tell me nothing, I simply can't remember from whom or whe=
re I bought them. I just got a couple of pieces from Mel and I know I won't=
forget they're his but even his stamp, which I think are his initials, is =
so small that if I forgot the pieces were his, I wouldn't be able to deciph=
er the mark. Some pieces have real signatures, but they're so highly person=
alized they just look like squiggles.
Fortunately, some of the potters put, in addition to a perhaps difficult to=
decipher signature, a small but quite clear stamp that is either their nam=
e or the name of their studio, or their website address or some combination=
of these. From that it becomes easy to find them again and to purchase add=
itional items.
Ultimately I guess this problem I'm having is of my own making because I ne=
glected to document the purchases. But certainly more buyers than not, espe=
cially casual buyers, do not take the time to document their purchases and =
with the signatures the way I've described them, they will most likely neve=
r be able to identify the artists should they want to tell others about the=
m or try to find them for an additional acquisition.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, the previous discussion of th=
is topic presented lots of reasons about why you sign or don't sign or the =
different ways you sign, or why you sign some things and not others. But I =
just thought you might want to hear of an experience that speaks directly t=
o this question.
Martin
Signal Mountain, TN
Arnold Howard on tue 21 aug 12
On 8/20/2012 7:22 AM, Martin Rice wrote:
> Fortunately, some of the potters put, in addition to a perhaps
> difficult to decipher signature, a small but quite clear stamp that
> is either their name or the name of their studio, or their website
> address or some combination of these. From that it becomes easy to
> find them again and to purchase additional items.
I agree with Martin. Last week I was on vacation near Durango, Colorado.
My son and daughter-in-law gave my wife and me two nights at the Country
Sunshine Bed & Breakfast as an anniversary gift.
In our room I found a beautiful stoneware cup. It combined bands of
glaze with a band of carved bare clay. I turned the cup over, and the
only signature was a scrawled "E Green."
For repeat sales, be sure people can find you online from your signature.
Sincerely,
Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com
P.S. I highly recommend Country Sunshine. It was as peaceful as a
monastery. Movie trivia: It is 1-1/2 miles from where "the fall will
kill you" scene was shot for the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.=
"
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