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offcntrBack when I was getting started, in the early, lean days of Off Center Ceramics, I got a couple of life-saving commissions. I was working for part-time wages at the EMU Craft Center, had just been laid off by Slippery Bank Pottery, and Saturday Market was not making up the deficit. These two jobs, making branded merchandise, were huge for us.
I'd been volunteering at KLCC for several years by then, hosting the Saturday Cafe folk music program. As was common at the time, Radiothon offered a variety of premiums--CDs, tote bags, NPR coffee cups. They also offered a KLCC mug, but it differed from the national version in that it was handmade, by a local artist. Gil Harrison did the first ones, in porcelain with logo brush-painted in cobalt. When I took over, I reversed the color scheme: stoneware with white glaze, logo brushed in wax resist, then dipped in cobalt blue glaze over the bottom half of the mug. I think they were paying $20 each, and ordered a batch every spring and fall for several years. Eventually, they decided to change up again, and got sand-blasted glass mugs from Dave Winship.
The other commission was one big paycheck, with soup as well. The St. Vincent de Paul Society's annual state conference had been planned fro Portland, but the organizing committee there dropped the ball, and Eugene picked it up. One of the locals, a farmer with a strong commitment to food security, pitched the idea of a simple bread-and-soup supper for one the meals. The soup came from West Brothers, at the time best known for their BBQ restaurant, the bread from Metropol bakery. Bread boards and knives at every table came from the thrift store, and the centerpieces were home-grown flowers in mason jars, each tucked into a thrifted shoe. Paul also knew me through my church, where I'd done a bowl sale to benefit their food pantry, so convinced them to commission 200 soup bowls, stamped with the SVdP logo, so each attendee could pick out their bowl and take it home afterward. It was a huge check, late in summer when our income was thinnest (between terms at UO and slack time at Market), and on top of that, they invited us to the supper. Watching people so visibly appreciating my work, picking their bowl and showing it off to their friends, was greatly encouraging at a time when I was questioning whether I really could make a living at this.
I've done a number of other "branded" pottery projects over the years. Two different sets of mugs for the Newman Center, one with the church logo and one for a retreat--"Metanoia"; Environmental Law Conference mugs, stamped with a pic of the earth and dipped in green glaze, Class of '77 beer steins for my high school reunion (my classmate Larry, a home brewer of note, brought the beer). I also did reunion mugs for the Hoedads, a tree planters cooperative with deep roots (you see what I did there) in Eugene political and social culture. I turned a few down as well; the FabTrol corporate mug, featuring a troll in their logo, just looked like way more trouble than it was worth.
Somewhere in there, I began making employee appreciation mugs for the city of Eugene, a job that continues to this day. And of course, I survived the start of the pandemic, when all my retail shows were cancelled, in part because St. Vinnies ordered another 200 bowls, and Great Harvest Bakery decided they wanted custom mugs.
Would I take on another such project? A couple of years ago, I'd have said no. I might pass them on to a younger, hungrier potter. But sometimes they're easy, I already have the stamps or molds. Sometimes they're an interesting challenge. Sometimes, they're just fun.
You never know.
I'd been volunteering at KLCC for several years by then, hosting the Saturday Cafe folk music program. As was common at the time, Radiothon offered a variety of premiums--CDs, tote bags, NPR coffee cups. They also offered a KLCC mug, but it differed from the national version in that it was handmade, by a local artist. Gil Harrison did the first ones, in porcelain with logo brush-painted in cobalt. When I took over, I reversed the color scheme: stoneware with white glaze, logo brushed in wax resist, then dipped in cobalt blue glaze over the bottom half of the mug. I think they were paying $20 each, and ordered a batch every spring and fall for several years. Eventually, they decided to change up again, and got sand-blasted glass mugs from Dave Winship.
The other commission was one big paycheck, with soup as well. The St. Vincent de Paul Society's annual state conference had been planned fro Portland, but the organizing committee there dropped the ball, and Eugene picked it up. One of the locals, a farmer with a strong commitment to food security, pitched the idea of a simple bread-and-soup supper for one the meals. The soup came from West Brothers, at the time best known for their BBQ restaurant, the bread from Metropol bakery. Bread boards and knives at every table came from the thrift store, and the centerpieces were home-grown flowers in mason jars, each tucked into a thrifted shoe. Paul also knew me through my church, where I'd done a bowl sale to benefit their food pantry, so convinced them to commission 200 soup bowls, stamped with the SVdP logo, so each attendee could pick out their bowl and take it home afterward. It was a huge check, late in summer when our income was thinnest (between terms at UO and slack time at Market), and on top of that, they invited us to the supper. Watching people so visibly appreciating my work, picking their bowl and showing it off to their friends, was greatly encouraging at a time when I was questioning whether I really could make a living at this.
I've done a number of other "branded" pottery projects over the years. Two different sets of mugs for the Newman Center, one with the church logo and one for a retreat--"Metanoia"; Environmental Law Conference mugs, stamped with a pic of the earth and dipped in green glaze, Class of '77 beer steins for my high school reunion (my classmate Larry, a home brewer of note, brought the beer). I also did reunion mugs for the Hoedads, a tree planters cooperative with deep roots (you see what I did there) in Eugene political and social culture. I turned a few down as well; the FabTrol corporate mug, featuring a troll in their logo, just looked like way more trouble than it was worth.
Somewhere in there, I began making employee appreciation mugs for the city of Eugene, a job that continues to this day. And of course, I survived the start of the pandemic, when all my retail shows were cancelled, in part because St. Vinnies ordered another 200 bowls, and Great Harvest Bakery decided they wanted custom mugs.
Would I take on another such project? A couple of years ago, I'd have said no. I might pass them on to a younger, hungrier potter. But sometimes they're easy, I already have the stamps or molds. Sometimes they're an interesting challenge. Sometimes, they're just fun.
You never know.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-20 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-04-20 02:44 am (UTC)And I think the hoedads got called in after the timber sale.
Did you notice that the handle on their mug is an actual hoedad? Those buggers took a lot of time to make.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-20 02:48 am (UTC)They're very fine mugs but it's the Hoedads so they would have to be. ;)
no subject
Date: 2021-04-20 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-04-20 02:45 am (UTC)