djb said:
What exactly are some of what your have learned? What sells? I guess maybe I believe this would be the same as posting pictures of your work on a website for comment. Most comments I have read for such are more like pats on the back rather than true critical evaluations, that may be of use. Just check out woodcentral to see what I mean.
The whole critique thing is very touchy in just about any venue you care to name. Especially here on the internet, people are often loathe to ask for critiques because there are so many experts lurking about with no credentials, no bona fides, to give their comments merit. It is tough to hear from someone you do not know, even if what they are saying has some real value, and if it is purely subjective, it can be even worse.
I get the opportunity to critique other peoples' work on a regular basis, and I avoid it like the plague. A few years ago I was demonstrating for a club out in IN. After I arrived in the state, and only a few hours before the club meeting, I was given a copy of the newsletter with a blurb in it stating that I would be demonstrating. The article went on to say that I would be critiquing the work on the show and tell table!
😱 :mad:
🙁 I never said that, and I would never have agreed to that, and sho' nuff, when I arrived at the meeting, there was about 40 or 50 people there, and about six pieces on the show and tell table. No one wanted to run the risk of being pilloried by an out of towner.
Students will ask me to critique their work, and then promptly defend their choice of shape, finish, etc, as if I had just insulted their mother. On the other hand, I will be called upon on the spot to critique work at club meetings, and sometimes I will be pulled aside by someone truly seeking an answer. It takes a thick skin and a genuine desire to learn to be critiqued and take it well.
Sales of your work is an ideal way to be critiqued. Other turners can say what they will, but if they are not the ones buying your work, take it all with a large grain of salt. It is the buying public who are the ultimate critics. If they like the combination of wood, form, figure, price, etc, they buy the stuff. If not, they don't. The bad news is, you almost never get any feedback, much less honest feedback.
But back to patting on the back. There is nothing wrong with that, and in fact, it is what inspires us to continue. You mentioned Wood Central, and yes, there is a lot of encouragement there, but it is tempered with honest criticism, often gently administered, when people ask for it. There is some truly awful work being produced out there, and it is not always by beginners. One thing that you have to keep in mind is the skill level of the person producing the work when the critique is offered. Criticism needs to be offered with that person's skill level in mind. While their piece may be butt ugly in absolute terms, it may also be the best they are capable of at the time, and that needs to be acknowledged.
Some of the ugliest work I have seen lately is in my own home, and it has my name on the bottom. But at the time, it was the best I could do, and I was very proud of it. Other turners who were much more advanced than I was at the time encouraged me, praising my progress and offering suggestions as to how to keep that progress moving along. While it made me feel good about my work at the time, it was by no means just a pat on the back. To discuss it in its absolute standing compared to accomplished masters at the time would have discouraged me to the point of giving up and going back to flat work only.
There is also a lot of behind the scenes stuff that goes on at WC. Many of us have been in one another's homes, gone to events with one another, and generally known one another for years, even though we are separated by many miles of real estate. We are often much more candid off line with one another, but that is how friends behave in real life too.
Anyway this is getting long and I am tired after a long day of looking at a bunch of pieces that are going to be offered up on the altar of public opinion tomorrow at an art show. I hope the points I am trying to make are well taken, but at least understood. For the most part people do not want to hear that their piece stinks. They want to hear nice things, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Bill
