Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Terri Kern | Episode 1096
Terri Kern received her MFA in 1991. Terri left teaching to open her own studio. Terri has exhibited internationally, been featured in ceramics publications, received awards, artist grants, nominations, started a teaching website, had work on the Great Pottery Throw Down, and is now showing at the Taft Museum of Art.
SPONSORS
You can help support the show!
GRPotteryForms.com
Number 1 brand in America for a reason. Skutt.com
For all your ceramic needs go to Georgies.com
Tools you find indispensable. Mudtools.com
How important is knowing the value of what you do?
It’s very important. I think often as artists we are not taken seriously so it can be very easy to devalue our time and our efforts and knowing how hard you work it is paramount because you have experience, you have knowledge, you have skills and you have to respect that before any body else will respect it.
You said he said you have to do the meet and greet approach. What did that mean?
That’s basically when someone walks into your studio or into your booth you say, Hi, I’m Terri Kern and this is my work. Come one in and look around and let me know if I can answer any questions.
So sitting like a lump on a log in the corner of a booth doesn’t help? (laughter) Is that what you are saying?
Surprise, surprise. I might be reading a book or when I was younger I just didn’t know how to approach people, I felt like maybe that was not appropriate. But he gave me permission to do that. People want to learn.
What happens when someone comes in your booth and grabs a piece to look at?
You walk right up to them and say, Hey, let me tell you a little about that. Either it’s this is how I made it or look at the color palette and check out the bottom of the piece because there is a little painting on the bottom as well.
Sounds like you would have to think through an elevator pitch. Would there be any practice for that then?
Absolutely. Roy told me to practice twenty minutes a day until it felt natural and relaxed when I talked to a complete stranger about why they should want to buy one of my pieces. And I practice faithfully to this day.
You tell them a little about the piece, does that mean when you are standing in your booth can you safely say that you would have a story about each piece?
Absolutely. I have a story about each piece. I title all of my pieces. Making sure to carefully select the words that describe the story that’s painted on the surface of the pieces. That’s very important. It is also important to give someone a reason to be curious about what you have created.
They say you buy from someone you know, like, and trust. How do you get that like part of it with someone you just met?
That’s a great question. I think it’s allowing yourself to be real. Telling a funny story of how you first got the idea in the middle of the night when you were going to the refrigerator to get a snack you had this idea. Everyone can relate to that. Everyone thinks those kinds of things are funny because it’s happened to them as well. So that makes you not necessarily friends but friendly acquaintances.
If you were doing an interview of yourself what do you the think that best last question would be to ask yourself?
That is a great question, Paul. And I guess it would be, After all the failure what makes you get up and go back to your studio and get back to work?
And what is your answer?
The answer is you have to really love ceramics because it is a heart-breaker. It’s fifty percent art and fifty percent science and sometimes the science fails you. You think you know a lot and science goes, Excuse me. (laughter) It’s time for a little reality check and you get a hairline crack after a glaze firing and so you have to love it more than anything so no matter what failures you have you just pick yourself up and you may cry a little bit and have a beer or something and then you get back to work the next day and just move forward.
Book
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Contact
Instagram: @terrikernstudios