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Cathy Franzi | Episode 1214
Dr Cathy Franzi is a ceramic artist based in Canberra. Cathy’s science background inspires her approach to representing plants and the environment. In 2015 Cathy was awarded a PhD from the Australian National University School of Art & Design, the culmination of four years of intense research into the intersection of ceramic studio practice, botanical science and printmaking.
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Do you see feedback as as being a signal versus a noise?
I guess it’s about knowing who is giving you that feedback. I am interested in what the ceramic field thinks about my work. Whether magazines are interested in putting work or journal articles about my work in a legitimate ceramic magazine, whether I can get into a competition because the judges thinks that my work is interesting enough to be in that show, whether the gallery enjoys having my work, and they also respond by having sales, because private galleries can’t survive without sales as well. It’s if my friends and family say something’s really lovely. Well, that’s really nice, but I know that that’s friends and family. It’s about finding that in the ceramic field, my peers.
What’s the difference between asking the question, Why didn’t it sell versus what sells?
Why didn’t it sell is about that individual piece, maybe having a think of about critiquing that piece yourself, maybe asking others what they think about that piece. Certainly the place that it’s being sold at, ask them what what people think. And then the idea of finding what sells is more about meeting the trends and the styles and the what’s popular, which I’m not so interested in that. I think that’s a fool’s errand, in a way you’re just trying to maybe copy or be interested in, in a popular marketplace. And I think if you want the long term sustainability of your practice, you’re finding your own voice, and that it’s interesting to others long term.
Would it be fair to say that working in a direction and responding to the input of others helps you to still make what you want and also not be selling out, to just chase the dollar? So direction, coupled with feedback is the important thing?
I think so, but there’s so many different ways that people can find their way in ceramics. And there’s so many different pathways. My pathway is one, but there’s people will find other pathways. When I was starting out and I just wanted to make work and sell. It wasn’t necessarily amazing work, but I needed that feedback from others, and I needed to know that I was making something people wanted to buy. Otherwise I couldn’t make a living from this. So there’s different stages that people will go through of how much they need to follow exactly what will sell for the dollar, or what they can do to follow their voice and really go deeply into their work and still get response from your ceramics field. But hopefully that’s in a positive way, or you adjust to find the way that is responsive to others.
So if I hear what you just said, I would say that a healthy relationship with the market is more of a conversation. In other words, you would propose, the market responds, you listen, and then you answer in your own voice. That’s a conversation, not a command, and not obedience. Would you agree with that?
Oh, absolutely. When you talk about the market, I think of the market of my artwork is not just customers paying money for the work. If I apply for a competition, and it is rejected all every time that I put something into different competitions, that is the market telling me, which is in that case, a different judges in a particular show, they’re saying, no, your work is not right for this, or it’s not good enough. I need to go back and think about that, or whether I apply for an arts opportunity and I’m rejected. That’s the market. I’m still trying to think, what do I need to do to respond to that and make work and talk about myself in a way that that gets positive feedback and positive opportunities. So when I think of the my art practice, it’s not just selling work, it’s all those things, competition, journal articles. galleries wanting my work, etc. That’s the market
I think I heard you say, is that the market isn’t just one market, but there are many markets, and so is it important to remember then, for us as makers, that the market is not a monolith?
Absolutely, yes, absolutely. And you can find your place in the ceramics world out there in so many different ways. You might be making commissions for funeral urns for pets, or you might be making tableware for high end restaurants, or you might be making more sculptural work for exhibitions or galleries, or making cake cups to sell at the local market. All these things are perfectly valid, and however you find that way to find your market, go for it.
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Juice by Tim Winton
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Instagram: @cathy_franzi