Tommy The Pottery Guy
Today for Friday Foto Fiesta I am going to do a shameless plug for my son Tommy. Tommy is my second son and third fourth child. I am not sure how old he is. Remember I have six. But he is in his early twenties and has a birthday in September.
Tommy is a self taught artist and naturalist. From the time he could walk he was exploring the bugs and floral and fauna of where ever he was allowed to venture.
He taught himself to sculpt with fimo clay and at a very young age was sculpting things like tree frogs so realistic you expected them to hop any minute. Much to the chagrin of his sisters and mother he taught himself taxidermy and collected road kill to work on.
Once he found a dead bird in the yard. It had been dead for months and was basically a skeleton with feathers. He cleaned it up. He then went to the Internet to figure out how all the parts went back together. He painstakingly mounted the bird skeleton.
In high school he took up pottery. Check out his recent work:
You can click on the picture and see more photos of his work. He does all of this himself. He has a wheel and throws the pots. He does the painting and all of it.
So heeeeere’s the pitch! What do you think of his work? Would you buy it? How would you suggest he go about pursuing this as a possible career?
He wants to be a starving artist.
In addition to the Southwestern Native American motif he has also done some very attractive three dimensional art work on pitchers and other pottery.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I didn’t notice it at first but Matt did right away, Tommy is your FOURTH not third child. So, I want to know, who weren’t you counting, me or Inger-Lis?
Anyway, Tommy’s pots are great, I’m trying to think of who I can give one to for Christmas!
October 10th, 2008 at 7:22 am
I wasn’t counting you. You are abandoning me while Inger-Lis is contemplating moving here.
October 10th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Wow! Your son is undoubtedly very gifted in the arts and should DEFINITELY develop his potential by going to school or whatever is needed to get him on a roll… I just saw the pictures and those pots don’t look like amateur attempts.
My suggestion based on a brother I had who was a very gifted fine artist is that he should develop his gift but also keep his day job till he can make his art pay… I say this from family experience as ultimately my brother had to go into teaching art while he pursued his passion on the side…
And yes his work is definitely marketable-no question about that.
October 10th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I agree with “keeping a day job” until it works out. I have tried a few “only commission jobs” which are a lot like selling your own work. Until you get good at it your wife is pulling her hair out wondering how the next bills will be paid. I definitely think that with a few professional classes Tommy could teach while working on upgrading his personal studio into a professional art shop.
As a side note, there are a lot of “native american artist wanna-bes.” Taking a few classes could help Tommy find a nitch that doesn’t just head down the path of “the same old same old.” If he wants it to be marketable it has to be unique.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I would buy his stuff for sure! It looks great and I love pottery like that. Has he tried Coffee Mugs…? now those are cool
He should come out West to the Arts Festival in Park City….. thats where the money is !
October 10th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Does Tommy know about etsy.com? He should make a store there. The majority of the people don’t make a living from it(like me), but some people definitely do. It all depends on what you do to promote yourself, but it’s a really good way to start selling some things.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Ha! I’m the favorite now!
October 11th, 2008 at 2:06 am
I told Tommy he needs an Etsie store.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Etsy I mean
October 11th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Nice work. I think it would sell if he had a table or booth at an artists market similar to the Saturday Market in Portland.
Here is a link: http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/