I received a plea via the mail from ceramics monthly to renew my subscription(from over a year ago), 66% off only $24.95 plus a free issue. I thought that maybe this was a good deal since I buy the occasional issue at one of the local book stores for full price. So I sent it off, now I'm wishing I hadn't because I've been looking through some old issues and I remembered how frustrated I'd become with the content(or lack of). My justification was that it was less than the retail of 2 mugs. I find myself pricing things with the mug lately; "sweetie, can I buy that Doug Gates treadle wheel, its only 148 mugs...."
I made a bunch of pots today but I'm lacking the photos. It seems my camera and my activity are never in the same place at the same time. I'll be busy the next couple days so they'll have to sit under plastic keith style. Watch out for an arch this weekend.
Cheers.
9 comments:
I don't think you have to justify your subscription to CM. You are a potter and it's a good reference to have. Everything in there isn't always my taste, but I think it's good to have my taste exposed to other tastes, and often even though I don't like the whole piece, I find I can appreciate some aspect of it that I learn something from. So I think you should just enjoy your magazine-angst free.
I bit the bullet and subscribed to Studio Potter late last year. It's definitely pricey, but I have been so so happy with the issue I've gotten so far. No advertisements, just pure content goodness. Every issue has a theme, with a wide range of viewpoints and information centered around said theme. I highly recommend it.
i love studio potter! its easily my favorite.
CM seems to have jumped more to the funk/sculptural part of the clay spectrum with the new administration. For the first time in a while, the current issue is sitting on my bedside table unread, at least up to now. It appears to me - and i'm trying not to be paranoid about this - that it's getting away from function and going more toward art school MFA types. Which is fine, I guess, if that's what you like. I just re-subscribed, because I'm hopeful and because ads make it a worthwhile place to see what's new in the business, especially when I'm making pots in a relatively remote place. And I'll have to look at Studio Potter again, which I know has lots of supporters.
yeah, i say cm has a lack of content but really its just content that doesn't interest me. potters have the studio potter and to a lesser extent clay times so i suppose its fair that "ceramic artists" have a publication as well. surprisingly i do enjoy many of the ads in cm. how else do you learn that larkin furnace has cheap kiln shelves or that brackers has hovey brushes, etc. i just get annoyed when someone runs the same ad for 2 years, switch it up a little. i think its neat that studio potter is ad-free and subscriber supported but at $18 per issue i'd be ok with some ads to help bring the cost down. definitely worth the money though, i re-read old sp's way more than my old cm's. much more "content" and less fluff.
You think you got problems I saw a very nice Aston Martin Vantage go down my street last week, I said to Marion Wow! look at that, Only 5,000 mugs and it's mine.
Mind you it wouldn't be any use to me now, where would i put the clay?
I stopped my subscription to CM last August. The content last year was really disappointing to me. I got the same plea in the mail yesterday and just tossed it. Our library has it and I can just go there and read it. If there's something I like I can photo copy or go buy one.Not getting magazines this past year has really cut down on the number of piles in my house! All we get now is National Geographic, a Christmas gift from my mom every year.
Funny that you wrote this, when I was just deciding what to do about my expiring subscription. I feel like I ought to subscribe, but more often than not, the old issue is unopened when the new one arrives, because there seems to be so little of interest in them anymore.
Recently getting back into clay, I signed up for CM and Clay Times, mainly for the calendar and ads to use as new resources. My magazines also now sit unopened after a quick thumb through. Good question/dialog you posed -which subscriptions do artists read, keep and why...A couple that I also get, and like, are American Craft (though this too has changed in content) and American Style.
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