Pottery in Australia Vol 17 No 1 Autumn 1978

sure. It is th is type of financial burden
which can spell doom to the most virile of
societies as the subscription is unable to be
increased to the extent inflationary trends
demand.
The aims of the Association are to serve
its members, both professional and associate,
by furthering the knowledge and
techniques of ceramics, by the publishing
and distribution of Ceramic Review bimonthly,
by organising workshops both
weekend and longer, by holding monthly
discussion and film nights, by serving as a
sales outlet for professional potters' work,
and as a show-case for new concepts in clay.
To become a member of the CPA it is
necessary for a person firstly to submit coloured
slides of his work; these are considered,
and if more than 50% of the panel,
which comprises the entire l3-man committee,
consider the work appears to be the
required standard, then the potter is requested
to present a selection of his work.
There are four such selection times during
the year and of recent years an a verage of
8-10 new members is the growth rate of the
Association. Remembering the population of
the British Isles is 51 million and the number
of colleges teaching ceramics on a vocational
level is about 20, the increase in
membership is small. There is currently a
re-assessment of standard being carried out
by the committee. In this instance the committee
must carry a two-thirds majority at
all times for the retention or resignation of
the member. Little imagination is needed
to realise the careful and studied assessing
needed by the members of the committee in
this delicate but important situation. However,
for the continued growth and high standard
which the Association demands it is a
necessary procedure. Members are advised of
the time of re-assessing, and if the craftsman
so requests the re-assessing can be held over
for a period for reasons such as ill-health,
teaching commitments, kiln failure, etc.
There is a small percentage of outright
purchases made for resale in the shop. The
choice is left to Stephan and David, and
here pure economics dictate the type of
work purcbased. There is a limited amount
of cash which can be used for stock purchases,
therefore stock·on-hand becomes
those wares which have excellent craftsmanship
and meet the steady requests of the
public. Other work is submitted on a sale
or return basis. Commission sa les are ex~
pected to be turned over by lbe respective
craftsman each month. By implementing
this policy it ensures tbe craftsman reviews
his stock and is very aware as to public response.
Tbere is a 42 t % mark-up on wholesale
prices and this is considered to be a
minimum to COYer the overhead of rent,
wages, paper, postage, telepbone, etc., and
includes tbe iniquitous V A T (value added
tax) taken from the sale price of each
article sold by the CPA. Continentals are
already well aware of pottery and form a
noticeably large proportion of customers at
the shop, and with pride Stephan stated
the standard of British polters is such
that there is now a healthy export trade in
well crafted domestic ware with Germany
and France. Something I enjoyed wben purchasing
a few items was the placing of
tbese within a sturdy brown carry-bag with
the logo of the CPA and its name and
address printed clearly. I felt this was good
sound advertising, and I would personally
prefer to show a message of this nature
rather than the local super-store or the "in"
brand in jeans. I also blessed its sheer convenience.
Each potier has an area of shelving whicb
bears his name; in some cases it is shared
with another craftsman, and likewise if need
be the craftsman or workshop may have
more than one shelf which is an area of
75 x 60 cm slatted shelving. The overall impression
within the shop is of pots, polished
pine, brick, sand and more pots. Pots by tbe
score on the shelves, but the display area
within the centre of the shop has an openness.
Tbe two large street windows lend a
feeling of space and light, especially to the
monthly exhibitions allocated to those members
who indicate a desire for a one-man
show, or joint exhibition. For the very
diminutive pots there is a special glassed
lockable display cabinet. It is a pity such
action is necessary but in this present day it
seems the small must be safeguarded. Often
these small articles are very fragile"" that
special care must be taken in their storage
and handling.
Payment of sales is made the month following
tbe purcbase, by cheque, the potter
being advised as to the date and description
(by number) of the work sold. November
and December have, as one would imagine,
tbe highest sales figures and these two
months tend to carry the shop expenses and
wages bill for tbe very lean months of
January and February. I thougbt, in general,
the price structure was low, and wben
I asked Step ban his opinion of this, his response
was that tbe craftsman's attitude to
his occupation was to keep the price of his
work on a basis whereby every man is able
to purchase.
r am sure there is little needs to be said
for the Ceramic Review bi-montbly publication.
I know it has a large sale within
Australia and is acquired by a growing percentage
of libraries. The articles, the advertising
content from manufacturers of materials
and equipment, along with the private
sales of equipment, workshop space,
and work opportunity columns, are read
avidly by local as well as overseas potters.
The magazine endeavours to present a very
wide coverage by photographs of "today's"
objects, and welcomes the new members by
a short bibliography and photograph of
work and potter. The many and varied subjects
covered in small paperback, and hard
cover, altbougb written in the majority of
zases by members of the CPA, are compiled
privately and personally, and are marketed
only through tbe CPA. This applies
also to the many films now available. Polters
is the title of the new directory, the
fourth, just completed and on sale. It is
56