Where in the World is Katlyn Koester's Work?

I am not a world traveler, but my pottery is becoming so! Just this week a friend told me my one of my pieces will be going to Norway and last year I sold some work to a woman who lives in Afghanistan. I believe there was one other piece I know that went overseas and hopefully others that I don't know about.

This is of course in addition to all the places I know my work has gone in the United States. All over Wisconsin, also to Massachusetts, Colorado, Louisiana, Washington, California, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and possibly and quite probably other states. Some people tell me where my work is going, some I know because of mailing addresses when I send something out, but it is always fun learning where my work is going or has gone. I just wish now that I had kept a list or a map.

Do you have some of my work? Or have you sent my work somewhere? Please share! Maybe I'll finally get a map made of "Where in the world is Katlyn Koester's work?"

Dear Customers, Art Shoppers, and Patrons

When you purchase a piece of my pottery you are not buying clay and glaze.

No.

When you buy a piece of my work, or work from any artist or crafts person, you are buying years of experience and learning. You are buying time and effort; passions, creativity, ideas and inspiration. You are buying trials, mistakes, failures, successes and surprises; tears, sweat and sometimes blood. You are buying late nights, early mornings; fatigue, frustrations and stress. When you buy a piece from me, you are buying a piece OF me; a bit of my mind, heart and soul.

So when you put a piece of my pottery back because it is too expensive, or ask me for a deal or discount, or tell your child (grandchild, sister, brother, friend, etc.) to make one for you, please remember EXACTLY what I have put into that piece. And it isn't just clay and glaze.

What am I thinking?

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I must be crazy, it was the first thing I told my friend when I was forming plans. I must be crazy. I want to try hiking some more of the Ice Age Trail. True my first week sucked, horribly, but I want to finish the trail. Even if it takes me years.

I never did share more than a third of the pictures I took because in most of the ones of me I look so miserable. I think now though, I feel comfortable enough with the experience that I would like to share some of those pictures. Including the ones of me crying, or just before I cried, or just after I cried. I cried a lot. And that is why I figure I must be insane. Why would anyone choose to go back out to a task that they know they hated the first time?

I certainly don't know, but here are some more memories of my first week on the Ice Age Trail.

Read more about Days 1-2 here.

Day 1: At the top of the first "pointless" hill. I came down off of it on the same street I went up it.

My first campsite, before it started to storm, you can see my dinner cooking in the table.

Shreds keeping me company during the first wave of storms I survived the first night.

Tired, probably just after I cried my way through the first storm.

Day 2: I woke up relatively happy the next morning.

My "nest" at the rest area on the Gandy Dancer segment. I hung out here for lunch and phone charging.

Hiking 26 miles to the Cafe Wren where I would be sleeping, I was very wet and cold and crying. 

Read more about Days 3-4 here.

Day 3: Hiking through the snow in the pine plantations.

Snow allows you to see who else is using the trail...

At this point I was pretty much hoping I was almost to my campsite. I wasn't.

Day 4: I was limping this day, and I almost went over backwards trying to get over this thing.

One of the many feathers I saw. I think this one is from a Yellow Warbler.

I was in good spirits as I knew I was going to have a bed that night and it didn't matter where I stopped.
The chapter coordinator was going to come get me with his car wherever I was.

Some awesome big white pines in this segment.

These three were the inspiration for my one painting.

 Read more about Days 5-6 here.

Day 5: I was still in good spirits shortly after being dropped off.

Hiking through a swamp quickly put me in a poor state of mind.

This was the last segment I finished. It was here, at this sign I realized I wasn't going to keep going.

The last picture I took of my hike. I was hot, tired, and yes, crying again.

I made it to the end of the Sand Creek Segment and waited for someone to come pick me up. I was disappointed. In myself, the experience, my choices and how I handled the whole thing. SO, do I want to go back to prove to myself that I can do it? Or because I want to make sure I really do dislike this kind of hiking? Or I'm hoping I have a better experience? Read about my initial post hike thoughts here.

Whatever it is, I'm hoping to go sometime in October, (I'm likely to have bad weather again, but it is the only time I have to go), to do another 80 miles in one week, which would be the next two chapters. I also hope to have some company at least for a little bit of my second attempt which will make the miles seem easier. Maybe I'll look into hammock camping, get rid of my tent weight. And I'm only taking peanut butter and jelly, raisins, breakfast bars, some trail mix and hot chocolate. I realize the hot chocolate means I will have to take my stove, but that way if the weather is bad I can have a hot beverage, but not have to think about cooking every night.

A Fresh Perspective

I want to see my work the way others see my work. If I could forget for a day that I make pottery, or have knowledge of making pottery, and what my work looks like, then go to an art show or gallery where my work is on display, how would I react to my work when I don't know it is my work? That's the knowledge I want.

I want to know how customers see my work. I want to know what that is like. I'd also like to be inside their heads. Why does this customer love this piece? What goes through their heads when they walk by my booth at a fair? Is my display pleasing? Does something about me, my work, or my display turn them off from buying? Or make them buy? What is going on in their lives that makes my work not what they need or want right now?

I'd have to lose my memory of everything to see my work with fresh eyes and a new perspective. And I know it could and would be very uncomfortable to be in someone's head when they appraise my work. There is plenty I probably don't want to hear, but maybe I need to know.

And then I'd like to be able to get inside the judges heads. Both the jury to get into a show and the judges who decide which artists get ribbons and awards at the show. Unless you ask them for their notes on your work, you never find out what exactly they think of your work and why they decided the way they did. Of course this becomes very difficult if the judge never actually comes into your booth at a fair so you have no idea the judging has taken place until you walk around and see that awards are hanging in some of the booths. How are you supposed to ask for their notes or suggestions for improvement if you have no idea who to ask? It'd be nice to get something, even just a scrap of paper with a couple sentences as to what they thought and a tip for improvement. A little more work for the judge or the organizers, but if they are already walking around trying to decide who is the best at that show, they should be making notes anyway, right? Only when you win a ribbon do you hear what they like and why you won, and once you've won it is very nice to hear, but it would help more when you didn't win.

You only ever really see two reactions at shows, varying degrees of those two, but I think two is pretty accurate. You see the dismissal or the acceptance. Being dismissed can be simply someone walking by without coming into your booth all the way up to picking up a piece and exclaiming at the price and walking away. Acceptance comes as someone coming in and possibly making positive comments about the work up to a purchase. But you never know the reasoning behind the dismissal, most people don't come right out and tell you what is wrong with your work, and that's probably a good thing for me as I would most likely react poorly. But the positive comments without a purchase are just as hard to accept. I appreciate the comments, I enjoy the conversations, but I don't make a living off those things. So I still don't know why I'm not selling to the customers who love my work.

Maybe some will think I want to be coddled, to have my head patted and told my work is wonderful even though I didn't win. That's not it, that won't help me grow as a person, artist or vendor. I really do wish I could have a view into the thoughts of people at art shows not just the comments they make out loud. I think it would give me a better view of myself and my work.