For Love or Money

Karen Truesdell, a potter who makes both utilitarian and purely sculptural pieces, says of her "for money" piece in the show, " I work at making head pots because I know they will sell. I do the best I can with each one creatively and innovatively within their tradition, but I'm not striving for deep personal expression. I'm never blocked. I love making them because it is fun and restful work. I love knowing that someone will enjoy using them and adding their own creative statement with plants."

Truesdell finds the process of making art "for love" a different experience entirely. "When I try something new, something deeply personal, it is a struggle to produce and often not that enjoyable," she says. Referring to "Angel" (the piece she is exhibiting "for love"), Truesdell says she would describe it as "being about surviving, triumphing as a woman. My usual round, thrown shapes were torn into and expanded. New glazes were used and rescued by multiple firings and acrylic paints. For me the piece has a touch of nobility - of succeeding through struggle."

Another exhibiting artist, Jeannine Redon, counts herself fortunate on both fronts. "Once I was commissioned to do a seascape," she says. "and was very excited to 'have a real job'. It's wonderful to do something you love and get paid for it!" Redon then adds, however, the "I much prefer doing my pencil drawings. They are my true bliss."

Every artist has their own way of balancing these issues in their mind. Some are utterly paralyzed by the prospect of making art to match someone else's needs. Many other artists, without altering the content of their work, print multiple copies or paint close variants of pieces that have proven popular.

Even the big players are not immune to the need to produce work that's popular with the public. Here in the Bay Area the ballet companies offer many extra performances of the Nutcracker at Christmastime, that being the only ballet that generates enough ticket sales to pull them through the rest of the season.

And some don't even see "For Love or Money" as a problem at all. Garrison Keeler, when asked about writer's block, said that he never got it because he wrote for a living. "After all", he observed, "dentists work for a living, and whoever heard of a dentist getting dentist's block?"

The Main Gallery is located at 1018 Main Street, Redwood City, CA. The gallery is owned and operated by the artists and features original Fine Arts and Crafts. Open 11 to 4 on Wed. to Fri. and 10 to 3 Sat. and Sun. Call 650-701-1018 or visit www.themaingallery.org