As some may have noticed, I published my first diary Saturday morning on Obamaware. Ayumi Horie, a ceramicist, has organized a group of potters to make pieces to raise money for the Obama campaign. The preview was to start Monday, and the online sale to follow a couple of days later. Unfortunately, there has been a problem.
The problem? Everybody wants Obamaware! Too many hits have crashed the site. So, Ayumi is moving it to ebay, and setting it up as an auction. To see the work now, you should go to the Preview. The auction will start Sunday night, 8pm EST though there will be "buy it now" options so people can buy right away if the desire is just too strong. This auction is 3 days only. Michael Kline, another potter who is participating, has an older entry on his blog, which also shows some of the pieces. His blog is entertaining too (but what mud blog is not?)
The person most capable of hawking this show is Ayumi Horie, so her words, as follows:
On October 19th, 27 top ceramic artists will present “Obamaware”, a limited edition group of Obama/Biden-specific ceramics in an effort to raise money in for the Obama campaign. . . . The pots are by turns funny, hopeful, imaginative, witty, inspiring - and practical, including John Byrd’s commemorative Sarah Palin beer steins that celebrate her previous offices (i.e. PTA President) to Diana Fayt’s Victorian-style silhouettes of Obama accompanied by symbolic olive branches. Potters have a long history of putting messages on objects people use every day – this is a literal example of politics around the “kitchen table” that politicians mention so often. We can think of it as optimistic White House china: buy one, and our wish might come true.
Obamaware will now be up for auction on Ebay starting Sunday night, October 19th, at 8 pm EST and will be up for 3 days.
I recommend getting an account early so you'll be ready to bid. Each piece will have a Buy It Now option, which is 200% of the retail price, so first come, first serve. The entire auction, though, will be up for 3 days. The bright spot in all this is that we hope to raise even more money for our favorite candidate this way.
Nothing is up yet on Ebay, the Preview continues on my site (crossing my fingers for no crashes) until it goes live on ebay Sunday night. Since the last time I emailed, I've added almost 30 new pots from Elizabeth Robinson, Kirk Mangus, and Ron Philbeck.
Again, my apologies for slow loading and crashing sites- who knew this would get so huge? The blogosphere has picked up this event with lots of passion and support. Thank you for all your patience and support and good luck bidding!!
Please help spread the word about the rescheduling!
In the meantime, we've moved Sarah Archer's essay titled Kitchen Table Politics: 'Obamaware' Campaigns for Change, One Mug at a Time to a blog format so that everyone can comment and participate in the discussion if they wish. We hope you will!
Half of the proceeds will be donated to the Obama campaign. Many of the artists are making full donations. In almost all cases, the work you see for sale here are the only Obama/Biden pieces they've made and they're all limited editions.
This is your chance to wake up to coffee with Obama every morning. Or see hope at the bottom of your cereal bowl. Or, as I said before, just a place for pie.