Billie Sessions on sat 4 may 96
On May 1st Vince Pitelka wrote:
>Also, I am saddened that most people of my generation went through their
>ceramic education learning little or nothing about tribal and Third World
>ceramics.
I'm saddened that most people of my/our generation went through their
ceramic education with little ceramics history of any sort! This state of
affairs has had a tendency to affect ceramics education at all levels of
schooling. Too often the teachers who had little ceramics history in
college, introduced little ceramics history in their (future) classrooms.
This situation has too often compounded itself with each generation of
teacher/student -- to where now a concerted effort needs to be made to
educate students about the relevancy of ceramics in past and present
worlds.
This situation has most likely effected student work and the continued
existence of ceramics classes in public schools. The continued world wide
importance of ceramics has not been included in classroom instruction as
often as it could have been and therefore students have not been informed
of the connection of ceramics to other global events throughout time; the
importance, function and role of ceramics within cultures; production
conditions which influenced the type of ceramics produced, and the flow and
ebb of form and finish around the world. Student work would perhaps be
richer, with a deeper/broader context if historical pieces had been studied
and/or the roots of contemporary work decoded, discussed, compared and
contrasted.
In effect, "studying ceramics" (while learning process and technique) is
also an advocacy tool for the continued existence of ceramics education.
The largest percentage of students who enroll in ceramics classes (public
school or college) will not go on to ceramic careers -- they will become
the next generation of parents or (community) patrons. These adults would
be more aware of the need for keeping ceramics in schools, because they
would realize the importance and relevance of ceramics in it's historical
context and their daily life.
My guess is, this is like the preacher preaching to the choir, since so
many of you are interested in all aspects of this field. It's just that,
there are ceramics teachers at all educational levels, who teach from an
assignment sheet without introducing much information from the wonderful
world of ceramics.
Thank's Vince for pushing my button -- to get me out of my "lurking" mode.
Billie Sessions
Pennsylvania State University
Dan Wilson on sat 4 may 96
The remedy of course is to bridge this gap with courses designed to explore
the history and development of Ceramics and its relevance to the arts with
emphasis on theory. These courses should be offered concurrently with
introductory Ceramics courses and should be a prerequisite to more advanced
studies in the field.
I offer this unsolicited advice in complete ignorance of current trends in
education.
Greg Van Velsir on sun 5 may 96
Excerpt
>This situation has too often compounded itself with each generation of
>teacher/student -- to where now a concerted effort needs to be made to
>educate students about the relevancy of ceramics in past and present
>worlds.
Absolutely!
>This situation has most likely effected student work and the continued
>existence of ceramics classes in public schools.
I would add - and the existence of ceramics as an accepted art form, at
least in the US.
>In effect, "studying ceramics" (while learning process and technique) is
>also an advocacy tool for the continued existence of ceramics education.
>The largest percentage of students who enroll in ceramics classes (public
>school or college) will not go on to ceramic careers -- they will become
>the next generation of parents or (community) patrons. These adults would
>be more aware of the need for keeping ceramics in schools, because they
>would realize the importance and relevance of ceramics in it's historical
>context and their daily life.
Very well said. How do you teach people the value of culture?
Over the past 25 years I have watched the interest in ceramics
(particularly in Southern California) wane. This was brought home
powerfully to me recently when I asked an 8th grader if he would be
interested in taking a class in ceramics. He responded..... "What's that?"
I have been searching the So Cal area for anything related to ceramics for
the past 18 months and have been astounded by the relative lack of
galleries, museum exhibitions, fairs etc. with a ceramic focus, especially
if you consider the population of this area. As an example.... there isn't
an ACC fair here. As another example.... in the Antelope Valley (70 miles
north of LA with a population about 350k) I can no longer find a single
shop or gallery that displays handmade pottery or any other
"non-production" ceramics. This was not true 25 years ago when the
population was only about 75k. The only hope is education - starting as
early as possible in childrens' lives and continuing throughout their
education. Otherwise, ceramics is dead.
You certainly got me on my soapbox.
Greg Van Velsir
Lancaster, CA
e-mail: vnvelsir@hughes.net
Phone: 1.805.724.1158
art_selsor@vicuna.emcmt.edu on sun 5 may 96
I was fortunate to be able to do all my art history research papers
on Ceramics while I minored in Art History at Phila. College of Art.
I think this has aided my abiltiy to receive two senior Fulbright
Scholars Awards;one for research of cultural origins of traditions
of contemporary Spanish Folk Potters, and the other to teach Ceramic
Art History at the Tashkent Institute of Art in Uzbekistan. I am
finding it increasingly difficult to cover Ceramic Art History with
my beginning classes although I do assign a short research paper.
Marcia Selsor in Montana where I finished casting the soda vapor
kiln and went to a graduation party where it rained, snowed, sleeted,
and got sunny and warm all in one morning!
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