Hiro Matsusaki on wed 26 feb 97
The sense organs of a potter plays a key role in the success or failure of
any gas kiln building -- and eventual use of it.
I said eventual. I know a case of an aspiring Japanese potter, a retired
seaman, who inherited a fortune in blind faith in technical wonders in
navigating uncharted waters, and built a woodfire kiln capable of producing
many a master kiln masters. The kiln had a stainless steel firemouth, flue,
cast sections, and the rest of the system -- the best the money could buy. A
wonderful kiln to look at (I personally saw the pictures and talked to a
potter who helped build it). Unfortunately, his sense organs after years of
ocean going life must have been warped. Or, he must have been overwhelmed by
the desire to spend the money in the technical miracle to assure that he
could produce the best pots possible. Alas, even the best equipment failed
to make him a good potter. A wood fire anagama kiln may look like a ship
that does not sink, afloat under tall heavenly ceiling on solid, smooth
cement floor that looked like an ocean, but the abundance of technical
sophistications can sink the owner, for sure, in terms of pots produced.
I have seen some kilns meticulously built by a master builder on hire, which
have been underutilized (an understatement, actually not even fired once).
Quite a few, actually. All sorts of plausible explanations are given why
they could or should not be used. Of the existing kilns on this planet
earth, how many of them have been used to the full potential is unknown.
A good taste in food, supported by genuine taste buds and organic intellect
is the first requisite for building a kiln. Being a studio potter is an
isolated human endeavour, more like that of a writer. A good pot is not
produced by committee decisions, where typically the strongest and loudest
voice prevail. A potter artist must be in top physical and mental form. Not
only to produce good pots, that's taken for granted, but also to build a
kiln. It is the potter who decides why, how and what to build. An engineer
for hire is seldom a good potter. Don't misunderstand me. Some must be
good, but there are not many of them around, statistically speaking.
Commercially available gas kilns (with heavy engineering inputs) relieve the
potter of this hard task -- at a cost -- of both aesthetic burdens and
economic pressures, imposed anew. They invite a penalty in equipment or
maintenance cost and loss of artistry or production flexibility, making the
venture less competitive over a long haul in the market which probably
dictated the initial move to that direction to begin with. They may have to
be available as comparatively cheap and abundant as electric kilns, if they
are to be widely used.
Here, the money or the economics distort the entire picture. We all seem to
be out for the number one spot. Everybody is after making own money, and the
next person, the heck with that one. This is called the syndrome of "I'm the
numero uno". For now, the economies are good. So it can tolerate many of
those. Well, I don't think we can maintain a community or the economy on
that basis. Not for long, anyway. Especially for clayarters, I guess.
Back to the taste buds. Only rarely we encounter color blindness or
insensitivity to smell, although I once read a lengthy article how a former
Canadian prime minister lacked the sense of smell, and was good at changing
the diapers, etc. I should add that evidence points to the fact that this
individual distinguished the color of gold very, very well from the early
days in his life. But, that's another story. The taste blindness abound, in
contrast. Something like one in several. They cannot taste, and hence
appreciate good stuff in food. Anything goes. It's not the quality but the
quantity that counts. Sounds like the switch from electricity to gas. They
like to gobble things up in a hurry. I am talking about a typical scenario
in North America, where cheap food policies invite such deplorable behavior
patterns. I don't know if there is such a thing as cheap energy policy. If
there is, it sure will further distort the picture. After all, food is but
one energy source for humans. Obesity, heart problems and slow blood
circulation or what not inevitably will follow. Don't forget: They
occasionally buy potteries, even if they are used to eat regularly out of the
melamine dishes and plates that are colorful and require almost no
maintenance (not only diswasher safe but children as artists proof), and
those plastic looking dishes do smell.
Many functional pottery items are intimately associated with the human sense
of taste, as with food vessels, and drinking cups or mugs. But there are
those human beings, our fellow citizens, who have survived without proper
endownment in these areas. They will still be potential customers for
pottery. They can dictate what the potters produce. Then again, there are
those who are kind of blind to taste and smell. They may include potters.
Don't you think we have a dilemma here?
To be a studio potter/artist is a lonely existence. The person must be in
top physical condition to perform well. Neglect of proper nutrition does not
help. Good potters I know are gourmets, not gourmands. Good food is
conducive to good body and mind. No deficiencies in the sense organs, taste
and smell included, let alone sight, touch and feel will help us to be good
potters. On top of that, the person must be mentally fit to stand the rigor
involved in a creative life where burn-outs are common. The kiln building is
but one manifestation of such a life. Making pots is a hard lonely task. As
is. The kiln building is more so (if attempted by a potter, and not by an
engineer.)
What do you think and what can we do about it? HM
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