Marcia Selsor on wed 5 feb 97
Dear Herb,
In response to your historical comment, I felt compelled to respond.
I studied with Bill Daley who studied with Maija Grotell at Cranbrook
way earlier than the hippy -dippy period. Further, Frances Senska
who began the ceramics program in Bozeman with students: Rudy Autio and
Peter Voulkos was in turn also a student of Maija Grotell at Cranbrook.
I also studied with Nick Vergette who began his work in England and is
mentioned in the Studio Pottery book on British Potters. When I studied
with him he was at Southern Illinois University. I do agree with you
regarding the impact of the visit
to the USA by Hamada, Yanagi and Leach (they even visited Montana
and the Bray in 1955). But, Maija Grotell's impact significantly
predates this visit and has left a family tree as well. See the latest
Studio Potter.
Marcia in Montana
When I started
thinking about this, in 1968, the books easily available were by Kenney,
Nelson, and Rhodes. The Potters Book was out there, but I didn t find
it
easily. At that time, I knew of one person working as a
educator/potter/ceramic artist. I was then married to an art teacher
and
feel I would have been at least vaguely aware of others, if lots of them
existed. I think that the seeds of possibility planted in the 50 s and
60 s by pioneers like Leach on his U.S. tours, Mackenzie, Rhodes,
Soldner,
and others by their teaching and working found sufficient fertile soil
in the
back-to-the-land/self-sufficient/hippie-dippy/artsy-crafty/ ain t it
groovy
years in the late 60 s early 70 s. All us boomers were looking for
things to
do and quiet a few tried clay and some of them stayed with it.
--
Marcia Selsor
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/
mjbmls@imt.net
| |
|
