Tamsin A. Whitehead on tue 29 oct 96
First, I'd just like to say that I have been really enjoying these
various threads - thanks to all who contribute. I don't consider myself
to be an "intellectual"- it is something of a struggle for me to be able
to concentrate in an analytical fashion on things for any great length of
time, but I think I am reasonably intelligent (I think I am therefore
I must be!) and I find 'most' of the stuff posted on Clayart to be just
thought-provoking enough to be enjoyed before attention deficit sets in!
Decided to take the plunge and add my two cents worth...
On Mon, 28 Oct 1996, Dan Wilson wrote:
Don,
Our reasons for working with clay and other materials may have arisen out
of an unspeakable (undefinable)human need to re-define or re-invent things?
To use someone elses idea (Ican't remember who) "We see things as thay are
and wonder what they might be if...." this is what we all share in common
and this is also what separates us from the ones who see things as they are
and don't wonder.
mayonaise
Walking through the car park yesterday, I noticed one of those "Albert
Einstein said.."car stickers, and Albert Einstein apparently said that
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." I have been thinking
about this, and I wonder if in fact it is that imagination is
the foundation of knowledge? Great moments of discovery, invention,
creativity are all fired by leaps of imagination initially even if they
are later channelled by logic, necessity or practical constraints.
I agree with the idea of a need to re-define and re-invent what is seen,
but I think there is also a need to express what is perceived, or felt,
that is an intrinsic part of creativity. Similar feelings can
result in similar styles of expression which is not necessarily
mannerism.
Don Wilson also wrote..
Technology is now giving us more complete access to the rest of the
world and maybe as a
result, the forms of expression we are seeing are reflecting this diversity
of experience. It seems to me that its going to take some time before we
make something of the information we are acquiring.
......well maybe we're reaching a point in history where
everything that is known to us is everything that is known by others as
well. Making it impossible to create without acquiring/using pre-existent
forms. I think the emphasis on the new is rather a desire on the part of
some to see these forms not endlessly reproduced but synthesized or
unified. Some thing we can sink our collective minds into and call a New
direction or Progress.
mayonaise
The question of form under discussion - are we talking about what has
been created in clay throughout the years, or form to which we are
exposed all the time - not just art, but nature? Or just basic geometric
shape? It is not yet possible to create all natural forms in clay, for
example, but perhaps all forms for a functional teabowl have been covered?
Over the years it has become more and more possible to create different
forms in clay as well as other media, often as a result of new
technology. New media for artistic expression have been
discovered. Exposure to other
cultures has fuelled creative pathways, definitely. But I believe that as
leaps of the imagination continue, in art, science, technology,
communication, new forms may still evolve.
OK-my mind is starting to wonder now!!
Tamsin
Nottingham, NH
USA
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