Don Jones on wed 19 mar 97
Dear group,
I'm sending this out as my .02 before the NCECA stuff begins.
Some instructors I have encountered over the recent years approach clay as
just another medium. Pottery in this view ranks much below sculpture in
importance and is taught somewhat grudgingly. The ceramics department is
not the sculpture department but pottery and ceramics fall under the
heading of craft . As a result students come out of this experience
confused as to how to apply the "craft" of working with clay to pottery or
sculpture. In New Mexico, the business of art and craft is HUGE. but
they are separate. Small sculpture makes its way into craft fairs
statewide and nationally and sells. But larger clay sculpture falls into
the category of painting and sculpture galleries, museum venues and other
stratospherics. Making a living at this is seldom considered. (Sculptors
and painters are largely considered madmen and women either with other
sources of income or wasting away in some warehouse breathing dust and
fumes and hauling portfolios around to crowded galleries.)
Making a living as a craftperson working the craft fairs and
galleries is a viable career choice and should be taught as a serious
direction of study. I feel that clay instructors are reluctant to do this
because of the status of craft instructor vs fine art instructor is
different. Everyone wants to feel as if what they teach in the art
department is just as important as what everyone else teaches. It's funny
that the commercial art dept doesn't have this self-confidence problem.
Museum, gallery, and fair business is show business. Everyone wants to be
a headliner. Famous people attract famous salaries and all the other percs
that come with it.
The pressure on the art student is always the same. Come up with something
original (always impossible) and eye-popping to attract attention. THE
IMPRESSION IS CREATED that the "craft" of making it is not as important
as the idea. A university or college does not want to seem like a
vocational institution in this regard even though they crank out engineers
and such by the truckload. Many schizophrenic pressures exist in the fine
arts area and the student is expected to arrive at some sort of apex at the
end of the senior year or grad program without the slightest hint at how
long this process takes. Professors often give the impression that the
student will end up like them at the end of the schooling process.
In short, a little truth telling will go a long way in the
teaching of clay. Not just in the "how to" but in the" what will come
next"
Sorry this is so rambling but it comes out that way sometimes
Don Jones
Albuquerque
claysky@highfiber.com
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