Harvey Sadow on fri 7 mar 97
Aren t some of you tired of lugging those enormous chips around on your
shoulders? It makes so much more sense to me to celebrate what we have
in common and look for things to enjoy in each others efforts than to
look for things to discredit and denigrate. I have watched the pendulum
swing both ways, seen the knife cut both ways. Someone bleeds either
way. Is it possible that there are people out there who touch, write
about and think about clay, who do not believe that communication is a
FUNCTION? To encourage the spirit, evoke memory, reflect ideas, even
serve as therapy, these are all potential functions of clay, mostly
pretty delightful. They are no more and no less valid than any other
function, even keeping the food off the table, and getting the liquid to
the lips. Are there people out there who actually have disdain for
domestic ware. Do they eat off the floor or find joy in plastic plates?
How can we help these people?
This discussion and most others like it has a somewhat myopic and
repetitive nature, and results in a them versus us mind set. Press
RESET! It would be good for some of the pontificators to check their
history, and remember to check outside the United States. Frankly, if
we look back quite a few thousand years and slide slowly forward through
the history of art (not just contemporary American), there is so much
clay to be found and admired that it is staggering, and some things are
not so new as they seem. By the way, there are numerous cultures that
put tea bowls on pedestals in museums, right beside the other art. Some
do not even have a word to distinguish art and craft from each other.
When I judge exhibitions I am looking and feeling for the hand and
spirit of the maker, whether in tableware or abstract sculpture.
Period. I do not even want to be attached to my own personal sense of
style and subject in trying to appreciate the work of others. That is
part of growth and development. For a few dozen years I have collected
both coffee mugs, tea bowls, and objects which hold nothing but meaning
and my attention. If you want to admire yourself, hang a mirror on a
nail. If you want windows and doors in your house, you have to make
holes in the walls.
Sincerely,
Harvey Sadow
Fay & Ralph Loewenthal on mon 10 mar 97
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I have to agree with what Harvey has so eloquently put. Here in Southern =
Africa
the black African cultures do not distinguish between art and craft. For my =
part
I feel that the common beer pot has as much going for it as the once in a
lifetime sculpture or whatever. There is still this thing of white supremacy
among the potters' associations in Southern Africa even though I feel that =
there
are far more black potters of worth than there are of the other hues. I know
someone is going to jump on me for that statement, but they are quite =
entitled
to their opinion as I am mine.
We have amazing untapped talent here especially among the rural peoples. =
They
are difficult to reach and likewise it is difficult for them to reach the =
market
place. There is work being done to try and reach all crafters to help them =
to
reach the markets and give a much needed boost to our nation's economy.
I digress, but this shows by accepting all peoples art / craft everybody
benefits. All styles, opinions, methods are relavent to all. As long one can
still learn then one is not dying artistically. May we all live long =
productive
happy artistic crafting lives
Ralph
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