mel jacobson on fri 28 mar 08
for kelly:
you are alone.
the bitter truth.
you will always be alone.
your teachers and mentors do not come with you.
when you are in your studio...you are alone.
when you make the big decisions, you are alone.
no teacher i have ever had has shown up in my
classroom to help me. when you leave the school,
with that degree....they stay there.
in many cases, you will never hear from them again.
you are on your own. you are alone.
garth will never stop at your house or studio and say.
`no no, not that way, here, let me show you.`
you are alone.
the first day i walked into that high school class at ely
high school,on the canadian border with minnesota...
.i was alone with 24 kids. five times a day.
i had to come up with a plan to help them learn.
i did that.
it was based on teaching them how to do things.
give them skill and knowledge of materials. show them,
give them skill, give them knowledge of clay. i did that
for my entire life. i taught them to draw, build and make
things. i did it with them...i made my pots and paintings
in the room with them. they would walk around with one
of my greenware teapots...set it at their wheel. a model.
hell, they could not copy me. and, who cared if they did.
it was learning.
then, armed with that skill, their minds took over.
but, they always had a starting point.
now many try to train the mind, give ideas, important
concepts...but the kids have no skill. they don't know
what to do.
they are starving to death.
for skill. many want to stop talking about art, and do it.
there will never be any harm in teaching people how to
make pots, how to fire a kiln, how to make a glaze, how to
work hard and make lots of stuff. never any harm in showing them
how to build clay by hand. how to succeed.
then let them take over. then they will be alone.
warren mackenzie does not come to my studio and say...
`no no mel...not like that`. he may think it...but he does not
say it. it is not his place. he showed us how to throw, fire a kiln.
make a glaze..years back. now it is up to me...alone.
mel
from minnetonka:
website http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart site:
http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
Vince Pitelka on fri 28 mar 08
Mel wrote:
"for kelly:
you are alone.
the bitter truth.
you will always be alone.
your teachers and mentors do not come with you.
when you are in your studio...you are alone.
when you make the big decisions, you are alone."
Whoa Mel, stop it. You're scaring me. I think you are probably just making
a point, because of course I will always be there, and you will be there,
and so many other people Kelly knows through Clayart and elsewhere will
always be there to help her if she needs it. Those of us in academia who
are in this business for all the right reasons and who know and respect each
other stick together, and we go out on a limb for each other. That's the
way it works. We are always there to help. No one in academia is ever
alone unless they have alienated all of their colleagues and peers, which
does happen, but not to you or me or Kelly.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
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