Joseph Bennion on sat 22 nov 97
Craig, Vince and the rest,
I enjoyed your responses and thank you for them. I'm very glad we
don't all think alike. I also do not think that I am right and you
wrong on this one. I don't think there is a right and wrong for that
matter. How a person makes there pots and disposes of them is her or
his own matter. I am going to dig myself in deeper if I may.
On the wall of my dining/family room hangs one of my platters. It
came out of the salt kiln with a rim crack about 2-3 inches long. I
filled the crack with bondo. It is clear to anyone looking at it that
it is filled. There is not deception intended . I filled it so it
would hold liquids and not trap food particles, not so no one would
see that I had made an imperfect pot. I value that crack. My filling
it in no way denies process but makes the pot useful. I get out the
bondo maybe once or twice a year. It is not a regular part of my post
firing chores. I am not avoiding the problem of why pots crack. I am
reluctant to toss a pot that could be made serviceable with a little
work. I think this attitude is consistent with folk potters in
preindustrial times. Our problem today is that, in general, we take
our cues too much from industrial ceramics, not folk potters.
Perfection seems to be a virtue above that of expression of the potter
or the materials. (Please don't read a personal attack here. I don't
know Craig's work. What I've seen of Vince's I respect.) On thing I
don't get is this apparent ban on post firing additions whether they
are filling cracks or painting surfaces. I missed that chapter in
Pottery 101. Why does all the work have to stop when the kiln cools?
One more thought on honesty, Vince. To paraphrase Picasso: Art is a
lie that leads us to the truth. Happy potting....Joe the Potter
===
Joseph Bennion "stay together
PO Box 186 learn the flowers
Spring City, Utah 84662 go light"
801-462-2708
joe.the.potter@rocketmail.com Gary Snyder
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