Snail Scott on sat 18 jul 09
On Jul 17, 2009, at 10:38 PM, Claycincal@aol.com wrote:
>> (And no icky girrls allowed
>> in the secret clay clubhouse, neither!)
> =3DA0
> Your kidding me right? Women make up a larger percentage than men in=3D20=
=3D
> the American Ceramics field. All I have to do is look around and I=3D20
> will see great women Potters.
I will resist being sidetracked, here, as the
issue of women in ceramics (especially
historically) ought to have its own thread.
My major point wasn't that women were
underrepresented at one time (though they
were), but that 'making feminine work'
was a stigma that both women and men
generally tried to avoid, especially through
60's and 70's when the rapidly expanding
studio ceramics scene established so many
of our current customs and assumptions.
And reduction had the 'macho' stamp of
approval.
Abstract expressionism has a lot to answer
for: the whole macho attitude that pervaded
it lapped over into the new 'expressionist'
approach to ceramics that began in the 50's,
and the rise of studio ceramics in that era
which took that attitude along with it. Electric
kilns were for sissies. Oxidation is perfectly
possible in gas kilns, but there seemed to
be a sense that if you didn't reduce, you
might as well be firing electrically like some
dilettante housewife-hobbyist, god forbid...
We've come a long way, but we still have
traces of our historical legacies, both good
and bad. And that includes the attitude that
'real' ceramics is reduction-fired.
-Snail
Snail Scott on sat 18 jul 09
On Jul 17, 2009, at 11:10 PM, Lee Love wrote:
[re: fear of being seen as a hobbyist, apropos oxidation]
> ... The real Sissys are the folks who are so
> insecure about what they do that they see boogie men in the shadows.
Not all 'bogeymen' are in the shadows. Some of
them run galleries and college programs, and
some of them are ceramics patrons and buyers,
and it is hard to stand up for what you want if it
means starving or even just deferring your goals.
A lot of people, especially back in the 60's and
70's, did the work that would get them accepted:
brown reduction-fired expressionist ceramics.
Some of the folks who tried to do oxidation work
back then got slammed pretty hard for it - no
sales, no galleries, no shows, no grad-school
acceptances. And some of them gave it up.
Not everyone is cut out to be an iconoclast. That
doesn't make them sissies. Pragmatists? Or
just well-socialized? Or sellouts? Doing what
you want isn't a luxury that everyone feels they
have.
It's also not easy to separate what you might
want from what you've been taught, by your
teacher or by your culture. The studio ceramics
world is a lot broader than it used to be, and
big international names now do almost every
imaginable technique from china painting to
wood-fire, from porcelain to ephemeral unfired
dirt-work, from low-fire commercial glazes and
decals to hand-dug raw materials and everything
else. It wasn't that long ago, though, that people
doing anything but brown-clay reduction work
had trouble getting shown, and I won't condemn
a single one of those people for (whether
deliberately or unconsciously) doing the kind
of work that brought ready acceptance.
Every time we look at work and can say "That
was made in the 60's" (or the Renaissance, or
whatever), are we seeing sissies who knuckled
under to social pressure? Or people who were
part of the spirit of their times, making work that
the people around them accepted? None of us
are immune to this - none. To be aware of it
doesn't necessarily make those forces
'bogeymen', either, but awareness may breed
a little appropriate thoughtfulness and even
caution.
-Snail
Lee Love on sun 19 jul 09
On Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 4:20 PM, Snail Scott wro=
te:
>
> Not all 'bogeymen' are in the shadows.
That is precisely why we should make them where they don't exist.
When we cry wolf too often, the villiagers stop coming.
Please folks, please stop scapegoating Hamada and Leach for our gas
kiln reduction. Neither of them fired that way. Hamada's Mashiko
kiln fired in oxidation. My teacher had a special kiln built, so he
could fire reduction in one of the 5 chambers. It has a high arch
compared to the traditional Mashiko Noborigama.
Also, the leading proponent of these two men in the USA fires a
kiln that has mixed atmospheres and uneven temps. It was inspired by
the oil fired climbing kiln in St. Ives. He also fires his green
boro-litium glaze in an electric kiln. *Gasp!*
This week, I am firing right now in Soda. On Thursday, I am
single firing cone 03 terra cotta with terra sig and amber and
alkaline green and possibly majolica, if the tests work out tomorrow.
If not, just terra sig.
--
Lee Love, Minneapolis
"The tea ceremony bowl is the ceramic equivalent of a sonnet: a
small-scale, seemingly constricted form that challenges the artist to
go beyond mere technical virtuosity and find an approach that both
satisfies and transcends the conventions." -- Rob Sliberman
full essay: http://togeika.multiply.com/journal/item/273/
Wyndham Dennison on thu 23 jul 09
>
> Lee Love wrote:
> "I really think gas and oil firing is not like tradtional wood
> firing, is a Western attempt to make the traditional work, but is very
> Western, none-the-less."
>
Lee I have used gas reduction for the "look" I want from my work, not to
"Look" like wood firing or the "Look" from another culture. There are
many that think that a "Shino" glaze is the "Be all ,end all" glaze. I
personally have no love for this glaze. Each has their own reasons for
the work we create and if I can achieve what I am looking for in
oxidation or reduction or electric, those are the tools I'll choose for
the task at hand.
The reality for me, as a clay artist, is to make a living from my work
and produce personally pleasing vessels that also have a ready market
for the general public.
I go back to a statement I made from an earlier post. Any vessel I make
is to be used, not put on a shelf to be admired. I have too many people
that have said that they are afraid to use pottery in their daily life
because they think that it is too pretty to be used, and what they are
really saying is ,"I don't deserve this". This is a part of the self
same mythology that art is only for those special people in our society,
not so
I want people to use my work as it's intended and if it breaks, so what,
it's just clay, I'll make you another.
If some one is hung up on a culture or method or a tradition and want to
emulate that in a facsimile manor, that's them not me. Clay is just a tool.
I'm off my soap box now, Later Wyndham
Eric Hansen on thu 23 jul 09
Rutile OrangeChrome Tin Pink
Turquoise zinc
yellow Seto
red stoneware
Bristol glazes
etc.
?
On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 12:51 AM, Lee Love wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Rikki Gill wrote=
:
>
> > at producing beautiful new mid range glazes. If those glazes were
> available
> > then, I would maybe still be using an electric kiln.
>
> There is lotsa lovely lowfired work too.
>
> The key is, working with the glazes and temps to the best advantage,
> rather than doing some cone 6 "kiss your sister" stuff that is suppose
> to look like cone 10. It really isn't necessary.
>
> Listen to the materials rather than trying to Master them, and
> you will be rewarded for your trust, openness and commitment.
>
> --
> Lee Love, Minneapolis
> "The tea ceremony bowl is the ceramic equivalent of a sonnet: a
> small-scale, seemingly constricted form that challenges the artist to
> go beyond mere technical virtuosity and find an approach that both
> satisfies and transcends the conventions." -- Rob Sliberman
> full essay: http://togeika.multiply.com/journal/item/273/
>
Rikki Gill on thu 23 jul 09
Lee,
I really hate being quoted out of context. I said that I would never stop
reduction firing because I love the process.
I know to you it doesn't matter what I said, but it does to me. You have
jumped in and distorted my messages more than once.
Please stop.
Rikki Gill
rikigil@sbcglobal.net
www.rikkigillceramics.com
>
> On Wed, Jul 22, 2009 at 12:51 AM, Lee Love wrote=
:
>
>> On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 12:58 PM, Rikki Gill
>> wrote:
>>
>> > at producing beautiful new mid range glazes. If those glazes were
>> available
>> > then, I would maybe still be using an electric kiln.
>>
>> There is lotsa lovely lowfired work too.
>>
>> The key is, working with the glazes and temps to the best advantage,
>> rather than doing some cone 6 "kiss your sister" stuff that is suppose
>> to look like cone 10. It really isn't necessary.
>>
>> Listen to the materials rather than trying to Master them, and
>> you will be rewarded for your trust, openness and commitment.
>>
>> --
>> Lee Love, Minneapolis
>> "The tea ceremony bowl is the ceramic equivalent of a sonnet: a
>> small-scale, seemingly constricted form that challenges the artist to
>> go beyond mere technical virtuosity and find an approach that both
>> satisfies and transcends the conventions." -- Rob Sliberman
>> full essay: http://togeika.multiply.com/journal/item/273/
>>
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