Neon-Cat on tue 20 oct 09
Dear Lili,
I still don't believe that we have 90-110% opposite views of clay despite y=
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our latest email post. What I think is at work are misconceptions of me and=
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assumptions about me by you.=3D20
You think you know about me through my postings on clayart -- a "scientist"=
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? Guess again. I admit I know nothing about you in spite of what I have rea=
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d you post the couple of years I've been on list. I can honestly say I don'=
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t even know if you've ever made a pot -- I've never seen evidence. You are =
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interesting and do talk like a potter. More than that I don't know and can'=
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t know as a newcomer.=3D20
And I do get your non-need of academia and science. I spent a lot of years =
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as a steam boiler opeator, electrician, etc. Training was not in a universi=
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ty setting but through unions, apprenticeships, non-academic courses, and h=
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ands-on experience and mentoring. During this period I had my first real br=
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ush with science 'out in the world' since it was important to know some bas=
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ic principles (how-it-works) to think about practical problem solving and t=
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o stay safe. As a woman in my generation and within the influence of my fam=
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ily I was not encouraged to get too involved in math or science. Prior to t=
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he trades and my involvement with commercial real estate before that, I was=
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a classical musician and went to music schools at the university level for=
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training and development of that talent. As well-rounded an education thos=
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e institutions I attended provided, the emphasis within those settings was =
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always on muscial performance.=3D20
Later came science (chemistry). Still later came clay. Science was the last=
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thing on my mind when I decided to explore clay. And it still is each and =
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every time I pick up a lump of clay and begin to work it. My clay work has =
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not been informed by my very brief exploration of our local academic clay s=
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cene. What I do now has been encouraged by a few fellow potters, locally an=
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d distant, and by a couple of artists in other mediums. =3D20
You mentioned "right brain and left brain and all that good stuff" -- I per=
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sonally can't 'buy' this theory, never liked it, never will. To think along=
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these material lines would only be limiting and put one at risk of self-lo=
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botimization within this belief system. If I believed talent or intelligenc=
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e arouse from a material brain, by golly I'd opt for fully functioning righ=
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t AND left sides.=3D20
As I see it, the recent threads on clayart in which I participated had not =
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much to do with science, however interesting to me it might be and however =
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much it seemed to occupy type-written space. My issues and motivation for p=
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osting had to do with 1. trust (of those in our community purporting to lea=
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d, educate, mentor); 2. the possible careless libel of a clay company; 3. t=
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he nature of the group-community called clayart that I am associating with =
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and supporting. =3D20
OK?
If you'd like to call me so that we can chat further, my number is on my we=
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bsite. I hate typing and the time it takes me to cover ground by typing and=
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posting.=3D20
I do like your Chelm stories, I do like the wealth of practical experiences=
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potters share, and I do like the bit of clay science posted about on claya=
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rt. Were it not for clayart I probably would not have gotten into clay scie=
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nce as something of interest to me. Right now, however, it has nothing to d=
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o with that lump of clay I am about to pick up.=3D20
Marian
www.neon-cat.com
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--- On Mon, 10/19/09, lili krakowski wrote:
> From: lili krakowski
> Subject: Cream and Sour Cream for Neon-Cat and Luke
> To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Date: Monday, October 19, 2009, 2:37 PM
> I promised a serious answer.=3DA0 (I
> hear delete keys calling my name!)
>=3D20
> I had written that Marian and I have 100% opposite views of
> clay.=3DA0 Which no doubt is untrue--it may be=3DA0 90% or
> 110%.
>=3D20
> Long-suffering ClayArters have heard me rant for years
> about the "academization of clay".=3DA0 This has nothing to
> do with how I feel about universities, it has everything to
> do with how I feel about learning.
>=3D20
> As McLuhan warned us--and things are getting worse--that
> those who facile with the written word, those who are are
> born glib, have an advantage in our culture. (Word used
> loosely!)=3DA0 It all has to do with right brain and left
> brain and all that good stuff, but the gist is that them
> thar that can learn through reading, and writing,=3DA0 are
> at a distinct advantage that grows every day.=3DA0 Think on
> this.=3DA0 So your nephew--as one of ours did--got a
> perfect score on his SATs.=3DA0 But can=3DA0 the kid
> change a tire? Fix a faucet? Build a house? Weld something?
> Wire something? Garden? Sew? etc. No.
>=3D20
> That part of his brain has been atrophied by contemporary
> "education."
>=3D20
> We moan and groan about art and music classes being dropped
> by schools--but they have no choice, and we are whining in
> the wrong venue.=3DA0 The arts are considered unimportant
> because the brain functions that control artistic expression
> are looked down upon as inferior.=3DA0 I could go on with
> examples for hours, but I will restrain myself.
>=3D20
> What the Arts & Crafts Movement understood so well (as
> did the Romantics) is that the manual crafts and manual
> labor are NOT "beneath" intellectuals...and that
> intellectual activities are NOT "beyond" manual
> laborers....=3DA0 The A & C Movement worked towards a
> merger a blending of the two...It was not very
> successful--but remains an ideal for many of us.
>=3D20
> So let us consider that clay improves with wedging and that
> addition of a mild acid makes the clay "better."=3DA0 These
> are=3DA0 facts any illiterate can observe.=3DA0 There is
> nothing amiss in using the scientific terminology, nor in
> refering us to learned articles.=3DA0 But please let us not
> make these scientific terms, this scholarly discussion --and
> the pot shots that seem to come with them--a standard, or
> something to be cultivated.
>=3D20
> Where we potters meet and communicate all over the world is
> at the clay bin.=3DA0 We pick up clay, we feel it, we work
> it, we fire it--we do not need language,nor literacy.=3DA0
> People in whom that part of the brain is not very good do
> fine.=3DA0 As to those who have advanced advanced degrees.
>=3D20
> I believe intensely in teaching at the simplest
> level.=3DA0 That is what the Chelm story meant to
> illustrate.=3DA0 I am willing to bet that several "newbies"
> read it an remember it, and remember that wedging makes the
> clay particles dance like the peasants in a Teniers or
> Breughel "Kermesse"--long before they will absorb and
> remember the references to scholarly publications.
>=3D20
> Ok?
>=3D20
> Lili Krakowski
> Be of good courage
>
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