Kelly Savino on sat 20 mar 10
So... if ones influences were all Euro-American potters, but their pots had=
been influenced by an Asian aesthetic... would one be off the hook, having=
never studied Asian work directly?
It's kind of a fuzzy line, isn't it? (Like the "buy American" bumper sticke=
r printed in china, affixed to a car whose parts were all shipped from else=
where to be assembled here.)
It's especially troublesome to worry over cultural identity in a "melting p=
ot" culture... though as my anthro prof once explained it, we are not so mu=
ch a melting pot (where everything becomes one indistinguishable mass) -- r=
ather we're a stew. A potato remains a potato, a carrot remains a carrot, b=
ut we all flavor each other and simmer in a broth of our combined contribut=
ions. Imagine Chinatown and Little Italy in big cities, chunks of stew we s=
tillc an recognize... in Toledo, it's German farmers and Hungarian factory =
workers, a big Lebanese population (remember "Klinger"?) and a rich stew of=
emigrations and seasonings.
I no longer know which of my family traditions and celebrations had Irish o=
r German roots. Then I married an Italian Swede... from whence our holiday =
rituals, our family recipes? Or my son's red hair? (The vikings got around.=
..)
So it is with influence. It's all ours, and none of it. Potters who slavish=
ly copy anything seem stuck, to me, but as I learned from my historically-i=
nspired mfa work, several thousand years of potters leave quite a trail of =
breadcrumbs. Since there is no reinventing the wheel, we might as well look=
at history's most effective wheels and learn something.
As for tea bowls and such: personally, I consider "paying attention to the =
containers for our food and drink" to be an enviable characteristic. Apart =
from the cursory afternoon of filling out bridal registry, my culture-of-or=
igin seems perfectly happy with ugly ware, plastic plates, factory mugs wit=
h ads on them, styro starbucks cups, or food in a box of bag. The notion of=
handing one's guest a teabowl with the loveliest aspect facing outward, im=
plies a presence of mind and attention to detail that makes me sigh.
And I, for one, LOVE to see how other cultures interpret mine. How else can=
you see the parts you take for granted? In college I was bumming around i=
n Paris, and had spent a lot of time with some Tunisian friends. I spoke Fr=
ench and so did they, so when I ran into an American one day and had a chat=
, my friends burst out laughing at how English sounded. After the American =
left, they regaled me with imitations of how we had sounded, imitating our =
speech with a choppy, barking tone. It was an eye opener and I will never f=
orget it!
Remind me in the clayart room to tell about the time I took them to McDonal=
ds.
When we were little kids, we faked German, and Chinese, imitating sounds...=
here's a kind of random link to an Italian performer's attempt to do that =
with English, using meaningless sounds -- but he nails it, in places, postu=
res and mannerisms and all. And the dancing is hypnotic...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/conordaleh/what-english-sounds-like-to-foreigners-a=
nj
OK, off to bed. We had a rare sunny day and Jeff and I took down our half o=
f the neighbor's mulberry tree, which had leaned over our fence to shade my=
(new, bigger) garden site. It was a big project, and ended when my right h=
and was caught between a falling trunk and the spikes of a wooden stockade =
fence. I'm fine, but it looks really gory, and I won't be throwing for a wh=
ile! So unless there's a really good bisque mug out in the studio, my NCECA=
exchange project might be something handbuilt, leftie!
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
http://www.primalpotter.com (website)
http://primalmommy.wordpress.com (blog)
Lee Love on sun 21 mar 10
On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 11:02 PM, Kelly Savino
wrote:
> And I, for one, LOVE to see how other cultures interpret mine.
Our culture is overarching because of our entertainment industry.
Stars from America do advertisements, in Japan about things they never
would here. My first visit back to Japan, I remember seeing ads with
Silverster Stallone selling canned hams. I thought it appropriate,
but not something you'd see in the USA.
Engrish is hilarious too. Just like we like the looks of
Chinese and Japanese writing without understanding the meaning, many
Japanese do the same with English. I recall watching a program,
where a young guy was taking elementary children on a field trip. He
was wearing a shirt that said "F You", except spelled out. Jean once
had to tell a young woman student who wore a similar Tshirt to class,
that this wasn't appropriate. She had no clue. You can see some
examples of Engrish here:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=3D3Den&safe=3D3Doff&rlz=3D3D1B3GGGL_enUS=
229US2=3D
31&q=3D3Dengrish&aql=3D3D&oq=3D3D&gs_rfai=3D3D&um=3D3D1&ie=3D3DUTF-8&sa=3D3=
DN&tab=3D3Dwi
--
Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
Lee Love on sun 21 mar 10
On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 7:25 AM, Lee Love wrote:
> examples of Engrish here:
>
> http://images.google.com/images?hl=3D3Den&safe=3D3Doff&rlz=3D3D1B3GGGL_en=
US229U=3D
S231&q=3D3Dengrish&aql=3D3D&oq=3D3D&gs_rfai=3D3D&um=3D3D1&ie=3D3DUTF-8&sa=
=3D3DN&tab=3D3Dwi
Here is a website dedicated to Engrish:
http://www.engrish.com/
--=3D20
--
Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi
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