Carol Casey on fri 9 apr 10
Hi, Wes, et al.,
Thanks for these links and the story. I suppose the Web site took the place
of this CD-ROM? That's too bad; sometimes it's nice to be able to spend tim=
e
with the work in the concentrated way that a CD-ROM or DVD make possible.
And thanks, too, for the question. I'm not sure how I feel about potters as
see-ers or seers, but perhaps seers are sprinkled among us everywhere . . .
But I did run across this quote while thinking of your question and thought
it might be germane to the potters art:
"Do you know that even when you look at a tree . . . the naming of the tree
. . . has so conditioned your mind that the word comes between you and
actually seeing the tree? To enter in contact with the tree you have to put
your hand on it and the word will not help you touch it."
--Krishnamurti
Carol
Canary Court
On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 8:04 PM, Wes Rolley wrote:
> clayart_friends10@comcast.net wrote:
>
>>
>> Wes, where can I find the whole story?
>>
>> I worked on a project to make a CD-ROM that included Lange's work. It
> was never completed, but I learned a lot. There is a lot written about
> Lange, but the book I cited, Dorothea Lange: a Life Beyond Limits
> appears to be the best in explaining how her life influenced her work,
> stricken by polio when young, growing up in an urban milieu but
> photographing so much rural life, married twice (an artist and a UC
> Berkeley Professor), etc. .
>
> You can get a feel for more of her work just by going to wikipedia. or
> to this site at the Library of Congress.
> http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html But that is rather a
> catalog and you have to browse to find the gems.
>
> Lange was one of a group of outstanding photographers who worked for the
> Farm Security Administration during the Depression. The list included
> Ban Shahn, Walker Evans, Russel Lee, John Vachon, Carl Mydans, Arthur
> Rothstein. They are all considered documentary photographers (though
> Ben Shahn is better known as a painter) and each had a slightly
> different approach to the task.
>
> While she had a photo studio in San Francisco, she was often drawn out
> on the street to take the pictures that she really wanted to make. From
> this came the iconic depression photo called White Angel Bread Line.
>
> http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/enthusiast/acquisitions/2004-2005/L=
ange_text_e.jsp
>
> Later she closed her portrait studio and landed the job with the
> government. Lange was so much on the road that she might come back from
> a trip, deliver her film to friend Ansel Adams to develop (as we might
> take it to a local drub store) and not see them again until she returned
> from the next trip.
>
> I once saw a multimedia class project that told the story of the 2 young
> girls in the Migrant Mother photo after they grew up. Neither as Oprah
> transforming as you would hope nor a bleak as you would fear. But they
> resented Lange because they thought she made a lot of money off their
> family. She didn't. That photo is in public domain as it was done for
> the Guvment.
>
>
>
>>
>> I have to think about some more about these statements. What I can
>> tell you from personal experience though is that "see-ing" is much
>> more than "see" Unless something becomes ones own, there is no way
>> that you can give it away. That is why art can sometimes become so
>> artificial: the artist is not honest with him/herself or with those
>> around him.
>>
>> The image of Migrant Mother is just plain gorgious! There is so much
>> more behind the surface.
>> Antoinette Badenhorst
>> Lincolnshire, Illinois
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Wes Rolley"
>> To: Clayart@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>> Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2010 1:25:29 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
>> Subject: Thoughts on art as expression.
>>
>> I have been reading from Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyone Limits, Linda
>> Gordon's 2009 biography of great documentary photographer. It brings
>> forth a number of questions on art and process that apply equally well
>> to other media. I should like to introduce just a few quotations from
>> Lange to introduce her to an audience who might not be familiar with her
>> work.
>>
>> Perhaps the most famous of her photos is the one known as Migrant
>> Mother. http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsa.8b29516/
>>
>> "A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera."
>>
>> "I believe that what we call beautiful is generally a by-product. It
>> happens when the thing is done very, very well."
>>
>> "Seeing is more than a physiological phenomenon.... We see not only with
>> our eyes but with all that we are and all that our culture is. The
>> artist is a professional see-er."
>>
>> I wonder how a potter might change this last quotation... or if we shoul=
d.
>>
>> --
>> "Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better
>> and you don't,
>> then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente
>>
>> Wes Rolley
>> 17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
>> http://www.refpub.com/ -- Tel: 408.778.3024
>>
>>
>
> --
>
> "Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better
> and you don't,
> then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente
>
> Wes Rolley
> 17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
> http://www.refpub.com/ -- Tel: 408.778.3024
>
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