Wyndham Dennison on thu 2 sep 10
>
> > On 8/31/2010 9:38 PM, Randall Moody wrote:
>
>> >> Do you see any difference between the cup from
>> >> walmart and yours?
>>
Answer: none
Mc Coy, Roseville, and many more too many to mention are also slip
cast. The same reason then as now is economics not art. Art was and is
the engine for the niche in the market. If there are also benefits to
the local economy, so much the better.
The same slip cast of mine or yours or Walmart's mug will make whatever
the form is, that is not art. It is a process. The glaze and the firing
are also processes.
Many years ago there was an artist who cast thousands of eggs and had
them in egg cartons stacked 4 or 5 feet high. This was the cover of
Ceramic Monthy at the time.What's the difference between that and 1000
slip cast mugs, none.
I choose to turn my mugs on the wheel and glaze them in colors that are
pleasing to me and my customers. I choose this as a was of making a
living. The fellow in china makes the mugs for Walmart to make the best
living he can given the circumstances of his life. We both use the same
material for the same basic purpose. Because I enjoy what I do does not
make it of a higher or more noble purpose than my counterpart in
another part of the world.
What sidewalk of wet cement doesn't call out to have a mark put into it
for eternity from all of us. That's where art begins emerging . Our
need to mark this world, in some way as to be remembered forever, or
next week, which ever comes first.
If my mark connects with someone else(Good or Bad), then that is art. It
is only art to that person or segment of people it connected deep enough
to have meaning, not to everyone.
If some one stacked 10,000 Walmart mugs in a gallery, someone would call
it "Art" because it connected with someone else.
We are also connected by rituals. Rituals involve sharing marked objects
to signify a deep meaning or bond, so replica's of these object have
these meanings as well. If someone gave you a drink of water from a mug
and you were dying of thirst, that symbol would have a great meaning,
Walmart or not.
Wyndham
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