mel jacobson on tue 25 oct 11
i thought in some ways i was being abused
when at 12, my dad sent me off to work on a farm.
i was a huge kid...really big for my age, so it was
assumed that i would do a mans work.
it was hard, almost brutal, but my lessons where
learned from an early age. all work is ` a step at a time`.
those 80 mugs get made...`one at a time`.
i got to `shock` a 10 acre field of oats. alone.
one bundle at a time.
when mr. uchida came into the studio and said
`we have 2,000 tea bowls to make`. my thought
was...`well i don't have to make them all, we will
have help.` and, we all pitched in, with the aid
of two free lance throwers we made them in quick order.
mr. uchida sat at his desk, day after day...signing the boxes.
( a big order from jal, japanese airlines.)
when i went to the farm it was in the middle of WW2.
my dad was working 10 hour days at the `ford plant`.
welding tanks. he was an ex-marine and never took
a day off. he would sleep all day sunday.
i was raised in a family where everyone worked...all the time.
we had little. `gender issues`?. my god, my mom worked just
like my dad...`all the time`. they had clear roles.
but, it was my greatest `GIFT`. it stayed in place my entire life.
when i run `hay creek camp` i work all the time. i cook all the meals.
i run errands, i help others. i help make `pills` for the wood kiln,
i run the chain saw and cut bundles of wood. i don't really know how
to sit around and drink beer and watch tv. not a part of my dna.
it is `family heritage`. nordic work ethic. it does not change even when
we age. boredom is hell.
i have tried to be a living example for my children and grand children and
close friends.
that is the only system we have. you cannot `talk` people into progress.
like you cannot talk people into have a `good feeling about self`. you mus=
t
earn it. one pot at a time. one firing at a time....one plumb off the tre=
e. then
another. then cook and can them. one jar at a time. the hem of that
quilt is done...one stitch at a time...hands working.
david hendley has given his children the same ethics lesson. family, faith
in that family, faith in self, faith in hard work. it is little wonder the
kids know how to work. small town texas, or the big apple, the ethics
do not abandon them.
and, as you age, you find out `will the kids take care of family, or will
they dump you in a nursing home?`
when sharlene's mom got really sick, strokes and other issues we just
brought her home to live with us. doc said `six weeks at most`.
she lived with us for 17 years. (died at 93.)
family.
and, what a gift to my daughter, grand kids. they loved grandma.
got to know her. and, in her life she saw the first airplane, the first
cars, the first a-bomb,radio, tv...and near the end of her life she got to
write an email on a lap-top and send it to her niece. on her tv table
we had her first `crystal set radio` just as a reminder of how the
world changed.
does one wonder why i keep talking of `hand work, taking charge
of process and making it your own.` we can slide down that deep
slope of `tools will make my pots for me`. it will not work, nor will
it work in the future. `hands and mind`. tools are secondary.
the more you do with hands, the more you own it.
folks wonder at me....making clay. the pug mill turns.
`mel, just open the bag and you have clay.` sorry, it does
not work that way for me. i must, have to, own the process.
others do what you want...for me...process and knowing the
process and being in charge of process is all there is. when you abandon p=
rocess for technology,
or ease of work...you give up control. just like saying...`someone
else owes me a living`. sorry, you owe you a living. if you choose
to be a crafts person, then that is how you work. you must figure
out how to `make it work.` the hand and mind philosophy of life.
with clay, the hand and mind control it all. then you locate someone
to buy it. commerce or trade is the final piece of the puzzle.
when your friends or customers walk away smiling with your pot
in hand, good feelings and confidence explodes in you. `gotta make more`.
mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
Ann Brink on tue 25 oct 11
This resonates with me- my older brother and I shocked the oats too. On
the small farm my family had, the cows were milked by hand, cow manure had
to be shoveled out from behind the stalls; there were constant unpleasant
and tedious tasks to do. Northern Montana winters can be tough. So I never
got the idea that life was easy- you did what needed to be done whether you
liked it or not. I also learned the satisfaction of making and repairing
things, since we lived 30miles from town. Of course I vowed to have a
different kind of life when I was "grown up", and I did. But I know that
those early years have made me, to this day, appreciate comforts and
pleasures, and be able to somehow get through the difficult times.
Ann Brink in Lompoc CA
(mostly about pottery)
----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
>
> it was hard, almost brutal, but my lessons where
> learned from an early age. all work is ` a step at a time`.
> those 80 mugs get made...`one at a time`.
> i got to `shock` a 10 acre field of oats. alone.
> one bundle at a time.
>
>
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