KarateHiro on sat 21 mar 98
Potters cannot do without heat. No clay would mature. Hence no pots.
But too much of a good thing could spoil the broth. Too much heat, overfired
pots.
I have learned a great deal from my teachers and mentors in ways with clay.
But when I was lucky enough and started selling pots off and on, but crazy, so
it seemed, I became arrogant. I thought I knew everything, felt obliged to
despise the technical prowess of some established potters who were soft spoken
or abrupt, but seemed to know far less than what I have learned,
I know different and better, now. It is so easy to learn and master the
techniques thanks to all the help available in North America. But what
happened? I felt the common potters were not as good as they appeared, since
they did not know obvious technical details or particular techniques. OIf
course I did not know there were other horizons and much wider spectrum of
things over there. But I was younger and impish.
I now know that I owe debts of gratitude to those who have taught me. They
never tried to impress me, pretending they were the best in the world. They
knew better. Or, I must have started very small with a tiny local guild, and
common folks that flocked to it. Whatever, I assure you I learned heck of a
lot from them all. But I became temporarily deaf to the sage, wise words from
experienced potters around me. I thought they were technically not up to par.
I was wrong, as I said. It's not so much the technical details but the unique
personality or what was represented by that human being that counted. Those
attributes make for good potters. Just think. Many Seto clay technicians are
way ahead in techniques (what they know boggle my mind, honest), but most of
them cannot make nice pots, on their own, I know.
Of course it does not hurt to know everything about technical details. But
that is not necessary to be a human being, or a good potter. That is my
conviction. Life is too short to be technical wizards and be a good potter all
at the same time. Some can manage it. That is their chosen cup of tea. And,
boy, they are good! And you probably know who I am talking about Others try,
and I know they don't know what they don't know. But they do have a lot of
followers. Not always like a blind leading the blind. What a pity. And I
myself may still be in this sort of quagmire, I am afraid. But at least I do
not tell others to be good technicians, or advertise my technical discoveries
as if they are the only truth in this world.
The family members do not impress you, do they? I have four brothers, all
engineers starting from mechanical, chemical, structural, to an esoteric. I
have a brother who is a practicing physician specializing in old folks and
babies (geriatrics and pediatrics). I have sisters who are in professions like
nursing (2 of them), and dietetics, plus sisters who have taught at college
and highschool level. I have a brother who is a director of a bank after
having been manager far too long. There are others, but here I am counting the
direct-in law category only. Others? Physicians, directors, businessmen, or
what have you. I do not know them that well, but they all do well.
Funny. None of them ever impressed me. They are so close to me and familiar
that I thought they did not know what I had known. And they never protested or
admonished my arrogance. I simply smile when my spouse does not believe in me,
and go to a specialist of first choice and pay a fortune. That is life. That
is how things are. Your immediate family? That is to put down. I would go for
total strangers who are less qualified and I as a sucker trust them more. What
a pity. And how expensive or costly that can get? Money cannot solve potter's
problems. The best equipment in the world cannot make me the best potter. It
certainly helps me to be a good potter. That is all.
I do not think I cultivate my followers conscientiously. I am not a political
animal, as I should, but I don't think I am cut out that way. Some thrive on
such things. And you know I hate politicians, although we cannot lead our
lives without them. And we cannot kill them. We must learn to tolerate them.
And this "them" may include fellow potters. It is too late to change them,
anyway....
Let me conclude this post with a small lesson I was just told in a local bar.
A very successful former farmer, market gardner, greenhouse operator, and now
a large triple-gazed triple-layered (sounds like clay operation) greenhouse
retail outlet that he owns, told me this story.
Heat attracts flies. With the warm weather coming, flies start their actions.
Never mind the snow on the ground. They fly. To have fly-free farm, he had a
fly swatter, and went about the business in and around the house and the farm.
Others thought he was crazy. Swatting flies a thousand times reminds me of the
posts on a thousand pulling of handles. Non-swatter farmers ask "What are you
doing?" Their farms had flies all right, full of them. And they thought the
flies came from neighbors.
My wise swatter retorted: "One fly I kill now means a thousan s--0-b---s when
the summer comes around.
The Spring was upon us today. With it come flies, like mad. Many farmers
suffer from them throughout the long, hot summer weeks and months. Oddly, some
farmhouses are full of them. Others hardly have any flies. Trust me. I live on
a farm.
Heat, that is the culprit. And the garbage of my neighbor. Not me. Flies come
out no matter what I do. Or, do they have anything to do with me?
Rachael Carson's book, "The Silent Spring", is now considered a classic. No
more DDTs which killed off all insects and many birds. That was an overkill.
Agent Orange was another. Spraying chemicals like that ended up fortigying
them, by giving them a chance to accumulate resistance and develop immunity to
those man-made chemicals.
As for me, I routinely swatted flies like mad, come spring. When it's cold, it
is so easy to do that. When hot, impossible.
Some potters maybe too hot for us to handle. But they are the family. So, let
it be it.
Hiro Matsusaki
Marvh 20, 1998, 11pm
TMartens on sun 22 mar 98
re letter from Karate Hiro. Too long to quote, but that was a letter
and a half that was! Needed at this time of folk sniping at one
another with unsheathed claws!I do so hope it was read and absorbed by
the right quarter. Clayart is my link to the clay world, my friend,
it has been distressing all this brohaha........so let those who swat
flies swat them and those that don't let them put up with the flies
and give my delete finger a rest already!
Toni Martens
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