Earl Brunner on sat 25 jul 98
I'd get some huge tome with a title something like "History of World Art."
Look at all the stuff from around the world. (It's always amazed me how much
of prehistory, anthropologists think they can reconstruct from a couple of
scratches on a bone fragment or piece of clay)
Anyway, I digress... a goodly chunk of what has survived from history is in
the form of clay, Amazing Stuff! Find stuff you are drawn too, i.e.,
interested in, and investigate. Toss the rest of it. Figuratively speaking.
Good Luck.
Personally, I LOVE the strong sculptural qualities of the pottery from the
Mochicas in Peru around 500 AD, I like Early middle east - Egyptian pottery,
Chinese, especially glaze development, Japanese, Korean, German salt glazed,
etc. Shucks, I've even developed a taste for early American and George Ohr!
Maybe it's just clay.......
Kelley Webb Randel on sun 26 jul 98
Listen Jan, all that seems incredibly complicated and unusually difficult.
Aren't you happy with "your way" of dealing with the clay? Sometimes I feel
we make things much much too hard, instead of just letting the clay speak to
you. Is that so impossible? Sounds to me like the instructor didn't really
have much to offer you and was giving busy work. I am still attending college
(CMSU), and am amazed at the way professors need to "influence" a student's
work. All ego. Just my interpretation. Disregard if need be.
from Kelley in MO where it is rainy and cool, finally!
Bob&Hulda on sun 26 jul 98
Dear Jan,
If you insist on walking forward whilst looking backwards
you must expect to trip over rocks,walk into trees,and perhaps fall into a
bog-hole from whence you will never emerge.I think it is better to just
go,keep alert,and listen to what your heart tells you.My head is telling you
that the past has already been done and to-morrow is yours to do.
Bob Hollis in an Irish bog.
Kelley Webb Randel on sun 26 jul 98
>Listen Jan, all that seems incredibly complicated and unusually difficult.
>Aren't you happy with "your way" of dealing with the clay? Sometimes I
feel
>we make things much much too hard, instead of just letting the clay speak
to
>you. Is that so impossible? Sounds to me like the instructor didn't
really
>have much to offer you and was giving busy work. I am still attending
college
>(CMSU), and am amazed at the way professors need to "influence" a student's
>work. All ego. Just my interpretation. Disregard if need be.
>
>from Kelley in MO where it is rainy and cool, finally!
>Hey Kelley,
Great advice and most certainly should not be
disregarded,though there are more than professors with the disease you
mention. Bob Hollis in Ireland where it is always wet&cold
Karen Gringhuis on mon 27 jul 98
One may trip over rocks while walking forward looking backwards,
BUT you can't know where you're going til you know where you've
been. KG
shelford on wed 5 aug 98
I've been collecting clayart messages and not getting around to reading them
for weeks, so am coming in late on this thread. But it seems to have died
an early death, and I think that's a pity. Jan Walker wrote:
>I was taking a class last year as part of trying to make some kind
>of forward headway with clay. The instructor suggested that I spend
>some amount of time doing intensive study of various clay traditions
>as a way of finding the one that matched how I think and work.
Lana Wilson's "Ceramics: Shape and Surface - Handouts for Potters" offers
similar advice, but leaves off the word "intensive." At the beginning of
the book she has a section titled: 'Pursue a Personal Form', and asks a
series of questions designed to jog our thinking out of any ruts it might
have got into. She suggests choosing
"twelve images of ceramic (or other) work that you find impressive.
Photocopy and keep these images. Describe specifically and carefully two or
three qualities that you readily found appealing in your chosen images."
She goes on to suggest ways to look at these images to spark questions that
will be useful to the artist. Another question she asks later in the same
section:
"What are some of the artists, or art movements that have always moved me?
Consider cubism, art nouveau, Bauhaus, Japanese prints, abstract
expressionism, Craftsman movement, pop, op, post-modernism, ethnic art,
realism, impressionism, folk art, etc."
Her approach is less academic and more 'in the studio' than that of Jan's
instructor, but still gives some thought to the value of learning from the
work of others.
It seems to me a pity to place too impassable a divide between academics and
personal exploration and inspiration. Kelly and Bob both spoke for the
personal exploration side, and there is always a danger, of course, in
becoming so hedged about with academics as to lose oneself entirely. I
doubt very much that this is a serious danger for most on this list,
however, as we are all 'doers of the deed' and constantly exercising the
self-discovery muscles, however early or late we may be in the process.
History has enormous value once you let your imagination and empathy loose
in it. "Being" the people of the past, accepting into yourself all the
differences and samenesses you can see, and seeking to see through those
other eyes, can be wildly and colourfully liberating, and enlarging, and
fun. Our personal uniqueness is a given, whether we always perceive it or
not, but so too is our place in continuity. History is only a trap when you
try to ignore it. To understand it is to be enlarged by it, and enlivens
everything you see and touch.
I do think it is a pity that, as a society, we still tend to get our
"education" in one huge gulp early in life. It often produces either
intellectual indigestion, so that you feel like the whole thing is just too
much weight to carry around, or else catches you up in the preface of life,
and stalls mental progress. But, speaking from the other side of a 30-year
gap, I can say that eventually you get it all down, and even, from time to
time, enjoy going back to the fridge for a snack........
>This seems like quite an interesting strategy for us "self-taught"
>people. (But I do prefer the phrase "independent study".) So I
>asked the obvious question -- name the great ceramic traditions? He
>got all inscrutable on me and so I'm still wondering which might be
>most productive.
Being a "self-taught independent" myself, I won't attempt the reminiscently
back-at-school-again questions. But I think they have value, as (knowing
Jan!) they will be only a kicking-off point for genuine artistic
exploration. But I'm leaving them attached, below, in the hopes that this
thread will get going again........
- Veronica
on Thetis Island, where it has been a summer to remember - all the spirits
of light since the morning of the world, are out there dancing on the
waters.............
______________________________________
>Anybody like to take a crack at this?
> - Name six great ceramic traditions and hazard a guess at what I'd
>learn most about from each.
>
>For extra credit:
> - Is this strategy likely to lead to interesting results. (If not,
>suggest another. Explain your choices!)
>
> - How long a study session might one need to even begin to
>understand that particular piece of the past? (I won't consider
>the obvious answer, i.e. "a lifetime" because all I have left is
>less than half of one. Be reasonable!)
>
>
>I am looking forward to seeing your thoughts on this. Cheers,
>Jan Walker
>Cambridge MA USA
>
>
___________________________________________
e-mail: shelford@island.net
s-mail: P.O. Box 6-15
Thetis Island, BC V0R 2Y0
Tel & Fax: (250) 246-1509
web: http://www.island.net/~shelford/
Kelley Webb Randel on thu 6 aug 98
Ok, Ok, I'm pretty new to clayart, but I am a ceramics major at college,
though I am a non traditional student (be 40 in september!). What I was
trying to say and did not, was that as a ceramicist and artist I have a
tremendous passion for studying and reading (magazines, books, internet) about
my art and clay. I go to exhibits when I can, haunt the galleries around
KCMO, visit the museums everywhere I go. I don't imagine any other clay
artists to be any different. I was offended by the teacher/professor telling
an older, self instructed student to study the ancients(!), because I
"assumed" this person already did. When questioned the instructor could not/
would not answer the queries about what was expected.
In my humblest of experiences, I have found my professors don't quite know
what to make of me. They expect me to react and respect their every profound
thought and insight when they are not hearing or understanding what I am
trying to do. I have the greatest respect for each and every one of my
professors, but I am way too old and set in my ways to break my butt trying to
accomplish each obscure task they set out for their classes. The majority of
their students are kids, late teens early 20's, and that is what they target,
and rightly so.
I love school, it opened the world for me and saved my life, but I am ready to
be out and on my own. I have dreams to actualize and ideas to process and I
don't want to mess with finals anymore.
Hope I made myself clearer this time.
Kelley Webb Randel
raku gddss@aol.com
Earl & Sharron Baum on thu 6 aug 98
OK, I'll bite... Being one of those self-taught (self-teaching?) types myself,
I'll share the traditions that reach out & twang my strings....
First is Attic/Greek black-slipped ware - the vases, cups and platters are
simply lyrical, and show some of the potential of slip-only decoration.
Next is South-west American Indian - I'll let you figure out why. 8-)
Thirdly, Etruscan (ok, not their clay, but their goldwork is inspiring!)
Fourth, Japanese Raku Teabowls
Fifth, Longquan Celedons - the glazes are like translucent jade....
Sixth, Egyptian Faience - self-glazed ware that is jewel-like in it's brilliance
(and to think that it's mostly used for beadwork today - check out the Chalice
in the article on Ancient Glazes in the Scientific American Special Edition "The
Origins of Technology" - in bookstores now...)
Absent the obvious "spend a lifetime" answer you mentioned, you could get a good
"feel" for any particular tradition in six months to a year - then spend the
rest of your life gaining mastery........
Have Fun!!! I am....
eb
Janet H Walker wrote:
>
> Hi there gang. I have one of those open-ended requests for you that
> always bring out the best in this group...
>
> I was taking a class last year as part of trying to make some kind
> of forward headway with clay. The instructor suggested that I spend
> some amount of time doing intensive study of various clay traditions
> as a way of finding the one that matched how I tthink and work.
> This seems like quite an interesting strategy for us "self-taught"
> people. (But I do prefer the phrase "independent study".) So I
> asked the obvious question -- name the great ceramic traditions? He
> got all inscrutable on me and so I'm still wondering which might be
> most productive.
>
> Anybody like to take a crack at this?
> - Name six great ceramic traditions and hazard a guess at what I'd
> learn most about from each.
>
> For extra credit:
> - Is this strategy likely to lead to interesting results. (If not,
> suggest another. Explain your choices!)
>
> - How long a study session might one need to even begin to
> understand that particular piece of the past? (I won't consider
> the obvious answer, i.e. "a lifetime" because all I have left is
> less than half of one. Be reasonable!)
>
> I am looking forward to seeing your thoughts on this. Cheers,
> Jan Walker
> Cambridge MA USA
--
Earl & Sharron Baum
baum@bellsouth.net
----------------------------------------------
What if there were no hypothetical situations?
----------------------------------------------
: Terraopera on fri 7 aug 98
Kelley, I'm also a non-traditional student [46 last week] so I understand what
you're dealing with and I would agree with posts in the past about picking a
people or civilization that you like and digging for any info on their
pottery. I've been a potter for 10 years and I gain new insight into my own
work every time I go on an ancients quest. One year I studied the bell beakers
from early northern Europe, another time I got so into Egyptian pottery that I
had my boyscout den making pots and baking bread in them. Good luck with your
studies and let me know how it goes? We dinosaurs must stick together. Kim/
TERRAOPERA@aol.com
| |
|
