Dan Tarro on thu 14 jan 99
Sitting here in my office while the snow falls outside, the office in the
house warm and safe, the studio out in the cold Minnesota air without
heat yet. Just too much time for idle thought. Oh I hate what the cold
does to the bones at -20deg..
I was trying to think the other day about why I ever got involved in clay
work and why I enjoy build and firing my kilns so much. Then a little
item from the dark side of childhood came up. When I was a kid, I was the
type that loved to play with fire. My parents patiently directed me away
from it, but still the love remained. Watching the flame lick the logs
and consume the paper cup that was tossed into the campfires. Almost
torching my folks house being so intrigued with the flame in the old
hand-lit oil water heater.
Could this intrigue be at the bases of many of our creative drives? Is
there possibly something this primitive, the excitement of the kiln at
full temp 2400 deg., or the raku being pulled from an open flam and
placing it into leaves, newspaper....to "reduce". We all know that we are
just adults playing with fire now don't we? I am in my upper 40's and
still for some reason love it. What is it with potters? Is it that we are
a group of people who just refuse to down deep grow up? Or does anyone
ever really grow up? Do we all, as adults, just re channel our youthful
desires to excepted society norms? Is this what we have done?
Please don't get me wrong, I love what I do. I just have too much time on
my hands now and my thoughts some times run away. Hopefully this will
encourage a new thread of thought, feedback should be interesting.
Dan Tarro
Oak Tree Stoneware
Ham Lake, Minnesota
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The Brinks on fri 15 jan 99
Good point...I think it's wonderful if adults have vocations that are in
line with "early fun". In my case I remember a lot of play with mud. Being
female, the impulse was credited to the desire to cook, like mama. But I
liked the fact that when the mud dried, I had something to play with that
had not existed before. Didn't phrase it like that mentally...just had fun
making things.
I didn't start with clay until I was almost fifty (a number of years ago)
but before that I made a few flowerpots by turning a bucket or large bowl
upside down , shaping hardware cloth or chicken wire around the form and
patting cement around it, of course starting from the bottom. The sides
were almost two inches thick and rough looking, but it worked . Then I
painted them with acrylics. Point is, I love the shaping. The fire IS
exciting though, I agree. Let's see, what DON'T I like about pottery making?
I've been sitting here thinking. When someone says "What an interesting
hobby"! Grrrrrrr
Ann in CA, yes, we have sunshine, and the clay doesn't freeze yayyyyyyyyy
At 07:44 AM 1/14/99 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Sitting here in my office while the snow falls outside, the office in the
>house warm and safe, the studio out in the cold Minnesota air without
>heat yet. Just too much time for idle thought. Oh I hate what the cold
>does to the bones at -20deg..
>
>I was trying to think the other day about why I ever got involved in clay
>work and why I enjoy build and firing my kilns so much. Then a little
>item from the dark side of childhood came up. When I was a kid, I was the
>type that loved to play with fire. My parents patiently directed me away
>from it, but still the love remained. Watching the flame lick the logs
>and consume the paper cup that was tossed into the campfires. Almost
>torching my folks house being so intrigued with the flame in the old
>hand-lit oil water heater.
>
>Could this intrigue be at the bases of many of our creative drives? Is
>there possibly something this primitive, the excitement of the kiln at
>full temp 2400 deg., or the raku being pulled from an open flam and
>placing it into leaves, newspaper....to "reduce". We all know that we are
>just adults playing with fire now don't we? I am in my upper 40's and
>still for some reason love it. What is it with potters? Is it that we are
>a group of people who just refuse to down deep grow up? Or does anyone
>ever really grow up? Do we all, as adults, just re channel our youthful
>desires to excepted society norms? Is this what we have done?
>
>Please don't get me wrong, I love what I do. I just have too much time on
>my hands now and my thoughts some times run away. Hopefully this will
>encourage a new thread of thought, feedback should be interesting.
>Dan Tarro
>Oak Tree Stoneware
>Ham Lake, Minnesota
>
>___________________________________________________________________
>You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
>Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
>or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
>
>
e-mail billann@impulse.net
R. Everett on fri 15 jan 99
Ah fire...
I have fond memories of lacking eyebrows during part of childhood, and a
long running delight of making mud pies. There could be a connection, you
think?
I suppose I never quite grew out of fire or mud pies. I still enjoy the
occasional squish of squelching around in the contents of the recycle barrel
and have been known to walk around the studio barefoot, not careing if I
step in a little dripped slip.
Fire is a delightful and somewhat mysterious thing. I don't think that
retaining a childish delight in it is a lack of growing up, just so long as
you develope a certain respect for the beast it can be. Thankfully, the
eyebrows grew back, but I if I have to scorch a litlle arm hair to get to a
pot, I don't mind.
---R.Everett
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Tom Wirt on fri 15 jan 99
Subject: Fire, The Love of
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Sitting here in my office while the snow falls outside, the office in the
>house warm and safe, the studio out in the cold Minnesota air without
>heat yet. Just too much time for idle thought. Oh I hate what the cold
>does to the bones at -20deg..
>
>Could this intrigue be at the bases of many of our creative drives? Is
>there possibly something this primitive, the excitement of the kiln at
>full temp 2400 deg., or the raku being pulled from an open flam and
>placing it into leaves, newspaper....to "reduce". We all know that we are
Ahhh...but this morning it was 5 deg above.....clear sparkling sky and 6" of
fluffy powder covering the landscape.....something a Texan never knows.
Getting the plow out to roll back neat rows of the fluff, I thought about
what things make us feel alive, and I think that the nearer the edge of our
existence we are, the sharper our senses become and the more energy we have.
Fire, cold, wind,rain, storms....things that seem a little bit dangerous or
elemental all seem to charge many of us up.
Maybe artists seek difficult circumstances and edges because that's where
the creative juice gets squeezed out? Even when we don't live on the edge,
we create deadlines and then break them to see how close we can get
But enough of this silly analysis...back to work. Deadlines, ya know.
Oh yes, and some fantastic snow to kick around. Minnesota in the dead of
winter.
Tom Wirt
Thonas C. Curran on sat 16 jan 99
> Fire is a delightful and somewhat mysterious thing. I don't think that
> retaining a childish delight in it is a lack of growing up, just so long as
> you develope a certain respect for the beast it can be.
And from Baudelaire, 19th c. French poet: "Le genie, c'est l'enfance
retrouvee a volonte. (Sorry, no accent marks). Or..."genius is
childhood refound at will." I am sure that Charley B. implied the
creative artist when he said genius. Now how's that for esoteric mud
pies? CNC
BERG TIMOTHY JOHN on mon 18 jan 99
i love fire too.
recently as a class survey question my teacher asked what four things we
find beautiful. as i began to reflect on this question a vision came to
me a small boy with a lighter and lighter fluid in a dark room at home.
fire.
fire is beautiful, there is no other way to describe it. fire
brings about life and death, it has the capacity to destroy and bring
pain, but it also has the ability to bring joy and happiness. as with all
beautiful things it is a juxtapositon of good and bad.
to see the flame roll through the kiln, to know that i possess the
knowledge to harness it and create-that is beautiful.
fire on
tim
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