Janet Kaiser on tue 20 jul 99
Looking across from our table showing tiles for The International Potters =
Path
at the International Potters Festival in Aberystwyth, they had a computer =
video
running all day of a potter in the West Indies (Jamaica?) who was the last =
of
her line. It showed her making a cooking pot. First she dug the clay out of =
the
ground in her =22garden=22 (a mountain-side plantation to feed the family, =
where
holes had to be filled in again during the rainy season because of the
mosquitoes).
It then showed her making a beautiful orb of a pot which would then sit on a
fire to cook in. From the digging of the clay to the finished use, the whole
process came quite obviously from Africa. Hundreds of years of tradition =
which
had been transported with the slaves to the =22New World=22 and had survived=
that
dreadful =22history=22, right down to the present day. The skills passed on =
from
mother to daughter in spite of everything... Except now at the end of the =
20th
century....
First, very few still cook in the traditional way... So there is no demand =
for
pots with round bottoms. They cannot even be to sold to the tourists, =
because
they do not stand. Her daughters do not want to be so =22primitive=22 and =
are not
interested in this art. So this =22Mrs. Mugamba=22 will be the last of a =
very very
long line of skilled makers spanning the centuries and the continents as =
well as
history...
Makes you think, eh?
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art, Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales... Home of The International
Potters Path
=2A=2AWEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk =2A=2Aupdated as often as =
possible=2A=2A
EMAIL: postbox=40the-coa.org.uk
| |
|
