Joyce Lee on mon 10 apr 00
I am so glad that I ordered Nils' three tapes, "On the Wheel With Nils
Lou"! They are EXACTLY right for me where I am at this moment with four
years of intense learning behind me, having started from "hmmmm, so this
is what clay feels like...ugh, yucky!". They do assume a degree of
experience. In fact, for a true out-of-the-box beginner, a mentor on
sight could be pretty important.... since Nils doesn't do the "this is a
cutting wire and this is a needle tool" bit which is necessary for
complete novices. He does obviously recognize that "basic" is vital
when successful throwing is the goal, and his years of experience as a
teacher are wonderfully apparent. I loved that he constructed one pot
where he combined thrown parts with extruded parts, pronounced it an
"ugly pot" (which it was; just needed more work) and left it on the
tape! Intrigued ME, I know.... enough that I can't wait to try the same
technique and change the final result! Part of the beauty of his tapes
is that Nils offers segments where he's simply throwing, with camera
tight on the work.... throwing to a background of music ...throwing
exquisite pots .....NO TALKING....a privilege to observe! I've already
worked with several of his ideas now; what pleases me is that I've read
or heard about some of them before, but couldn't quite visualize what
was supposed to be happening. CLICK. Wow, love those clicks when
understanding occurs........and there are many, many of them on Nils'
tapes. They are very attractively packaged and immensely marketable, but
they do need to have a list of contents somewhere on the package, Nils.
This morning, for example, I wanted to look at the "square plate"
segment (how timely for clayarters!) and cannot recall just which tape
it's on. I'm compiling my own list, but.............
However, this last is an aside; they're well worth purchasing and making
your own Table of Contents.
Joyce
In the Mojave firing today if the wind doesn't kick in ... already
loaded....standard Geil firing.....no shinos or coppers .... well, some
rutiles but I think they're glazed so they won't run off the
pot....keeping my fingers crossed that I'll stay below ^11......
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