priddy on mon 1 may 00
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=3E But if the final product is made by assisted technologies...nothing else
=3E done to it but minor finishing and glazing, Then it should not be
=3E represented as handmade, and it should not be entered in competitive
=3E exhibitions of handmade work.
=22nothing else done to it but minor finishing and glazing=22
where does =22minor=22 leave off and real craftsmanship or art begin?
Where do painters, whose craftsmanship is in the painting with ceramic
materials, fit into this? They are not decal artists, and they might be
working on cast work they made. =22Decorated by hand=22 just doesn't carry
the weight that I would apply to the work, and such work seems to be
appropriate for high quality craft formats.
I paint on pieces that I handbuild or throw, so I am not curious about
myself=3B but my friend, Hsi-Mei paints these gorgeous paintings on pots.
The glazing is not trivial, either, but it is the painting that sells.
They are not admissable in a painting show. And by your standard, I
am not sure they would be ok for a pottery show. So where can you
show them?
I am not nitpicking or splitting hairs. I am truly interested in where you
would include (or exclude) this type of work by this standard.
Perhaps it depends on what you mean by =22minor=22...
respectfully submitted,
elizabeth priddy
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Kathi LeSueur on tue 2 may 00
The whole issue of "handmade" arises once again. And again I will offer the
opinion that what we are arguing about here is "handmade" vs. "HAND-THROWN".
If a piece is cast or jigged or pressed then, by all means, do not represent
it as "hand thrown". It isn't. But that doesn't mean that it isn't
"handmade". If the piece is made with the hands of the pottery doing all of
the processes to make the piece of pottery then, in my opinion, it is
handmade. It just uses different techniques.
Aother analogy that "handmade" and cast pieces are like the difference
between a painting and an offset reproduction is incorrect. A print is not a
painting no matter how good a reproduction it is. A "handthrown" piece and a
cast piece are still pottery.
A better example would be pottery and melmac reproductions. In fact, this was
just the example I used to make when arguing against prints in shows. Almost
all art forms can be reproduced cheaply in another medium (wood sculptures
can be cast with ground pecan shells). If reproductions of painting should be
allowed then reproductions of other mediums should be allowed. We can have
prints of paintings, melmac of handthrown dinnerware, pecan shell cast
reproductions of wood sculptures, and painted plaster of bronze pieces.
Kathi LeSueur
Ann Arbor, MI
Vince Pitelka on tue 2 may 00
>"nothing else done to it but minor finishing and glazing"
>where does "minor" leave off and real craftsmanship or art begin?
>I paint on pieces that I handbuild or throw, so I am not curious about
>myself; but my friend, Hsi-Mei paints these gorgeous paintings on pots.
>The glazing is not trivial, either, but it is the painting that sells.
>They are not admissable in a painting show. And by your standard, I
>am not sure they would be ok for a pottery show. So where can you
>show them?
Elizabeth -
This is a hard one. I would not want to denigrate the work of your painter
friend, or any others who do exquisite painting on work created by others.
But where does it fit in the spectrum of fine craft? I don't know. I am
not entirely comfortable with it being juried and exhibited alongside works
completely crafted AND decorated by the artist. You have participated in
some discussion of this earlier in this thread. From my own point of view,
if someone wants to paint pots, then they should colaborate with a potter.
The potter should sign the bottom of the pot, and the painter should sign
the painting, and it should be presented as a collaborative work, where the
pot and painting work in symbiosis. If the pot is a plain, simple
plate-form, with elaborate painter's artistry upon it, then it is the
painter who will get most of the attention, and deservedly so. But there
will be an honesty and integrity to the work which is not present when the
platter is mass-produced - the work of anonymous factory production. No
matter how well-designed, the latter will not have the same quality of
spirit and vitality of the individually handmade pot. A traditional
painter's canvas is SUPPOSE to be a completely inert, unimposing substrate
for painting. A pot which presents itself as a work of art should never be
that. A fine pot has a pesonality and a presence, and in this case it
becomes an inseparble component of the final expression of the piece. So,
no matter how exquisite the painting, if the pot is mass-produced, it will
suck some of the creative energy out of the painting. As always, just my
opinions . . . .
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
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