Les Crimp on sat 9 sep 00
Joyce -
I really enjoyed your "Artist's Statement" because as Vince might say, 'I
could understand every, single word.'
I am like you , in that I am retired and now out of the "line of fire" of
the workday world and now into fire with my little wood-fired Bourry box
kiln.
We have a Guild here (Arrowsmith Potters Guild -- www.island.net/~apg ) and
we now have a little gallery. We have been discussing having an "Artist's
Statement" for each of our members that show their work in the Gallery.
You have given me the needed push to get to work and write something. Now I
know I can do it when I see something as well written, simple, clear and
heart-felt as yours. Thank you. (and Thank you, too, Vince.)
Les Crimp in Nanoose Bay, B.C. (it's September and the rains are coming)
lcrimp@home.com
Joyce Lee on sat 9 sep 00
This is a repeat of a "statement" I used when I was in a Desert Art
League Show and decided to show my pots, but not offer them for sale.
I'm sure that I would rework this "statement" if I were to show my work
in a grander arena .... but I would still want to briefly address the
audience at hand ... in a manner that I felt would be meaningful to them
... as well as to me. However, I am NOT an artist ... am happy to be
striving to be a craftsperson ...... but we craftspeople need
statements, too.
I left these printed flyers on my sales tables; many people read them on
the spot and thanked me for explaining my glazes; some just took one
without comment; others called me later or mentioned to me in the grocer
checkout line that they appreciated my comments. Easy to write and
apparently meaninful to some. However, if I were writing for a more
formal setting, I would not use some of the phrases I used in this
statement ..... the gist would be the same, but the overall structure
would differ.
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I would like to share with you my feelings about pottery, clay, glazes
and my work with clay, which I hope will be never ending.
Since retiring from the firing line of the halls of academia, I've
actively indulged what formerly was simply a love of clay
work, but which has now become an ongoing passion. The excitement of
taking a bit of dirt, then adding whatever it needs to form that dirt
into useful objects ....then adding other naturally occurring
colorants to make the forms live allows me to keep my mind and my body
active and happy. I expect to continue this pursuit for whatever time my
forever turns out to be.... good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.
My pots are formed on the wheel as well as hand built.. Sometimes I
combine both methods in creating one pot. I'm never sure just which
technique I prefer so until I am, I'll continue with both. My glazes
started with bright colors: sharp, enamel-like, in-your-face colors,
which I still enjoy and have sprinkled a few amongst today's pots. But
more and more I find that I'm searching for the colors of our stunning
Mojave desert, particularly those colors found in Red Rock Canyon, about
25 miles from our present location. You'll recognize some of those more
subtle hues in this display today, I'm sure. I love the touches of red
iron oxide one finds in the Canyon, from dark browns to the reds that
provide its name........and all the pinks and oranges and creams .....if
you've been there, you know what I mean. I also am moved by the
lavenders and purples and blues of our Sierras ... as well as the colors
of our clear desert sky, the sunsets, the dawns, the night hours with
their star sprinkles. I fully expect to spend the rest of my life
trying to create glazes that will be reminiscent of such beauty.
My decoration, other than the glazes themselves, most often relates to
desert foliage, particularly the creosote (greasewood) bush, or to our
local compelling Mojave petroglyphs and pictographs which have become
nationally known.
I fire my functional pots in an electric kiln first to make them more
easily accept the glazes I later apply. Then they are stacked
carefully.......not touching or they'll cling to one another, which may
seem poetic but is not what I want..... in one of my two gas kilns. I
fire to around 2380 degrees Fahrenheit because I like what happens to
glazes when they melt at that temperature. They're not always
predictable, and there's a higher rate of failure than at lower heats,
but for me at this stage that's where the fun enters.... and the
occasional unexpected turn of events when a pot is far better than what
I might have dreamed.....well, that makes all the pots that line my
UglyPotSpot (where all the bad pots go) worthwhile!
Joyce Lee
Potter in the Mojave Desert
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