David McDonald on fri 8 sep 00
Is it Mingei? Not Mingei? Really, I think we need something new to
describe potters, and other craft artisans who live and work in this time
so far removed from the past. Most of us, whether we are aware of it or
not, are in the lineage of Mingei, and owe much to the movement that
brought it to life. The revival of crafts, in the past century, has
reached incredible heights, and now, once again there are many of us
serving our culture, and our people, with the life, and warmth of things
handmade. Aren't we lucky?
Handcrafts, in the traditional sense of providing useful items for daily
life, would have died from the mortal wound brought about by the
industrial revolution, were it not for a handful of folks after the turn
of the 20th century who took on the task of finding local craftsmen and
their ways of working, throughout the world, and documenting them, and
bringing attention to them. In Japan, it was a group of friends; Bernard
Leach, Shoji Hamada, Kanjiro Kawaii and Soetsu Yanagi who joined together
in this effort, which turned out to be a good portion of their life's
work. Yanagi termed the word "Mingei", and wrote "The Unknown Craftsman",
a book dedicated to identifying, and acknowledging the ways of living
which were coming to a radical end.
As soon as the word Mingei was coined, the self awareness, and
realization that came with it was that we could no longer do our work in
innocence, unaffected by a modern world that apparently didn't need us
anymore. Kind of like the Garden of Eden. Once we took a bite from that
apple and gained Knowledge, how could we go back to working in an
unselfconscious way? It has always been my belief that it cannot be done.
More important to me, is to simply acknowledge our lineage. So if we are
not to be refered to as Mingei any longer, than what shall it be? Would
it even be useful to name it? I think so.
David McDonald
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