Karen Sullivan on tue 6 feb 01
Joyce, I wanted to respond...
There are a range of levels working in the creation process..
What techniques and skills one has that determines what one makes.
What one looks at, you are what you look at as an artist....
If working intuitively...you may not see/know what was going on
until much later...Sort of revealing your inner self through a
material expression of that being you have lived with for so long,
i.e. yourself...
I think that the process that functions beyond our ability to see,
and is more about how our hands and physical being are formed,
has to do with the scale and structure of, and
functioning of our muscles that cause individual marks in creating an impact
on the material...Handprints/fingerprints being a personal emblem.
I used to compare pinch pots a friend made, and was envious.
Then I looked at his hands, which are considerably larger than
mine are...so I now consider the scale of my hands, the strength
of my arms as determining factors of what I make.
Then there is the range of ideas one spends one's time working
through.
Throughout it all, if you keep working, you will find your
voice, that which is uniquely your own...what a treat and
I think a spectacular path. To discover how I make material
my image of the world through clay.
bamboo karen
> Occasionally I feel I have a glimmering of some intense, personal
> feeling being expressed in one of my pots; have one like that now ...
> just a faint glimmering. Think maybe it borders on being a"good" pot,
> and yet, more important somehow, is that it does, indeed, speak to me. I
> just don't know what it's saying! Generally these glimmers come across
> as a feeling of satisfaction ... that what I've done does express
> something about me, the craftsperson. BUT this feeling is ALWAYS after
> the pot is completed; or maybe halfway through the process, I recognize
> where I want to go and, if I'm lucky, how to get there. Usually occurs
> during handbuilding, or when carving/decorating a thrown piece that I
> recognize that FOR ME something nice is happening. However, though I
> relish words, thought processes, talking, writing, reading ....
> communicating ... I would never be able to say in advance just what it
> is I wish "to say" with my work... Once I believed such statements to be
> pure pomposity; now, I'm not so sure. Are all of you getting something
> that I'm not? If so, can that occur later on another rung of the
> learning ladder?
Kurt Wild on wed 7 feb 01
At 09:04 PM 02/07/2001 -0500, you wrote
> > You are what you make!<
>
>Then today i am a lovely teabowl with a big honkin' thumbprint intentially
>pushed
>into the side. But should I be frog pond green or floating blue tomorrow?
Facetious? Maybe the truth?
Kurt
email: KURT.L.WILD@uwrf.edu
website: http://wwwpp.uwrf.edu/~kw77
Kurt Wild on wed 7 feb 01
You are what you make!
Kurt
email: KURT.L.WILD@uwrf.edu
website: http://wwwpp.uwrf.edu/~kw77
WHew536674@CS.COM on wed 7 feb 01
I've been sitting here reading all these interesting thoughts, feelings,
personal expressions on what your work says or doesn't say to yourself or
others, and really getting into it. Thinking in between posts, what my own
work may say or not say to others, and if I am expressing anything at all of
what I would like to in my work. And then along comes Kirt's post...."you
are what you make" BAM! Talk about bringing it all down to 5 words. Loved
it, came at the right time in the posts, and I'm not reading any more of
these posts. Enough time spent on reflection, time to get to work. Kirt,
your timing was perfect.
Joyce A
Diane Echlin on wed 7 feb 01
Kurt Wild wrote:
> You are what you make!
Then today i am a lovely teabowl with a big honkin' thumbprint intentially pushed
into the side. But should I be frog pond green or floating blue tomorrow?
Diane in CT
Diane Echlin on thu 8 feb 01
Kurt Wild wrote:
> > > You are what you make!<
> >
> >Then today i am a lovely teabowl with a big honkin' thumbprint intentially
> >pushed
> >into the side. But should I be frog pond green or floating blue tomorrow?
>
> Facetious? Maybe the truth?
Tongue -in-cheek! It's been a while since I've made something that I REALLY like,
that I feel has proportions that work, nice weight and heft, balance, etc. So I
think I must have *been* that teabowl when I made it. This kind of ties in with
the "where does your mind go" thread we had....I wedged up about 50 balls of clay
at once (unusual for me), and just started throwing and throwing. The first ones
were fairly laborious--I had an idea in my mind what I wanted to do, but I had to
really think a lot to get there. As I slid an early one off the bat onto a board,
my hand slipped, and I got a thumbprint. I threw more, and eventually was able to
do the bowls with 3 pulls, not really even thinking. And when I looked back at the
one with the thumbprint, I decided I liked it, so repeated it with the others. Out
of the 50, there is one that sings to me. Finally, I have a singer! The others
range from adequate to reclaim, and now I'm faced with the dread of "what if I ruin
thiss great (to me) piece with a poor glaze choice?" Knowing me I'll just dive in
and do something crazy just to see what happens. But I hope it still singss after
it's glazed!
Diane in CT
| |
|
