Earl Brunner on wed 14 feb 01
I must admit to being partial to short skirts....
mel jacobson wrote:
> some people like country western music. they like cowboy boots
> and short skirts. some people like rock and roll and green hair.
> spike up your nose.
>
> who cares?...like what you like, it becomes you...you become it.
> but, tea bowls, old ones from japan are like mozart. classical.
> if you don't care or understand...step aside. some people do
> care, and appreciate.
>
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
mel jacobson on wed 14 feb 01
some people like country western music. they like cowboy boots
and short skirts. some people like rock and roll and green hair.
spike up your nose.
who cares?...like what you like, it becomes you...you become it.
but, tea bowls, old ones from japan are like mozart. classical.
if you don't care or understand...step aside. some people do
care, and appreciate.
you won't find great tea bowls (chawan style) in store fronts
or gadget shops in tokyo. they are not part of the tourist trade.
the great pots are hidden....not for your eyes. you could live in
tokyo for ten years and never see one.
one of the great moments of my life was at mr. hamada's home. he
showed me tea bowls.....real ones. to make you cry. mozart.
i saw great tea bowls that came out of boxes in homes in kyoto...just
average people, `oh, this pot belonged to my great grandfather, it is
very special, we take very good care of it. it belongs to our family.`
rock and roll and tourist crap can be found anywhere. but, in many places
on this earth, classical things still exist. they are to be honored and
respected.
maturity, knowledge, experience all help to assist us in learning to
respect great art, music, dance, craft.
no artist crafts person can live in a vacuum. if you do, well, your work
will be as that vacuum.
the old pots of europe, jugs, salt ware, the wonderful majolica of spain,
the elegant porcelains of germany and france....things to look at,
study, copy. classical in their history. they are the pots that made us.
i love looking at the old pots of the carolinas, classical in form, just as
they were needed, to be used.
potters need to look at all of it. respect history and what made us.
this is an old theme for me, but i believe in it very much.
we live in a society that wants the moment. or as madonna once said...
`i hate instant gratification, it is too slow.`
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Paul Taylor on fri 16 feb 01
Dear Mel
A nice homespun explanation but I think it does not deal with what
disturbs people enough to make this a topic of many discussions on this
list.
I smell a rat and I am going to try to articulate the smell. Deep breath
here goes.
Recently I was at a ceramics exhibition and the man who opened the
exhibition Michael More - International academy of ceramics . Yes it stinks
of self appointed pomposity and cronies to me . However he did say something
interesting in that he doubted the statement that "potters were the best and
only judges of good pot" and I agree with him.
It Is my habit to brood on these things. So why do I agree with him? I do
not think that potters are necessarily the best judge. Yet this somehow
seems against the grain of common sense, the people who make pots must be
the best judge .
In my musings I remembered a football game (soccer to you Yanks) it was a
FA Cup Final the most important game in the English year. The game consisted
of a first division team and a second division team - the underdog. In
britain and ireland we have the perverse attitude of supporting the
underdog.
They kicked off . Almost from the start the commentators, whose
football credentials were impeccable, droned on about what a disorganized
and untidy second rate game we were watching. Meanwhile me and the rest of
the pub were standing on the seats as the scores changed in either
directions - all the way into extra time. I have never witness such an
exiting match in my life . However the two pundits managed to drizzle on
throughout the whole time how bad a game it was.
So what had happened? Even in a game where the object is plain and simple
to win within the rules. The two commentators were unable to enjoy
something so enjoyable to the rest of us fooballers and supporters .
The two commentators represent a group that have seen so much football
that they were bored with just wining or losing to the extent where the
point of the game is now lost to them. One of the two of these pundits often
states that footballers are the only ones qualified to talk about football.
My opinion is that some footballers are so caught up in the minutiae of
the game there tastes become so refined they wouldn't know a good game of
football. Unless it came within their strict criteria. I wonder if I would
have enjoyed their perfect game playing it or watching it.
I expect that as potters we also develop such snobbery due to boredom and
a wish for exclusively, which also increases our sense of community. Most
potter share the same material view and social position. We share an
esthetic of simplicity . I am happy to share Mels love of the tea bowl and
simple pottery. But that does not make the Style the classical example ;
even Mozart himself probably would have preferred a Ming style for his
drawing room.
When I look at a japanese tea bowl: I see the fire and the clay, the
years of tradition and the thrill is added to by my ability to see the
secret esthetics. I Know the stores that add to he illusion of deeper
meanings - in a language I and the self chosen few speak.
Where as a different artist/craftsman may only see a grubby old bowl
difficult to wash in a glaze that is half poisonous raved about by a load of
deluded snobs.
And what is the harm In a bit of a claim that potters know the best pots
and that football people should run the sport because they know best. Non
at all.
Except that some religious groups and national groups also think along
the same lines. They put their neighbors into camps because they do not
share the true faith. And worse still hawkish politicians and generals see
strategy and collateral damage and not the death and destruction of war -
then claim to be the only qualified Judges of history.
Regards from Paul Taylor
http://www.anu.ie/westportpottery
PS NIce to have you back
> From: mel jacobson
> Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 17:21:34 -0600
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: tea bowls and classical music
>
> some people like country western music. they like cowboy boots
> and short skirts. some people like rock and roll and green hair.
> spike up your nose.
>
> who cares?...like what you like, it becomes you...you become it.
> but, tea bowls, old ones from japan are like mozart. classical.
> if you don't care or understand...step aside. some people do
> care, and appreciate.
>
> you won't find great tea bowls (chawan style) in store fronts
> or gadget shops in tokyo. they are not part of the tourist trade.
> the great pots are hidden....not for your eyes. you could live in
> tokyo for ten years and never see one.
>
> one of the great moments of my life was at mr. hamada's home. he
> showed me tea bowls.....real ones. to make you cry. mozart.
>
> i saw great tea bowls that came out of boxes in homes in kyoto...just
> average people, `oh, this pot belonged to my great grandfather, it is
> very special, we take very good care of it. it belongs to our family.`
>
> rock and roll and tourist crap can be found anywhere. but, in many places
> on this earth, classical things still exist. they are to be honored and
> respected.
>
> maturity, knowledge, experience all help to assist us in learning to
> respect great art, music, dance, craft.
>
> no artist crafts person can live in a vacuum. if you do, well, your work
> will be as that vacuum.
>
> the old pots of europe, jugs, salt ware, the wonderful majolica of spain,
> the elegant porcelains of germany and france....things to look at,
> study, copy. classical in their history. they are the pots that made us.
>
> i love looking at the old pots of the carolinas, classical in form, just as
> they were needed, to be used.
>
> potters need to look at all of it. respect history and what made us.
> this is an old theme for me, but i believe in it very much.
>
> we live in a society that wants the moment. or as madonna once said...
> `i hate instant gratification, it is too slow.`
> mel
>
>
> From:
> Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
> web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
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>
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