mel jacobson on tue 15 may 01
i vote for against the wall.
making pots takes a great deal of
concentration, most new ones are
really deep in thought.
they faced the walls in my room for 35 years.
go to another place, wheels facing each other.
talk, throw things, talk, throw things...watch others.
they watch me, then go to work, watch me, then go to
work. they see enough of others work, most of it poorly
done. (vince will argue for facing, but he has a 6 foot
deck between his `college` kids.)
mel
exhausted, but a 72 foot slab is in...and ready for framing construction
thursday. taking a day off to clean the site, do some plumbing
rough.
94 F. at the job site today. too hot for this nordic guy.
from the farm in wisconsin
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
vince pitelka on wed 16 may 01
> they watch me, then go to work, watch me, then go to
> work. they see enough of others work, most of it poorly
> done. (vince will argue for facing, but he has a 6 foot
> deck between his `college` kids.)
It's not that I will argue with Mel here, because for his situation, wheels
against the wall work well. For the college studio I do like the wheels out
in the room, but I would never place the wheels right up against each other,
for the many reasons cited. As Mel mentions, at the Craft Center we have a
long low table between the rows of face-to-face wheels. It moves the
students just far enough apart that there is no casual conversation between
people opposite one another. In the college studio, when the wheels face
each other, the students tend to learn a great deal from each other. This
has been discussed before on Clayart, and some people said that throwing in
such an arrangement is difficult for beginners, because they feel they are
completely exposed and under constant scrutiny. That has not been my
experience at all. I am there to help my students, and they know it. If
they are hidden against the wall I cannot see when they need help. And more
often than not, someone else will help them before I get the chance to. And
when they are struggling, they often just look up and watch the other
students for a while and find the answers they need. In a college studio I
would never place the wheels against the wall. This is no place for
students to hide in a corner.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
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