Roland Elac Tester on tue 3 jul 01
howdy
I'm not so sure that I would say that our country has no pottery traditions,
or respect for such traditions. Certainly we don't have a
nationwide/government sponsored appreciation like Japan's reverence for the
folk artist, but there is state/regional recognition for various artists
and/or traditions. For instance, the pueblo that Maria Martinez did her
black on black ware was most famous (and doing quite well) the last time I
was out west. In another example, closer to home, North Carolina is doing a
great job in honoring various pottery traditions round the state (there are
four or five distinct traditions in the state from the 1700-1800's),
especially the Seagrove area; the site of the North Carolina Pottery Museum.
Of course, there is a sizable section of the U.S. population that
couldn't or wouldn't respect the talent, time and effort required to make
good pottery unless you got Tiger Woods or The Rock to personally endorse
it. This doesn't make them bad folks; they've just got a different set of
priorities. Like a fellow that used to live next door (he designed
software) asked me once about my pottery, "Does it make sense to learn how
to do this when a machine can produce more, and produce it without
imperfections?". I just laughed and said, "If you got to ask, you'll never
understand."
-Roland Tester
Somewhere in the Lost State of Franklin
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