mel jacobson on wed 15 aug 01
i to, when at the acc show in st. paul, shook hands with every
potter showing. almost all of them, did not know what clayart
was, had not a clue about the potters council.
i believe judith duff was aware of all of the above...
it reminds us that many that do craft live in a vacuum..it is chosen
by them, to be that way. they often live in 1950.
often potters, without casting stones here, do not read.
they look at pictures. cm is a picture book.
ruth butler told me once, if i wanted anything to be heard by
potters, put it in the form of `letters to the editor`, it was the
only thing read in cm.
i have had dozens of potters tell me they `saw` my articles in
cm. i ask, `did you read them?`
`shucks no, did not have clue what you wrote about, just saw
the pittures. i don't like all that technical stuff`.
man, does that hit a cord...don't like that technical stuff...learned
about glaze one day back in 1962, that is all that is necessary.
40 minutes worth...have fired a kiln the same way for 30 years.
i do believe with all my heart, that folks on clayart are
getting a triple college degree. to open up to this kind
of discussion and exchange is the making of a well informed
group of folks. i find out new things every week. i change
things as i learn. i am glaze firing a totally new way, i bisque fire
a totally new way. i am aware of my glazes and how they last.
i am aware of toxicology that i did not know about 10 years ago.
i know about heat and firing. all new.
i use itc products and it has changed the way i think of electric
kilns. gas electric...god, what a new idea.
my attitude toward home potters has become much more tuned
in. the electric kiln has great value to me.
all clayart generated.
if one chooses the vacuum, well, that is a choice..but, man, is
it lonely, and ignorance often prevails.
mel
p.s. i did get a certificate in japan. yes, it is real.
all tests were passed. almost 5,000 complete pots made, 3 solo shows.
5 joint shows with uchida. (paintings too.) i still figure close to
10,000 pots were made, most scrap. i made the first thousand
with 20 kilos of clay. that is all that i had. uchida said, `make do, we
do not waste clay on dorks`. (not a literal translation from japanese.)
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
Dwiggins, Sandra (NCI) on wed 15 aug 01
dear all--
I received the first issue of the Potter's Pages, the newsletter from the
Potter's Council, and was extremely pleased with the content. I was really
surprised and delighted by the inclusion of the article by Ronald Mason on
Cobat in Glazes. It's obviously just as relevant today as it was in 1960.
That's a wonderful feature.
I'm a bit bewildered by the discussion of certification and standards.
Certification is quite fine for those who have their ceramics courses and
BFA's and MFA's. But, there are those of us who do teach, and teach well,
and have no BFA or MFA or recognized course work from institutions. Some of
us were taught by people who did not have a BFA or MFA from recognized
institutions, but we learned just the same, and many of us are successful.
I introduce this because I have seen this certification thing grow
completely out-of-hand in another profession, and has meant the loss of jobs
for people who were working in the profession successfully long before the
certification was adopted.
It's not that I advocate untrained people teaching untrained people, I am
bringing this up because I think this is something that needs to be
considered in any discussion of certification, especially in this
profession. Would the Mingei craftsperson be certified and by whom? By the
dozens of people in the village who buy his/her wares???
Keep the faith,
Sandy
-----Original Message-----
From: mel jacobson [mailto:melpots@PCLINK.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 8:33 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: living in the vacuum
i to, when at the acc show in st. paul, shook hands with every
potter showing. almost all of them, did not know what clayart
was, had not a clue about the potters council.
i believe judith duff was aware of all of the above...
it reminds us that many that do craft live in a vacuum..it is chosen
by them, to be that way. they often live in 1950.
often potters, without casting stones here, do not read.
they look at pictures. cm is a picture book.
ruth butler told me once, if i wanted anything to be heard by
potters, put it in the form of `letters to the editor`, it was the
only thing read in cm.
i have had dozens of potters tell me they `saw` my articles in
cm. i ask, `did you read them?`
`shucks no, did not have clue what you wrote about, just saw
the pittures. i don't like all that technical stuff`.
man, does that hit a cord...don't like that technical stuff...learned
about glaze one day back in 1962, that is all that is necessary.
40 minutes worth...have fired a kiln the same way for 30 years.
i do believe with all my heart, that folks on clayart are
getting a triple college degree. to open up to this kind
of discussion and exchange is the making of a well informed
group of folks. i find out new things every week. i change
things as i learn. i am glaze firing a totally new way, i bisque fire
a totally new way. i am aware of my glazes and how they last.
i am aware of toxicology that i did not know about 10 years ago.
i know about heat and firing. all new.
i use itc products and it has changed the way i think of electric
kilns. gas electric...god, what a new idea.
my attitude toward home potters has become much more tuned
in. the electric kiln has great value to me.
all clayart generated.
if one chooses the vacuum, well, that is a choice..but, man, is
it lonely, and ignorance often prevails.
mel
p.s. i did get a certificate in japan. yes, it is real.
all tests were passed. almost 5,000 complete pots made, 3 solo shows.
5 joint shows with uchida. (paintings too.) i still figure close to
10,000 pots were made, most scrap. i made the first thousand
with 20 kilos of clay. that is all that i had. uchida said, `make do, we
do not waste clay on dorks`. (not a literal translation from japanese.)
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
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Marcia Selsor on wed 15 aug 01
Mel,
I have to agree with you. I taught ceramics 25 years and subscribed to
CM, American Crafts, Studio Potter, PMI, Clay Times, Ceramics Art and
Perception. I kept these in my classroom after I read them -partially.
Never had enough time to read them. I have used spooge in my classroom.
Great discovery for repairing student work.
My replacements after I retired seem really in a vacuum. I have loaned
them books, nudged, etc.
I have learned so much on clayart over the last 6-7 years. I feel
connected to our village as Kelly puts it. I am thankful it is there. I
am better informed than I ever was. I love learning new things.
I also look forward to the Potters Council. I joined at NCECA.
I like knowing all these claybuds.
Best wishes,
Marcia
lpots@pclink.com.
--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/May2001.html
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Tuscany2001.html
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Gallery.html
Earl Brunner on wed 15 aug 01
As current president of the Nevada Clay Guild I have to agree. Some
potters are not tekkies in the sense that they have never done anything
on a computer and feel real awkward doing so. I have one fantastic
potter friend that's a great high school pottery teacher, lives in
another state. The only way to communicate with e-mail with him is that
he knows how to hit reply to an incoming message. So there is probably
a huge number of potters out there that don't orbit in our path. We
don't even know each other exist!
As president of the local guild though, some of the best potters in the
area choose not to participate in any way. This no longer surprises me.
I do find it frustrating because the rest of the members could really
benefit from them. But I guess they aren't "giving" individuals. I
can't live in a self imposed vacuum, I need interaction with others that
do clay.
mel jacobson wrote:
>
> it reminds us that many that do craft live in a vacuum..it is chosen
> by them, to be that way. they often live in 1950.
>
> often potters, without casting stones here, do not read.
> they look at pictures. cm is a picture book.
> ruth butler told me once, if i wanted anything to be heard by
> potters, put it in the form of `letters to the editor`, it was the
> only thing read in cm.
>
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec/
bruec@anv.net
Lee Love on thu 16 aug 01
----- Original Message -----
From: "mel jacobson"
> often potters, without casting stones here, do not read.
> they look at pictures. cm is a picture book.
> ruth butler told me once, if i wanted anything to be heard by
> potters, put it in the form of `letters to the editor`, it was the
> only thing read in cm.
People read The Studio Potter.
The issue focusing on Shimaoka is currently out. I have a little article
in it. Here is Studio Potter's web site:
http://studiopotter.org/
--
Lee Love
Mashiko JAPAN Ikiru@kami.com
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