Mark Potter on tue 5 mar 02
Let me share with you all the latest update on "Making Clay" and the
repercussions which that thread is having in my own life, namely a BIG
argument with my wife!
I dumped on Mel (not knowing it was Mel) for writing 'dabbler', but lo! my
wife takes his side in the argument!
She's from India, and really believes, I mean BELIEVES in handcraft to the
point of religion. Her mom organizes handworkers, women mostly, in the
Indian state of Gujerat, who weave, make baskets, metalwork, pots, and all
manner of other traditional crafts. She has always believed in handtools,
and handmade processes. No suprise my wife loves the fact I make stuff
myself - tools etc. But in this thread I was moved to defend the naive
artist that works with the paints supplied by the color by number
companies - those isolated souls using whatever is at hand, rather than what
others say he or she should use.
I countered simply that the choice of tool, Skutt, or glaze (readymade)
didn't necessarily mean "dabbler", and I still believe that.
Picasso, who once said: "If I don't have red I use blue", never spent time
mixing paint, and Van Gogh often bought prestretched canvases, since he was
finishing two to four works a day. These arguments bought me no slack with
my wife - to her - a potter MUST work directly with the clay - with the
earth, with tools he made himself, - or it wasn't pottery. To her all those
brand names, Skutt, AMACO (that glaze company), Bailey, just represent a
disconnect from the earth.
On this I cannot disagree - but nevertheless . . . as in "Jurassic Park"
with the dinosaurs, no pun intended, 'life finds a way'. Meaning, an artist
can, make from whatever is available, even if it be bagged clay or an
expensive electric wheel and kiln.
My point was this - Imagine both the tyranny and liberation that the wheel
brought to potters when it was first invented! The wheel meant the
beginnings of PRODUCTION. Standardization, piecework, a division of labor
between those that pay, own and control, with those that make, are paid, but
don't own.
To the hand builder the wheel must have represented an enormous technical
leap, a threat almost, and something to be suspicious about. That leap from
hand building to wheel throwing, even hand turned wheel, represented much
more of a leap than from hand turned wheel to electric.
To make pots of small and medium sizes for USE - the wheel meant a giant
leap forward. The craftsperson could make ten times the number of pots using
the wheel! The wheel brought SPEED! Did this eliminate hand building? No, of
course not. But it darn near eliminated it as a profitable enterprise -
except of course for ARTISTS. You see like the dinosaurs, the artist "finds
a way" to make whatever he or she does, work. That is the nature of art.
Musashi the swordsman, said: "When you don't have a sword use a stick". The
true artist, martial or material, breaks his reliance on any one thing. Does
the electric guitar eliminate the wood folk guitar? No. Comparing these is
false, particularly when assessing the value of art.
Industry puts choices in our path - choices which we as artists/craftspeople
must negotiate, and in some way deal with. They can't be ignored.
Van Gogh would certainly have used glitter paint, or Day-Glo pigments, had
they been available!
It is very easy to be threatened by whatever man's industry proposes. The
dialogue between industry and art are often the dialogue of a couple arguing
about the values of conservatism in educating their child. And artists, more
often than not, are the most conservative. It was a hundred years before the
structural steel of the 19th century finally made it into sculptures!
Artists are slow to take on materials and techniques for good reason. Each
new item on the menu risks throwing the creative tract into indigestion.
Another item to control, another color to contend with, another element,
which once added, could separate him or her from the Muse.
I'm thrilled with all the good energy coming from this group. Keep it
flowing.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Keith Bacus
Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 8:11 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Who?
Who made the clay
I dig from the hill?
Who made the wood
I carve a tool from?
Drat the wheel!
Drat the blade!
Someone already made these
But they're all mine for now
And use them I will
Use them as I please!
Keith
a putter in Walla Walla, WA
P.S. Mel, Thank you for all that you do.
When the conductors baton hits the hornets nest, the musicians all get a
point.
AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH! no no no no NO NO NO NO!!!!! I'm sorry, my dear mel,
our fearless leader, who we love and respect, but this is complete BULLSHIT!
It is the WORK that matters, not whether the clay is from Standard and the
wheel from Brent etc. Gail Nichols is a goddess in the clay world, and she
deserves all the credit you give her, but no not demean the struggling
independent potter trying to establish him/herself. There is NOTHING wrong
with using boxed clay, and the struggle of that potter may be no less heroic
than Gail's, depending on the specific circumstances. As usual,
generalizations suck.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
> if you get your clay from standard
> your wheel from brent
> your kiln from skutt
> your glazes from amaco.....what are you?
> well, not a potter.
> you dabble in ceramics.
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