Linda Arbuckle on fri 24 may 02
Hello Jeff,
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The art ceramics field needs good writers. Your observation that many
articles are about someone re-discovering the same patch of technical
ground is an apt observation, and one of the reasons the big "A" Art
people think clay is hopelessly mired in process and not centered in
art-think like the rest of the art world. I won't begin to take that
one on here, except to say that intellectual consideration of what you
make is a valuable tool. The need for tech sharing has also been really
good for our field. We know that it's the personal decisions in the work
that make it something more than a commercial product, so sharing the
recipe for that green glaze does not enable someone else to make your
work, because only you can do that. It's not the techniques, it's the
vision. This has produced a very interesting group of people. They're
well-socialized, usually play well with each other, and get together in
large numbers for endless shop talk. This doesn't happen with painters
or sculptors as far as I know, although glass blowers, printmakers, and
metalsmiths (who all have a lot of process to share) get together as
well.
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Writing about intangibles like meaning and context is slipperier than
writing about finite, concrete things like technique. It requires you to
have broad background, critical thinking, and an opinion you're willing
carefully substantiate and publicly acknowledge. It requires different
research and assimilation.=20
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Another issue in good writing about Ceramics is that there are few Art
Historians (specialists in research and writing about art) doing it. You
can't really major in Art History and specialize in Ceramics as far as I
know. You can be a Modernist, or an antiquities specialist, etc. and
catch clay in your time period, but not a broad immersion in Ceramics.
Art Historians count coup by getting published in refereed or juried
publications. These are refereed by a board of respected peers. If
you're in academia, you probably will have a hard time getting tenure
without this kind of peer validation. Writing for popular Ceramics
magazines would be the equivalent of a doctor being published in Better
Homes and Gardens versus The New England Journal of Medicine.=20
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Interpreting Ceramics, housed at University of Wales Institute Cardiff,
started a few years ago and is an online international journal about
Ceramics that is refereed. This may help. The online aspect lowers cost
and extends distribution possibilities.=20
http://www.uwic.ac.uk/icrc/
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It would be great for you to write. Rather than technical re-iteration,
it might be interesting to contextualize the work. What is it, why do
they make it, how does it reflect our times, values, and concerns and
tell us something about ourselves and our field? People interested in
'material culture' are looking into these things.=20
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Studio Potter magazine, edited by Gerry Williams, is a non-profit
foundation that has done some very interesting topical issues. Some are
technical (great issues on copper red, porcelain, lowfire, clay, etc.),
some are more conceptual (our connection to Asian pottery, the heritage
of Leach).=20
http://www.studiopotter.org/
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Critical Ceramics, an online publication by Forrest Snyder that has some
interesting interviews with artists and articles.=20
http://criticalceramics.org/
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Peter Dormer wrote some thoughtful books and edited some anthologies
that concern 'craft' (The Art of the Maker, The Culture of Craft). Brent
Brolin's book Flight of Fantasy; the Banishment and Return of Ornament
has been re-published as Architectural Ornament; Banishment and Return -
lots to mull over about prejudice against ornament, truth to materials,
middle class taste, the evolution of the art vs. craft separation. Ernst
Gombrich's book A Sense of Order: A Study of the Psychology of
Decorative Art has some interesting information about how we see and
perceive pattern, and how that shapes art. Edward Lucie-Smth's book The
Story of Craft is another good one. Henry Glassie is a folklorist at
Indiana University who's written about contemporary craft traditions
(and spoken at NCECA). Other people on my bookshelf waiting for me
include Peter Schjeldahl, Dave Hickey.=20
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Technical writing certainly has it's place. I'm thankful I have so many
good resources to send students to, and that so many good people have
taken the time and patience to clearly write about this aspect of making
work. But there are also other things to write about as well. Check out
some of the resources. Go for it!=20
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Linda Arbuckle, Associate Professor
University of Florida
School of Art and Art History
P.O. Box 115801
Gainesville, FL 32611
http://www.arts.ufl.edu/artex02/html/ceramics/arbuckle.html
(352) 392-0201 x 219
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