Joyce Lee on tue 17 sep 02
Any claybud worthy of being called
Potter doesn't let another (including my
Most Esteemed Mayor) tell him which
colors are "acceptable" and which are
not. If we do, we deserve to be stuck
forever in a never-never land of kindly,
even loving, irascible souls who dictate to us more
Lowly Subjects that only those who have achieved
fame - no matter how righteously deserved that
achievement may be, carry the Stamp of Approval in their apron pockets. =
Advice
is sought and often heeded. Tell me
your personal experiences ... your history .... I'll sit at your feet =
listening,
absorbing, grateful for the opportunity...
I'll even travel far and pay more than I can afford for that
opportunity. But........ please....... do not insult me by
telling me which colors are "potters
colors" and which are not. My mind has
been honed over time to be more narrow
than I like to acknowledge, but even I
have more sense and comprehension of
breadth in art than the statements I'm
reading about "blue."
I'll forever
struggle with form, decoration, glaze
development and application, firing methods .... testing, hammering, =
driving loads to the dump,
mumbling all the while, "not yet.. not
yet .... soon now" as the years pass. BUT
absolutely trusting my own appreciation of all the
many Hues of Blue is simply part of being
a grownup.
I am at this moment, 6:41 a.m. ... as
I read a load of nonsense about the
color "blue"...... most of which makes
me chuckle ......
peering through the blinds at a wonderful
pale blue sky .... many blues in this case,
all light to pale ..... forming a backdrop
for the shinoed Sierra Nevada mountains ... many tones of shino .. some
almost black with the rusty, orange,
red oxide revealing
itself more as the sky brightens. I don't
need another to tell me that these are
gorgeous colors .... that such beauty and elegance would be worth
spending a lifetime in an attempt to=20
capture just this moment in a glaze.
Joyce
In the Mojave=20
Working Potter on tue 17 sep 02
In a message dated 9/17/2002 12:24:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
joycelee@IWVISP.COM writes:
Bravo, Joyce !!!!
BRAVO, YOU GO GAL!!!!
I actually quit a very nice gallery situation I was a member in when a
''friend' I had sponsored in took it upon herself to petetion the board to
keep me from using any of my long ago developed beautiful blues because all
she used were blues {she was an elderly widow and competent potter} and her
blue was not as nearly beautiful as mine and she wanted exclusivity.I thought
her gaul in pulling that was unbelievable and I RESIGNED when I saw the board
was actually even giving her request consideration.I am a potter and artist
because I liked the freedom it gave me to do what I FELT WAS MY CHOICE and
ignore those who wished to impose their will upon mine. My forefathers came
here for the freedoms and fought when they had to defend them and if we drift
toward the old country controls I've heard they impose, then we will have
forfitted them.My opinion.Viva blue when it is beautiful and works but don't
tell me i am any less a serious potter FOR USING IT when I CARE TO DO SO.So
THERE!!!
Misty
JOYCE SAYS-
""But........ please....... do not insult me by
>
> telling me which colors are "potters
> colors" and which are not. ""
Christena Schafale on tue 17 sep 02
Joyce, could you be describing Clayart here?? Sounds so familiar, somehow....
>If we do, we deserve to be stuck
>forever in a never-never land of kindly,
>even loving, irascible souls who dictate to us more
>Lowly Subjects that only those who have achieved
>fame - no matter how righteously deserved that
>achievement may be, carry the Stamp of Approval in their apron pockets.
What's the emoticon for "tongue in cheek"? I think a few posts on the
"blue" topic could have used it....
Speaking for myself, and quite seriously, I love blue pottery, always have,
long before I was a potter. (I have to smile when I think of the potters
from whom I purchased blue pottery, to whom I gushed about "what a lovely
color", and who may have been gritting their teeth and trying to be polite
-- always wondered why the smiles seemed so forced...)
I use a LOT of blue glaze on my own work, and am happy to do
so. Nonetheless, I'm beginning to get just the faintest inkling of why
some potters come to resent the public's demand for blue, as, one after
another, glazes that I developed and put a lot of work into, and loved
(iron red, root beer brown, fall foliage rust, green-frosted black) sit on
the shelves while the blue pots fly away. It just seems a bit...
limiting. Now perhaps that means that I am one of those not-so-hot potters
whose work only sells because it is blue.....if so, so be it. I've only
been doing this for a few years, and I hope to have many more to go. Maybe
by the time I've put in 20 years, people will buy my pots even if they are
brown. I'll aspire to that. In the meantime, blue glaze makes the
customers happy, moves the pots off the shelves, buys me more clay, and
pays for workshops and books, while I work on learning to be a better
potter. Good enough for me.
Chris
who is grateful that Mayor Mel has recently made clear that it is a
particular shade of blue that he reviles, not the whole family. There's a
really wretched powder blue that I personally can't stand (happened when I
put way, way too much rutile into a glaze), and I'll choose to picture
Mel's MIL blue that way.
Consultation and Referral Specialist
Resources for Seniors
christenas@rfsnc.org
http://www.resourcesforseniors.com
Phone: (919) 713-1537
FAX: (919) 872-9574
1110 Navaho Dr, Suite 400
Raleigh, NC 27609
| |
|
