Donn Buchfinck on tue 17 sep 02
I think back to when I started pottery, and I love blue, actually I love
glassy glazes, another NO NO,
Now when I went to the Kansas City art institute I learned the wonderful
aspects of BROWN, shino, albany based glazes, reves green, tomato red,
temmoku, and we did have Carmen's turquoise blue, but that was matt and not
really food safe,
The reality is, Blue sells, get a good rutile blue glaze and you can
guarantee money in the bank, at times the depth is not there, and we lament
the publics inability to like what we cherish, which is brown, shino,
woodfired, the sublime. We live in a fast food society, where flash is part
of the game. Blue is like gold also, there is a reason why a certain blue
is called royal blue, those bags that crown royal comes in are perfect for
some of my smaller pottery.
I think there needs to be a balance, we need to produce things that people
want but we need to keep ourselves interested. Blue is a necessary thing.
It's a survival glaze, and it's expensive, but worth it.
I look around my studio and I ask myself, well do I want to pay my rent this
month, those brown pots are nice, but the blue is going to pay the rent.
I think people who don't have to rely on selling pottery, but who call
themselves potters, are making these statements, When your a teacher you can
contemplate how many angles can balance on the head of a pin, and have the
luxury of not liking something that is a commercial success. It's like the
musician Sting saying he doesn't like his song Roxane. It's still going to be
the song he is remembered by.
We are talking about two different things here,
One is commercialism and one is self expression.
Balance is the key,
I think at times we forget that we make things that are supposed to make
people feel good, put a smile on thier faces, and like it or not Blue does
that for a lot of people.
Hey what about blue and gold luster.
Donn Buchfinck
San Francisco
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