Lily Krakowski on mon 11 nov 02
Dear Joyce et al.
My point is not, and never was, and never has been, nor will it ever be,
that there is something stupid, wrong etc with people who buy equipment even
though they are still at the beginner stage. My point is not, and never has
been, and never will be, that one size fits all, and that there are not
people out there who have coordination difficulties, spinal injuries, bad
arthritis, and other physical or emotional limitations. At this stage of my
life, I buy some equipment because it saves me time, and fortunately, I have
the money.
What is my opinion--very typical of my generation of potters, very typical
of the heirs of the Romantic/Arts & Crafts Movement--is that one masters a
skill better, one becomes a craftsman more deeply--if one knows the basics
behind one's tools. I believe in learning to calculate glazes, in making
equipment and so on.
I am not an artist. I am a craftsman. I am not a clay artist, I am a
potter. THOSE THINGS ARE CHOICES, NOT HAPPINSTANCES, AND NO ONE NEEDS TO
AGREE WITH MY PERSONAL CHOICES--EXCEPT ME!
I have nothing against anyone as long as their work is breathtakingly
wonderful! I do however feel that the weight of advertizing in the
magazine, and often on CLAYART will make novices feel frustrated to helpless
under that barrage of publicity for prefabricated stuff.
Joyce Lee writes:
> Lily said:
> "To learn to throw one needs a wheel. One does not necessarily, as far as i
> can tell one does not at all, need a superduper pro model of a top of the
> line electric wheel when, even if one hires a carpenter type to build it,
> one can throw together a kickwheel with beams salvaged from a demolition and
> a flywheel made out of cable spools--"
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Oh, some ones of us do indeed need as
> top of the line electric wheel as we can
> possibly manage to buy. There are many of
> us on this List who have troubles with left
> and right, Lily, serious problems ... we're not
> dumb .... may, in fact, be very intelligent by
> somebody's testing standards ..... but for us
> it's Inside and Outside and that's it. No natural sense of direction whatsoever have we ...... none. I could write reams about this .... in
> fact, I have done so for this very list ... so
> I shan't write it all again. Suffice it to say that
> I was thrilled to discover that wearing a
> wedding ring would forever keep me aware
> of my Left Side, at least. AND that the
> Mighty Sierras were located to the west of
> my dirt road ..... so that for 20 plus years I've
> known west/east/ and subsequently north/south
> by aligning myself with the mountains to my
> left (see how handily the wedding ring works..)
> As an unmarried lass in Kentucky where we resided in a bowl surrounded by hills ...... thus, no
> ring and no significant landmarks .. and
> before I had become educated to the
> fact that such folk as I existed ..... lots of
> us .... I knew nothing about nuances
> of "directionality" concerns; I lived in a
> blissful state of ignorance. Then I left
> the hills and grew up ........
>
> And one day many decades later wandered into a pottery class where I
> was assigned to a kickwheel. Heavens
> to Betsy ..... Man!...... I did everything
> wrong. Started out correctly moving the
> wheel in the right direction..... glory be....
> but with the Wrong Leg .... really got
> that sucker movin' just as the teacher (my
> friend of many years, who'd never experienced this
> side of me) had suggested. Legs tried
> to corkscrew around one another ... I couldn't stop.....
> hadn't been told HOW to stop the dang
> thing ...... couldn't unwind so I might
> jump off this Monster Tall and Ancient Lockerbie. Knocked the water bowl off the tray. Lost a shoe. Tried to catch hold of the wheel.... almost lost my hands at the wrists. Worse yet, being in the throes of my contrary sense of humor, I was laughing until my sides ached. I still
> can't reconstruct actually stopping the
> wheel and disembarking, but I do know that my appalled teacher suggested that some poor guy
> (who'd arrived in class early just SO he
> could select his preferred wheel) swap
> wheels with me. The Poor Guy graciously
> agreed, I gained some control of myself finally,
> staggered to that blessed brand new
> Brent electric which the teacher wisely
> unplugged until I "got settled," and my love affair with clay began.
>
> So when making such apparently "simple"
> suggestions for "simple" equipment .....
> keep in mind, please dear Lily, that some
> of us Simple Folk don't fit in that box .....
> couldn't open it if we did..... IF we could
> find the opening in the first place. We're
> often the ones operating Outside the
> Envelope, too ...... (see the above about
> the Box.)
>
> Joyce
> In the Mojave having spent the afternoon
> with pulled ligament?/bad sprain?/may need surgery?/maybe not?/ right knee keeping the rest of me immobile for the
> moment.......
>
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Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
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