Jenny Lewis on wed 20 nov 02
I=92ve been musing....
Recently at evening class I learned another new (to me) technique - BIG
blob on slow-turning wheel, rhythmically hit with fist to centre, then
hit in the middle to open. Wonderfully therapeutic after a stressy day
at the day job! Several of us were doing this new fun thing, so the
class got pretty noisy, and we ended up with some nice huge bowls - or
huge mud pies, depending, as usual. I=92ve seen this done by an expert,
Takeshi Yasuda, who is Japanese and has been living in the UK for about
30 years. I saw a demo of his, and the thumping technique is
fascinating to see when it is properly done.
Slight side-track, but related - about a week ago I started re-reading
Leach=92s A Potter=92s Book. Bought this when I started pottery many yea=
rs
ago, and I found it deadly dull at first, but every so often have hauled
it off the shelf and tried again. With more stuff learned and rattling
around in my head, I now find it slightly easier to get through.
The point - at last!!! - of this rambling... Reading the book yesterday
on the train to work, I shrieked, frightened a few commuters (that=92s ok=
,
they went back to sleep again) as I read a description of BL and son
David making saggars by hitting the lumps of clay with their fists...
great description of what I have just been trying myself. A second
shriek came on another page - I quote:
=93One woman started by asking if we hadn=92t got any =91blue pots=92, an=
d when
David showed them that last olive-blue glaze for which we have
experimented for years, she said: =91Oh! do you call that blue? No, I
want something bright to give to my niece for a wedding present. If you
haven=92t got blue, orange or green might do.=92=94
He eventually persuaded her that a soft celadon would be ideal for
displaying flowers.
For anyone who hasn=92t read it yet, it=92s pretty good. His style is a =
bit
dull at times, but the content is worth ploughing through.
End of lunch hour, end of musing, back to work,
Jenny Lewis
London UK, where I tried to see the meteors
but thick fog and cloud hid everything
so I went back to sleep
Roland Beevor on thu 21 nov 02
Jenny Lewis wrote: "..an expert, Takeshi Yasuda, who is Japanese and has
been living in the UK for about 30 years..."
I have been carrying around a quote from Ceramic Review by Takeshi Yasuda
which I found a while after the last art/craft debate and may just help to
put the next one off a few weeks more:
'Usually the talk is daft. Always the same judgement. Art is mind, Craft
is thing. They are not arguing about their mind. They have already fixed
their mind, so their argument becomes just like a tea pot. It's solid.'
Now whenever I hear something I diagree with I just think, "tea pot brain"
and the aggravation goes away.
Roly
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