Mary O'Connell on tue 26 nov 02
I think that it is important to note that America is the melting pot of =
the world. What is our culture? It looks to me to be a mix of every =
culture in the world because of immigration and the huge strides in =
technology bringing the world into our homes, via the internet, at will. =
I don't see a problem making items from other cultures as long as they =
come out as an inner expression of the maker which is unavoidable =
because try as you might you can never be Shoji Hamada. If we couldn't =
emulate other cultures how could we legitimately make classical form =
ceramics? Something of interest is to note that many Japanese masters =
have their apprentices making a lot of the work that they sign as their =
own so which pieces are ones made by Hamada and which ones were made by =
an apprentice? Because of the complexities of culture I think sky is =
the limit for anything one wants to make. If you are making classical =
form ceramics you might try incorporating things from your everyday life =
so the pots ring true to you, tea bowl form decorated with oak leaf =
motif for instance and make sure you really have an understanding of the =
form so creating it flows through you into the end product.
Mary O'Connell
Bob Pulley on wed 27 nov 02
I think Mary has a good point. What is our cultural heritage anyway?
And as to Leach neglecting his own culture, the pictures I have seen of
Leach's work looked more like English bottle forms than Japanese. It
should also be noted that cultural exchanges work both ways. Listen to
Afro Pop Worldwide on Public Radio. These guys are playing music in the
capitals of Europe and America mixing electric guitars, basses and trap
sets with talking drums, lute like instruments, and kalimbas. Their
rhythms are African, but who know what other influences are in the
music. And we also should remember that cultural crosspolinating is
nothing new. Would English Bone China have been developed if the
potters had not been looking for a response to Porcelain from China?
If I see an essence in something that fascinates me or seems to be a
response to an inner need then I will make it my own. Our very
identities are always changing and flowing from one thing to another.
We are the sum total of our experiences and thoughts as well as our
genes.
Ain;t it fun?
Bob
>>> moconnell@INIL.COM 11/26/02 12:09PM >>>
I think that it is important to note that America is the melting pot of
the world. What is our culture? It looks to me to be a mix of every
culture in the world because of immigration and the huge strides in
technology bringing the world into our homes, via the internet, at will.
I don't see a problem making items from other cultures as long as they
come out as an inner expression of the maker which is unavoidable
because try as you might you can never be Shoji Hamada. If we couldn't
emulate other cultures how could we legitimately make classical form
ceramics? Something of interest is to note that many Japanese masters
have their apprentices making a lot of the work that they sign as their
own so which pieces are ones made by Hamada and which ones were made by
an apprentice? Because of the complexities of culture I think sky is
the limit for anything one wants to make. If you are making classical
form ceramics you might try incorporating things from your everyday life
so the pots ring true to you, tea bowl form decorated with oak leaf
motif for instance and make sure you really have an understanding of the
form so creating it flows through you into the end product.
Mary O'Connell
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John Kimpton Dellow on thu 28 nov 02
Bob Pulley wrote:
>
> I think Mary has a good point. What is our cultural heritage anyway?
> And as to Leach neglecting his own culture, the pictures I have seen of
> Leach's work looked more like English bottle forms than Japanese.
--
Leach was borne and raised in the orient . So why wouldn't he
make oriental pots ?
John Dellow "the flower pot man"
Home Page http://www.welcome.to/jkdellow
http://digitalfire.com/education/people/dellow/
Philip Poburka on thu 28 nov 02
Too...there were those through our first
Century-and-a-quarter, as may be (or were) called
'Orientalists', and for such, were likely to have Homes
filled wonderfully with artifacts, robes, textures and
textiles in sumptious eclectic abundance, may have liked
Opium or Hashish now and then, and were steeped in the
Romance of the 'East'...
Part of our Cultural Heritage, is that for a long time,
there was, or one might have had, or been able to have, a
'Romance of the East'.
And as it is said that 'familiarity breeds contempt', so
too, with too much of the maybe 'familiarities' as got going
in the last seventy years or so, of the 'East' broadly
showing itself to be perhaps not quite so 'Romantic' as had
possible to believe, the voluptuous domestic interiors of
the occasional (if reclusive and discreet) 'Orientalists' as
one might have found, even in say Davenport, Iowa, or
Manhattan, Kansas... through the turn of the Century more or
less...faded...from from within, out of our 'cultural'
horizon...just about as good as if they'd never been there
at all.
Some may argue, and correctly, that among the Mineing
Companies or Railroad buiders, in the mid to latter
Nineteenth Century, were policy makers or 'bosses' who may
not have subscribed to some happy 'Romance of the East'...
Or that the "east" itself, turned out to lack it...as
well...
Phil
Las Vegas
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Kimpton Dellow"
Bob Pulley wrote:
>
> I think Mary has a good point. What is our cultural
heritage anyway?
> And as to Leach neglecting his own culture, the pictures I
have seen of
> Leach's work looked more like English bottle forms than
Japanese.
--
Leach was borne and raised in the orient . So why wouldn't
he
make oriental pots ?
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