Vince Pitelka on mon 24 mar 03
> Yes I do see Clayart as a refuge from the stupid, mundane, critical,
dysfunctional, and illogical and sometimes evil world. This is a place
where it is only about the part of us that is pure, the love of creation and
excitement of intellectual inquiry. If I want the backporch ramblings about
war, there is plenty of that locally grown and available 24/7. I am not
hiding my head in the sand to want a place where the world is not.
Ahh, there's the Elizabeth we know and love. We've missed you. So, you
want this to be YOUR refuge, designed to YOUR specifications. Come on
Elizabeth. If you know anything at all about Clayart, you know better than
that. Every post I have made on this subject has had one essential message,
and you and some other people have misinterpreted it an dblown it all out of
proportion. That message is this: If this damn war gets to where we all
need to have a conversation about it, we will do it, and it will be the
right thing to do. That's all. It's pretty simple, and it is in line with
what Clayart has always been. Let's not try to change it now. It works so
well.
Thanks and best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
Elizabeth Priddy on mon 24 mar 03
Three things:
I remember once when the list went unmoderated for three days...it was unreadable and digressed so much that less than 10% was about clay. We were talking about barbeque for god's sake. I was part of the problem. Moderation saves us from ourselves. I see Clayart as a professional association. Business and making art are what it is about.
The other 3000 people on the list who are not your close friends just might not want to hear your ramblings about the war. People can get saturated. People can hate you because all they heard of the echoing rant in your head was the part that made it to the list. Isn't all media all the time enough? And I can't see you and your tone. I have never met you. I don't have enough information to truly listen to your passionate feelings about politics with accurate perception. Just keep your subject headers accurate, so that those who are trying to keep work and politics seperate, can.
and...
Yes I do see Clayart as a refuge from the stupid, mundane, critical, dysfunctional, and illogical and sometimes evil world. This is a place where it is only about the part of us that is pure, the love of creation and excitement of intellectual inquiry. If I want the backporch ramblings about war, there is plenty of that locally grown and available 24/7. I am not hiding my head in the sand to want a place where the world is not. I am up to my neck in the sand every freaking day and I want a place where I can stick my head that is not sandy for a few minutes. You have it completely backwards.
That said, do what you need to do. I can not read it if I lose interest.
My apprentice called me this morning and said that she had not completed her work assignments for the weekend because the situation is distressing her and she needed to pull back and spend time with her child. I told her that is what she should have done. And now that that is done, she needs to get back to work. Because the world will always be a distraction. There is always something in your life big enough to stop you from getting on with it if you just look around for it. She has come to me to learn to be professional. That means to be able to work when you don't feel like it, when there is something distracting, when you feel like you can't. That is the difference between work and hobby. You don't get to not do it because life is interefering. It will always interfere. And then three more years pass and you have not created anything worth showing to anyone. This is the stuff of mental blocks and paralyzing fear. I go by the motto:
Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's,
To God what is God's,
and to yourself what is yours.
This means pay your taxes, pray for the best, and watch your own damn back.
And a lot of other implications that you can figure for yourself.
Vince Pitelka wrote:
...If we
confined discussion on Clayart purely to technical or historical matters of
clay it would get boring very quickly. One of the things that keeps so many
of us interested long-term is the ecclectic, ever-changing quality of this
list.
...
For many Clayart members, some of our closest friends are other Clayart
members, and when we post messages to this list, we are posting messages to
an extended family. What better venue could there possibly be for
discussing matters of concern and fear that occupy our minds?
...
If you contend that even in a time of global emergency Clayart should be
confined entirely to matters of clay, then you are saying that Clayart
should be a refuge, a distraction from what is going on in the real world.
That is an attempt to make Clayart something that it is not. If you seek
refuge in a discussion of clay while the world is going to hell around you,
aren't you hiding your head in the sand
---------------------------------
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Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Gail Dapogny on mon 24 mar 03
Vince(see below) is right. Sharpen your delete thumbs if you're not in the
mood for the current discussion, whatever it may be.. Let's not get
sterile and rigid and too corporate like so many other lists. I love our
list because we are "eclectic" -- and fresh and interesting and often
funny. All of that ON TOP OF having the resource to beat all resources.
Don't knock it.
Maybe it's because, as artists, we instinctively know enough not to stifle
one another. Josh, whine a bit, tease, argue-- but not stifle. I bet
other lists don't have Clayart rooms...
---Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
Vince Pitelka wrote:
>...If we confined discussion on Clayart purely to technical or historical
>matters of
>clay it would get boring very quickly. One of the things that keeps so many
>of us interested long-term is the ecclectic, ever-changing quality of this
>list.... some of our closest >friends are other Clayart members, and when
>we post messages to this list, we are posting >messages to an extended
>family.
Alisa Liskin Clausen on mon 24 mar 03
This is going a little haywire, and so it has because we are.. claywire!.
Yeah, good for us. What a group
we are. We love our group. This list has every chance of becoming
sterile as a tuna salad left outside after a Polynesian picnic.
There was never any intention of dehumanizing the list, for Pete's sake. We
are very happy to
be a family and share on and off line, in person, etc. Let us not throw out
the baby with the bath water. Ouch.
The meaning of my opinion is that this list is dedicated to ceramics. OK,
starting point.
More or less everything influences our lives. Our lives are partly clay in
varying degrees for each listee.
Fine. Our posts will talk about clay and reflect and what we are
influenced by. It could very well be a good day
or a bad day, a birth, a death, a crisis or a bird singing in the spring.
There was ban of sorts once, on now it is Spring posts, right Mel?
What I referred to in my meaning that the list should stay dedicated to
clay, in whatever form that
is. That is quite a huge arena. I plain and simple do not think there
should be purely "I support and I do not support" posts. How the current
world issues influences us could be woven into our posts. Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe not does not make a person into an ostrich. What do you know, just
because a person's feelings are not
verbally expressed does not mean that they are non significant or vacant.
Missing the point. Maybe there are many points, not missed but some just
not addressed.
I am sending glaze tests next week. I look forward to opening the kilns. I
am continuing my usual proceedure: Writing to Clayart as the posts and my
days inspire me to do so.
Regards from Alisa in Denmark
Lily Krakowski on mon 24 mar 03
As a lover of irony, I certainly appreciate the "hiding in the sand" phrase
in the context of current events. Seems to me what and who is hidden in the
sand is what this is all about...
Gail Dapogny writes:
> Vince(see below) is right. Sharpen your delete thumbs if you're not in the
> mood for the current discussion, whatever it may be.. Let's not get
> sterile and rigid and too corporate like so many other lists. I love our
> list because we are "eclectic" -- and fresh and interesting and often
> funny. All of that ON TOP OF having the resource to beat all resources.
> Don't knock it.
>
> Maybe it's because, as artists, we instinctively know enough not to stifle
> one another. Josh, whine a bit, tease, argue-- but not stifle. I bet
> other lists don't have Clayart rooms...
>
> ---Gail Dapogny in Ann Arbor
>
>
> Vince Pitelka wrote:
>>...If we confined discussion on Clayart purely to technical or historical
>>matters of
>>clay it would get boring very quickly. One of the things that keeps so many
>>of us interested long-term is the ecclectic, ever-changing quality of this
>>list.... some of our closest >friends are other Clayart members, and when
>>we post messages to this list, we are posting >messages to an extended
>>family.
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
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> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
Hendrix, Taylor J. on tue 25 mar 03
Okay Vince,
We get it. You're right. Elizabeth is wrong. What a crime for her to
have a desire contrary to others on the list. Ho hum. This list in now
almost 2000 strong. Most of those people you don't know and will never
know, Vince. Better to speak for yourself rather than dictate what's
good for a group of 2000. Certainly it makes more sense to allow the
discourse to range far and wide and allow the individuals of the list
the opportunity to filter out what they do not want to hear (or read).
Why the need to discount Elizabeth et al's preference not to be peppered
with opinions on certain topics? What? Shame on her? Consideration is
a lovely word, ain't it?
So, when you and others (more than likely me too) feel the need to
express ourselves on marginally clay-based subjects, let's be
considerate and make a considered effort to consider the wishes of our
FELLOW clayarters and perhaps forgo the 12 paragraph postings about the
war. What ho? NOT exercise our first amendment (for the yanks) right
to free speech? Horrors. Be considerate. Let the Elizabeths make
their point without discounting it. Be considerate. Write your posts
with the understanding that there are those who might wish you wouldn't.
Be considerate and realize that good will and community need not always
lose out to freedom of expression. In a word, be considerate.
Mel, pot (and paint) on!
Taylor, in rainy Waco
P.s. What is it about consideration that the 20th century American finds
so hard to comprehend anyway?
-----Original Message-----
From: Vince Pitelka [mailto:vpitelka@DTCCOM.NET]=20
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 8:21 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: Art and War - hiding in the sand
... So, you want this to be YOUR refuge, designed to YOUR
specifications. Come on
Elizabeth. If you know anything at all about Clayart, you know better
than
that. Every post I have made on this subject has had one essential
message,
and you and some other people have misinterpreted it an dblown it all
out of
proportion. That message is this: If this damn war gets to where we
all
need to have a conversation about it, we will do it, and it will be the
right thing to do...
Vince Pitelka on wed 26 mar 03
Hendrix Taylor wrote:
"We get it. You're right. Elizabeth is wrong. What a crime for her to
have a desire contrary to others on the list. Ho hum. This list in now
almost 2000 strong. Most of those people you don't know and will never
know, Vince. Better to speak for yourself rather than dictate what's
good for a group of 2000. Certainly it makes more sense to allow the
discourse to range far and wide and allow the individuals of the list
the opportunity to filter out what they do not want to hear (or read)."
Jeese Taylor, if you had even read and thought about my message, yours would
have been entirely unnecessary. You are out in left field.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
Brian O'Neill on thu 27 mar 03
Vince,
I've followed all your posts on this topic and the responses generated
back and forth. IMO, you should take some of your own medicine.
Brian
>
> Jeese Taylor, if you had even read and thought about my message, yours would
> have been entirely unnecessary. You are out in left field.
> - Vince
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