george koller on thu 27 mar 03
Stephani,
Want to mention to the group that Kohler company gives great (and free?)
tours of the ceramic areas and more. I fairly recently did a tour and
our guide (as is their practice) was a 30 plus year retired worker at
"the company". Indeed Kohler is/was a "company owned" town if ever there
is/was one.
Kohler Company also has an ongoing Ceramic Art Apprentiship/Artis
residency program which you can find out about by visiting their web
site. It seemed to me to be a pragmatic and effective program for
everybody concerned and the artists are often well respected and make
friends with the production oriented folks.
Much on the tour was impressive and most interesting. There is this
continuos kiln that sinks and all such just keep moving through. There
are robot arms spraying glaze over tubs. All large scale, you walk
through row after row of stacked sinks, toilets, urinals, and all such.
By the way, as I understand the history, it all started with an idea by
a traveling salesman to make a tub for bathing from a something like a
cast iron feed trough.
One thing, however, really "disappointed" me as much as it rather gives
me hope. Kohler company has a line of sinks on pedestals which are sold
at higher prices as "art" objects. What I saw actually saw was a
special room set off with persons clipping decals from pages and pasting
them around on the sinks. Well, I gotta tell you this is not my idea
of "making art" at all.
That's my nickels worth... now back to making some art on my terms.
Best,
george k o L L e r (we got the 'H' outta there)
Mary O'Connell on thu 27 mar 03
Just a side note to anyone who might be interested. Kohler also has a
fabulous museum in Sheboygan, WI a stone throw away from the factory near
Lake Michigan. I toured it a few years ago and it was a wonderful
experience. Even the bathrooms are full room installations and each one
designed by a different artist. Not all the exhibitions in the museum are
about clay in fact most are not. They exhibit a very diverse collection of
art and it is ever changing. A must see if you get out that way.
Mary O.
----- Original Message -----
From: george koller
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 10:26 AM
Subject: Kohler, Production, & Making Art
> Stephani,
>
> Want to mention to the group that Kohler company gives great (and free?)
> tours of the ceramic areas and more. I fairly recently did a tour and
> our guide (as is their practice) was a 30 plus year retired worker at
> "the company". Indeed Kohler is/was a "company owned" town if ever there
> is/was one.
>
> Kohler Company also has an ongoing Ceramic Art Apprentiship/Artis
> residency program which you can find out about by visiting their web
> site. It seemed to me to be a pragmatic and effective program for
> everybody concerned and the artists are often well respected and make
> friends with the production oriented folks.
>
> Much on the tour was impressive and most interesting. There is this
> continuos kiln that sinks and all such just keep moving through. There
> are robot arms spraying glaze over tubs. All large scale, you walk
> through row after row of stacked sinks, toilets, urinals, and all such.
> By the way, as I understand the history, it all started with an idea by
> a traveling salesman to make a tub for bathing from a something like a
> cast iron feed trough.
>
> One thing, however, really "disappointed" me as much as it rather gives
> me hope. Kohler company has a line of sinks on pedestals which are sold
> at higher prices as "art" objects. What I saw actually saw was a
> special room set off with persons clipping decals from pages and pasting
> them around on the sinks. Well, I gotta tell you this is not my idea
> of "making art" at all.
>
> That's my nickels worth... now back to making some art on my terms.
>
> Best,
>
>
> george k o L L e r (we got the 'H' outta there)
>
>
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