Stephani Stephenson on tue 8 jul 03
I Love glass, respect glassblowers, the heat, the noise, the hot molten
taffy.....Beauty in the simplest blob and virtuosity in the skill and
artistry of many of the glassblowers and artists.
I think the rub is that
"when a gallery goes glass there's no goin' back..."
or "When a gallery goes glass, potters lose their ass"
here's the melodramatic saga of the road to ruin where pots are
concerned
when pots meet glass
put that glass, that eye candy in a prominent gallery window
it beckons
hot harlot
classy glassy lassie.
the light, the dance
the sparkle
the intense color
seductive, enticing , brilliant
the drama unfolding
even in a paperweight
we are drawn to those sparkly jewels of glass
entranced
ooooh pretty, pretty,
must have pretty!
must find wallet!
If you watch the process of making glass
you're a goner
even better.
watch the magic molten unfold and take form.
It is all there with clay too,
but our beloved clay looks dumpy and frumpy
next to that sexy vixen, glass!
even our brightest colors pale to the
jazz going on in that glass.
O once proud pot looks like a rustic rube now
a field peasant with potato skin and an old scarf
o shame that I say so!
I know it isn't true , for the pot has soul.
but the gallery owners and
the customers,
are now mad with glass fever.
They move the pots aside,
o the drab pots get in the way of
viewing and displaying the glass.
It has happened in city after city. First Seattle,
I saw it in Chicago
protect your pottery shops!
or soon you'll find the front windows and grand lobbies
full of glass.
The pots
out the back door
rolling slow
down the alleys.
(gaze skyward, hand to forehead, dramatic sigh, giggle)
Stephani Stephenson
steph@alchemiestudio.com
Bobbruch1@AOL.COM on thu 10 jul 03
<<<<< Stephani writes: >>>>> I think the rub is that "when a gallery goes
glass there's no goin' back..." or "When a gallery goes glass, potters lose their
ass" ....... here's the melodramatic saga of the road to ruin where pots are
concerned when pots meet glass ..... put that glass, that eye candy in a
prominent gallery window it beckons hot harlot classy glassy lassie. the light,
the dance the sparkle the intense color seductive, enticing , brilliant the
drama unfolding even in a paperweight we are drawn to those sparkly jewels of
glass entranced ooooh pretty, pretty, must have pretty! must find wallet!
I think that there is another factor working here, and it is not just about
flash, although that flash is an appealing draw. I am thinking of the mid level
gallery market - pieces that sell between $100 and $350. Glass seems to have
an advantage over clay in the EASY ability with color and flash, while clay
has an advantage in the use of intricate forms. There are glassmakers who are
working with great forms, but I tend to see this in the significantly high end
arena, so I am assuming that it is not easy for glassmakers to do. I just do
not see adventurous forms in that mid level price range. What I have
experienced is that glassmakers have an advantage in price as they can knock out vast
quantities of attractive work, partly with the help of production assistants,
and out produce and out price ceramic work in that mid level market. That
price range often tends to be a "gift" market and people don't care how it was
made so much as price/quality considerations. It is difficult to put form
against color on a price competitive basis given the time involved in creating the
forms vs. the time involved in creating the colors.
Bob Bruch
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