Stephani Stephenson on thu 4 sep 03
The difference is ,
The hand does not shape the clay in molded ceramics in the SAME way that
the hand shapes the clay in wheel thrown ceramics.
I know an artist who is making large (3-4 ft tall) pots, and who uses a
method of stacking mold sections and building the pot up into the
sections with slabs , until finished. As the mold and clay sections are
built up, the sections are banded, clay sets up, sections removed,
outside seams closed and smoothed, surface of pot ribbed and worked. The
pots are often left simple but surface relief elements , carving ,
sprigging or altering can also take place. The hands, eyes, and
aesthetic judgments are actively and intimately involved with the making
of these pots. They are also involved in the forming of the original and
of the making of the mold and of the glazing and firing. This process is
a time honored one which demands skill with hands and with tools and a
good eye. This person is also a decent potter, he prefers to work this
way.
In the process of making relief tile, many many hours can be spent
carving and shaping the model, or original. The maker of the tile is
acting as a sculptor and a painter in some respects during this stage,
composing the visual elements, making changes, adding clay, taking away
clay...This stage can be intensely creative, requires skill and is also
from the hands. Just as potters add impressions of texture and visual
elements to their pots, so do makers of molded ceramics. You may not be
aware of the involvement of skill and of the hands in further making of
molds, and pressing of tiles , or even of making slip cast molds and
pouring of multiples, and altering multiples.
These processes go back far into time, and I believe are as deserving of
respect as the skills of the potter.
There is also an economy of scale at work. Beautiful indeed is the
knowledge that a potter forms each pot. For the professional potter,
pots may be thrown at a speed which may allow them to sell each piece
for a decent price . For example, if a potter took 40 hours to throw a
mug, the potter would have a difficult time getting monetary return for
that mug, unless it was a very special mug. So the potter must either
make items which can fetch a large price , or think in terms of
handmade, handthrown multiples...
For the person who spends a valid 20, 40, 100 or 200 hours modeling or
carving a relief tile or sculpted piece for example, they must also
either ask a large price or think about multiples, in many ways , the
same as the potter. The difference to me , when thinking in terms of
STUDIO BASED operations, is just that there is variation in how the
hands are used... The hands are used in different ways and the process
is rationed out differently
So, for me anyway, there is a scale to both of these things, and I
wonder if this is at the root of disdain for 'molded' ceramics. The
nameless faceless awful things we have all seen done in 'molded'
ceramics. The things that don't even qualify as kitsch. Are we using
that stuff as the yardstick to measure the molded ceramics work done in
the ceramics studio? I think it is not quite fair to those skilled work
done in many studios.
Do you want to look at my hands? I think that will answer the question.
One time someone described to me a factory which actually produced wheel
turned ceramics by mechanized means,, even trimming, where trimming
scraps literally flew into waiting trenches and were recycled
automatically... I wish I could remember more of the details.
It seems as humans we are driven to discover and improve on the use of
tools.... the process of industrialization is perhaps the greatest and
yet horrifying stories of our human species. The use of hand and tool
is the hallmark of our species , yet when , at what point does it turn
from constructive to destructive. When does it go 'too far'?
I think some may draw a small circle .. "only the wheel and the kiln are
allowed". but there is a stage of purity beyond that , where one could
say only the hand , perhaps a stone held in the hand , and a fire are
allowed. Perhaps anything outside of that is tainted with the mark of
the industrial. So if we cannot meet the absolute purist standard, then
where do we draw the line? We draw it subjectively, and differently.
I have a sense , too , of when the human element ceases to be a part of
the finished product. I may not be able to delineate it in words, and my
sense of it may be different than someone else's sense of it.
In my sense of it, much of the work done with molded ceramics in
working studios is well and rightly well inside the bounds,
Believe or not, we fight the same fight as you potters, with regard to
mass production.
so , personally, "I won't take no talking down to about it! "....
There is a love for the turning and forming of the wheel thrown pot, as
there should be.
I love the pots that are from the potter's wheel.
Those of us who work differently are still a vibrant an valid part of
the heart/mind/hand/clay connection
sincerely
Stephani Stephenson
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