pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on fri 5 sep 03
Hi Mark, and all...
In our time of things 'now', or at least in my experience so
far anyway...
There are several problems as attend prospective Artisan
related
Apprentiship arrangements...if not as attend actual ones.
1) There are very very few Artisans doing anything, or doing
anything as is more than some expedient abstractions or
patronizeing
rudiments, if that, in a discipline. Those as are may not
wish to give away much of the 'how' to some transient
applicant as wants to find shortcuts or get way ahead of
themselves and disrespect the knowledge with their shallow
ambitions to imitate it or have credit for what they imagine
is it's status.
2) Insurance liabilities...
3) Finding anyone with an aptitude or humility TO learn
anything, or, to care about Learning...or, to apply it with
any duration or appropriate
integrations of intelligence. Broadly, one will fond, in a
manner of speaking, too much ego, too little affection or
presence or sense.
4) Almost no one as should present themselves as some
prospective ( hit and run driver?) 'apprentice', shall be
found to have the background OF doing
things, of doing pragmatic things, of having the parience TO
do things, or to have a feel for the
methods or proceedures of doing them...it is all very
foreign to them and not 'instant' enough, like
'microwave-popcorn' or something. They have no patience for
the proceedures, and just want what they imagine to be the
( various ego-rewards of the)
finished products. Impatience or boredom may be seen to
arise, and quickly.
So too, ill temper generally...(read anxiety and it's
evasions into ill temper...)
There seems to me to be more Ceramic Arts and Pottery
Artisans than comparable other disciplines, but that may be
because I do not get out enough...I am in a town of a
million and a half people, and I know by rumor or otherwise
of almost no one as does anything here.
A few Potters...almost nothing else...
A few 'artists' as play the schmoose-image game and whose
work is a whole bunch mediocre.
One 'good' Artist as works in drawing and sometimes
Paint...very genuine, very talented.
There are places as make crappy mild-steel 'gates' and
fences as sometimes have mexican cast Aluminum or other
little
finials or vignettes or something, and some of them do very
expensive 'custom' work ( read garbage work for rich boob's
estates or lawns)
and some people get all excited and confused thinking these
people are Blacksmiths.
There used to be some Farriers and maybe still are, who knew
a few things about that, and new very little about
Blacksmithing as a broader occupation.
There are Leaded Glass Window Makers...and...some of them
are pretty good...I took a little 'class' at a 'community
center' as met once a week for a few months, and, byt the
latter weeks I was as 'good' as any of the best Leaded Glass
workers or Artisans here as I knew of...and in fact I was
better at skinny-wiggles and making circles and so on than
they. It was funny then TO go and talk with them, and hear
how they hype it all out into some big deal...and want a
hundred dollars an hour or something...Windows as I had fun
making in an easy 'day' they wanted ( in labor) some four or
five hundred dollars to do...intoning of how special and
long earned their skills were and so on...
Maybe for enough compensation or value to them...I could
have...( instead of going to the little community center
class - as was about worthless anyway, teacher mad at me for
my cutting circles out of my brung 'scrap' window-glass and
so on...making my Wool Felt 'Boards' to cut on, my making my
hundreth 1/8th inch by one foot 'skinney-wiggle' and so
on...)...maybe I could have been their 'Apprentice'...
I lost respect for them...
I heard there was some Glass Blower but I never found
them...
No Weavers that I know of...almost no (real) Cabinet Makers
or sincere able
Wood Workers beyond junky bathroom laminate 'vanities' or
the silly 'entertainment center' abortions...'custom'
garbage for rich boob's dens or something...'bad'
overall...and very.
Almost no (none known to me) capable or careing Carpenters
or
Housewrights...
I have had people at times tell me they wanted to be my
Apprentice, and none of them had either the temprement,
aptitude, presence, patience, common sense or eye-hand
co-ordination to amount to anything. Some were in their
twenties, some in their thirties, some in their fourties...
Really all they wanted was for me to 'show them' how to do
things...things as would be obvious IF they had the aptitude
or sincere affection for the tasks...really, all they wanted
was cheap results and not to be bothered with skill or
knowledge or careing...
One wanted to 'make guitars'...and had no patience for the
ways in which Wood is Worked, and no interest in Tools or
methods or steps and sequences and so on TO make anything.
Nor seeming interest to apply his intelligence to Learn to
make anything...he just wanted to 'make guitars'...he
planned on going to 'school' to be taught to do so ( without
method, proceedure or Tools or understanding of materials,
nor time nor intelligence nor
judgement nor accrueing experience we must suppose?)
I had a contract then for rebuilding endless commercial
Wooden chairs...many had seat upholdstry as was held on with
tacks.
I hired him to remove the upholdstry, and paid him $10.00 a
chair to do so, or, so long as he did so with all the tack
stems 'out', or driven 'in'.
I could do four Chairs an hour...(I could have done four
chairs an hour when I was ten for that matter...)
He could do less than one...
He wanted instead to be paid by the 'hour'....
Sigh...
Sigh again...
Children grow up never having seen anyone ever DO anything
( for real) as might have inspired their attentions or
ambitions...and never having done anything themselves.
They have no exposure to these things...no endemic
background.
When grown, almost all of them are utterely useless for
anything more than someone else's employ of them at or on
some fatuous
'job'.
Of all the Cabinet Shops I knew of here, or know of
now...none of them had or have any facility or knowledge
worth the
mention, of Hand Planes, Chisels, Hand Saws, on and
on..their
care, intelligent use, how to sharpen them, on and on...
Nor did they understand or have a happy use of their ugly
expensive modern machines, whose 'belts' were routinely far
too 'tight' and whose Bearings routinely went sour and so
on...and whose rigging was often 'out' and whose performanve
was troubled for it.
Some of these people 'collect' antique Tools...have big
displays...have large libraries all about
woodworking...and...
Like the fat woman as has the huge selection of 'diet'
books...
Anyway...
Apprentice to who?
For what?
I say...if something interestes you, get on it yourself.
Make your own mistakes, find your own insights and accrueing
testiments of experience.
Pay attention, try things, see what others have done and
wonder how they did it.
Value your own abilities to Learn, and, Learn by doing, by
reading, by looking, by dreaming, and by being interested IN
the Subject as itself...
The rest follows nicely...
Or would...
Phil
Las Vegas
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mondloch"
> Owen's post got me wondering about
assistant/apprenticeships in today's
> world- are these relationships still fairly common, how
they structured and
> are they usually successful?
>
> Mark and I really don't have any NEED for help. Mark's
blacksmith shop and
> my pottery studio are set-up for single person use, we
help each other when
> needed and we're able to balance our sales to our
production capability. But
> sometimes (like in the middle of winter, we've haven't
been out of the
> house/studio for 2 weeks, and we're a bit overdosed on
each other), we feel
> like we're at a point where perhaps we have some skills to
share and would
> enjoy having someone around for awhile.
>
> When potter's talk about apprenticeships, it seems like
1-2 years is often
> mentioned. Yikes! That seems like a huge commitment for
both parties.
> There's a tradition among blacksmith's for beginning
smith's to volunteer to
> work/live at a blacksmith shop for a week or two in order
to observe their
> shop practices and then move onto another. It would seem
like one work-cycle
> ( 3 weeks here) may make sense for potters.
>
> Some likely concerns for the hosts:
> -Trust- Will this stranger walk off with the place?
> -Liability-What if they get hurt or sick?
>
> Some likely concerns for the apprentice:
> -Travel/living expense
> -Other commitments
> -Trust- what if these people are really, really weird
>
> I don't know, I'd just like to hear others thoughts on
this. Students are
> willing to pay money and time to go to school which is
fine, but in
> retrospect, I think I could have learned allot and avoided
many problems by
> observing a working studio for awhile when I first
started.
>
> Sylvia
>
> Owen, you sound like you already have a great deal of
experience. I'm
> curious as to what you are looking to draw from another
> assistant/apprenticeship.
>
> ---
> Mark & Sylvia Mondloch
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