John Baymore on sun 7 sep 03
Unfortunately the contemporary culture is faddist. Things come into
fashion, no one can live/do without them, the fashion passes, and a new o=
ne
takes over. Short hair, long hair, curly hair, straight hair. Tofu,
melted
goat cheese, Portobello mushrooms....right. Instead of plates with neat
clean rims, plates with shredded kale or carrots strewn all over.......
Lili,
You have this pretty well pegged! As a woodfirer since 1969, it is
interesting ( in a twisted way ) to see woodfiring becoming "all the
rage" in the past few years.
I have often (only halfheartedly) joked at workshops I give that it is
becoming such a "fad thing" that I am sort of embarrased to say that I am=
a
woodfirer..... and that I think I will start doing 04 electric with brigh=
t
color commercial glazes and china paints . But that kind of work
wouldn't be me.... and I won't start doing something just to make change
for change's sake or to try to "gain attention". So I just keep making
those flashed, brown, tenmoku, nuka, and shino pots I love. And I expect=
that I'll still be woodfiring away here when the "fad" starts to fade out=
once again.
If you look at a lot of exhibitions these days ......... a good amount of=
the work shown is woodfired. An AMAZING amount. And if it isn't wood
fired... it is lightly soda or salt fired that often looks a lot like woo=
d
fired. What the hell happened to some good use of COLOR? Lusters.......=
china paints....04 glazes. All that stuff. As a woodfirer and as a PT
educator....... I find the "one track" thing that is happening kinda'
unfortunate. Exhibitions tend to influence the education of upcoming
students ....... set the "bar", as it were......... and at the moment the=
"message" about what good work is is pretty narrow to the new people comi=
ng
up. We have been talking about the cultural and aesthetic "homogenizatio=
n"
from Walmart........ but maybe we have our own ceramic homogenization
problem happening too.
I LOVE woodfired pots......... that is why I make them. But is ALSO love=
pots with primary colors and such. It gets harder and harder to find the=
m.
Maybe jurors need to get out of their own comfort zones a bit more and
challenge themselves when selecting shows . There HAS to be some
potters out there making something really good "other than woodfired"
stuff.
Maybe that is a good exhibition topic to add to your NCECA panel
presentation........ the "Nothing Woodfired" exhibition.
best,
.....................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086-5812 USA
JBaymore@compuserve.com
http://www.JohnBaymore.com
603-654-2752 (studio)
800-900-1110 (studio)
Lois Ruben Aronow on mon 8 sep 03
>Unfortunately the contemporary culture is faddist. Things come into
>fashion, no one can live/do without them, the fashion passes, and a new =
one
>takes over. Short hair, long hair, curly hair, straight hair. Tofu,
>melted goat cheese, Portobello mushrooms....right. Instead of plates =
with neat
>clean rims, plates with shredded kale or carrots strewn all over.......
I so agree with this! I say - keep doing whatever you are doing, as
long it's what you love to do. Your time will come. It all goes
around. And then it goes around again. One of these days, your work
will be in vogue. And then it will be out of style. And then it will
be IN style again. =20
If you love your work and plan on doing it for the rest of your life,
you had better make the work YOU like. Trying to guess what everyone
else will like is a losing proposition.
> I have often (only halfheartedly) joked at workshops I give that it is
>becoming such a "fad thing" that I am sort of embarrased to say that I =
am a
>woodfirer..... and that I think I will start doing 04 electric with =
bright
>color commercial glazes and china paints . But that kind of work
>wouldn't be me.... and I won't start doing something just to make change
>for change's sake or to try to "gain attention". =20
A wonderful studio opened near me in the past year. Several people
asked if I would be joining, as they have a gas kiln. But my work is
my work, and I fire electric. And I am finally at a point where I
LIKE my own work. It is MY work. I can't even begin to figure out
what I would do if it was fired differently. Another 10 years of
trial and error? Not ready for that yet. =20
I am sure that somewhere down the line I will explore gas firing, but
I'm not ready to yet. I've tried several anagama firings and, while
the work was lovely, it wasn't "my" work. It was made by me, but
didn't speak my name. =20
There is an entire lifetime in which to explore different forms,
different glazes, different firing methods....and during that
lifetime, whatever work you're doing will at some point be THE FAD.
************
www.loisaronow.com
=46ine Craft Porcelain and Pottery
New Work for Summer 2003
New Show and Retail information
| |
|
