Vince Pitelka on sun 7 sep 03
Wow, how's that for a subject line!
Karen Hurt wrote:
> Have you noticed lately that many of the Indian pots are slipcast? The
> galleries will tell you it's art because of the carving or painted
surfaces.
Karin -
That is true at cheesy souvenier trading shops all over the west, and in
those cases unfortunately the "gallery" owners don't know the difference.
The worst are the ubiquitous "Indian Trading Posts" that line the
interstates. Much of the "Indian" pottery in those shops isn't even made by
Native Americans. At least two decades ago someone with far more greed than
taste discovered that a good percentage of the buyers in the Southwest
looking for a ceramic souvenier don't know the difference, so they started
slipcasting the forms. Then they discovered that the wares sold very well
if decorated with a scheme of popular "Sante Fe" colors that have never ever
appeared together on traditional Native American pottery - gray, turqouise
blue, adobe tan, black, rust red. Then they discovered that they could rip
off imagery from every Native American aesthetic tradition and freely use it
to decorate this slip cast pottery. And best of all, they discovered that a
good percentage of the buying public was so naive and ignorant about such
things that they readily bought this schlock, thinking they were buying
"authentic Indian pottery."
Remarkably, in some of these shops you can also find small "souvenier"
examples of Santa Clara blackware, Golden Hopi, and Acoma pots that are
authentic in forming and decorating methods, and yet are selling for prices
hardly higher than the schlocky slipcast crap. I wish more people took the
time to be better informed. It takes so little effort.
There are still plenty of Native American potters in the Southwest making
wares by the old methods. If you get off the interstates you will have no
trouble finding them. Last Christmas on our way back from the West Coast my
wife and I drove the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and then headed off
through the Hopi and Navajo Reservations. We stopped at quite a few trading
posts and galleries, and saw tons of beautiful pottery. Of course I
couldn't afford any but the smallest pieces, and I have plenty of those
already. We bought some silver jewelry for my wife. But it was gratifying
to see that so much quality work is still being done, and that they are
getting such good prices for their efforts.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
Snail Scott on mon 8 sep 03
At 10:23 AM 9/8/03 -0700, you wrote:
>While picking through the accurately described trading posts, I was told
by a seemingly reputable "gallery" owner that there is a law that is
supposively enforced stating anything marked Indian made was indeed as
such, and couldn't be falsely stated as so without a heavy fine.
Yep, a lot of Indian-style pottery is made by slipcasting,
with underglazes and glaze simulating burnished blackware
and acrylic paint doing darn near everything else. And
much of it is stamped 'Indian Made'. Because it is.
People who run these production shops know that if they
hire only Indians, they can legally claim the 'Indian Made'
label, and a higher selling price. There's nothing in the
rule that says it's got to be made with traditional methods
or in any particular style.
And, since an awful lot of Indians, like the rest of us,
need jobs, I can't blame them for taking the work. It's a
job. They're not 'artists' or 'native craftsmen', they're
just folks who are glad to have a paycheck.
(The only place I know of where technique is regulated, too,
is under the portal at the Palace of the Governors in Santa
Fe NM. Those blanket-vendor spots are coveted, and only
Indians with a registered tribal affiliation AND work made
with traditional materials are permitted to apply to sell
there. And the work can only be sold by the maker or a
family member.)
Fact is, Indian arts are regulated (to their limited
extent) because enough people do care about what they're
buying, how it's made, and by whom. If nobody much cares
how something is made, it will not be regulated. Even a
volutary labelling campaign for handmade pottery is
unlikely to change much of anything, because most of the
buyers just don't care.
-Snail
Pamela Watkins on mon 8 sep 03
Karen Hurt wrote:
> Have you noticed lately that many of the Indian pots are slipcast? The
> galleries will tell you it's art because of the carving or painted
surfaces.
Karen/Vince: That subject line did cause a chuckle,!!!
I just wanted to throw in some slurry to the bucket. I had a wonderful first time adventure thru Nor. New Mexico and Sou. Colorodo this past June. Mesa Verde, known for it's black and white pottery, had a well documented history of function to art clay production of the ancients and the Hopi.
While picking through the accurately described trading posts, I was told by a seemingly reputable "gallery" owner that there is a law that is supposively enforced stating anything marked Indian made was indeed as such, and couldn't be falsely stated as so without a heavy fine. Who, how, and if it is enforced, I don't know. I suppose if an Indian is slip casting, (which is just as discrediting to any race or gender of a potter), I suppose it could carry the tag. I picked up a smaller signed piece I could afford because the form spoke as a reminder of all that I absorbed there and I took lots of pictures of what I couldn't bring back home.
And just for my ten cents worth on the other thread I've been watching --------- slip cast commercial molds just isn't ART no matter who said they dunnit!!!
Vince Pitelka wrote:
Wow, how's that for a subject line!
Karen Hurt wrote:
> Have you noticed lately that many of the Indian pots are slipcast? The
> galleries will tell you it's art because of the carving or painted
surfaces.
Karin -
That is true at cheesy souvenier trading shops all over the west, and in
those cases unfortunately the "gallery" owners don't know the difference.
The worst are the ubiquitous "Indian Trading Posts" that line the
interstates. Much of the "Indian" pottery in those shops isn't even made by
Native Americans. At least two decades ago someone with far more greed than
taste discovered that a good percentage of the buyers in the Southwest
looking for a ceramic souvenier don't know the difference, so they started
slipcasting the forms. Then they discovered that the wares sold very well
if decorated with a scheme of popular "Sante Fe" colors that have never ever
appeared together on traditional Native American pottery - gray, turqouise
blue, adobe tan, black, rust red. Then they discovered that they could rip
off imagery from every Native American aesthetic tradition and freely use it
to decorate this slip cast pottery. And best of all, they discovered that a
good percentage of the buying public was so naive and ignorant about such
things that they readily bought this schlock, thinking they were buying
"authentic Indian pottery."
Remarkably, in some of these shops you can also find small "souvenier"
examples of Santa Clara blackware, Golden Hopi, and Acoma pots that are
authentic in forming and decorating methods, and yet are selling for prices
hardly higher than the schlocky slipcast crap. I wish more people took the
time to be better informed. It takes so little effort.
There are still plenty of Native American potters in the Southwest making
wares by the old methods. If you get off the interstates you will have no
trouble finding them. Last Christmas on our way back from the West Coast my
wife and I drove the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and then headed off
through the Hopi and Navajo Reservations. We stopped at quite a few trading
posts and galleries, and saw tons of beautiful pottery. Of course I
couldn't afford any but the smallest pieces, and I have plenty of those
already. We bought some silver jewelry for my wife. But it was gratifying
to see that so much quality work is still being done, and that they are
getting such good prices for their efforts.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
______________________________________________________________________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
| |
|
