Mert & Holly Kilpatrick on tue 30 sep 03
One of Lee's comments was interesting and I wonder how others see this:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Love"
> "Back home" (i.e. in the US), "being a potter is a counter-culture
lifestyle.
> Here in Japan, it is just another way to make a living."
I have the impression that was perhaps more the case in the 70's than now --
? Do the potters here feel like they are counter-culture? How about in
Britain, what is the feeling there?
Holly
East Bangor, PA
Lee Love on tue 30 sep 03
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mert & Holly Kilpatrick"
>
> I have the impression that was perhaps more the case in the 70's than
now --
> ? Do the potters here feel like they are counter-culture? How about in
> Britain, what is the feeling there?
There are 400 to 500 kilns in Mashiko, a small town of about 25,000
people.
How big is your town and how many potters live in it? This comparison
might put things in perspective.
It is hard to understand how mainstream pottery is here, unless you
spend some time here.
Lee In Mashiko
Norman van der Sluys on tue 30 sep 03
I, for one, definitely feel part of the counter-culture. Many of the
things I value are considered inconsequential by the mainstream of
American life, and many of the things deemed important by the mainstream
seem foolish to me. I am not interested in the materialistic life, be
it that of the well-off or the less fortunate who must make do with what
Wal-Mart has to offer. (Please let's not get off on that tangent again -
I shop at Walmart as well, but I don't measure my self-worth in terms of
things I have bought. Some I know do!)
I take satisfaction from having recycled a building that everyone said
was not worth saving and turning it into a comfortable and convenient
home and workplace, doing much of the work myself with a few volunteers
working at my direction doing the rest.
I eat from hand crafted stoneware dishes and my feet are caressed by
handmade rugs from the Middle East. I like to feel the connection
between those who labored to produce them and myself. I don't drive a
SUV. I have not contributed to the overpopulation of the planet by our
species. I am glad that the road outside my door is not paved. I favor
peace over war, understanding over argument, and cooperation over
competiton. I do not consider being "aggressive" a laudable trait.
These are attitudes that are quite unpopular in today,s society, and I
have willingly paid a price to retain them. Being a potter enables me
to live this kind of life with minimal outside interference.
Enough of the soap box, back to glazing.
Mert & Holly Kilpatrick wrote:
>
> One of Lee's comments was interesting and I wonder how others see this:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lee Love"
> > "Back home" (i.e. in the US), "being a potter is a counter-culture
> lifestyle.
> > Here in Japan, it is just another way to make a living."
>
> I have the impression that was perhaps more the case in the 70's than now --
> ? Do the potters here feel like they are counter-culture? How about in
> Britain, what is the feeling there?
>
--
Norman van der Sluys
Benona Pottery
Near the shore of Lake Michigan
Lee Love on tue 30 sep 03
----- Original Message -----
From:
> It this clear now Lee?
Hi Phil,
I knew you could write in a less inflammatory way. Thank you!
You deserve a thoughtful response.
There are very few rich potters in Japan. You are mistaken when you
think that this pottery where all the money is. A very few people doing
financially well happens in any craft appreciated here in Japan. It's
like Rock Stars or BasketBall players back in America. Lotsa people play a
guitar or own a basketball, but not many of them make much money from it.
When you say you heard a bout a potter who owned Rolexes and Rolls, it made
me think of the apocryphal "Welfare Cadillacs." I grew up with poor people
and none of them owned Cadillacs, but it makes great fodder for Straw Men
arguments.
Most of my potter friends, even ones who studied with famous
people, are have a difficult time getting by without other income, often
from a spouse's "steady job." A potter friend once said to me, when I
commented that I noticed that there were many more women truck drivers in
Japan that back home, that many potter's wives started driving truck after
the economic Bubble burst. The other thing that is different here, is
that potters all seem to be Type A. The are busy all the time. Their
schedule isn't as "relaxed" as potter's lives seem to be back home. Part
of this is just the economic struggle. I don't socialize much with other
potters because we are so busy. The Mashiko pottery fair is next month and
I plan to go to do research about getting into it in the spring. It will
be the first time I get a chance to speak to many of them, since the Spring
pottery fair. Back home, being a potter is a counter-culture lifestyle.
Here in Japan, it is just another way to make a living.
In Takuji Hamada's (Shoji Hamada's grandson) lecture from NCECA
2002, he begins by showing slides of two vases: One, an Onta vase and the
other a garishly decorated Satsuma vase. He explains, that while we might
think the Mingei type Onta piece is what the "people's" tastes were during
the Meiji era, they actually, the Satsuma piece was.
During the Meiji, when Japan was looking for ways to earn foreign
currency, they focused on making pottery for export. This mass production
was done at the large centers like Seto, Aichi Prefecture and Tajimi, Gifu
Prefecture. The little one person or one family kilns were on the decline.
When the large storage jars were no longer needed, many of them turned to
making knickknacks.
Basically, what Mingei did was make people look at the
indigenous folk pottery. This could not be mass produced by the
factories, and gave the small individual potterys an audience for their
work. Mingei helped create the environment for studio-artist potters,
that did not exist before this time. It enabled many people to make a
modest living doing a lot of hard work.
I hope this clears up the what it is actually like being a potter
here in Japan. I have to go now and trim some pots.
--
Lee In Mashiko, Japan Lee@Mashiko.org
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