primalmommy on wed 5 may 04
I am the product of every workshop I have ever taken. Sometimes I think
the closest I can come to "original" (except in some arty stuff mel
would hate) is when I make a hybrid out of two workshops. I can't bring
myself to sell those pots, though, and it is not very rewarding because
it just doesn't feel like mine.
I brought a whistle to NCECA that I called "vince pitelka and lana
wilson's love child"... refused to give, trade, sell it because it was
so clearly derivative of both potters' work. (I just brought it to show
Vince.)
I love making "Dannon pots" and since there are so many ways to texture
a slab I am OK with how they have evolved, feel like I have come up with
some new/awesome ways to use her technique.. but they are still and
forever and always dannon pots. I love to explain to people how they are
made -- potters and non potters - but short of running up to every
passer by to explain where you learned a technique, how does one "give
credit"? the few pots I have ever sold that were made from a thrown mold
had a little card inside that explained the process and mentioned dannon
by name.. but it kind of takes the fun out of it, having that sense of
obligation... there are times I wish I had never learned certain
techniques because I might have come to other unique ideas on my own,
given time.
When I was pregnant/nursing I didn't work with glazes, and spent a lot
of time making texture on clay in different ways. Now I have taken Lana
Wilson's workshop, though, and anything I do that is stamp-encrusted is
"hers". I remember wondering, when Dannon was showing her technique at
Appalachian Center for Crafts, why she would give her secret to so many
people.. I was new to this and had this idea of invention being a
proprietary thing. I didn't realize that when you have your unique
approach published in PMI or do workshops all over the country, it means
that folks can attribute an idea to an origin instead of thinking "hey,
I'll make some of these things everybody seems to be making now. "
Fashion and trend happen, but usually somebody is the bellewether.
This year I am going to do the Frank and Polly Ann Martin workshop at
the ACC. I need to focus uninterrupted time on throwing. I feel like I
am "fluent", (I can make the clay do whatever I need it to do without
much struggle,) but I don't have anything of any import to SAY. With
throwing, too, the influence is more subtle. I never walked out of a
workshop making Jack Troy pots or Linda Christiansen pots or Don Davis
pots or Leah Leitson pots. It is way more tempting for me to take
somebody's workshop "rodeo trick" and see where I can go with it than it
is to make a pot just like the one on their wheel. I feel like my eyes
inform my brain about thrown forms (and my hands, if I can touch) on an
ongoing basis, so it's more of a fine tuning experience to watch folks
throw. I love the center for crafts because it means long hours/days of
hands-on throwing, interrupted only by the need to have somebody make me
a meal ;0) or to get a few hours sleep. If you could see the scheduling
gymnastics it takes for me to carve out studio time you would know how
appealing that sounds to me!
Yours, Kelly in Ohio.. where everything is blooming and I have resumed
breathing, for the most part, on a regular basis ;0) and am reading
everything the library has to offer about breathing troubles.. yogic
breathing, diet and nutrition, exercise, allergies.. On the one hand, my
doc (and a wise friend) said "slow down, give yourself a break".. on the
other hand, the drugs they gave me made me so hyper that I stayed up
until 3am last night cleaning my studio until it looks like you could do
surgery in there.. I'm talking like Alisa's in Denmark, shiny clean.
(Only nowhere near as tidy. I tend to have things hanging on a nail
where I need them, and then odd things hanging between because they look
cool, and one entire wall of ceramics monthly posters, and a row of last
year's gourds hanging under the eaves, and a basket of cow bones by the
wood stove for no real reason..odds and ends, mostly odds.) Then this
afternoon I got a thick blanket and a fat pillow and stretched out in
the green grass in the sunshine under a blooming verbena, dozed a bit,
and watched the chicks hunt for bugs.. nothing like recharging your
battery.
_______________________________________________________________
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claybair on thu 6 may 04
I think we can take this a bit too far.
If we were to fear copying to the extreme
none of us would use a wheel, make and decorate a pot
Ever!!!
The point of a workshop is to assimilate technique.
The first step for the person taking the workshop
is duplication which generally takes practice.
A person who gives a workshop had better be resigned to
the fact that this is part of the process. If not they
had better not give workshops.
I attended a workshop with a few friends in CO. The room was
overly full with over 70+ people. My friends (who had been inclined to using
the
techniques taught before we attended) were attacked and accused of copying
at a show they were doing by the workshop giver. This was clearly
ridiculous.
Look in archives at the numerous threads about no technique,
application, form... basically ....... not no nothing ever being new!
Eventually if the artist/potter/whatever is worth their salt will
morph the technique into their own.
I think as artists we always seek what we can be passionate about....
copying generally is not a passion producer. Assimilating and having it
become
yours is passion!
When I read Dannon's article on the double walled salt and pepper shakers
I started making them. They were pretty popular and when asked
always assigned the design to Dannon Rhudy.
I wrote to Dannon and she informed me that it was a very old design.
I since found out about the similar form oriental tea pots
that were remade in England.
The true ownership probably goes back way before that!
Yes.... but, but I would never have made them if not for her article
so I still give her credit except mine look nothing like her's...
they are definitely Gayle Bair salt and pepper shakers.
Things eventually come full circle....
one day you might find you have to give yourself credit
for a design you began then Johnny Appleseeded.
Don't worry..... be happy......(Bobby Mc Ferrin)
Kelly, I am so glad you are feeling better.... I was very worried
about you!!!
Gayle Bair - just another crazy passionate artist who spends 10 - 18 hours
a day in a garage with clay.
Bainbridge Island, WA
http://claybair.com
-----Original Message-----
From: primalmommy
I am the product of every workshop I have ever taken. Sometimes I think
the closest I can come to "original" (except in some arty stuff mel
would hate) is when I make a hybrid out of two workshops. I can't bring
myself to sell those pots, though, and it is not very rewarding because
it just doesn't feel like mine.
Snip>
Lee Love on fri 7 may 04
claybair wrote:
>When I read Dannon's article on the double walled salt and pepper shakers
>I started making them. They were pretty popular and when asked
>always assigned the design to Dannon Rhudy.
>I wrote to Dannon and she informed me that it was a very old design.
>
>
"Very old design?" Hey Dannon, where did you learn them?
I'll tell my story later... I teach them, but only with the story
because the story is the whole point.
Gotta get ready for wood block class.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://potters.blogspot.com/ Commentary On Pottery
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