Lee Love on mon 5 jul 04
Aesthetics are important. You need not talk "art" in
order to develop aesthetic abilities and language. But if we don't
recognize these qualities aside from technique, they can only be
developed haphazardly. Technique can only take you so far. All you
have to do is look at the actual work of the two approaches to see the
difference.
At the UofMn, about 14 years ago, John Kantar, who was
teaching at South High at the time, and was fresh from a residency at
Banff (experimenting with soda fire at cone 1), came to the basement
where us clay Trolls were stuffed, and did a little presentation.
The thing that stuck with me was what he said was the most important
thing he learned from Warren MacKenzie. He said (as best as I can
remember) "MacKenzie taught me an aesthetic and language that was
equally at home in evaluating and describing pots as it was
sculpture." This has stuck with me, along with memories of his
firing earthenware at cone 1 in soda.
I found John Kantar's webpage. Sounds like he is retired from
teaching, but is still making some good looking pots:
http://handmadepots.com/
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://journals.fotki.com/togeika/Mashiko/ Commentary On Pottery
| |
|
