David Beumee on tue 24 aug 04
Ivor wrote:
Yes, your records will tell you what you did. But do they tell
> you what the fire contributed. Can you command again that rainy day
> when you fired that cherished piece?
As Cardew said, I exercise my intellectuality where it is relevant, science, the better able to keep it from interfering in a sphere where it is irrelevant, the creative act. Your words are an excellent reminder of why I choose the dangerous fun of firing a gas reduction kiln to cone 10, why I make my own clay and glazes, why I know that the more I explore the nature of clay the more I need to know, and why I know that a "deliberately willed injection of personality," into the pottery that I make is an impossibility and a mistake. And yet I know that a combination of all these kinds of knowledge and acquired skill, including the ability to solve innumerable technical difficulties inherent in our craft, is the door that opens the possibility of originality. The art of craftsmanship is edgy and fun and I love the challenge.
David Beumee
Earth Alchemy Pottery
Lafayette, CO
> Dear David Beumee,
> Nothing wrong with having a comprehensive system of records for
> reference to past trials. But in having that resource, is there a
> possibility that you exclude the potential for making a work so
> awesome that you wonder, long after the event , "How did I achieve
> that?". Yes, your records will tell you what you did. But do they tell
> you what the fire contributed. Can you command again that rainy day
> when you fired that cherished piece?
> Consider Mel's new work. Look at what he shows and recall how he says
> he is awed by what is produced.
> Perhaps this sense of awe will diminish as more and more control is
> exercised over a kiln by employing electronic technology.
> Best regards,
> Ivor Lewis.
> Redhill,
> S. Australia.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "David Beumee"
> To:
> Sent: Monday, 23 August 2004 11:49
> Subject: Re: big questions/art/Vince
>
>
> > Ivor wrote:
> > Looking back on those works of your own that you still retain
> because
> > > > they excite you, are there any where you regard them carefully
> and
> > > > wonder "How did I achieve that?".
> >
> > I am one who is and has been constantly excited about trying to
> achieve new colors, new variations of color and new glazing and
> decorating techniques at cone 10 in reduction. Because of this I long
> ago developed a numbering and recording system that may seem over the
> top to many. On greenware I band the bottom inside of the foot and
> sgraffito through last name, year and sequential number of the pot,
> and write down on a page what decorating technique, which glazes, what
> count of dip etc.If I get a racer I can look back and find out what I
> did. For one who is experimenting constantly I know of no other way to
> remember what was done, and years down the road for a pot I kept
> because of some special beauty I can still look up the number and year
> and say oh yes, that's what glazes were used, that's how I achieved
> that.
> >
> > David Beumee
> > Earth Alchemy Pottery
> > Lafayette, CO
> >
> >
> > > > Looking back on those works of your own that you still retain
> because
> > > > they excite you, are there any where you regard them carefully
> and
> > > > wonder "How did I achieve that?".
> > > > Does this apply to Mel, Vince and the others who have been
> making
> > > > lucid and informative comments in response to Mel' original
> prompt.
> > >
> > > Ivor -
> > > This is an interesting question, and I hope others will respond.
> Without
> > > going all the way back to undergraduate school in the early 70s, I
> cannot
> > > think of any specific examples of my own work where I am unclear
> how I
> > > achieved a certain effect. That shouldn't be surprising, because
> I tend to
> > > do my work in a very methodical way, especially in the colored
> clay work I
> > > have done over the last 20 years, and I try to fire in a very
> controlled
> > > fashion in order to avoid obscuring the colored clay patterns. I
> expect
> > > that the potters who do a lot of glaze experimentations,
> especially with
> > > glaze layering or multiple firings are more likely to look back at
> their
> > > earlier work and wonder how a particular effect was achieved.
> > > - Vince
> > >
> > > Vince Pitelka
> > > Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
> > > Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
> > > vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
> > > http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
> > > http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
> > >
> > >
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> >
> >
> ______________________________________________________________________
> ________
> > Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
> >
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> >
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>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> 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.
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