Melanie on wed 20 oct 04
Can I ask you a question Mel? I've been lurking here for quite some time,
but never had the courage to post. I have always agreed with your comments
and taken many of them to heart. Your post made me want to write for once.
What if you can't ever own a kiln? Does that mean that the work you make is
not yours? If the glaze recipes you mix aren't your concoctions and the clay
isn't mixed by you - that just makes you a manufacturer? I'd like to think
otherwise. I'd like to think that creating that piece from a ball of clay
makes me the creator and owner.
I live in NYC - very crowded place - not much room for anything. I have been
lucky enough to set up a studio in my residence. I dream of being able to
own a kiln - but not where I am now. Space is a luxury here and if you are
the few that can afford a place, lucky you.
One day I will be able to get a place like that, but for now - I have to be
happy with being able to make my pieces at home, glaze and fire them at the
studio and claim them as my own.
Melanie
NYC, New York
sagewood@gmail.com
Laurie Kneppel on wed 20 oct 04
> Melanie wrote:
> What if you can't ever own a kiln?...... .....
>
> I live in NYC - very crowded place - not much room for anything.
Melanie brings up a very good point.
Space.
I know I take for granted that I have the space to house my wheel,
kilns, glazes and other studio stuff without having to move or rent
studio space somewhere else. My biggest whine is that i don't have
enough open space on my property to have a separate studio space from
my house/garage. Oh I could, but i would violate every city building
code in the book trying to shoehorn it into the backyard.
I live in the suburbs, literally on the edge of the city, only open
fields and the river behind my back fence. But I have wondered about
people who live in places more restrictive as far as space and codes -
how do they do it. And I have envied people who live on more than a 75'
x 110' suburban lot. And i know clay artists who live in retirement or
gated communities with even more restrictions on less space for what
they can do on their own property there.
And I am thankful for what I've got.
Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com
Potters Council, charter member
Sacramento Potters Group, member
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