philrogers on fri 29 oct 04
I saw the Orton Cone Box Show in Indianapolis, last spring, and it is =
fascinating to see all those little artful creations. It is well worth =
seeing.
There was one discordant note in the Orton exhibit. A piece of =
hardbrick was in the show. Yup, the jury selected a 6" long piece of =
hardbrick for the Orton Cone Box Show. I scratch my head in wonder. I'm =
certainly not qualified to judge whether a sawed-off brick is "art." =
But I do receive the message the jury sent.=20
The jury for the Orton Show valued a brick over the creations and weeks =
of effort of 400 potters whose work was not selected for the show. =
There is a message to encourage potter's everywhere. We just have to be =
more creative in "finding objects" to submit to university juries.
Denny
Dear Denny,
If you'll forgive me for saying you have missed the point or at least =
received the wrong 'message'.=20
The firebrick you mention was, in fact, a brick that had been cut to =
exactly the size of a Cone box and therefore 'filled' it completely =
without even space for air. Janet Mansfield and I saw immediately the =
humour in this piece and it was for the 'humour' expressed that it was =
included. Of course we knew that not everyone would appreciate the irony =
of the entry but we thought it deserved a place if only to provide a =
talking point or to raise questions and discussion about the way in =
which we assemble 'group' shows and the resulting successful or =
otherwise juxtaposition of disparate works.=20
What you have done by raising this issue is exactly what we had hoped or =
thought might happen - a discussion about the relative merits of works =
that perhaps display very different amounts of effort, time, energy, =
material - call it what you will - to produce. At the same time to =
provoke thoughts about how we receive messages or how we 'read' ceramic =
art in terms of what it is trying to say to us over and above being a =
'vessel' with a function.
I would like to thank Cynthia Bracker for her defence of the jurying. To =
jury any group show is a tough thing to do, enjoyable but tough. I like =
to think that I take the process VERY seriously and I know Janet does =
too, after all she has vast experience in this area. Cynthia is right - =
there were a lot of entries that didn't make it into the show however I =
would say, and I say this with the greatest respect to those who didn't =
make it, the show almost picked itself. There were around the required =
number of pieces that were fairly obvious choices. I know that the =
exhibition was extremely popular at NCECA - in fact a number of people =
told me that it was the best exhibition at NCECA!
Hope this clears things a bit although I suspect we might see a few more =
posts on the subject.
Phil Rogers.
Phil and Lynne Rogers,
Lower Cefn Faes,
RHAYADER.
Powys. LD6 5LT. UK.
Tel. (44) 0 1597 810 875.
email. philrogers@ntlworld.com
visit my website at - www.philrogerspottery.com
also at: http://www.puckergallery.com/rogers.html
and : http://www.artistic.ws/phil-rogers.html
also: =
http://www.scarvapottery.com/Exhibition/default.asp?itemId=3D42&artist=3D=
9
and: www.studiopottery.co.uk
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