mel jacobson on tue 23 nov 04
i have been thinking about how we copy, how we
use others for technique, glazes, slips, forms, but in the
end, each of us has a set of personal esthetics that rule
our decision making process.
i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
you feel.
i know many of you on a personal level, have seen your
work. it varies like the stars.
as my dear friend bob holman says:
`you pick up cm every month, year after year...and
you see a thousand ways to manipulate clay. each
person sees a new way, a way that matches them.`
i read all the magazines, go to the shows and travel
to nceca every year. i wonder how many pots that i see
make me think...`man, i want to make that`. almost never
would be my reply. i have my pots in my head. the next batch
is already made. i can even see the kiln being opened, taking
out the hot pots. often they are what i imagine. when they
are not, i have to look close to see if they are a wonderful
gift.
i have a very firm idea in my head what my pots should look
like. that comes from years of making them. the aesthetic
cannot be messed with.
gail nichols work stopped me like a brick wall. that is really
good stuff i thought. man, a new way. but, i never wanted
to make her pots. she already had done it. and, it was not
even close to my aesthetic.
joe's project for me was and is electric, but i have been working
with iron red/temmoku/moving glazes for a long time. it was
a natural extension. he knew that. i can make almost anything
move and blend. it is what i like best in glaze. if i were to
identify with anyone, it would be pots like richard aernie makes.
runny, ash glazes, full of rich color. they are stunning. i just
don't use ash. try for the same thing in many ways. moving glazes
make me smile. tight, hard surfaces are cold to me. i can appreciate
them, but i don't want to make them. same for porcelain, it bores
the beeejezzus out of me. i want more when i open the kiln.
so, there are my thoughts. add to them, debate them, and
add your own sense of this.
this stuff is very important. it is the thinking that makes the
pots happen.
if you do not have vision, how can you make anything?
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
Victoria E. Hamilton on tue 23 nov 04
Mel -
Thank you for this. I have been working in cone 10 reduction again for a
little over a year, after 2 or 3 years of cone 6 oxidation. During that
time, every move I made with glaze was an effort to have a piece look as
though it might have come from a reduction firing - occasionally relatively
successful - mostly not.
I hear some folks pooh-pooh firing a fuel buring kiln - "Oh, more folks are
firing to cone 6 these days." I can appreciate it, but I can't "get it" for
myself.
There is so much available - life - such richness in glazes fired on
stoneware in a reduction kiln. Give me a brilliant shino or a juicy temoku
any day. When I open a kiln like that, it is like a feast!
I want to acknowledge you for the depth and thoughtfulness of your comments
and replies to us all.
I also want to acknowledge the City of Burien, Washington, for their
commitment to the arts, to Moshier Art Center, and to the potters (myself
included) who have this stunning space available to them.
Victoria Hamilton
Millennia Antica Pottery
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On Behalf Of mel jacobson
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 15:07
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: personal aesthetic/topic
i have been thinking about how we copy, how we
use others for technique, glazes, slips, forms, but in the
end, each of us has a set of personal esthetics that rule
our decision making process.
i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
you feel.
i know many of you on a personal level, have seen your
work. it varies like the stars.
as my dear friend bob holman says:
`you pick up cm every month, year after year...and
you see a thousand ways to manipulate clay. each
person sees a new way, a way that matches them.`
i read all the magazines, go to the shows and travel
to nceca every year. i wonder how many pots that i see
make me think...`man, i want to make that`. almost never
would be my reply. i have my pots in my head. the next batch
is already made. i can even see the kiln being opened, taking
out the hot pots. often they are what i imagine. when they
are not, i have to look close to see if they are a wonderful
gift.
i have a very firm idea in my head what my pots should look
like. that comes from years of making them. the aesthetic
cannot be messed with.
gail nichols work stopped me like a brick wall. that is really
good stuff i thought. man, a new way. but, i never wanted
to make her pots. she already had done it. and, it was not
even close to my aesthetic.
joe's project for me was and is electric, but i have been working
with iron red/temmoku/moving glazes for a long time. it was
a natural extension. he knew that. i can make almost anything
move and blend. it is what i like best in glaze. if i were to
identify with anyone, it would be pots like richard aernie makes.
runny, ash glazes, full of rich color. they are stunning. i just
don't use ash. try for the same thing in many ways. moving glazes
make me smile. tight, hard surfaces are cold to me. i can appreciate
them, but i don't want to make them. same for porcelain, it bores
the beeejezzus out of me. i want more when i open the kiln.
so, there are my thoughts. add to them, debate them, and
add your own sense of this.
this stuff is very important. it is the thinking that makes the
pots happen.
if you do not have vision, how can you make anything?
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
____________________________________________________________________________
__
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.
william schran on tue 23 nov 04
Mel wrote: >i have been thinking about how we copy, how we
use others for technique, glazes, slips, forms, but in the
end, each of us has a set of personal esthetics that rule
our decision making process.
i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
you feel.<
I go to shows, read magazines/books, watch videos, visit artisan's
studios and watch closely what my students make. From all of these
sources I make sketches on scraps of paper and in sketch books.
My wife is always amazed when we return from a show, I have all these
sketches laying around, but none of the work I produce looks anything
like what I've seen or sketched. I see things other artisans do, I
see things my students make and I ask myself: "what if they do this
instead of that", "make that part smaller or surface more textured".
It all (whether or not it's pottery I've seen) gets my creative
juices flowing. Gets me to see the world a different way. I copy
everything I see in my head, but what comes outta my hands is just,
different.
I tell my students to copy, to keep sketch books. One of the projects
in my Ceramics 1 class is to reproduce an ancient (original made
before 1500AD) work of pottery. The students also do an oral
presentation to their fellow students about the pot, the process and
the history/culture.
For me, go ahead and copy, ain't coming out the same way.
Bill
Marcia Selsor on tue 23 nov 04
I was thinking about that today. I was at this big workshop in NC two
weeks ago and answering questions.
How do I keep my slabs flat?
I read on clayart years ago, use sheet rock. I only use one piece of
sheet rock with the slab face down on it. Then, Kurt Weiser did a
workshop at our college in the '80s. He said to wax the edges to keep
them from drying out too fast and warping. I incorporate these
technical methods into my horse slabs. The horses are mine. I draw them
from memory or imagination.
Marcia Selsor
big clayart groupie!
in clay, there is always so much to learn and so many ways of doing
things...never enough exchange of info.
And I have almost 40 years experience of working in clay.
Taylor from Rockport on tue 23 nov 04
Mel and ClayTown:
I'm still to young to be taken seriously, but this is one of the first
things that a person serious about this must work through.
I have asked serious potters like Mama Lili, Junk Yard Dawg, Barb what they
have thought about my pots. I have listened to what they had to say because=
they have all paid their dues. I have taken everything I could from such
comments, but always in the wee back of my cream-filled pate was a voice
saying, "Yes I see, but..." I don't think I should ever silence that voice.=
Mama Lili told me once that NOBODY could tell me how my pots should be
except me, and I have never forgotten it. When that wee little voice
(barberic yawp?) becomes louder and more interesting to listen to than
others, I will be well on my way to a personal aesthetic.
Any chance one has to go view pots with other potters, potters that one
respects, is a chance not to be missed. When you hear him or her say, "I
like this one" ask him or her, "why." Then it's your turn.
On February 2nd =96 27th in Rockport, Tx, TCAA will be having its 7th annual=
members show. Some of you ClaArters come on down and we can look at pots
together and ask each other why.
Taylor, in Rockport
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:07:06 -0600, mel jacobson wrote:=
>i have been thinking about how we copy, how we
>use others for technique, glazes, slips, forms, but in the
>end, each of us has a set of personal esthetics that rule
>our decision making process.
>
>i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
>right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
>you feel.
...
Elizabeth Priddy on tue 23 nov 04
I have always known that I am my pots. As I changed through life, the pots did too.
When I was young, I was insecure about my identity as an artist, but I was and
just couldn't make it in "regular" life. I could not work for others, was too opinionated
to toe the line. I had an "artistic temerament", but my roots were poverty and rural
fram community, not high brow elitist stuff. I went to college and worked full time
while carrying a full load. I graduated in 5 years with two degrees. I felt like a failure
because I had never become anything, just well educated.
Artwise, I got a comercial art degree because I couldn't deal with being a useless member of society, an artist. My roots would not let me value it as a profession.
So I became as close as I could deal with, a production potter using utilitarian glazes
and simple forms. I prided myself in how fast I could throw and how "useful" the art
I made was. My work reflected the fact that I could not express myself, I could only express conformist forms and things the public "approved of". I make one hell of a mug.
I had a health crisis about ten years into this and "got religion". I realized that if I did
not get on with it, I was going to die having made a million mugs and nothing that expressed my true self. This seemed wrong. My husband encouraged me to let go
of the steady money and the public approval of my "very nice pots". he said I should
explore expressing something I loved instead.
It didn't hurt that his job had advanced to the point that I could take the time. Providence
interceded. I met a chinese brush painter who could teach me how to paint the beauty
I saw in small things and the natural world. My other degree in Philosophy had exposed
me to chinese brush painting as a philosophical school of aesthetic. And it suited me in
my heart. But I still saw myself as a poor tobacco worker from nc. I had to get over it.
I started to work in porcelain. I started to paint on my pots, making them beautiful in
addition to their functionality-I still couldn't break away from the need to have the pieces
"do something". I had a really strong background in the history of functional pottery,
what was out there, how to make it. I was good at it and it was hard to let it go. I had
learned to copy when I learned to throw production. That is how it is done. The boss
comes in sits something on the table and you make that until he says you have enough.
I have made thousands of the same mug, the exact same mug, thousands. You learn
real control. Which meant that when I decided to learn to paint, that skill set came in to
play because the way you learn to paint with a chinese brush is to follow your teacher
exactly. You paint the same flower until you paint it the way she did. Just like copying
a mug. probably the only way I would have been able to deal with making art just to
make something pretty.
i got very good at it. I could copy my teacher's style exactly. Then I went to china. I
had an epiphany while touring the museums and seeing current chinese brush work.
The street art, museum work, the work on display in the mall. I realized that copying is
how you learn, and then to be great, you had to let yourself select parts from all schools
and subject areas and techniques according to your tastes. Your unique choices
converge and result in a personal style. For me this means realism, very upclose
perspective, a loose style of brush work, natural subjects, clay materials and glazes,
raku firing process or electric (wood is the enemy of color), a freedom of form, a
rejection of public expectation of subject matter and form.
i don't have to make function a necessary part of the pottery. Some part of me sees
the work I do now as not being "real" pottery. And that is ok. The work that I am making
that is not painting is also beginning to free up. With regard to looking at other work
and copying, it is an integral part of how I learned, how I think you must proceed to
really learn. It is part of my teaching philosophy and the proof is in the fantastic pots
my students make, primarily throwing. I don't teach them how to formulate glaze,
although I could. I don't even discuss aesthetic with them, because I don't want to
influence them, really. I just want to give them the bones to do whatever they want to
do. And I am very good at that. because I make them copy and I listen to them talk.
I don't discuss it with them, but I make them copy things that they want to make, not
the things they say, but the things my background in art history tells me they really
find beautiful, in little bites until they suddenly say "Hey, could you show me how to..."
And I say, " Try it your self. I am sure you can do that. If you hit a technical snag, I'll
help you fix it." They are amazed at waht they can do. I am not really. (My 18 year old
student threw a 35 lb pot at the end of the large forms work, in one piece, and it is
beautiful. I knew he could before he started, but he didn't)
I watch out for fear in them. Fear that something is beyond them, that it is too "high"
for them to do, fear that people will think they are "reaching above their staion". you
might be surprised at how much fear of seeming "uppity" impairs a person's ability
to deal with their own aesthetic. Who would have thought that basicly a a migrant
worker would be doing chinese brush painted raku. But it is what I like. there isn't a lot
of it out there. I basicly have to look to Korean pottery for the aesthetic I like. But that
is not as colorful, for that I have to look to chinese porcelain. Having to merge the two
makes for my aesthetic, that and picking a lot of bugs off of a lot of plants in the field and
not being able to afford glasses when you are so blind that you can't see the bugs unless
you look up real close.
The baby is indicating he needs food the only way he knows how, so my 15 minutes of
adult time is up. But I took the time. Thanks to everyone who has written. One of the
best pieces of advice I have gotten is to stop being so hard on myself. I had the boy only
two months ago, and if all I can do right now is reflect and think and talk, that's ok.
Thinking about pots and why we make them is like virtual pottery. Thanks mel.
And Tony...you are beautiful and delicate in some part of your soul, the part that loves
those fancy pots, the part that tastes the details of fine wine. Just because you have
roots in simple fare does not mean that you can't appreciate and create clay jewels if
you want to. Maybe you are boxing yourself in. You are not only what you have been,
you are what you want to become. And if that means letting your wood fire and gas sit
while you explore your intricate side, let it sit. The biggest strongest man i know plays
delicate music on a craviola guitar. He also plays hard rock in a band. We are all
complicated.
clennell wrote:
Sour Cherry Pottery
>
> i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
> right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
> you feel.
On the way home with my collegue Bruce Cochrane i expressed my mild form of
depression. I explained that my pots are always bold, direct, robust and
not fine and refined. He answered "You can't be what you're not."
Bruce is right. We are our pots. Stoneware suits my working class roots. I
am casual , direct, bold and not beautiful and refined so I just can't seem
to fool anyone with pots that are what I really am not!
Clayart for me now is more about why than how.
cheers,
Tony
Tony and Sheila Clennell
Sour Cherry Pottery
4545 King Street
Beamsville, Ontario
CANADA L0R 1B1
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com/current_news/news_letter.html
______________________________________________________________________________
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.
Elizabeth Priddy
252-504-2622
1273 Hwy 101
Beaufort, NC 28516
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
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Mayssan Shora Farra on wed 24 nov 04
Ok Mel:
Here goes * Big Sigh*
I am still a little in the twilight zone between newbie and proffesional, I
can see quality in my work now but I still cannot put my work under any
description. I use many methods to manipulate the clay to come up with a
very wide range of forms. I like a lot of potters work. I do love Gail
Nichols pots a lot but like you I do not aspire to make them or any of the
other potters I admire and I will not name as there are too many.
When I first saw George Ohr work, I really wanted to be able to do what he
did, not to make what he made, but to know how he made it so I can take it
and use it for my own forms.
I think that is it, I would see all those great pots and what I want to do
is be able to make them but take them to where I want them to be.
Pottery for me is in the hand of the maker much more than it is in the fire
which is a comlimentary thing somewhat like the framing of an artwork, (but
of course more integral) since I am a bit pyrophobic.
Runny, active glazes are a compliment to the movement in the pot, or
sculpture for that matter, and without a good glaze, the pot is less. and
the surprise of the fire, sometimes, is very pleasing, but in the end for
me the main event is the making of the pot, the tracks of the hand of the
maker, so no matter who I take from I am always true to my hand.
Mayssan,
in rainy Charleston WV, USA
http://www.clayvillepottery.com
J Lutz on wed 24 nov 04
>Mel wrote:
>i can make almost anything move and blend. it is what i like best in
>glaze. if i were to
>identify with anyone, it would be pots like richard aernie makes. runny,
>ash glazes, full of rich color. they are stunning. i just don't use
>ash. try for the same thing in many ways. moving glazes make me smile.
Is there a technical term for the process/act of glazes running and blending?
Where does one start to look in recipes for substances that cause that? Do
both glazes have to be similar in content? I'm not even sure I know what
questions to ask.
Is it possible to start with a static glaze and add something to it to make
it runny? I've tried adding ash but haven't had much success. Maybe I need
to add more.
Jean Lutz
Prescott AZ
(two days after an incredible fluffy soft snow fall that melted the next day)
Karen Sullivan on wed 24 nov 04
An interesting topic....
My thoughts at a moment of calm...
I touched clay at the age of 19 and
Wanted to focus on an exploration of the
Material as my life's goal....15 years later...
Lots of various careers...I went back to
School to study clay specifically....
Had the good fortune to select gifted
Teachers....amazing environments in which
To learn...Figured a grad degree would
Give me permission to state that clay
Was my career....it worked.....
Teaching is my support....
The nature of working in clay for me is
An exploration of a specific vocabulary
of how the clay moves...it's gesture....
Watching how the clay moves when you
Wedge provides ideas.
It suits my personality...quick, playful,
Loose forms....made and assembled
while the clay is wet...
Just thrown....I've talked about my 10 minute
Teapots...
Hero's are Goro Suzuki, Phil Cornelius
Or....careful, delicate, textured porcelain
That is made while quiet, thoughtful....
More about the clay than about the glazes....
Often about manipulating the clay while soft
And able to leave a trail of the touch of my
Hand...It makes the forms alive....
Combinations of form that is assembled into
Puzzles....Constructions of tubes...boxes/cubes...
Wonton shapes that sit on trays...
Creating a pedestal and delicate shapes
Of thin porcelain...
Firing in a charcoal kiln
Work that makes the clay less contrived
And is about the trail of fire as it travels
Around the work and the ash as it melts and
Flashes on the clay.
The process of the firing...and wisdom
Of the kiln give the marks on the clay...
The process...is tumble stacked pots...gas firing
To cone 10...then throw 100 lbs of charcoal on top of
The ware....dynamic process....
Wait a couple of days and unload what
Looks like the fire box of a wood kiln....
Amazing to unload... to see the trail of the fire
In each pot....Work that is fired ultimately
To cone 11 or 12...
I think that I have trouble limiting my
Work to a single focused path...I tend to
Be busy with several threads...that are
Related...but I am always quick to pick
A new idea I want to explore...then I
Can return to past forms and watch the
Slow evolution of making....So I leave a
Trail of work that looks somewhat related...
But diverse...
Teaching is a process in which I try to
Open the process of exploration and
Discovery to my students..with
Freedom for them to define their own
Vocabulary....explore their own ideas...
I often have diverse projects going on in
The same room.....makes for a busy day....
I try to do demonstrations as sparks of
Inspiration.... The gift I get is surprising
Expressions of ideas....
So...in thinking of the trail of my
Day to day....I feel lucky to be
Surrounded by sweet people who want
The space to work and get excited about
Their projects...with the support to articulate
their ideas...to help with defining process
And strategies of how ....
Bamboo karen
brushmaker....potter....
Darlene Yarnetsky-Mudcat Pottery on wed 24 nov 04
I think that we all admire pots that aren't what we would make. I have
seen some gorgeous black pots, but would never make them. About once
every 2 or 3 years there is a potter featured in CM that really reaches
me. Richard Aerni was one. Svend Bauer (sp) was another. My pots are
not remotely like theirs. But they speak to me.
We all take in so much from the world around us. It is a busy busy
world out there. Not just pots and images of pots, but objects and
nature around us also can be an influence. Saw Finding Nemo on the big
screen. Wonderfully done, such color! Been imagining a good blue and
green glaze combo since I saw the movie. Was a while before I made the
connection.
Went to an aquarium for the first time about 4 years back. Blew me
away. 2 years later new forms started emerging in my slab pieces.
Still pursuing these new shapes. Know where I want to go with them.
Just need some uninterrupted time.
Sometimes I see the pots glazed before I finish them. Usually when I
have been glazing for weeks and have just returned for a throwing
round. Haven't had that opportunity for a while. One winter I was
sick and spent 2 weeks just looking at old CMs, picking what pots I
liked, marking them and returning to them later to decide what I liked
about them, what worked and why. Learned a lot those two weeks.
My pots aren't where I want them to be yet. Still love my earth tones,
but haven't found glazes in cone 6 oxidation that quite do what I want
yet. I believe I will find them eventually. I am using other
combinations that work for now, and discovering a palette I wouldn't
have imagined otherwise. Suspect my answer is somewhere in between
what I was trying for and what I have found by accident. I get a
little closer each year, and am still delighted by the possibilities.
Guess that is what it is all about.
Back to work. Got to get those orders finished so I can play some more!
Party on everyone!
Darlene Yarnetsky,
Mudcat Pottery
clennell on wed 24 nov 04
Sour Cherry Pottery
> i have been thinking about how we copy, how we
> use others for technique, glazes, slips, forms, but in the
> end, each of us has a set of personal esthetics that rule
> our decision making process.
>
> i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
> right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
> you feel.
Dear Mel: you caught my wave length with this subject. I returned with my
students from Harlan House's studio last week. I looked at the elegant and
fine porcelain that he makes. It is no wonder that people pay the big bucks
for these pots. They are beautiful and refined. I know this is what people
want for their fancy homes. I could probably make fine porcelain but i don't
love it. I love old big rimmed batter bowls, cider jugs, bread bins and the
pots of the working class. The pots of the country house and not the
downtown condo.
On the way home with my collegue Bruce Cochrane i expressed my mild form of
depression. I explained that my pots are always bold, direct, robust and
not fine and refined. He answered "You can't be what you're not."
Bruce is right. We are our pots. Stoneware suits my working class roots. I
am casual , direct, bold and not beautiful and refined so I just can't seem
to fool anyone with pots that are what I really am not!
Clayart for me now is more about why than how.
cheers,
Tony
Tony and Sheila Clennell
Sour Cherry Pottery
4545 King Street
Beamsville, Ontario
CANADA L0R 1B1
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com
http://www.sourcherrypottery.com/current_news/news_letter.html
kathy_chamberlin on wed 24 nov 04
thank you mel, for opening up a discussion of this nature. finding
motivation and inspiration for me, anyway, is coming from the glass
art world. I live in a community that does not regard clay highly and
is not very visible. I do have outstanding glass art galleries, I
think, world-renowned. I visit these galleries and get so motivated
and creative and try to emulate and interpret what these glass
craftsmen are exploring in shape and form, with clay. I do not feel as
though I am copying, just translating parallels in similar mediums. I
will probably be flamed with this analogy but glass just "rocks" and
is so exciting.
thanks, kathy chamberlin
aspen, colorado
http://www.aspenceramicstudio.com/
Lee Love on thu 25 nov 04
clennell wrote:
>On the way home with my collegue Bruce Cochrane i expressed my mild form of
>depression. I explained that my pots are always bold, direct, robust and
>not fine and refined. He answered "You can't be what you're not."
>
>
A Japanese potter friend came to my graduation exhibition and he said he
was surprised by my work because he expected pots that were, well, he
did the muscleman pose and grunted (His english is a little better than
my Japanese but not so good, so it was the best way to communicate it.)
I took it to mean he expected more "macho" pots. He said the pots were
brighter, lighter and more delicate than he would have expected. An Elf
stuck in a tall Dwarf's countenance? :^)
>Bruce is right. We are our pots. Stoneware suits my working class roots.
>
You know, the shards that our European ancestors first saw, that were
used as ballast in the sailing ships that returned from China, were
mostly those of blue & white. On our daily walks through the farmer's
fields here in Mashiko, we are far more likely to find blue and white
Arita ware shards mixed with the stones on the path, than we are going
to find Mashiko stoneware. Your working class people preferred Arita for
everyday. Stoneware was for storage vessels and tea ceremony.
Hey, this is from a post of mine from a couple years ago. ( It was in a
post responding to Phil's complaint about Japanese potters getting high
prices for their pots):
> In Takuji Hamada's (Shoji Hamada's grandson) lecture from NCECA 2002,
> he begins by showing slides of two vases: One, an Onta vase and the
> other a garishly decorated Satsuma vase. He explains, that while we
> might think the Mingei type Onta piece is what the "people's" tastes
> were during the Meiji era, actually, the Satsuma piece was.
>
Satsuma is decorated with enamels: red, blue, green, gold, etc. The
"working class" tastes were very gaudy
I think that even though we might not know tea through its practice,
that many of us influenced by Asian high fired ware, are indirectly
influenced by the tea ceremony aesthetic which favors stoneware. I know,
you might say we are inspired by European or American stoneware, but
just look at our glazes: Temmoku, Shino, Celadon, Iron reds, etc...
Stoneware was not much used as tableware like what we make, but in tea
ceremony, and as storage containers in both Asia and the West.
So, in a sense, porcelain might be thought of as being more "working
class" and the tea ceremony inspired stoneware is more upper class. :^)
And I speak as a blue-collar person myself, in the first generation of
the family to go to college. To me, my blue-collaredness primarily
expresses itself in my willingness to do all the handyman (dirty) stuff
related to pottery and my financial expectations. I don't expect an
upper-class lifestyle or fame or fortune.
Speaking of "Western" stoneware. Friends of ours in Minnesota tape a
couple of our favorite T.V. shows for us: Star Trek for me and Antiques
Road Show for Jean. Last night, while watching Antique Road Show, we saw
a very beautiful Southern American alkaline glazed* bottle. The ash
glaze had wonderful runs and the color was a bright amber. The shape was
graceful, as graceful as any Sung vase, with expressive lugs. Any tea
master would love it. It only had a $2,000 price put on it, but I am
sure here in Japan they would pay much more. So I have a new inspiration
(just what I need, another tangent!) haha!
*Alkaline glaze
http://www.elkincityschools.com/ees/bill_land.htm
> Burlon Craig’s alkaline glaze is made from glass, ash, clay, flint,
> and feldspar. Lanier Meaders’ alkaline glaze is made of clay, ash,
> feldspar, and whiting. Meaders substitutes the feldspar and whiting
> for glass in his glaze because he says they are about the same thing
> as glass.
>
> Burlon Craig seems to be more of a purist with tradition than Meaders.
> Craig makes his alkaline glaze with powdered glass, ground with a
> creek powered trip-hammer mill, slip, sifted oak ash, small amounts of
> feldspar, and flint. He uses Albany slip on thirty of the pots and
> makes swirl ware by combining two different colored clays before he
> turns a pot. He makes clear glaze with equal parts of white slip,
> glass, and frit, with flint, feldspar, and two spoons of Epsom salt
> per five gallons of glaze. He dips the pots into a vat of glaze to
> coat them inside and out. Craig and Meaders differ on monitoring their
> glaze melting temperatures. Craig places small glazed clay pieces with
> holes for coat hanger retrieval that he uses to watch the glaze reach
> melting temperature. Meaders boils down glaze to a paste consistency
> that he rolls into witness cones. (Sweezy, 1984)
>
> http://www.elkincityschools.com/ees/bill_land.htm
>
also, look at these Kim Ellington groundhog fired Alkaline glazed pots:
http://www.kimellingtonpottery.com/pages/gallery/mainfrm.html
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/ WEB LOG
http://public.fotki.com/togeika/ Photos!
foxpots on fri 26 nov 04
Dear Mel and other Clay Arters,
Over the years I have found my interests to be centered around the kitchen
and garden. I try for graceful forms, finely finished, finely crafted,
pretty "tight", polished feet. Except for my flowers on pedestals, my glaze
palette is pretty much limited to an Albany slip/cobalt oxide black that I
love when it comes out looking like pewter; a "Chinese" red that is brick,
heavily impregnated iron, dipped in a rutile creamy top; a blue that I dip
in a gerstley borate/cobalt carb. blue, then place on the wheel and spray
with a white glaze; and a teal that I dip in a gerstley borate/cobalt carb.
blue, then place on the wheel and spray with a gerstley borate/chrome oxide
green glaze. I want my pots to be functional and to feel good and to be as
smooth as stoneware allows; hang them in my kitchen and use them all the
time. I do a lot of sprigging, doing sets of dishes with horse heads,
acorns, fox heads, griffons. Well, this could get too long. Mel, you just
got my brain in flux there. Thanks for the subject.
Jean Wadsworth Cochran
http://www.foxhollowpottery.com
www.kycraft.ky.gov/craftcgi-bin/index.cgi?busid=186
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On Behalf Of mel jacobson
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2004 6:07 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: personal aesthetic/topic
i have been thinking about how we copy, how we
use others for technique, glazes, slips, forms, but in the
end, each of us has a set of personal esthetics that rule
our decision making process.
i would like clayart folks to reflect on this concept.
right or wrong on my part/ but talk to us about how
you feel.
i know many of you on a personal level, have seen your
work. it varies like the stars.
as my dear friend bob holman says:
`you pick up cm every month, year after year...and
you see a thousand ways to manipulate clay. each
person sees a new way, a way that matches them.`
i read all the magazines, go to the shows and travel
to nceca every year. i wonder how many pots that i see
make me think...`man, i want to make that`. almost never
would be my reply. i have my pots in my head. the next batch
is already made. i can even see the kiln being opened, taking
out the hot pots. often they are what i imagine. when they
are not, i have to look close to see if they are a wonderful
gift.
i have a very firm idea in my head what my pots should look
like. that comes from years of making them. the aesthetic
cannot be messed with.
gail nichols work stopped me like a brick wall. that is really
good stuff i thought. man, a new way. but, i never wanted
to make her pots. she already had done it. and, it was not
even close to my aesthetic.
joe's project for me was and is electric, but i have been working
with iron red/temmoku/moving glazes for a long time. it was
a natural extension. he knew that. i can make almost anything
move and blend. it is what i like best in glaze. if i were to
identify with anyone, it would be pots like richard aernie makes.
runny, ash glazes, full of rich color. they are stunning. i just
don't use ash. try for the same thing in many ways. moving glazes
make me smile. tight, hard surfaces are cold to me. i can appreciate
them, but i don't want to make them. same for porcelain, it bores
the beeejezzus out of me. i want more when i open the kiln.
so, there are my thoughts. add to them, debate them, and
add your own sense of this.
this stuff is very important. it is the thinking that makes the
pots happen.
if you do not have vision, how can you make anything?
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
____________________________________________________________________________
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Gay Judson on thu 2 dec 04
I enjoyed Karen's musings on her personal aesthetic and practice in =
relation
to clay. I remember she wrote last year about building a minigama and I
wonder if that is the kiln that she refers to in:
> Firing in a charcoal kiln
> Work that makes the clay less contrived
> And is about the trail of fire as it travels
> Around the work and the ash as it melts and
> Flashes on the clay.
> The process of the firing...and wisdom
> Of the kiln give the marks on the clay...
> The process...is tumble stacked pots...gas firing
> To cone 10...then throw 100 lbs of charcoal on top of
> The ware....dynamic process....
If so I wish she would write more about her experiences with that kiln.
We have built two in our classes at Southwest School of Art & Craft--I =
would
be interested to compare experiences.
I planned to write personally to Karen--but thought others might also be
interested in her response.
Gay Judson
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG] On Behalf Of Karen
> Sullivan
> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 10:11 AM
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: Personal aesthetic/topic
>=20
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