mel jacobson on mon 21 mar 05
was a row of tiny teapots by kelly sorvino.
it was a breakthrough show.
her life is changing as a potter. that is the only important thing.
i have helped change her life.
i am proud of that. there were three little sisters by marta in the
shino show. breakthrough, she is becoming a confident potter. now a kiln
this summer, and her life is a rocket.
nceca is a corporation, it brought in well over a million dollars
last week. it is run by committee. it is closer to a corporation than
a school. it rarely changes the lives of people. it does bring people
together. and, that is good. it is an event, like the superbowl. it is
impossible to judge its meaning.
my life is changed by serious potters and clay people.
nils has changed my life.
kurt has changed my life.
ron roy has changed my life
hank murrow has changed my life with down firing.
dale eldred changed my life.
(his powerful comment one day...`interior decorators disguised as artists
never change our world, mel, don't be a decorator, be a potter.`
kunio uchida has changed my life.
feriz delkic has changed my life with his science of firing.
now joe koons has changed my life. in a few months david armstrong
will change my life again.
strong, powerful people with passion and commitment change lives
and change the world of ceramics. as joe and i joked this week...we
are not `institutional potters`.
i am excited about my new relationship with both robin hopper and
tom turner. powerful men that never hold back their opinions. no fear.
working with malcolm davis and `black shino` and doing the
article for cm was important. it changed a great many lives. it was
a new focus. i think my book has a few messages.
now, iron, oxidized pots at cone 13 will turn heads.
i am not an interior decorator. never will be. as malcom said.
`time to quit riding this horse.`
my passion is the craft. how we manipulate clay, how we fire clay.
the only thing i want to do, and will do with the rest of my life
is teach people about clay, how to understand and trust our instincts
with the material that we love. how we melt glaze and of course how
we make pots that will be seen by people a thousand years from now.
and, without question, the dignity of being a potter.
has anyone, anyone noticed that museums are forever showing
exhibits of commercially made objects? design objects? what does that
mean? interior decoration and commercial objects have more value than
the art of our time. of course, when artists make art that cannot
be traded or sold, well, it is and becomes social comment only. pots are a
part of the history of food, our daily life....it is craft. ask diana
pancoli about her new
book...the history of clay and food. important stuff. why are so many
afraid and
embarrassed to be called `craftsman`? why is the understanding of
skill and material science not worthy of our time?
when the society pays your way and you do not have to sell anything
you make...hmmm, what does that say about your work? that has often
become the way of the art teacher. nothing has to sell, therefore
you can put a price tag of 800 dollars on a pot that looks like dog shit.
or 6,000 dollars for a teapot that sits on a shelf. decorators.
here is a story from ernest gann in his book `fate is the hunter`.
`if you put 200 pilots of b-17 bombers in a room and the colonel
says..`half of you will not come home from this mission`, each of
them will look around the room and say....`too bad the other guys
won't be coming back`.`
i felt that about the keynote speaker at nceca. he made fun of
american craft...folks looked around and said...`i know he is not
talking about me.` he was. it's time to get back to our roots. it is work
that we can participate in together. and, we are almost too late.
mel
mel jacobson/minnetonka/minnesota/usa
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
http://www.rid-a-tick.com
luckisprepaid
Kate Johnson on mon 21 mar 05
> and, without question, the dignity of being a potter.
>
Wow, mel, I loved that line. Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES. Quiet dignity.
Honest beauty. Touch. An alchemy of unassuming magic that touches the
bedrock of our world. Yes. Thank you.
Best--
Kate Johnson
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
Art, History, Nature and More-- http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Graphics/Fine Arts Press-- http://www.epsi.net/graphic/
Lee Love on mon 21 mar 05
Hey Mel. A person doesn't have to be an interior decorator to learn how
to decorate their pots.
Your buddy's advice is good for someone who pays too much to decoration.
But if someone doesn't decorate, but only dunks his pots because he
hasn't developed any aesthetic sense of design, or the necessary eye and
hand, he is simply short changing his craft.
mel jacobson wrote:
> has anyone, anyone noticed that museums are forever showing
> exhibits of commercially made objects? design objects? what does that
> mean?
One needn't take away from the other. There was a program about design
on T.V. tonight. The part I caught was about some really wonderful
Eame's chairs. When Hamada visited America the first time, he went to
visit the Eames. Below is Susan Peterson's recollection):
http://archivesofamericanart.si.edu/oralhist/peters04.htm
Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
> Charles and Ray Eames?
>
> MS. PETERSON: "Charles and Ray were famous in southern California
> certainly, but I had no way to know them until I knew Hamada. So that
> when – the first time that Hamada came in ’52 was when I first met
> Charles and Ray and then every time Hamada came to stay with me in Los
> Angeles we spent a day with Charles and Ray at their – at the studio
> looking at whatever their exciting projects were, watching – Charles
> was working with a “Rube Goldberg” experimental camera that he built,
> two and three cameras put together in various way. He would explain
> what his newest camera was like and then he would show us a
> three-minute film that he’d made with that.
>
> We had – Ray was always talking about the latest acquisitions of
> objects because they kept thousands of objects in little cubbyholes
> all over the studio because they loved looking at toys, at folk art,
> at fabric, whatever. So I again gleaned a lot of just enthusiasm,
> great vibes from those two people."
>
As Yanagi and Hamada said, if you are going to have improved
manufactured articles, the makers should be influenced and even get
designs from craftsmen.
> embarrassed to be called `craftsman`? why is the understanding of
> skill and material science not worthy of our time?
People always confuse technology with science. I listened to a great
interview with the theoretical Physicist Dr. Michio Kaku,
http://www.mkaku.org/, today on NPR. His specialty is Super String
Theory. He explained, in plain language, one theory of how new universes
are spun off of existing ones: Like smaller bubbles being formed of the
original. The bubble of the new universes manifest, on our side, as
black holes. On the other side of black hole is formed a white hole,
which is a new Universe. The root of our universe is a white whole! He
also explained that the newly discovered dark matter we can detect by
its gravity is possibly the shadow of the other 10 dimensions that exist
parallel to ours, according to the mathematics of string theory.
We work with technology. Most of us share it freely. We learn. No big
deal. But we don't really "anoint" it by calling it science.
> when the society pays your way and you do not have to sell anything
> you make...hmmm, what does that say about your work?
It is a matter of perspective, isn't it? Does someone that wins a grant,
based upon the merit of their work earn it? Just as much as someone who
takes witch hazel and gun cleaning patches, mixes them together and
calls them Tucks, for wiping your hemorrhoids (a friend's father in Mpls
invented these.) Both are using ideas to create what didn't exist
previously and are rewarded.
I don't spite people for making big bucks from their work, even if it
isn't a goal of mine. I don't spite people doing craft in their
retirement or people being supported by their spouses either. I am happy
that they can do what they love.
Society rewards what it values. If you value art, you don't spite it
being supported. I see pottery as equal to art, not simply because
functional is art, but because art is functional. I was once lucky
enough to hear Warren MacKenzie in a discussion with Sori Yanagi at the
Mingeikan, argue for art being included as craft.
Here is a quote from something I wrote earlier:
> Of course, art has always been functional. Ritual, until
> recently, has been the main function of art.
>
> I listened to Warren MacKenzie debate with *Sori* Yanagi
> (with Shimaoka moderating) for the reliance of art in Mingei. He
> explained that his best students tended to think that what they made was
> art, but, because they were inspired by folks work, and their attention
> was focused on process and materials, made their work a valid
> expression of Mingei *Sori* Yanagi disagreed, Shimaoka said MacKenzie
> might be right, but he didn't agree. Yanagi said Mingei must be
> strictly functional. MacKenzie ended the discussion by waving his
> arm to point at the expanse of scroll and folding screen and other
> kinds of paintings on the wall of the second floor auditorium and he
> asked, "What function does all these paintings on the walls we see
> serve?" I agree with MacKenzie. I recognize art as functional.
>
If we want to be more than middling craftsmen, we can't judge our work
only by how willing our neighbors buy it. Heck, if that were the goal,
just paint it cobalt blue! ;^) Competitions, good galleries, and
museums, when they do their jobs, show us the best work and educate the
public about the best work. I think we are fortunate back home in
Minnesota (because of MacKenzie's work) and here in Japan, because there
are so many people knowledgeable about good functional work.
Of course, good universities and technical schools can help too.
Anti-intellectualism does not help in any way.
> become the way of the art teacher. nothing has to sell, therefore
> you can put a price tag of 800 dollars on a pot that looks like dog shit.
> or 6,000 dollars for a teapot that sits on a shelf. decorators.
Dog shit is dog shit. Doesn't matter if you charge $8.00 for it or
$800.00 Not decorating your work does not keep it from being dog shit.
The way you up social aesthetic intelligence, is by educating the public.
> i felt that about the keynote speaker at nceca. he made fun of
> american craft...folks looked around and said...`i know he is not
>
Well, you need to check Hughes out a little bit. He makes fun of a lot
of stuff, especially people who take themselves too seriously. At his
Barcelona lecture, he called Jackson Pollock, "Jack The Dripper." He had
a great program on public T.V. called Shock Of The New. It put modern
art in a new perspective for me.
http://www.bbcfactual.co.uk/shock_of_the_new.htm
>talking about me.` he was. it's time to get back to our roots. it is work
>that we can participate in together. and, we are almost too late.
It is a total cultural malaise. If we don't snap out of it soon and
start leading again, we are going to have to move over and let someone
else lead. If we don't "lead or get out of the way" we will just have
shoe prints on our backs. Especially as the Boomers age and start
thinking about what they want to do in retirement, I think that
creativity can help get society back on track.
--
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://potters.blogspot.com/ WEB LOG
http://claycraft.blogspot.com/ Photos!
Elizabeth Priddy on mon 21 mar 05
any women on the giving end of your changing life?
mel jacobson wrote:was a row of tiny teapots by kelly sorvino.
it was a breakthrough show.
her life is changing as a potter. that is the only important thing.
i have helped change her life.
nils has changed my life.
kurt has changed my life.
ron roy has changed my life
hank murrow has changed my life with down firing.
dale eldred changed my life.
(his powerful comment one day...`interior decorators disguised as artists
never change our world, mel, don't be a decorator, be a potter.`
kunio uchida has changed my life.
feriz delkic has changed my life with his science of firing.
now joe koons has changed my life. in a few months david armstrong
will change my life again.
...i am excited about my new relationship with both robin hopper and
tom turner. powerful men that never hold back their opinions. no fear.
working with malcolm davis and `black shino` and doing the
article for cm was important. it changed a great many lives.
Elizabeth Priddy
252-504-2622
1273 Hwy 101
Beaufort, NC 28516
http://www.elizabethpriddy.com
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
Edouard Bastarache Inc. on mon 21 mar 05
Hehehehehehehehe !!!
"any women on the giving end of your changing life?"
Later,
"Ils sont fous ces quebecois"
"They are insane these quebekers"
"Estn locos estos quebequeses"
Edouard Bastarache
Irreductible Quebecois
Indomitable Quebeker
Sorel-Tracy
Quebec
edouardb@sorel-tracy.qc.ca
www.sorel-tracy.qc.ca/~edouardb/Welcome.html
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/smart2000/index.htm
http://www.digitalfire.com/education/toxicity/
Ken Chin-Purcell on mon 21 mar 05
Great post mel...
On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 mel jacobson said:
> why are so many afraid and embarrassed to be called `craftsman`?
Off hand I would say power, money, status, and how those are usually
aquired now.
I'm a product of the "new economy" and one of the lessons you learn
there is that it's the owners of intelectual property that run the
show. For example, a few years ago in animation our little company
was paid modestly to bring "Marvin the Martian" back to life but the
people who owned Marvin raked it in. The craftspeople of the world
aren't rewarded much (in money terms) for the skills they bring to
bear. Ownership of the idea is key.
Perhaps those manufactured objects in the museum are a way of paying
direct homage to the intelectual content owner. Whatever.
I'm still not sure that "craftsman" captures the best potters. I took
a course from Shirley Johnson this winter, which changed me for the
better, and she also isn't much for "art" pots. She does have a fine
appreciation though of the pot in the hand, what it looks like up
close and of those subtle expressive touches that can make a small cup
great. "Craftsman" could be bent to describe her but misses the mark.
She puts something in to her pots that is more than excellent skills
or extensive knowledge.
-- Ken Chin-Purcell
www.bungalowpottery.com
Jeanette Harris on wed 23 mar 05
>
>i felt that about the keynote speaker at nceca. he made fun of
>american craft...folks looked around and said...`i know he is not
>talking about me.` he was. it's time to get back to our roots. it is work
>that we can participate in together. and, we are almost too late.
>mel
Well, I see that Robert Hughes hasn't changed his shtick.
How clever of him to fold his theory over on top of his listeners and
shock them, operating in the guise of the great art observer. The
real "Shock of the New" is his device; his tool.
Although I did not hear his talk at NCECA, it sounds like it's the
same old song.
I stopped listening to him a long time ago when I caught on.
It is a very clever trick.
--
Jeanette Harris
in Poulsbo WA
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