Angela Davis on wed 6 jul 05
=20
by Dennis Krueger
This article first appeared in Studio Potter, Volume 11, Number 1 =
(December 1982).
Read it here;
http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=3Dart0001
Angela Davis
In Homosassa watching the bisque kiln, should be finished around =
midnight.
Lee Love on thu 7 jul 05
Angela Davis wrote:
> by Dennis Krueger
>This article first appeared in Studio Potter, Volume 11, Number 1 (December 1982).
>
>http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001
>
>
Thanks Angela! Ain't the quest more important than the Answer?!?!
Dennis explains clearly:
> /To throw./ Potters at Marshall Pottery in Texas describe their work
> at the potters wheel as /turning./ They understand only the modern
> meaning of /to throw/ and do not use it to describe their work.
> However, the Old English word /thrawan/ from which /to throw/ comes,
> means to twist or turn. Going back even farther, the Indo-European
> root /*ter-/ means to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn. The German
> word /drehen,/ a direct relative of /to throw,/ means turn and is used
> in German for /throwing./ Because the activity of forming pots on the
> wheel has not changed since Old English times, the word /throw/ has
> retained its original meaning in the language of pottery but has
> developed a completely different meaning in everyday usage. Those who
> say they /throw/ pots are using the historically correct term. Those
> who say they /turn/ pots are using more current language. Both are
> saying the same thing.
Leave it to etymology and finding the root meaning of a word to screw
the English language up, lead to sloppy thinking and/or make you
discussion "narrow." ;-)
--
Lee Love
in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://hankos.blogspot.com/ Visual Bookmarks
http://ikiru.blogspot.com/ Zen and Craft
"We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
-- Prospero The Tempest
Shakespeare
Ben on thu 7 jul 05
Been watching the turning/throwing thread at a distance after pointing
out that "turning" was the term used in the traditional potteries of the
American South.
Varied and sundry impressions-
I found it interesting that Dennis Krueger pointed out that the
etymology of the word throwing actually meant turning. So as to say, in
terms of meaning, the root words are identical. You say tomahtos I say
tomatoes.
I also appreciated Tony's post which showed perhaps the evolutionary
path of the term "turning" to mean the mechanical trimming of the
outside of the pot. As sometimes attached a derogatory "industrial"
connotation to the term by "artistes" So, too, the similaritie to the
use of the wood lathe, which in traditional woodworking, would be the
only tool befitting the descrption and remarkably similar in operation
to the handwork of the potter in trimming his pots, especially the
reciprocating lathes. Definitely an affinity there.. The bodgers of
England were some of the last to succumb to mechanization. Interesting
that in the unique terminology of wood working the expressions trim and
trimming were already in use for another function...
Not that I can't recognize a distinction between coil and throw or
coil and paddle, but if our communication is so impersonal and
incomplete as to necessitate the use of strict terminology in order to
be understood .... but we must get the correct caption on our photos
mustn't we...What was that quote by the English potter about American
potters being really good a taking slides? But if we attain to making
even good pots to whom do you pass it on, where is your culture ...who
wasn't touched at some time by centuries of potters digging their
grandchildrens clay...it might be a romantic whim to us, but what
foundations lost...
I personally appreciate the folk traditions and culture of the American
South a great deal. I often use the terms turning and trimming and find
them quite accurate, descriptive and accordant with the contemporary use
of the words in the broader language of my culture.....
I think to sterilize the language, to render it globitically correct,
in the name of accurate terminology is anti culture, invalidating
dialect. Who would appoint themselves guardian? Funny that in the
golden age of English literature a word was oft spelled more than one
way, sometimes in the same text. I think the loss of regional idiom in
language, government and material culture in the name of commerce will
be mourned as the most foolish of trades in the days ahead, but there
are those who have a vested interest in perpetuating the corporate
monoculture. It would seem though that potters as a bunch would have a
greater appreciation of the validity of varied cultural expressions...
For sure we're not all mid atlantic (I'm mid pacific, personally) but
maybe we missed the silent language of clay...
Viva la difference!
Take care,
Ben
Angela Davis wrote:
>by Dennis Krueger
>This article first appeared in Studio Potter, Volume 11, Number 1 (December 1982).
>
>
Read it here;
>http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001
>
>
steve baker on thu 7 jul 05
After inventing the first pottery wheel, the early
potters spent many fruitless hours trying to center
wads of clay. Each failure resulted in a mangled mess
on the wheel, that was quickly discarded by removing
and throwing the mass in a heap. A passerby asked a
casual observer what was going on. The casual
observer stated "He is trying to make pottery by some
newfangled method, but all I have seen him doing is
throwing clay for the last several hours". I think
that is where it came from. The passerby told another
that the potter had been throwing clay while at the
potters wheel for several hours, and there you go.
--- Ben wrote:
> Been watching the turning/throwing thread at a
> distance after pointing
> out that "turning" was the term used in the
> traditional potteries of the
> American South.
>
> Varied and sundry impressions-
>
> I found it interesting that Dennis Krueger pointed
> out that the
> etymology of the word throwing actually meant
> turning. So as to say, in
> terms of meaning, the root words are identical. You
> say tomahtos I say
> tomatoes.
>
> I also appreciated Tony's post which showed perhaps
> the evolutionary
> path of the term "turning" to mean the mechanical
> trimming of the
> outside of the pot. As sometimes attached a
> derogatory "industrial"
> connotation to the term by "artistes" So, too, the
> similaritie to the
> use of the wood lathe, which in traditional
> woodworking, would be the
> only tool befitting the descrption and remarkably
> similar in operation
> to the handwork of the potter in trimming his pots,
> especially the
> reciprocating lathes. Definitely an affinity there..
> The bodgers of
> England were some of the last to succumb to
> mechanization. Interesting
> that in the unique terminology of wood working the
> expressions trim and
> trimming were already in use for another function...
>
> Not that I can't recognize a distinction between
> coil and throw or
> coil and paddle, but if our communication is so
> impersonal and
> incomplete as to necessitate the use of strict
> terminology in order to
> be understood .... but we must get the correct
> caption on our photos
> mustn't we...What was that quote by the English
> potter about American
> potters being really good a taking slides? But if
> we attain to making
> even good pots to whom do you pass it on, where is
> your culture ...who
> wasn't touched at some time by centuries of potters
> digging their
> grandchildrens clay...it might be a romantic whim to
> us, but what
> foundations lost...
>
> I personally appreciate the folk traditions and
> culture of the American
> South a great deal. I often use the terms turning
> and trimming and find
> them quite accurate, descriptive and accordant with
> the contemporary use
> of the words in the broader language of my
> culture.....
>
> I think to sterilize the language, to render it
> globitically correct,
> in the name of accurate terminology is anti culture,
> invalidating
> dialect. Who would appoint themselves guardian?
> Funny that in the
> golden age of English literature a word was oft
> spelled more than one
> way, sometimes in the same text. I think the loss of
> regional idiom in
> language, government and material culture in the
> name of commerce will
> be mourned as the most foolish of trades in the days
> ahead, but there
> are those who have a vested interest in perpetuating
> the corporate
> monoculture. It would seem though that potters as a
> bunch would have a
> greater appreciation of the validity of varied
> cultural expressions...
> For sure we're not all mid atlantic (I'm mid
> pacific, personally) but
> maybe we missed the silent language of clay...
>
> Viva la difference!
> Take care,
> Ben
>
>
>
>
> Angela Davis wrote:
>
> >by Dennis Krueger
> >This article first appeared in Studio Potter,
> Volume 11, Number 1 (December 1982).
> >
> >
> Read it here;
>
> >http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001
> >
> >
>
>
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Helen Bates on thu 7 jul 05
On Wed, 6 Jul 2005 22:10:04 -0400, Angela Davis wrote:
>
>by Dennis Krueger
>This article first appeared in Studio Potter, Volume 11, Number 1 (December
1982).
>
>
>
>Read it here;
>
>
>
>http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001
>
>
>Angela Davis
Angela,
Thanks for this link. Very enjoyable!
In his article, Dennis Krueger wrote:
"Stein. When I was an undergraduate student at the University of Freiburg in
the Black Forest area of West Germany, I remember being asked by a friend
back home to send her a beer mug. I went to a shop and in my best German
(which at the time was none too good) I asked for a Bierstein. The
saleswoman kept asking me to speak English. I kept refusing because I was
determined to speak only German. She only figured out what I wanted when I
pointed to the object. Later, I realized that Bierkrug is the correct word,
and that Stein means stone. How the German word for stone has come to mean
mug in America is a mystery to me. I still feel embarrassment for not having
known the difference that day in Freiburg."
I guess he may have forgotten that the German potters were famous for
centuries for their (salt-glazed) stoneware beer pots. The term for
"stoneware" in German is "steinzeug", and my etymological take on this is
that, as quite often happens, the translation from "bierkrug aus steinzeug"
("stoneware beer pot") was compressed to "beerstein" (with "bier" re-spelled
as "beer" along the way.) In other words, the English beer mug / pot / jar
/ crock made out of low-fired earthenware, covered with a lead-based glaze
was thus differentiated from the German vessel made out of high-fired
stoneware glazed with salt.
Words... such fun! ;)
Helen
Rick Hamelin on fri 8 jul 05
Please, please! Stop perpetuating the nonsense that you throw clay on the wheel to make it stick! Anyone worth their salt knows that it is minimal moisture, not slamming the clay to the wheelhead that makes it stick. Why do people make the most sensible thing to learn so damn hard?
Rick
--
"Many a wiser men than I hath
gone to pot." 1649
-------------- Original message --------------
> After inventing the first pottery wheel, the early
> potters spent many fruitless hours trying to center
> wads of clay. Each failure resulted in a mangled mess
> on the wheel, that was quickly discarded by removing
> and throwing the mass in a heap. A passerby asked a
> casual observer what was going on. The casual
> observer stated "He is trying to make pottery by some
> newfangled method, but all I have seen him doing is
> throwing clay for the last several hours". I think
> that is where it came from. The passerby told another
> that the potter had been throwing clay while at the
> potters wheel for several hours, and there you go.
>
>
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