Lili Krakowski on tue 9 aug 05
It is our moral obligation to honor our teachers. It is only fair to be
loyal to their teachings. But when it gets to the point that ONLY our
teachers, and ONLY their teaching, and ONLY their viewpoint matters, counts,
then we fall off the other side of the mountain, and dishonor them. We are
no longer standing on their shoulders. We are standing on their heads and
breaking their necks.
It is all well and good and falling-off-our-chairs wonderful that Leach,
that Hamada, that whoever, said, did, admired, collected, praised, extolled
and what not. It is sad and counterproductive to keep on beating an
outdated drum.
NO ONE has ANY idea what these potters would say NOW; what they would do
NOW. Those who religiously follow and quote are denying, yes, denying, that
these men might have grown and evolved, had they lived till today.
I love Bach, Mozart. But I never would claim that they would not have loved
electronic music, Asian instruments not known to them, Kletzmer, jazz, and
so on. They were geniuses--and genius is receptive and open. To put it
another way: when "everyone" was groaning and bemoaning rock and roll and
the like, a dear friend, a classical musician of some note in her halcyon
years, loved it. She explained to my non-understanding self, that these
musicians were doing something to the accents and stresses that had not been
done before, and we all should be excited by it.
If some Japanese Master did not like Korean pots--and discounting that this
may have something "political" to do with Japan/Korean history--should we
care? Do we honor that Master by repeating his bigotry?
ALL of us old timers remember that older US cookbooks despised garlic. (The
history of gastronomic bigotry deserves a book.) Why? Because Garlic was
associated with certain immigrants and minorities who were held in contempt.
Now, of course, garlic is considered an essential of cuisine. (Mel,
lutefisk will have its turn) And of course the Afro-American cuisine of the
South still has not reached the appreciation it deserves.
Think on this, please. Why repeat that this or that Honored Master despised
them thar pots? Is it not dishonoring the brilliance and openness of his
mind to assume that in changed times he might not have changed his opinion?
Lili Krakowski
Be of good courage
Hal Giddens on wed 10 aug 05
On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 11:02:41 -0400, Lili Krakowski
wrote:
> And of course the Afro-American cuisine of the
>South still has not reached the appreciation it deserves.
>
I always find it amusing when I read where someone refers to "Afro-
American cuisine of the South" or "Soul Food". Yes most of it was
introduced by Afro-Americans but when the term "Soul Food" first came out
years ago we wondered what all the fuss was about because that is the same
thing as "country food" to most of us that grew up in the rural south. The
food in the rural south is the same whether it is blacks or whites sitting
at the supper table. It's all way too good.
Hal Giddens
Home Grown Pottery
1578 Rockledge Road
Rockledge Ga 30454
kenhal@bellsouth.net
Candace Young/Norman Czuchra on thu 11 aug 05
Lovely point Lili, that there is a balance and when we get too far from the
center we fall not to mention dabble in extremism. And to expect the
master to remain static and not grow in his or her work is lutefisk, I mean
ludicrous. Good points.
Candace
>It is our moral obligation to honor our teachers. It is only fair to be
>loyal to their teachings. But when it gets to the point that ONLY our
>teachers, and ONLY their teaching, and ONLY their viewpoint matters, counts,
>then we fall off the other side of the mountain, and dishonor them. We are
>no longer standing on their shoulders. We are standing on their heads and
>breaking their necks.
>
>IO ONE has ANY idea what these potters would say NOW; what they would do
>NOW. Those who religiously follow and quote are denying, yes, denying, that
>these men might have grown and evolved, had they lived till today.
Candace Young Mailto:candace@bayriverpottery.com
Norm Czuchra Mailto:norm@bayriverpottery.com
(252) 745-4749
107 S. Water Street
PO Box 394
Bayboro, NC 28515
http://bayriverpottery.com
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