Bonnie Staffel on wed 14 sep 05
Dear Clayarters,
I will be giving a demo of "Trash Can Firing" to achieve copper reds and
fire markings on pots as well as color markings with smoke firing techniques
at
Michigan Mud Conference, the weekend of October 7 and 8 at Albion College,
Albion, Michigan. For further
information look up their web site to register and/or find out more about
this exciting annual
gathering by the Michigan Ceramic Arts Association,
http://www.michiganmud.org/
I recently gave such a workshop August 7 at the Cycling Salamander
Gallery, my old studio in Charlevoix, MI. This was a hands-on workshop.
All had a great time and took home some nice pots decorated with copper
reds.
Regards,
Bonnie Staffel
http://webpages.chartermi.net/bstaffel/
http://www.vasefinder.com/
Charter Member Potters Council
primalmommy on fri 12 oct 07
Any clayarters going to Michigan Mud in Detroit, October 26-27? I'm
going for sure, as is Nancy (the MFA student who broke her arm last
year) and Joanne (the sculptor who just this week moved from the MA into
the MFA program!.) We're still working on Patrick, but he's got studio
hours for printmaking, ceramics AND sculpture, and work study both in
the ceramics studio and the gallery, so he barely has time to schedule
in a life.
Diana's going, because she will be presenting on the ^6 reduction Glaze
Forward project. (She's all blissed out this week -- having been present
for the birth of her first grandbaby, and having spent a few days in
Chicago with her daughter & fam, sighing over Nina's tiny newborn baby
feet, fingers and rosebud lips... )
So, who's up for Michigan Mud? I've never been before, but I have heard
good things about it.
Yours
Kelly in Ohio -- looking forward to a weekend day to hit the famers
market, trim 10 teapot lids, and put the roof on my little greenhouse...
http://www.primalpotter.com
http://www.primalmommy.com/blog.html
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primalmommy on mon 29 oct 07
This year was my first Michigan Mud conference. It was at the College
for Creative Studies in Detroit -- a lovely place, especially the
building where the student show and Pete Pinnell's workhops were held.
It was surrounded by brick laid with air space between, making an
Asian-looking courtyard outside of big windows. A single pine tree in
front of the brick wall was framed by the ceramic studio's glass -- it
made it easy to forget we were in downtown Detroit.
I know Diana Pancioli presented on her ^6 reduction "Glaze Forward"
program (where she sends all who inquire the recipes and fired samples
for the cost of shipping) -- she had told her students not to attend, as
we already knew that stuff. Ann Tubbs and Elizabeth Lurie demoed
throwig, assembly and (for Ann) majolica, which was interesting.. and
Pete Pinnell threw pots, and talked about glazes, design, a wide
definition of function, teaching, crits, the relevance of utilitarian
pots, and a lot of other food for thought.
Fellow grad students Joanne, Nancy, Jay and Jonathan were there, and
Patrick even showed up on Saturday! Pete, that big southerner who looked
like Hagrid and asked about terra sig for salt and wood was our own
Patrick Green, go-to guy at the EMU studio and Dave McBeth's former
student. Clayarter John Post from Sterling Heights introduced himself in
the gallery -- another face to go with an email address!
I would be remiss if I didn't talk about what we ate and where we slept,
right? We EMU crew had a lovely lunch at Union Street Station (I hadn't
tasted gumbo that good in the North, ever) and sat around a big round
table talking about all the information we had soaked up. Jay loved a
statement Pete made about function: he'd said that although we think of
functional as "blue jeans", there are more elaborate, less "easy"
garments (like, say, a wedding dress) that function perfectly for more
ritualistic uses. He said, "I consider a negligee to be the most
functional article of clothing. It does exactly what it sets out to do."
Jay was chortling in his ale at lunch, remembering that. It reminded me
that "utilitarian" doesn't have to mean "dishes".
Saturday, due to a mixup with technology and keys, Patrick and I found
ourselves waiting in a small foyer by locked auditorium doors with
Sadashi, who is now one of Reem's profs at U of M. I admit I kind of
backed him into a corner and interviewed him, looking (always) for
different profs' perspectives and fodder for future clay times columns.
Joanne and I crashed at Nancy's in Livonia, and on the way, got to stop
by her high school classroom. It just amazesme how an inspired artist
can translate ideas into projects for high school aged kids; her
classroom was full of works-in-progress that made me wish I was taking
her class.
As useful as the conference was, the most important food-for-thought
came from sitting in Nancy's dining room, with cheese, bread, wine and
more wine. They put me int he hot seat and grilled me about my MFA show
plans -- challenging my too-many-ideas, encouraging me to sort, and
getting me to challenge some of my self imposed limitations (and maybe a
few of the prof imposed ones.)
I have realized that my experience doing a midlife MFA is much different
than it might have been in my 20s. Back then I was railing against the
status quo, rebelling, pushing limits, beating my fists against
society's walls (real and imagined) -- I was 90% ego, 10% pissed off.
The world seemed too predictable and ordinary, and I wanted to challenge
everything. Chaos was a GOOD thing.
Now, the world has chaos enough, and I am just hanging on with both
hands. I laughed out loud when Liz Lurie said, "Three years ago, my work
was getting way too tight... I know now it is because I had teenagers".
There is so much I can't control, at this stage -- teens and preteens,
aging parents, threatened job positions at hubby's work, and the bigger
world scene that never crossed my mind in my 20s. My mother copes with
life-stress by cleaning house, ironing pillowcases, organizing cupboards
-- but who has time for that? So I find my tendency with clay is to
control, to work tight and small and not risk losing control. I'm
fighting it but it's not my first instinct like it would have been in my
20s.
And, no matter how useful a conerence might be, I relish it less than I
once did. A day in a hard metal chair goes against my natural rhythms,
and is hard on my back... time spent outside the studio can feel wasted
unless I am doing something urgent. Watching someobody else make work is
kind of like being hungry and watching someone else have dinner... it
makes me want to go do the same, right now.
And I will admit that when I'm not at the EMU studio I really like to be
home, especially now that I spend more time away from family during the
week. The cell phone kept me connected to my kids while dad took them to
resale to scrounge for costumes, and then to the halloween party at
scout camp... I felt like I was missing the fun. I am envious beyond
description of Tony's experience in China, but admit that if the tickets
showed up today, I wouldn't go.
So, I enjoyed my Sunday at home before the week's roller coaster fired
up again. I put the top over my back yard hoop house just in time for
last night's frost. I threw for the first time in two weeks (Motrin is
my friend). The whole fam went to a Harry Potter party in the afternoon,
on a lovely fall day, in a stone metropark shelter house along the
Maumee river; it had been decorated like the great hall of Hogwarts,
with hanging pumpkins and the works. The kids played Quiddich and
Dementer Tag (complete with wands and spells) and we had a lovely meal.
My costume combined a pointed hat, long black dress, my black graduation
gown and a long thin silk scarf. When they asked if I was one of the
main characters, (like professor McGonagall) I said I was just an
adjunct ;0) and instead of teaching "Defense against the Dark Arts" I
said I taught "Defense against the Dark Crafts" (lol)
Now it is Monday morning and I'm gettign ready for school... while
helping the kids with their school... and I need to pay bills and
shampoo a long haired guinea pig who has somehow encountered some sticky
fruit treats.
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
"We are what we repeatedly do; therefore excellence is not an act, but a
habit. " - Aristotle
http://www.primalpotter.com
http://www.primalmommy.com/blog.html
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Lee Love on tue 30 oct 07
On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:45:03 -0700, primalmommy
wrote:
>table talking about all the information we had soaked up. Jay loved a
>statement Pete made about function: he'd said that although we think of
>functional as "blue jeans", there are more elaborate, less "easy"
>garments (like, say, a wedding dress) that function perfectly for more
>ritualistic uses.
I have used this argument in response to the "microwave, dishwash
safe" crowd. Just because you don't put silk in the washing machine
doesn't mean it is not functional clothing.
As Philp Rawson said, before our time, all art had function.
>"We are what we repeatedly do; therefore excellence is not an act, but a
>habit. " - Aristotle
I am not sure this is correct. Habit can be excellence but it
can also lead to cancer or obesity. ;^)
Our preconceptions are just habits that don't fit reality.
--
Lee in Minneapolis, MN
Lee Love on wed 31 oct 07
On 10/31/07, David McBeth wrote:
> Our preconceptions are just habits that don't fit reality.
>
> I think Lee is trwisting the words here.
There is an obvious distinction made in eastern psychology,
between habitual and integrated behavior. As in the example I gave
about our preconceptions: rather than actually seeing things, we
match what we see against templates we keep in our memory. Once the
mind categorizes the object, it is dismissed. This dismissal
prevents the actual/direct/pure experience of the phenomenon.
>"Excellance is a habit" does not necessarily mean that habit is
excellance. I would >support that habit can be a very long way from
excellance. But making excellance a >habit can lead to unrivaled
satisfaction in so many aspects of our lives. In how and what >we
eat, interact wiht others, make pots... the list goes on.
Skill can be developed from repetition. But skill,
unguided by creative ability will not lead to excellence. They are
the left and right hands of the creative person. We need hand, eye
and mind working together.
I saw this in Shokunin craftsman in Mashiko, you could
make exactly what the Master directed him to, but couldn't do an
original decoration if his life depended upon it.
The owner of Mingeiten in Mashiko told me (oldest gallery in
Mashiko, started at the suggestion of Shoji Hamada): "The Shokunin's
gift is the ability to copy anything he sees. But perhaps, if the
Deshi (apprentice) is gifted, he can make some new that never existed
before."
"Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful
objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill
gives us modern art."
--Tom Stoppard
(British Playwright, b.1937)
--
Lee in Minneapolis, MN
David McBeth on wed 31 oct 07
>"We are what we repeatedly do; therefore excellence is not an act, but =
a
>habit. " - Aristotle
I am not sure this is correct. Habit can be excellence =
but it
can also lead to cancer or obesity. ;^)
Our preconceptions are just habits that don't fit reality.
I think Lee is trwisting the words here. "Excellance is a habit" does =
not necessarily mean that habit is excellance. I would support that =
habit can be a very long way from excellance. But making excellance a =
habit can lead to unrivaled satisfaction in so many aspects of our =
lives. In how and what we eat, interact wiht others, make pots... the =
list goes on.
Dave
David McBeth
330 B Gooch Hall
Department of Visual and Theatre Arts
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, Tennessee 38238
731-881-7416
--
Lee in Minneapolis, MN
_________________________________________________________________________=
_____
Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at =
melpots2@visi.com
Ron Roy on thu 1 nov 07
No body ever said leaky pots had no function - there should be some truth
in advertizing however because most people will assume all pots have the
same functionality.
If potters aren't truthful about the uses of their pots they damage the
public perception of all potters. It's hard enough to make a living selling
pots without the added burden of less than professional attitudes of other
potters to overcome.
RR
>>table talking about all the information we had soaked up. Jay loved a
>>statement Pete made about function: he'd said that although we think of
>>functional as "blue jeans", there are more elaborate, less "easy"
>>garments (like, say, a wedding dress) that function perfectly for more
>>ritualistic uses.
>
> I have used this argument in response to the "microwave, dishwash
>safe" crowd. Just because you don't put silk in the washing machine
>doesn't mean it is not functional clothing.
Ron Roy
RR#4
15084 Little Lake Road
Brighton, Ontario
Canada
K0K 1H0
Lee Love on thu 1 nov 07
On Thu, 1 Nov 2007 02:49:22 -0500, Ron Roy wrote:
>If potters aren't truthful about the uses of their pots they damage the
>public perception of all potters. It's hard enough to make a living selling=
>pots without the added burden of less than professional attitudes of other
>potters to overcome.
There is a lack of professional attitudes in expecting handmade to only
be marketed with commercial slogans. It might sell your pots, but it is
turning your back on a whole universe of pots that aren't made with strict
adherence to factory practices. This includes pots fired in large wood
kilns, eartherware, majolica and Raku.
In Japan, just as they know how to appropriately treat a silk
kimono, they know how earthenware, raku and traditional wooodfired pots are
to be treated.
Rather than give people the idea that they are only capable of using=
"wash and wear", they need to be educated in how to treat silk and wool too.=
Otherwise, they might as well just use plastic and corning ware.
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
=E2=80=9CMen are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by educatio=
n." --
Bertrand Russell
patsgreenpots on fri 2 nov 07
I think you hit the nail on the head here Dave.
The purpose of that statement by Aristotle, is not to say that habit
renders excellence, but rather that excellence is not something that
is achieve in singular acts. It is something that is built upon,
something that grows forth from foundations. A tree does not simply
appear but it grows forth from experience, through time. Bad seeds to
bad trees, good to good. For a habit to lead to excellence the habit
must be aimed towards excellence, habits aimed to the mundane yield
only thus.
But I digress, the purpose of the statement in its original
intent,( as to my understanding) is to say,( and I believe alot of
contemporary Artists at large could learn from this) Excellence is not
achieved willy nilly, you can't pull it from your rear! It is built as
much from toil, if not more so, as it is from inspiration.
And I think that that is something we all should strive for, Ongoing
Excellence. Because lets face it our work can last an extremely long
time and I would hate for some future historian to see me settle on
what will then be my 'early' works.
*This has been muses from your local Philosophy Potter, we now return
you to your regularly scheduled discussions*
--Patrick Andrew Green, The one Kelly speaks of. (<-- ha ha Preposition!!)
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, David McBeth wrote:
>
> >"We are what we repeatedly do; therefore excellence is not an act,
but a
> >habit. " - Aristotle
>
> I am not sure this is correct. Habit can be
excellence but it
> can also lead to cancer or obesity. ;^)
>
> Our preconceptions are just habits that don't fit reality.
>
> I think Lee is trwisting the words here. "Excellance is a habit"
does not necessarily mean that habit is excellance. I would support
that habit can be a very long way from excellance. But making
excellance a habit can lead to unrivaled satisfaction in so many
aspects of our lives. In how and what we eat, interact wiht others,
make pots... the list goes on.
>
> Dave
>
>
> David McBeth
> 330 B Gooch Hall
> Department of Visual and Theatre Arts
> University of Tennessee at Martin
> Martin, Tennessee 38238
>
> 731-881-7416
>
>
> --
> Lee in Minneapolis, MN
>
>
___________________________________________________________________________=
___
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@...
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@...
>
>
___________________________________________________________________________=
___
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@...
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, or change your
> subscription settings here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@...
>
Lee Love on fri 2 nov 07
On 11/2/07, patsgreenpots wrote:
>Excellence is not
> achieved willy nilly, you can't pull it from your rear! It is built as
> much from toil, if not more so, as it is from inspiration.
Pat,
I believe in craftsmanship. That is why I did a traditional
appenticeship. During my apprenticeship, I made maybe 1,000 yunomi
before having one past the inspection of the Master Thrower.
But habituation is not enough. You can easily do something
wrong over and over or not follow the example close enough or not have
someone that knows better there to tell you the difference between one
pot and the other 999.
I think I mentioned this old Chinese story here before:
An old master asks a young monk why he mediates. The young
monk says, "To become enlightened." The old monk picks up a stone
and starts polishing it. The young monk asks the old monk what he is
doing. The old monk says, "I am polishing a stone to make a mirror."
The young monk says, "It isn't possible to make a mirror out of a
stone." The old Monk replied, "And it is impossible to become
enlightened by sitting."
> And I think that that is something we all should strive for, Ongoing
> Excellence. Because lets face it our work can last an extremely long
> time and I would hate for some future historian to see me settle on
> what will then be my 'early' works.
Yes. But we need both craftskills and creative skill.
--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by
education." -- Bertrand Russell
claystevslat on fri 2 nov 07
I believe that people who are making work
useful for "ceremonial purposes" (and not
for normal, everyday use) are ethically
obligated to specify what the work is *not*
suitable for.
I suspect most potters have had the experience
of losing likely sales to people who admire a
work and then pass on a purchase, saying that
they've had problems with craft pottery before.
I learned a plausible approach for these people,
which works in my farmers' market (but would
not be useful to peripatetic potters who sell
only at widely spaced locations or intervals)
I pick an inexpensive piece; a small bowl or
cup, say, and tell them they can take it home
and try it out -- microwave soup in it, or
whatever; put it in the dishwasher, and so on.
I'll even tell them how to check for crazing
using india ink and/or a loupe. And I tell
them to take it as a gift, but to come back
the next week to tell me if it really met their
needs.
If they refuse, they probably weren't too
interested to begin with. If they take
the piece home, they almost invariably come
back the next week to buy one or more other pieces.
And sometimes they bring the remains of the piece
that failed on them -- often a raku or pit-fired
piece that turned 'weepy', or earthenware that
started to craze or shed its glaze after being
washed.
None of those pieces were marked "not dishwasher
safe" or "not microwaveable" and my patrons
never recollected being advised to limit their
use. The potters who take a quick sale and dump
unsealed pots, or unstable pots, or "ceremonial"
pots to people who don't know they're buying
something only suitable for "ceremonial" purposes
makes their sale at the cost of damage to the
reputation of all responsible potters.
-- Steve Slatin
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Ron Roy wrote:
>
> No body ever said leaky pots had no function - there should be some
truth
> in advertizing however because most people will assume all pots
have the
> same functionality.
>
> If potters aren't truthful about the uses of their pots they damage
the
> public perception of all potters. It's hard enough to make a living
selling
> pots without the added burden of less than professional attitudes
of other
> potters to overcome.
claystevslat on fri 2 nov 07
This is like the Microsoft joke -- the one with the
punchline "reclassify the bug as a feature, and
upgrade the user."
What Ron's suggesting is that if you're selling
something that's sufficient non-standard to be
unsuitable for normal use or which may fail under
normal use, you have an obligation to your clients
to let them know. And while you're signing your
posts "Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA" the
standard of what you believe a Japanese consumer
to already know is irrelevant.
-- Steve Slatin
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Lee Love wrote:
>
>
> There is a lack of professional attitudes in expecting handmade
to only
> be marketed with commercial slogans. It might sell your pots, but
it is
> turning your back on a whole universe of pots that aren't made with
strict
> adherence to factory practices. This includes pots fired in large
wood
> kilns, eartherware, majolica and Raku.
>
> In Japan, just as they know how to appropriately treat a
silk
> kimono, they know how earthenware, raku and traditional wooodfired
pots are
> to be treated.
>
> Rather than give people the idea that they are only capable
of using
> "wash and wear", they need to be educated in how to treat silk and
wool too.
> Otherwise, they might as well just use plastic and corning ware.
Ron Roy on sun 4 nov 07
Hi Steve,
Seems we have many layers of professionalism to deal with.
There does seem to be an ever increasing number of potters who are trying
hard to make their useful pots fully functional. Not an easy task but
certainly an interesting one.
Perhaps the best strategy for those trying to do the best possible job is
to advertise as much and be willing to demonstrate what their pots will
stand up to. I'm sure a small part of any potters display - which provides
evidence of such functionality - would pay off in increased sales.
RR
>I believe that people who are making work
>useful for "ceremonial purposes" (and not
>for normal, everyday use) are ethically
>obligated to specify what the work is *not*
>suitable for.
>-- Steve Slatin
Ron Roy
RR#4
15084 Little Lake Road
Brighton, Ontario
Canada
K0K 1H0
Kenneth Chin-Purcell on sun 4 nov 07
Thanks Roy for the encouragement. I like to make "fully functional"
pots, but sometimes I wonder if people really want to pay up for
that. Several times I've had customers seem a bit let down when I
tell them at the end of a purchase that they can throw the pot in the
dishwasher with no worries. "Oh, I would only hand wash such a lovely
bowl!" is a typical response. Other customers are delighted though,
probably more in that camp
It's like Tony alluded to - sometimes the less functional the pot the
more customers are willing to pay!
-- Ken Chin-Purcell
Bungalow Pottery
On Nov 4, 2007, at 11:39 AM, Ron Roy wrote:
> There does seem to be an ever increasing number of potters who are
> trying
> hard to make their useful pots fully functional. Not an easy task but
> certainly an interesting one.
>
> Perhaps the best strategy for those trying to do the best possible
> job is
> to advertise as much and be willing to demonstrate what their pots
> will
> stand up to. I'm sure a small part of any potters display - which
> provides
> evidence of such functionality - would pay off in increased sales.
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