Amand sta on wed 28 jun 06
Warmest greetings to the most wonderful email group I belong to!
I recently read with great interest the post regarding what/where to sell
etc and I totally agree with the fact that if you can make money doing what
you love you are extremely lucky. I make ‘pocket money’ in addition to my
9-5 income and I am still trying to find that niche that will bring it all
to fruition. I surmise that the discussion relating to master potters and
university education would weigh on this issue a little also.
Being new to the ClayArt family, I apologise in advance if I am rehashing
old issues, but I am very interested to hear thoughts on this from some more
traditional potters.
So here’s an opinion from a ‘new generation’ ceramic artist. I am 35 years
old and have been making ceramic creations for the past nine years. I have
an enormous passion for my art but I am about to list a few observations in
trends that will most likely create a barrage of abuse from the more
traditionalists out there. But here goes:
I am finding that home-made glazes and the fine art that accompanies the
technology is sadly dying. I will even go as far as to say that it is being
lost along with the psychodelic haze (and speckled stoneware) of the 70’s.
My college teacher (a lover of making wonderful glazes) will be so
disappointed with my direction.
The best example I can give of this (which was also the blinding light of my
epiphany) was a man at a local art market who had the most amazing
crystalline glazes I have ever seen. When I told him so, he was so
delighted that (in his words) at least one person knew what he was selling.
He (and I) was astounded that an entire day had passed and I was the only
person that knew about crystalline glazes. I was stunned, yet this
confirmed for me what I had been thinking for a while. No one cares about
that stuff anymore (no one that is buying from me anyway).
Maybe Gen X are just sick of chipping your most beautiful piece off the kiln
shelf with a glaze recipe that just happened to run straight off the pot. I
realise that this IS a fine art and tests and tests and tests will avoid
this happening, and then you place your pot in a hot spot and whammo!!
Maybe Gen X are just too impatient for all that. Maybe I have found that
you (I) just cant get good, strong primary colours with home-made glazes? I
don’t know, this question has been puzzling me for some time.
So I started to experiment more with clay bodies, and found that people
really loved what I was doing. What I am finding is that folks these days
are really into textural creations (People comment on and buy mostly - my
items that are carved etc).
For example, along with other items, I make drums for belly dancers… the
drums with carvings far outsell the drums with nice handmade glazes (and
celtic far outsells anything else). I don’t know why this is but its an
observation I am noticing more the further I head in this direction. I am
starting to sell more wares! It is also a nice break for the production
potter. You have your 'blank' then you individualise it and people love
that they are getting something 'unique'. No carving ever turns out the
same.
I realise that with this statement, I am sealing my fate and await your
venom but I find commercial glazes used in conjunction with a nice carving,
not only carries a modern look, but most failures occur before the green
state and therefore I’m not wasting a firing, and opening a kiln full of
beautiful ware with no nasty surprises is wonderful.
What are the thoughts on this topic, of the Clayarters out there?
All that being said, I do so love to read all of your ideas, formulae,
glazing, firing and photographing tecniques and recipes. Believe me, my
love for the dirt is as strong as any other ceramic artist.
With peace, love and muddy arms,
Amanda (Wollongong, NSW Australia)
Snail Scott on wed 28 jun 06
At 03:25 PM 6/28/2006 +1000, you wrote:
>...I am finding that home-made glazes and the fine art that accompanies the
>technology is sadly dying...
I'm not sure that's the case. I think that more
people are making ceramics that ever before, and
in absolute numbers, more of them are working
from scratch. (No statistics, just impressions.)
I do think, though, that the _percentage_ of
ceramists who make their own glazes has declined
somewhat.
It used to be that the only glazes that weren't
homemade were low-fire glazes aimed at the hobby
market. No 'serious' ceramist would use them, so
serious ceramics was almost always a matter of
homemade glazes and ^10 firings. If you made
'real ceramics' back when, there was no choice in
the matter: it had to be homemade. Things have
changed since then.
One: In sculpture, and also somewhat in pottery,
low-fire glazes have gained credibility. The
traditional craft approach has been broadened by
ideas from the art world at large, including Pop
styles and appropriated imagery; quite suitable
for low-fire commercial glazes. Made-from-scratch
craftsmanship and handwork aesthetics are not the
dominant virtues in this idiom.
Two: Many more commerical manufacturers are making
glazes for the mid-range stoneware temperatures.
These are nice-looking, consistent products with a
wide diversity of effects. They have opened the
door to stoneware work for people who never learned
glaze making, but also for those who haven't the
space to keep raw materials at hand, or who dislike
the potential mess or health hazards of handling
raw powders.
Three: Mid-range stoneware work is more popular
than ever before. Electrically-fired work is no
longer stigmatized as not 'real' ceramics', and
the advantages to mid-range firing are strongest
when firing electrically. Many commercial mid-range
clay bodies are now available, and many new books.
A ceramist who has committed to the ^4-6 range for
whatever reasons may then freely choose to sample
myriad commercial glaze offerings, a temptation
not open to those working at ^10.
Four: It's tough to tell commercial from homemade
glazes, and most customers certainly can't. A glaze
is a glaze to them: they are buying a color, and a
nice-looking surface, not the method of making.
As you observed with your carved-design drums, a
glaze alone is just that, and the most exotic glaze
is still less varied and exciting to the viewer
than a new shape or design. If you weren't a glaze
fan, would a knockout crystalline glaze really
impress more than a nice carving? And should
it? The skill shown by certain types of glazes is
a come-on mainly for specialists like us. Relying
solely on glaze to attract customers is a losing
attitude that too many potters fall prey to.
Many of these new commercial glazes are as nice
as one could hope for after many, many tests of a
homemade recipe. There's no longer any reasonable
basis for saying that they are inferior as glazes.
A good commercial glaze is better than a mediocre
homemade one, and moral virtue (if glaze-making
has inherent moral virtue, which I doubt) is not
the same as quality or appropriateness. Not every
homemade glaze is a good one.
We know the advantages of homemade: the ability to
modify as needed, freedom from being tied to the
maker's product choices, lower cost, and having
something unique. But, we also know that homemade
can be a pain: materials variations, and time and
effort spent in lieu of money. And how many
homemade glazes have you seen that really stand
out as special? In my memory, damned few.
Just because something interests you as an artist,
doesn't mean that the viewer will also find the
same interest. The viewer's participation in the
piece, whether a painting or a pot, is DIFFERENT
from the maker's participation.
I value the skill and knowledge of glaze-making,
but it does not necessarily translate into
fundamentally better ceramics.
If the viewer can see no advantage in a homemade
glaze, and its advantage to the maker is not
clear-cut either, it's not surprising that many
ceramists have chosen to expend their efforts
on other aspects of their work.
-Snail
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