Paul Herman on sun 16 jul 06
Mel,
Which came first, the pot or the wheel?
Who said it's supposed to be easy?
Best,
Paul Herman
Great Basin Pottery
Doyle, California US
http://greatbasinpottery.com
On Jul 16, 2006, at 8:37 PM, mel jacobson wrote:
> the wheel.
> it is thousands of years old.
> it works well.
mel jacobson on sun 16 jul 06
the wheel.
it is thousands of years old.
it works well.
steph has spent far too much time making
square things. you know, a bunch of square things
that you put on the floor to walk on. (can't remember what you
call them.)
when we are in south carolina i will again try
and teach her how to throw.
i have little hope that we can get her to make a `round thing`.
on a serious note:
the wheel is great way to get beginners to feel the
stretch of clay.
hand building is the hardest, most difficult of all clay
tasks. i like to think that wheel throwers will
`graduate to slab and coil.`.
after you see the work of maria, mata ortiz, the sculpture
of primitives....one has to contemplate just how much
skill it takes to make great coil pots. a great deal.
bad hand made pots rule schools and art centers. the stuff
is awful.
i prefer the more methodical practice that a wheel gives.
it has a stepping stone method.
i know as a teacher, i am in the deep minority.
most start kids and beginners with ropes of clay
or pinching. i have never done that. they start
on the wheel. ( i never teach wheel to anyone that
is not near ready to drive a car, small kids play on the
wheel...of course there are exceptions.) learn it, understand it, then move
to the more complex forms of slab and coil.
and, no one with any understanding of clay structure
can tell me that coiling is easy...and has the ability
to move people on in the `clay adventure`.
with a bit of close instruction, a new potter can
be centered and throwing in a few days.
i know some of you will scream and yell, but
i feel strongly that throwing is much easier to teach
than hand building and sculpture. i am not talking
about stacked rings of clay that fall apart as you
load them in the kiln...i am talking about quality
coil pots or well made slab construction.
i just want to give credit to those that make great
hand made pots. it is not easy, by any stretch of
the imagination.
those that understand hand construction, and have
been doing it for years will often forget just how much
you have struggled to make quality objects of clay.
split joints, warped forms, cracks and failed sculpture.
and, when throwers talk of problems with clay body, what
the hell do folks think that problems with hand building are?
many. often a thrower can get by with crummy clay, a hand
builder will go nuts working with bad clay.
but, the bottom line is still:
clay and all the problems related to it are many and varied.
there is no method that is easy.
it takes years to come to simple answers about construction.
and, when you think you have the answer, it just smacks you in
the head.
mel
maybe with david and doug's help we can corner
stephanie and get her on a wheel. it will take
four of us...a village to teach steph. dannon will tie
her to the wheel.
from: mel/minnetonka.mn.usa
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
Clayart page link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
Des & Jan Howard on tue 18 jul 06
Mel
We put one of those table wheels with a lever speed control on
the workshop floor & taught our 3 year old daughter to throw
mustard pots (she was 3, dammit, couldn't have her living off us
forever!).
She was paid piece rates with board & lodging docked, still,
she always had a couple of bob & never dared say "I'm bored,
got nothing to do!" No patience though, at 4 yo she'd spend
10 minutes trying to teach an adult visitor to throw then stomp off
muttering " Useless, no skill, no talent". 'tennyrate at 6 yo she moved
on to coil & slab, never went back to the wheel, been there done that. :-)
Des
mel jacobson wrote:
> i know as a teacher, i am in the deep minority.
> most start kids and beginners with ropes of clay
> or pinching. i have never done that. they start
> on the wheel. ( i never teach wheel to anyone that
> is not near ready to drive a car, small kids play on the
> wheel...of course there are exceptions.) learn it, understand it,
> then move
> to the more complex forms of slab and coil.
>
--
Des & Jan Howard
Lue Pottery
LUE NSW 2850
Australia
Ph/Fax 02 6373 6419
http://www.luepottery.hwy.com.au
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