primalmommy on sat 3 mar 07
I can't imagine losing a finger to a wire, but I have cut a bloody
groove into my pinky finger more than once, trying to muscle a Kemper
wire under a beginner's leather-hard pot neglected too long on the bat.
Yow.
I learned to make twisted cut off wires, a combo of mel's approach and
Mark Issenberg's. A few weeks ago, I made and bisqued a bowl of handles
for wires, and did a mini tool demo for Lee's undergrad class, making
everybody a twisted wire and a strip of chamois on a fishing bobber for
rims. I like a short enough wire that I can cut off pots without
wrapping anything around flesh... and I have learned to tell my guild
students with stiff pots stuck to the bat, "Sorry... you waited too long
to cut that one off. Better make another."
I am amazed at the number of techniques, biases, opinions and prejudices
I have collected from my teachers over the years. I try not to be
obnoxious about it, (at least in person,) but there's always an internal
archive of clayart debates rolling in my head.
Recently a new student showed up in the university clay studio with a
giffen grip. She explained it to us (as if we were third graders and
surely had never seen such a thing), then spent (no kidding) half an
hour trying to get it set up on one of the class wheels, asking us to
fetch tools or help find little parts that rolled away under the
shelves. I could just hear the voices of some claybuds assessing the
situation... (I know just what David Hendley would say, or mel) -- and
the voices others defending the tool they love and find time efficient.
(BTW she trimmed one pot, then set to taking it apart and packing it up
again...)
I don't think anybody who makes pots should be made to feel inadequate
because they don't make their own clay and glazes, understand glaze
chemistry or know how to build and fire every kind of kiln. I admit I
feel bad for people who stop, at some point on the learning curve, and
aren't hungry to take control of the next step, and the next. But to
each his/her own.
I do think anyone coming out of a grad ceramics program should be able
to do all of those things and more. The clayart post that mentioned a
prof who didn't know how to fire just boggled my mind. It seems to be
one downside of working in a community setting... you could spend your
whole learning experience glazing with "whatever was in the bucket" and
not understanding how or why it works (or doesn't.) When I hear about
grads who had everything done by techs, I feel both concern that the
degree doesn't mean what it should, and a spark of hope that my ability
to do that stuff might give me an edge at job hunting time.
(When I read the comment page about MFAs in this month's CM, my head was
swirling with responses and ideas.. but somehow these days I can't get
things written down before life drags me off in some other direction. I
might reread it and try again later.)
There are still some things in the clay studio I don't know how to do,
especially not without help... and I don't judge folks who know less
than I do, though I'm amused if they arrive seeming especially self
important, and underestimating their profs/peers. Before long they
realize they are in pretty serious company, and adjust the attitude. I
am probably most critical (inwardly, anyway) of people who seem to feel
entitled, and arrive on the scene as if a staff should come running to
do their bidding.
My printmaking prof introduces his grad assistant by saying, "This is
Ben.. he works for ME." I began to understand why, when I saw what new
students sometimes assume about ceramics GAs -- (sometimes me, but
especially Patrick, who is a hands-on guy, in the studio every day and
able to fix and fire and tend to whatever needs doing.) Newcomers used
to different studio setups peg him as "the tech", and start making all
kinds of demands.
Patrick and I understand that it's all part of learning to run our own
studio or program one day, to teach and fix equipment, explain things to
students, and fire kilns. But Diana is adamant that we protect our own
time as well, for making our own work. We appreciate the backing.
We also feel that it's part of our job to teach students to do for
themselves. My old sig line was "love many, trust few; always paddle
your own canoe". So the answer to "Where do I put this to be fired?" is,
"In the kiln". If you learn to make the decisions, control the variables
and take the risks with your own work, you can move forward. Otherwise
once the variables are out of your hands, all you can do is shrug over
failed pots/glazes and blame the glaze manufacturer (or mixer), the
person who fired the pot or the person who made the clay. I like that I
AM that person for my own work, and can begin to puzzle out what went
wrong. Patrick and I have become finicky enough about our own pots that
we wait until the two of us can fill the big gas kiln and fire it,
without other student/class pots, or other firers making decisions about
how hot, how soon, how long.
I am off to bed. Yesterday morning I woke up in Florida... already it
seems like a distant memory, and I hit the ground running. Snow, again,
and cold. I like winter just fine for a month or two, but even though I
grew up here I can't sustain mel's "look at the snow on my studio"
enthusiasm past the new year. I lie in bed with seed catalogs, and count
the days until I can start tomato and basil seeds under jerry rigged
shop lights. Still, I told Jeff that once I graduate, he can feel free
to start looking for jobs in places with nice mild winters. I've lived
in Oregon, Texas, North Carolina and Maryland... any of those would do.
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
http://www.primalpotter.com
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Lee Love on sun 4 mar 07
On 3/4/07, primalmommy wrote:
> Patrick and I have become finicky enough about our own pots that
> we wait until the two of us can fill the big gas kiln and fire it,
> without other student/class pots, or other firers making decisions about
> how hot, how soon, how long.
A kiln really needs one Captain.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
Donna Kat on mon 5 mar 07
On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 21:32:00 -0800, primalmommy
wrote:
>I can't imagine losing a finger to a wire, but I have cut a bloody
>groove into my pinky finger more than once, trying to muscle a Kemper
>wire under a beginner's leather-hard pot neglected too long on the bat.
>Yow.
When I first came to the current studio I sometimes volunteer at, I was
surprised to see stacks of newspaper. Some potter along the way
introduced putting paper on the board before you put your pot on it and it
has stayed as a practice because it works in most cases. It eliminated
needing to cut pieces off of the board quite well for beginning students.
I actually use it now to protect my boards, which are made of leftover
plasterboard (duct taped edges). The Sunday glossy advertisements from
things like Best Buy (U.S.) are perfect.
My first teacher taught us everything he could about pottery. He had us
out on the old cement slab of a porch doing the grape-crushing dance in
clay that was to be recycled. We mixed glazes, built kilns, loaded our
own things, sat up with the gas kiln at night firing it. He showed us how
to make our own tools and how to care and repair the ones we had. It was
a true smorgasbord of experiences. What I see today locally is so sterile
I wonder what it is exactly that the students are learning. They may be
experiencing the feel of throwing or hand building but they certainly are
not learning the art/craft of pottery.
Donna
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