Bonnie Staffel on sun 4 mar 07
Going back in memory lane, when I first got involved in clay, the big
organization in New York headed by Aileen Webb, with side groups called
Designer/Craftsmen. I was a trustee in the Ohio Designer Craftsman
organization. Harvey Littleton headed up the Midwest =
Designer/Craftsmen,
still all affiliated with the New York group. I think there was a
transitional period from the factory to the studio artists where in =
between,
there were the designers, and then the designers got involved in the =
actual
making, so they were called designer/craftsmen which told the story of =
what
they did. Makes a good story, huh????? Anyway, in my early days of
potting, we were designer/craftsmen. If you look into the history of =
our
famous potters, like Hamada and Leach, they were designer/craftsmen, =
with
others doing their bit in the actual physical making of the pot under =
their
direction. =20
Is a lithographer any less of an artist when a company prints his
lithographs under the his direction? Now we have computer produced =
pictures
and the public is having a hard time putting them in a category, but =
given a
name for the process, will be highly acceptable. =20
We can even go back to the ancients and find guilds where in some cases, =
no
woman could touch the clay. It was not too long ago that even in Japan,
because of the prevailing culture, women didn't have any private power =
to be
independent, were mainly the toters and fetchers for the male potters. =
Even
in the early American craft movement in pottery in my age group, the men
were the stars of the trade until a few women started breaking through =
with
their ability to make pots just as good as or better than the men. =
Even in
this group, when names of those on whose shoulders we stand, rarely are
women mentioned. Karen Karnes and Toshiko Takaezu are two that come =
quickly
to my mind, but there are many more. Look in the early books for more
names. =20
Please excuse this rant, but there are many avenues to follow a dream. =
Some
never touch clay at all and are purely designers. And on the opposite =
end
there are potters who just for the joy of touching clay and maybe not =
having
a whit of talent, they are still potters. They all leave their mark in
history as fired clay seems to have a very long life. Where would we be
without it? =20
Regards,
Bonnie Staffel
http://webpages.charter.net/bstaffel/
http://vasefinder.com/bstaffelgallery1.html
DVD Throwing with Coils and Slabs
DVD Beginning Processes
Charter Member Potters Council
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