Hank Murrow on thu 22 mar 07
On Mar 22, 2007, at 5:35 PM, Steven Goldate wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I am posting this on behalf of Australian studio potter Milton Moon.
> Hope someone can help.
>
> Thanks, and greetings to all,
> Steven Goldate
> sgoldate@aasb.com.au
>
> -----------------------------
>
> Years ago I recall both Hamada and Bernard Leach visited America and
> Leach was somewhat dismayed at what the Americans were doing. Leach
> passed the comment "Where has pottery failed these people?"
> Hamada, on
> the other hand merely said "The area has not yet firmed for them." or
> words to that effect. Can anybody verify these quotes or even better,
> does anyone know a (written) source for them?
>
> Thanks,
> Milton Moon
Dear Milton;
I was a participant in the 1963 workshop held at USC with Hamada
Shoji and his son Shinsaku. Mr. Hamada said and did many wonderful
things, but I recall nothing of that nature. However, while visiting
the University of Oregon in 1968, Michael Cardew gave a talk called
"Categories and all That" during which he was asked if American
potters were making good pots. he replied, " American potters are
making good slides".
Your mileage may vary.............
Cheers, Hank
Hank Murrow
www.murrow.biz/hank
Frank Colson on thu 22 mar 07
Milton- I doubt that there ever was a written statement such as you quote
on this subject~ However, as a pottery student at Scripps , when Soji
arrived as a guest artist, his 1st trip
to America, he had already been somewhat influenced to the Western world of
pottery by Leach who had visited and met Soji in Japan sometime earlier.
Keep in mind that it was Soji who loosened up Bernard's pottery expressions,
but very little. Also, and this is important, California had always been
pro asian long before Soji arrived at Scripps. I grew up in that
atmosphere. After 1941, all the Japanese living in California were rounded
up and sent to interim camps during the war. So was Hal Reigger,who was a
CO and sent to camp as well.
That is where he started messing around with clay and experimenting with
raku! Hal, that is! In the intern people like Charles Counts and Byron
Temple went off to the UK to apprentice with Bernard, returning to America
to carry on the tradition of what I call "static" pottery making.
Beautifully done, but not very inventive!
I was in a congo line in the basement of a castle with Bernard during the
World Crafts Council meeting in Ireland, and had tea at his digs later that
day. His comments about being with Soju experiences were enlighting. In
the meanlime, at Scripps (pre-Soldner arrival) was just coming into being
with the powerful influences which Soji left us with his presence. I was
learning to throw "off the hump" from that time. Just for fun we would slap
a 100 pound wedge of clay onto a hand built Peter Voulkes (sp-?) power wheel
that growled louder than you could think, and throw a teacup off the top of
the hump, cut if off, and throw the rest of the clay back in a barrel! This
was long before commerical potters wheels we know ever existed. Soldner was
throwing tall floor vases a meter or more high, which he developed at Otis,
while Reigger started doing raku workshops in Florida in 1962 at the Colson
School of Art.
The rest is history with no ending.
Mind you, California, Scripps, and what was bubbling up at Otis in Los
Angeles, in the early 50's ,was a hotbed of extreme energy and exploration.
Not to say that Soji started it all. It was already there in the air with
the perpetual asian influences that existed. Soji may have simply ignited
the fire at that time that exploded into the entire movement of what crafts
and pottery is today.
Frank Colson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Goldate"
To:
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 5:35 PM
Subject: Leach & Hamada in USA
Hi Folks,
I am posting this on behalf of Australian studio potter Milton Moon.
Hope someone can help.
Thanks, and greetings to all,
Steven Goldate
sgoldate@aasb.com.au
-----------------------------
Years ago I recall both Hamada and Bernard Leach visited America and
Leach was somewhat dismayed at what the Americans were doing. Leach
passed the comment "Where has pottery failed these people?" Hamada, on
the other hand merely said "The area has not yet firmed for them." or
words to that effect. Can anybody verify these quotes or even better,
does anyone know a (written) source for them?
Thanks,
Milton Moon
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Goldate, Editor, Ceramics Today
http://www.ceramicstoday.com
Encyclopaedia of Ceramic Artists
http://ceramicsdictionary.com
Email: sgoldate@bigpond.net.au;
Alternative email address:
sgoldate@aasb.com.au
Ph.: +61-3-95329870
FAX: +61-3-96177663
Post: PO Box 3132
Ripponlea VIC 3185
Australia
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Lee Love on fri 23 mar 07
On 3/23/07, Hank Murrow wrote:
> the University of Oregon in 1968, Michael Cardew gave a talk called
> "Categories and all That" during which he was asked if American
> potters were making good pots. he replied, " American potters are
> making good slides".
Some Americans make good slides. It is difficult to
measure the work done in a tiny country like England compared to the
work done in the USA. Might be better to compare it to a region or a
specific set of States. The diversity is more like you would find in
the whole of Europe.
I want to go back to England and see more. With friends in
Cornwall and me in Minnesota and Jean in Mashiko, we just might meet
in England. Airfare being half the cost of Narita to Mpls.
What I saw on my short visit last year, was not superior
to what I know is made in the Upper MidWest.
--
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
Steven Goldate on fri 23 mar 07
Hi Folks,
I am posting this on behalf of Australian studio potter Milton Moon.
Hope someone can help.
Thanks, and greetings to all,
Steven Goldate
sgoldate@aasb.com.au
-----------------------------
Years ago I recall both Hamada and Bernard Leach visited America and
Leach was somewhat dismayed at what the Americans were doing. Leach
passed the comment "Where has pottery failed these people?" Hamada, on
the other hand merely said "The area has not yet firmed for them." or
words to that effect. Can anybody verify these quotes or even better,
does anyone know a (written) source for them?
Thanks,
Milton Moon
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Goldate, Editor, Ceramics Today
http://www.ceramicstoday.com
Encyclopaedia of Ceramic Artists
http://ceramicsdictionary.com
Email: sgoldate@bigpond.net.au;
Alternative email address:
sgoldate@aasb.com.au
Ph.: +61-3-95329870
FAX: +61-3-96177663
Post: PO Box 3132
Ripponlea VIC 3185
Australia
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonnie Staffel on sat 24 mar 07
This may help. I attended a lecture given by Leach at the Toledo Museum =
of
Art on what I remember as his first trip to the US. I was a student =
there
in 1949/50. One of his comments that stuck in my mind forever was that =
he
said that American potters had no culture. =20
Then in 1990 I visited St. Ives and was fortunate to be able to have a =
visit
with his wife, Janet. I don't remember a lot of what we talked about =
but
that she was very crippled with arthritis, but when she got on the kick
wheel, she said that all pain went away. Then getting around to =
Bernard,
her remark was that he was a "pompous ass." =20
Both of these statements I heard personally, so that is about as close =
as I
can get to answering your questions. Sorry to say, I never got to meet
Hamada. Now that I have learned a lot more about the early potters in
America, I guess they were influenced a great deal by the Europeans of =
the
day and that they were not allowed to do any work outside that premise. =
At any rate, we felt in those early days that Leach, as a guest in our
country, was very rude to say such a thing. =20
Regards,
Bonnie Staffel
http://webpages.charter.net/bstaffel/
http://vasefinder.com/bstaffelgallery1.html
DVD Throwing with Coils and Slabs
DVD Beginning Processes
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