[Clayart] to be a craft-person

[mel jacobson]

back in the day, it was craftman, man or woman....it is a prideful thing to be.
craft, hand craft has always been a prideful thing.  i am glad i am a master craftsman.
i did my apprenticeship, i went thorough the process.  i earned my stripe.

no one needs what i make.  pottery barn or walmart has all the dishes you will ever
need.

craft in our life is a reaction to automation, ready made, cheap imitation.
in the day it was a human reaction to fight back against mass manufactured things.

think of the list, weaving, jewelry, silversmith, printer, seamstress, photography
and on and on.  hand done...we avoid the machine, the mass producer.

we all come in that line of men and women that made things we needed to survive.
pots helped bring us out of being `primitive`.

we continue to make hand made things....and we here on this net are a part
of the most honored of people....what so many want to do in their lives...
crafts-person.  to make things...to be recognized that you made it by hand.
and, if you made your own tools, kiln, glazes, clay body and then your own
design.. it just adds to the picture.

if you understand the science of clay and glaze....it enhances your life.
and yes, when science and technology give us a new tool to make our life
better, we use it.  but we never forget that it is craft first.
when it stops being hand made, when you give to others to finish, when
others fire your pots, made of a clay mass produced...you miss a great
many steps...and they are the love of hand made...i made it all.
if you do not understand this message.....you are a fool.


art movements and styles come and go...`GREAT HAND MADE CRAFT LIVES FOREVER`.
HOLD A MING DYNASTY POT, HOLD AND AN OLD TEABOWL, HOLD AN OLD HAND MADE PITCHER
FROM NEW ENGLAND.  HOLD AND OLD JUG FROM SOUTH CAROLINA..THEN YOU UNDERSTAND.
MEL




website: www.melpots.com