[Clayart] Clayart Digest, Vol 46, Issue 28

[David Woof]

Some 40 years ago Warren MacKenzie showed me a 4,000 year old bowl that he occasionally used to eat his breakfast from. He said twas to commune with a 4,000 years ago fellow human and craft potter, and be reminded of the Craft aspect still so important in the everyday lives and cultures of so many across the world and human history. Of course he said he hand washed this bowl and dried it promptly. (Some mention was of not letting it soak and clink around in the sink.)
I've shared this dedication to well crafted clay work of domestic utility and unpretentious pricing all these years as well.

Though I have always maintained Gallery representation, and when deemed necessary name dropped Institutions of Higher Learning I have taught at to validate my work for those who can't trust their own aesthetic decisions, I chose to make and do what intrigues and challenges me within the confines of "form following function."  Does it fit our hands, caress our lips, and yet appeal to the soul of our eye? This is the Craft pottery I refer to as "Fine Clay Vessels" no matter how humble the intended every day use.
Misneach,
David
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

________________________________
From: Clayart <clayart-bounces at lists.clayartworld.com> on behalf of Tig Dupré <tigdupre at msn.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2019 11:43 AM
To: clayart at lists.clayartworld.com <clayart at lists.clayartworld.com>
Subject: Re: [Clayart] Clayart Digest, Vol 46, Issue 28

Dear Mudbuds,

Mel is right on point!  I consider myself a "craftsman."  I now work in clay, my all-time favorite medium.  I have done sculpture in several different media, photography, lapidary and jewelry-making, calligraphy, wood carving and construction, fancy knot tying, script writing and theater play production, quillery and origami, mobiles and wind bell making, and several other expressive arts and crafts.  My favorite period of art production is the Arts and Crafts period, mostly in the Roycroft area.

The challenges in being a potter keep my 74-year old brains and hands very busy, even though I work only in the cone 6 electric kiln range.  Plenty of challenges to make "functional art from the earth," as my studio motto says.

When I formulate and mix my favorite glazes, put them at the mercy of the kiln gods, and the dragon fire is kind enough to give me some really beautiful pieces, I am validated and rewarded.  I see "failures" as an opportunity to investigate, evaluate, eliminate or change, and TRY AGAIN!  That is the nature of what we do, no matter the skill level or experience level of the potter.

I have an entire bookcase full of books and videos about art and pottery.  Some help, some don't, but all give me inspiration to learn and to teach others.  And I enjoy every blessed second of it all!

I went to the Freer Museum in Washington, DC, and got to hold--in my hands pots that are older than the United States.  I felt the hands of some long-ago potter, carefully putting his skill, touch, and soul into this precious piece I am holding.  What an inspiring experience!

All this--the materials, the love of the craft, the science, the techniques, the challenges are what keep me going to the studio for another try.  To make something that others appreciate and admire, is the greatest reward!

I'm just a "Mud-slinging Pyromaniac!"

Stay muddy my friends!

Tig Dupre
in Port Orchard, WA

________________________________

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2019 03:28:35 +0200
From: "mel jacobson" <melpots at mail.com>
To: clay <clayart at lists.clayartworld.com>
Subject: [Clayart] to be a craft-person
Message-ID:
        <trinity-c728d342-c05c-404c-bfca-4e4be9808744-1568856515318 at 3c-app-mailcom-lxa03>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

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

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