Re: Leach/Wildenhain/Art/Craft

[Lee Love]

On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 7:40 AM, Randall Moody<randal...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Clark does say that one of the things that killed Craft was the ACC being
> taken over by people who treated it as a commodity.

Commodification is one of the aspects of consumer society the
Mingei movement was working against.

> Future of Craft conference. His main thesis is that Craft died from the
> toxicity of art envy, overdosing on nostalgia. We also don't think
> critically about our work according to Clark.

The main premise of Leach's Potter's Book was "toward a
standard." And the preservation of traditional work was not
nostalgic, but was to protect local culture from the encroaching
commercial global culture that was engulfing the planet. William
Morris and Okakura Tenshin worked on these issues before Leach and
Yanagi.

It is easy to put Leach's criticism of our work back in the
'50s: we were not working from the foundations of craft that had
been opened up to us because of better communications and the
scholarship of the past that was available to us. If you don't
understand where your craft came from, you do not have a strong
foundation. This is a problem Leach saw in the studio arts programs
he visited.

--
Lee Love, Minneapolis
"The tea ceremony bowl is the ceramic equivalent of a sonnet: a
small-scale, seemingly constricted form that challenges the artist to
go beyond mere technical virtuosity and find an approach that both
satisfies and transcends the conventions." -- Rob Sliberman
full essay: http://togeika.multiply.com/journal/item/273/

[Randall Moody]

On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 9:11 AM, Lee Love <cwidde...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 7:40 AM, Randall Moody<randal...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Clark does say that one of the things that killed Craft was the ACC being
> taken over by people who treated it as a commodity.

   Commodification is one of the aspects of consumer society the
Mingei movement was working against.



> Future of Craft conference. His main thesis is that Craft died from the
> toxicity of art envy, overdosing on nostalgia. We also don't think
> critically about our work according to Clark.

         The main premise of Leach's Potter's Book was "toward a
standard."    And the preservation of traditional work was not
nostalgic,  but was to protect local culture from the encroaching
commercial global culture that was engulfing the planet.   William
Morris and Okakura Tenshin worked on these issues before Leach and
Yanagi.

        It is easy to put Leach's criticism of our work back in the
'50s:   we were not working from the foundations of craft that had
been opened up to us because of better communications and the
scholarship of the past that was available to us.   If you don't
understand where your craft came from, you do not have a strong
foundation.   This is a problem Leach saw in the studio arts programs
he visited.

This is what I think Clark was arguing against to some degree. He states that the Craft aesthetic is anachronistic and that we should encourage craft into the 21st century aesthetically speaking. We need to move away from the "Little House on the Prairie rustic field. He also, and rightly in my opinion, argues that we need to let go of the old crafts movements and leave them in the 20th century at least in regards to the ideology. The Mengei Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement are all dead. Craft is now shuffling around crying "Bring out your dead!"


--
Randall in Atlanta

[Lee in Minneapolis]

On Aug 14, 8:27 am, Randall Moody <randall.mo...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > This is what I think Clark was arguing against to some degree. He states
>
> that the Craft aesthetic is anachronistic and that we should encourage craft
> into the 21st century aesthetically speaking. We need to move away from the
> "Little House on the Prairie rustic field. He also, and rightly in my
> opinion, argues that we need to let go of the old crafts movements and leave
> them in the 20th century at least in regards to the ideology. The Mengei
> Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement are all dead. Craft is now shuffling
> around crying "Bring out your dead!"

Randall. I've looked at your work and it looks pretty
traditionally influenced. Not avant garde at all, so I find that
puzzling.

It is difficult for CLark, in NYC to understand the rest of the
planet. His obsession with novelty and hubris makes him incapable of
recognizing the shoulders of giants we stand upon.

If you don't know where you come from, you have no tap root,
no solid spring board to jump from. It is essential, along with
some understanding of beauty, if you want to make something that is
more than a simple artifact of your time.

Lee in Minneapolis

[Randall Moody]

I fully understand where my work and my aesthetic comes from. I don't, however, live in the past as the overall craft movement, in regards to ideology, seems to. I find it interesting that you fault Clark "in NYC" for not being able to understand the planet but you laud Leach's statements about America when he had less information and experience on America and an equal if not greater obsession with all things Asian when he wrote "American Impression."

I am not, and I don't think that Clark is either, arguing that we shouldn't be knowledgeable concerning our history and traditions but rather that we should not be mired in those traditions. The state of aesthetics and theory in crafts is, in my opinion, deeply mired in the status quo of traditions. It will eventually be replaced. Probably by Design as they apparently are not carrying the corpses of movements past around with them. We are quickly becoming buggy whip makers.

--
Randall in Atlanta

[Ric Swenson]

Leach is dead..and Hamada too...let them rest in their own peace....they made their own history.....and you can make your own history.  I will keep striving to make my own works...and speak softly.
 
ceramics last for long time....into the night.
 
M.Wildenhain was a real piece of work.    I argued with her endlessly..back in the 1970s..... about why she would never allow a machine/motor in her workshop..and yet threw with ....not her fingers....but ribs...in BOTH hands. HA!  some folks are just hard to figure.....'purists' are never so pure as we assume.
 
go figure....
 
ceramics......one of the reasons I love it.
 
 
 

...into the night.
 
 
Ric
 
 

"...then fiery expedition be my wing, ..."

-Wm. Shakespeare, RICHARD III, Act IV Scene III 
 


Richard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher,
Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute,
TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.
JiangXi Province, P.R. of China.
Postal code 333001.


Mobile/cellular phone : 86 13767818872


< RicSwen...@hotmail.com>
 
http://www.jci.jx.cn/
http://www.ricswenson.com




 

---

Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:06:03 -0400
Subject: *ClayCraft* Re: Leach/Wildenhain/Art/Craft
From: randal...@gmail.com
To: Clay...@googlegroups.com

[Lee]

2009/8/14 Ric Swenson <ricswen...@hotmail.com>:

> Leach is dead..and Hamada too...let them rest in their own peace....they
> made their own history.....and you can make your own history.  I will keep
> striving to make my own works...and speak softly.

The thing of it is, though they are dead, they have left behind a
living tradition that I belong to. I find it severely amusing when
guys like Clark try to tell me about my life.

>
> ceramics last for long time....into the night.
>
> M.Wildenhain was a real piece of work.    I argued with her endlessly..back
> in the 1970s..... about why she would never allow a machine/motor in her
> workshop..and yet threw with ....not her fingers....but ribs...in BOTH
> hands. HA!  some folks are just hard to figure.....'purists' are never so
> pure as we assume.

I suppose the ultimate purist would eat the clay and then fire
their poop. Hahaha!

--
Lee Love in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a
faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift." -- Albert Einstein

[Ann Brink]

I use ribs as little as possible...I have the bowls of several different sizes of spoons that I use on the inside of bowls that need to be smooth inside.  If I have to use an outside rib for smoothing, I have just fingers inside-  I can't get a good feel for what's happening using 2 ribs.

 

Ann Brink in Lompoc CA

<www.annsgoodies.blogspot.com> (mostly about pottery)

---

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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
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[Ric Swenson]

yeah....ribs in both hands?   I couldn't feel a thing...so why not use a motor? can you feel that?
 
 
?????
 
 
ric

 
 


"...then fiery expedition be my wing, ..."

-Wm. Shakespeare, RICHARD III, Act IV Scene III 
 


Richard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher,
Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute,
TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.
JiangXi Province, P.R. of China.
Postal code 333001.


Mobile/cellular phone : 86 13767818872


< RicSwen...@hotmail.com>
 
http://www.jci.jx.cn/
http://www.ricswenson.com




 

---

From: anns...@verizon.net
To: Clay...@googlegroups.com
Subject: *ClayCraft* Re: Leach/Wildenhain/Art/Craft
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:57:25 -0700

</HTML

[Ric Swenson]

why listen?  I have never listened to guys like Clark....and probably will never listen.....delete....or not subscribe....to their bullshit....
 
 
My work is just my work...it has it's own worth and background....but who gives shit if it is all so good or bad?  Raku? shino? reduction?.....so what?
 
I appreciate all kinds of work.  ceramics is so wonderful...it encompasses so much...so many cultures and customs...and kilns....
 
 
Ric
 
 
hehe

 
 


"...then fiery expedition be my wing, ..."

-Wm. Shakespeare, RICHARD III, Act IV Scene III 
 


Richard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher,
Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute,
TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.
JiangXi Province, P.R. of China.
Postal code 333001.


Mobile/cellular phone : 86 13767818872


< RicSwen...@hotmail.com>
 
http://www.jci.jx.cn/
http://www.ricswenson.com




 

[Hank Murrow]

On Aug 14, 2009, at 8:24 AM, Ric Swenson wrote:

Leach is dead..and Hamada too...let them rest in their own peace....they made their own history.....and you can make your own history.  I will keep striving to make my own works...and speak softly.
 
ceramics last for long time....into the night.
 
M.Wildenhain was a real piece of work.    I argued with her endlessly..back in the 1970s..... about why she would never allow a machine/motor in her workshop..and yet threw with ....not her fingers....but ribs...in BOTH hands. HA!  some folks are just hard to figure.....'purists' are never so pure as we assume.

Dear Ric;

My teacher, Bob James, went down to Pond Farm for one of her famous summers, and mostly to query her about the Bauhaus and Gerhard Marcks collection and her memories of him.

Well, he did the assigned teapots, and because they were always wedged up and recycled at the end of the day, he did not make the strainer so the spouts were 'blind'. When Marguerite discovered this she was furious with him and berated him in front of the group. So much for Marguerite's bedside manner! However, he did get to have extended visits with her and her Marcks collection and letters, so all was certainly not lost. Many others have told me of their admiration(some slide into adulation) concerning Ms. Wildenhain, and if the students tell you something about the teacher....... only you and Bob James seem to have transcended her 'lessons'.

Have you read "Siddartha" by Herman Hesse? There is a wonderful scene where he sits down under the tree, and the buddha asks him if he'll join his young friend Govinda there and learn with them. 

Siddartha simply asks the buddha where he got 'IT'....... and hearing no answer, gets up and goes off on his own remarkable Path.

So we have done, Ric. So we have done. Consider it our graduation.

Thanks for provoking the story,  Hank

Hank pulls a chawan from the anagama @ C13.......

Here is a shino chawan that stayed in the kiln until cool.

[Richard Mahaffey]

Hank, Ric,

While at San Jose State, Marguerite came to give a lecture.  She showed some slides and one student prepared a kick wheel and a selection of tools like those she used and asked her for a demonstration.  She was dressed in a matching jacket and skirt, not exactly throwing attire.  He asked anyway and she said something to the effect that she was like of Picasso and would you ask Picasso to paint for you? As I recall.

She gave a powerful presentation but it was clear that there was only one way to do things, HER WAY.  I think she did have an influence on a lot of people that she taught and I had heard from some over the years that they learned so much from her.

Ric, I really like your statement and Hank’s response.   
Hank,  really beautiful Chawan!!!

Best,
Rick Mahaffey

[Hank Murrow]

On Aug 14, 2009, at 8:04 PM, Richard Mahaffey wrote:

Hank, Ric,

While at San Jose State, Marguerite came to give a lecture.  She showed some slides and one student prepared a kick wheel and a selection of tools like those she used and asked her for a demonstration.  She was dressed in a matching jacket and skirt, not exactly throwing attire.  He asked anyway and she said something to the effect that she was like of Picasso and would you ask Picasso to paint for you? As I recall.

Yeah, and e.e.cummings never gave typing lessons either. Funny how so many gurus of that era got huffy, I think most now would shrug it off. Although, a friend tells me the opposite of Love is Indifference..... not Hate.

She gave a powerful presentation but it was clear that there was only one way to do things, HER WAY.  I think she did have an influence on a lot of people that she taught and I had heard from some over the years that they learned so much from her.

I have heard that also....... and bitter medicine indeed for some.

Ric, I really like your statement and Hank’s response.   
Hank,  really beautiful Chawan!!!

Wasn't Ric's response fine? I did get some fine tea ware and sake things from the Jewel Creek firing. They made up for the really big stuff which did not make it. A severe test for me, yet I have given myself an extra year of hand building....... maybe I will catch on eventually.

Cheers, Hank

[Lee]

On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 10:38 PM, Hank Murrow<hmu...@efn.org> wrote:

> Wasn't Ric's response fine? I did get some fine tea ware and sake things
> from the Jewel Creek firing. They made up for the really big stuff which did
> not make it. A severe test for me, yet I have given myself an extra year of
> hand building....... maybe I will catch on eventually.

What happened to the big stuff?

[Hank Murrow]

On Aug 14, 2009, at 8:42 PM, Lee wrote:

>
> On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 10:38 PM, Hank Murrow<hmu...@efn.org> wrote:
>
>> Wasn't Ric's response fine? I did get some fine tea ware and sake
>> things
>> from the Jewel Creek firing. They made up for the really big stuff
>> which did
>> not make it. A severe test for me, yet I have given myself an
>> extra year of
>> hand building....... maybe I will catch on eventually.
>
> What happened to the big stuff?

It collapsed, failed structurally, extrusions too thin, Slabs not
joined well enough, someone put my guinomi on the servers without
wadding, I had stepped away to pee and did not notice when I
returned. All the usual stuff a beginner would experience.
Occasionally I can convince myself that it's good to be 'back in
school'!

I will send you a pic.......

Hank
\

[Eric Alan Hansen]

I have read both Leach and Clark and we are comparing apples to
peanuts here. First of all Clark is a salesman and an art dealer,
nothing more. He will say whatever benefits him financially. There is
no objective "critical" dialog with Clark. You can either buy what he
sells, choose to believe what he says, or not.

Leach is dealing with handmade pieces which are meant to be used, more
or less. Anyway, the springboard is "use" as Rob Barnard terms it.

Clark only looks at the work. He only addresses the visual.

With the functional, sometimes the visual is not very important.
Function is more about design in a real way, not what passes for
"design" which is merely commercial art; again, mostly visual stuff.

Clark attacks things so far beyond his area of expertise you would
think he is the Don Quixote of ceramics, tilting at windmills.

To summarize: functional ceramics is pure design, visual "art"
ceramics isn't.

h a n s e n


On Aug 14, 11:51 am, Lee <toge...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/8/14 Ric Swenson <ricswenson0...@hotmail.com>:

>
> > Leach is dead..and Hamada too...let them rest in their own peace....they
> > made their own history.....and you can make your own history.  I will keep
> > striving to make my own works...and speak softly.
>
> The thing of it is, though they are dead, they have left behind a
> living tradition that I belong to.     I find it severely amusing when
> guys like Clark try to tell me about my life.
>
>
>
> > ceramics last for long time....into the night.
>
> > M.Wildenhain was a real piece of work.    I argued with her endlessly..back
> > in the 1970s..... about why she would never allow a machine/motor in her
> > workshop..and yet threw with ....not her fingers....but ribs...in BOTH
> > hands. HA!  some folks are just hard to figure.....'purists' are never so
> > pure as we assume.
>
>    I suppose the ultimate purist would eat the clay and then fire
> their poop. Hahaha!
>
> --

>  Lee Love in Minneapolishttp://mingeisota.blogspot.com/

[Lee]

On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 4:57 AM, Eric Alan Hansen<kansas...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Clark attacks things so far beyond his area of expertise you would
> think he is the Don Quixote of ceramics, tilting at windmills.

I have respect for Wildenhain because she WAS a maker. Clark
is speaking at the American Craft Council conference this fall,
Creating A New Craft Culture. When you look at the list of speakers,
it is mostly university people and partime potters. The ls of those
attending is primarily curators and gallery owners. It is a bit
pricey for me.

Clarks presentation:

The Case For Conservatism
Garth Clark

For decades, craft institutions have been favoring the outer edges of
craft, its hybrid manifestations, in which craft is channeled through
design and fine art at the expense of the more traditional crafters
who have slowly become invisible outside the craft show circuit. In
the process, far from improving the medium’s place in the visual arts,
its “brand” in the visual arts marketplace has been corrupted and
diminished. As a follow-up to Garth Clark’s controversial lecture “How
Envy Killed the Crafts,” he now examines a list of dos and don’ts for
craft’s survival at a perilous time and navigates some of the barriers
to a contemporary craft revival in the United States.

--
Lee Love in Minneapolis

[Lee]

Hank, do you need to use a different clay for your large work?

[Lee Love]

On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 8:27 AM, Randall Moody<randal...@gmail.com> wrote:

> them in the 20th century at least in regards to the ideology. The Mengei
> Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement are all dead. Craft is now shuffling
> around crying "Bring out your dead!"

Randall, your ideas just don't match up to the facts.

The big problem with modern fine art, is hubris, is its lack
of acknowledgment of the "shoulders of Giants that we stand upon."
What is dead is Clark's gallery in New York. When the stock market
bubble burst, folks became more careful about what they bought.

Living craft is going strong in many parts of America.
We have a living, burgeoning tradition here in the upper Midwest.
They aren't doing too bad in the N.West and in N. Carolina either.
It is the rootless artists that are having a hard time.

Clark is speaking at the ACC converence here in the Twin Cities
this fall. Take a look at all the vibrate craft organizations they
will tour during the conference:

http://www.craftcouncil.org/conference09/?page_id=61

The Case For Conservatism
Garth Clark

For decades, craft institutions have been favoring the outer edges of
craft, its hybrid manifestations, in which craft is channeled through
design and fine art at the expense of the more traditional crafters
who have slowly become invisible outside the craft show circuit. In
the process, far from improving the medium’s place in the visual arts,
its “brand” in the visual arts marketplace has been corrupted and
diminished. As a follow-up to Garth Clark’s controversial lecture “How
Envy Killed the Crafts,” he now examines a list of dos and don’ts for
craft’s survival at a perilous time and navigates some of the barriers
to a contemporary craft revival in the United States.

--

[Richard Mahaffey]

Hank,
I thought Ric's response was fabulous! Sorry to see your platter was ripped
asunder! I have had bad luck with large platters when I have fired them.

Did you fire with Jen Lee at Jewel Creek? I know that she fires at Jewel
Creek from time to time.

Rick

> Front rank of pots in the Jewel Creek anagama, my big planter at
> lower left, the whole thing came apart!

[Hank Murrow]

On Aug 15, 2009, at 2:39 PM, Richard Mahaffey wrote:

>
> Hank,
> I thought Ric's response was fabulous! Sorry to see your platter
> was ripped
> asunder! I have had bad luck with large platters when I have fired
> them.
>
> Did you fire with Jen Lee at Jewel Creek? I know that she fires at
> Jewel
> Creek from time to time.

Yes, Jennifer was an invaluable part of an excellent crew, and her
work stood out among even the successful pieces.

Austin, and Chris, Amy, Scott, Moko Hotori, and Ken Pincus were among
the Portland Contingent. The Eugene/UofO contingent was myself, James
Laub, Art Nersesian, Michael Morris, Deborah Haynes, Bill Welch.....
with Ken O'Connell, Bob James, Bob Wenger, and David Stannard
arriving for Saturday Fun. Tom Kearcher oversaw the firing, as it is
his kiln.... and a sweet, 100-hour firing was the result.

Cheers, Hank

[Neon-Cat]

Hi all! Happy weekend!   This is interesting on an interesting web site -- an opaque white matte glaze with "Horse-tooth stone". Theories anyone? See: Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia at http://seasianceramics.asia.si.edu/materials/subgroup.asp?key=11 (about mid-way down the article). Nice note by Louis Katz in the comments section. Maybe you all already know of this but it is a "new" publication to me.    On a happy note I got my clay-joy back and as a bonus discovered an unlimited supply of great oak wood ash (got 7% in a red clay body to try now, it feels nice and workability is better with the wood ash addition). Got over being incensed at being called a "commodity" by a guy (thanks for mentioning commodity in recent discussions -- now I know where that came from -- it had seemed a tad far out there to suit me). Decided to craft my vessels and forms to the best of my ability and not give a hoot if they are called art, craft, or junk. All-in-all I'm having a fine time here and hope you all are, too. The stories from earlier days are good -- keep 'um coming.   I am puzzling over why wheel-throwers sometimes have an ackward time of it during handbuilding. Probably the number one thing I have noticed is timidity. You all work with tremendous forces and have them working for you on the wheel. So maybe go jerk your clay around and be a little more aggressive. You drop many pounds of clay on a wheel, beat on it, manhandle it, cone it up and down, center it, etc. In handbuilding one can slam or drop a work and thus center it, rebuilding and recovering form afterward if necessary. I always smooth the insides of vessels as nicely as I do the outside, this compresses and solidifies the clay from both sides. I apply considerable force to the clay during some aspects of handbuilding. As you must be doing on the wheel (so it seems to me by observing throwers), you should be able to tell if a work will survive drying and firing by feel. If balanced to itself (and properly made) a work should survive anything with additions in almost any direction or at any angle. Keeping a uniform thickness is not just good for better drying or firing success it helps make angles and curves more doable -- clay can't bend, move, and keep its shape if it is backed by a "caulked-in" weld of excess clay. I do wish I could be more helpful because handbuilding is tons of fun. The right tools for the job and stage of clay wetness also help; handbuilders seem to have more tools than I've seen wheel-throwers here use. I don't know. But to me it is an interesting question. Hope you all don't mind the comments. What you all do is somewhat mysterious to me since I don't wheel-throw. I keep debating about learning but then end up asking why (for me).   Marian

[Hank Murrow]

Dear Marian;

Your comment below is pertinent to me, as I have just spent 18 months away from the wheel after 51 years of throwing. I found that this new(for me) process went a LOT slower, yet with the advantage that each piece had the opportunity of evolving into a prototype. Lovely process! however, my skills proved lacking when it came to assembling large(to 40"0 extrusions and large slabs. Getting the slabs to hold their shape until I could get the extruded hollow rims in place was daunting, even with the aid(thanks Gordon Ward) of DuPont's Roofliner with Evaloy as pattern and support. The pieces finish out around 30"" diameter or widest dimension(that fits my kiln). I plan to continue my self-given 'sabbatical' into next march, so we'll see if I can accrue the necessary skills by then.

Thanks & Cheers,     Hank in Eugene

[claylady86]

I found this thread interesting. In my 60 years of potting, having
started with handbuilding the first year, then acquired the joy of
throwing, I then got bored with just making round things. that started
my distortion of the form, putting them together, altering, adding
appendages, whatever it took to achieve my goal. Now at this stage of
my life have turned back to handbuilding and primitive firing
techniques. What I find more difficult is in having patience with the
parts to dry evenly so they can be put together. It seems to take a
lot more time for handbuilding working in a damp basement now. As it
involves going up and down two flights of stairs to check or continue
the process, I seem to find excuses to put off the trip. Can't say I
am a young'un any more so every effort is not as it used to be!!! Have
to call on the family and work in their schedule to have the pots
brought up to the garage for bisque firing. However, I am just doing
smoke firing now so I can handle that process alone. Independence
seems to have floated away and it is hard to deal with. However, I am
still excited with my work. I must say that wheel throwing and
handbuilding in my case were interchangeable and a natural part of my
production. I use Phoenix from Highwater clay and it seems to work
beautifully. If it gets too dry, I just dunk the dry part in the water
to get it damp again and continue to construct.
http://webpages.charter.net/bstaffel

On Aug 15, 11:51 pm, Neon-Cat <neon...@flash.net> wrote:
> Hi all! Happy weekend!
>  
> This is interesting on an interesting web site -- an opaque white matte glaze with "Horse-tooth stone". Theories anyone?

> See: Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia athttp://seasianceramics.asia.si.edu/materials/subgroup.asp?key=11

[Irakusa]

Thanks for the lesson Marian. : )

---

From: Neon-Cat <neo...@flash.net>
To: Clay...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 9:51:04 PM
Subject: *ClayCraft* Horse-tooth stone, handbuilding, etc.

[Neon-Cat]

Just observations, no lesson. I don't want to give lessons, just share a little something from time to time. But I have wondered when in communal settings. Clay is clay and the principles, if not the methods, have always been the same. In one class I took the wheel-throwers were kept separate from handbuilders. That seemed to foster a lot of ill-will I was at a loss to understand. In another class we were all intermingled and I enjoyed watching and learning from those at work on the wheel and vice-versa.   Marian   --- On Mon, 8/17/09, Irakusa <ira...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Eric Alan Hansen]

> This is interesting on an interesting web site -- an opaque white matte glaze with "Horse-tooth stone". Theories anyone?

> See: Ceramics in Mainland Southeast Asia athttp://seasianceramics.asia.si.edu/materials/subgroup.asp?key=11

> (about mid-way down the article).
> Nice note by Louis Katz in the comments section.
> Maybe you all already know of this but it is a "new" publication to me.

Marian: They have been promising for a long time now to get all the
new SE Asia pieces online. Looks like it is finally happening.

Louis Katz has been coming into town and working with the Smithsonian,
writing in the field notes, and lecturing. I am thinking at some point
he may consider informing other colleagues in our online community and
who also live in this area and who also pursue similar investigations
at the Freer/Sackler (???) I can think of several people here in the
D.C. metro area who meet this description and who would be deeply
appreciative of this.

> I am puzzling over why wheel-throwers sometimes have an ackward time of it during handbuilding.

My problem was the reverse, making pieces which would have worked fine
in gas or electric but the wood kiln simply shredded them. In this
case they were wheel thrown works. My hand-built stuff that goes into
the wood kiln has so far been indestructible.

[Neon-Cat]

From: Eric Alan Hansen kansas...@gmail.com

Louis Katz has been coming into town and working with the Smithsonian, writing in the field notes, and lecturing. I am thinking at some point he may consider informing other colleagues in our online community and who also live in this area and who also pursue similar investigations at the Freer/Sackler (???) I can think of several people here in the D.C. metro area who meet this description and who would be deeply appreciative of this.

Well, I imagine the cat's out of the bag now. It was not my intention to screw things up for Professor Katz -- seems he's doing a fine job for them and it made my heart glad. (not that others are not also capable of fine accomplishments and undertakings)   Perhaps I'll just send in photos of my own work if I'm in the mood to share...if they offend, well at least I haven't done anything but bore the list senseless.   PC in the potter world is a witch. Sorry, Louis -- hope you'll still shake my hand if I make it over to your show. Perhaps I'll use a fake name or just change it altogether...   Marian

[Louis Katz]

Sorry,
I just posted the article thing on Smithsonian site, sorry someone
missed it. I prepped the Smithsonian lecture at a dead run. Gail
Busch , my wife, makes wonderful clay, but had thyroid cancer that
spring (she is well thanks to radioactive iodine, a story in itself).
The lecture went well, but it was not prepped to my normal standards
and I had to wing it from rough notes. Fortunately I talked to a
backdrop of my video on Dankwean. The video is interesting enough to
carry things, the talk was really on the importance of Thai pottery,
looking, and the need for quality. I felt like it went well, but
still, a year afterwards I am nervous about it. Nuts, but true. I have
been invited back sometime. I need a topic that makes sense for the
audience and an opportunity.


In an effort to keep y'all informed, go see my show "Manifesto" at
Brookhaven Community College Forum Gallery. Dallas TX USA
It is open sometime next week up until Sept 25 when there is a
reception. I will be doing some sort of dog and pony show for it. I do
not know the time, I hope to lecture behind a potters wheel. If you
want to read the Manifesto, it is here:
http://critical.tamucc.edu/wiki/Katz/ClayerManifesto

FYI next summer I will send some time in Montana getting ready for the
Brays' 60th in 2012. They want something like the flame throwing pipe
organ for the opening ceremony. I hope to be able to do something fun.

I hope you all don't take my "in one day out again" participation in
this claycraft forum personally. I have way too many things going that
really excite me. Lots of things that happen here are included in
this, but I need time to talk with Thailand every day(ham radio), time
to tickle my youngest, my older son wants to learn a computer
programming language.... Today I re-edited a video for projection on
a screen made of three inch bowls glued to slate thats in the
Brookhaven show. The re-edit was because of comment by David Newman ,
the printmaker who runs the gallery. I was convinced that I could make
the show much better with one more time through. So in the morning I
will burn a new DVD and mail it off to him.

I feel that this show "Manifesto" is better than the flame throwing
pipe organ, deeper anyways, at least it seems so to me.

Its a busy life, I am sure you all are busy too.

I would suggest that any clayers in the DC area get on the
Smithsonians Freer and Sackler gallerys mailing lists.

Many of you know that I spent a year in Thailand in 1988 and 1989 on a
Fulbright Grant and produced a two hours of video on Thai Potteries.
Suwanee Natewong and her family were my hosts there. I still talk
with her monthly and see her every few years. I miss her and am
looking for a good excuse to get back to Thailand for an extended
period (3 months) . Thailand is changing rapidly but pottery is still
interesting there. I am still interested in it. But now that my Thai
has gotten so good what I love more than almost anything else is to
speak and listen to Thai. Even idle chit chat is a blast. Learning to
speak Thai was the best simple thing I ever did for myself. If I were
to forget it overnight, I would hit the language tapes again in the
morning.
------------
LOTS of other things can be found here:
http://critical.tamucc.edu/wiki/Katz/HomePage

Old things that I wrote can be found here my writing has gotten better:
http://www.tamucc.edu/~lkatz/articles.html

This year I am the deputy speaker of our faculty senate. Next year I
will almost certainly be nominated for speaker by someone unless I
screw up this year. Oy. Mark Anderson, the printmaker here and I
frequently make reference to the phrase,"No good dead goes
unpunished" . We use the loose acronym NOGEADUP [nuggied-up].

Time for bed. Might I suggest the following composition which I share
with you for your evening pleasure:
http://www.tamucc.edu/~lkatz/b.mid

I would love to hear it on real instruments.
Nighty Night Y'all
Louis