Pages

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Random Thoughts

I was recently discussing the idea of Art with a few different people, all different conversations. Something that came up is the question, am I personally an artist.  My argument is, well no, but why?  Is art a distinctive category outside of craft?  I am certainly more of a craftsman than an “artist”. Or is the artisan/craftsman creating a subtype of art much the way folk art is a subtype of art that is different from “fine art”.  Maybe, I think an argument can be made that way. Artisans create something useful in a practical sense, folk art follows a tradition keeping the old ways alive, it is restrictive in the way traditional poetry is. And fine art tends to push towards novelty, eschewing traditional forms and approaches.

But perhaps Art, as a whole, should be viewed as evoking an emotional response. In this way Art functions in a way literature has be viewed. The “reader response” view in biblical studies has been applied to literature in general. The meaning is not in the written word, and in fact cannot be viewed as anything coherent without the reading.  Meaning comes forth when the reader reads the words, the interplay between the written words and the readers understanding brings for the meaning. So to it would seem that any Art does not exist without the observer, best viewed as an observer-participant, viewing by object.  Meaning comes forth during this interplay.  Art, therefore, becomes subjective.  It can challenge the observer-participant and can be evocative of very negative emotions as well as positive ones.  But it is this emotional meaning that comes forth between the observer-participant and the Art object (written words, music, painting, sculpture or whatever) that makes it Art.  Therefore Art, at its core, is an experience. 

So am I an artist?  I guess I cannot answer that question given what I have proposed, as only others can determine if my work qualifies in this manner.  In this way any “artists” opinion that they have created Art is narcissistic and delusional in nature without feedback from the community.

I have begun to believe that all Art, explores life and death and interplay between the two.  It is there that meaning and emotional resonance comes from.  Clearly this is my existential and psychodynamic roots showing. Ernest Becker would agree.  Pottery, or if you want to follow the verbage of the “artists” it is ceramic art, demonstrates this at a solid metaphoric level.  I will say, as an aside, that this insistence on the change of wording is an attempt to push craftsmanship of functional pottery out in order to capture a sense of “art”.  But looking at my premise, this is a false dichotomy.   

Clay is dirt.  But a specific dirt.  It is not formed by the heat of the earth or pressure but rather is part of a class of rocks called sedimentary.  This class is “dead” rocks, destroyed overtime and eroded into smaller and smaller pieces and interacting with the water.  Overtime creating layers and layers of different types of rock which break down to soil or dirt, one of which is clay.  So clay itself is the remains of death in the natural creation and beyond “dead rocks” it has a mix of organic matter, dead plants and animals.

Clay merged with water and fire creates pottery, or a brick or lump.  It this the clay must die to itself to be transformed into new life, mixed with a traditional representation of life, the water. But to be more than a lump or brick the potter’s essence or soul enters into the creation.  Like all art, the artist is inseparable from the art.  Art is a giving of self over into a new creation. So Dirt + Water + Fire + Soul = pottery. Something new, that can perform life giving functions of food and storage or for tending to the soul through ritual.  Art comes forth when the artist can die of themselves, take the chance the risk to put something out there.  At its best a new thing is created, but as happens sometimes it is a still birth.

Am I an artist?  Maybe.  I put myself forth in an act of creation.  Is it art?  I cannot know until the community responds or does not respond to my work as something of creation.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Greenware for Empty Bowls

Ok so I tried to do a teapot for the El Pueblo projects.  Figure out which picture is of the teapot... I bet you get it in less than three tries...
Ya, so I am gonna need a demo on that one and someone present to help.

Ok the rest are bowls, one is large for auction. the rest are 1.5# for Empty Bowls for use.  I decorated with white slip and my fingers. The main clay body is electric brown. As is usual, all ^6.







Other Art work

Ok this is Zeke's Ceramic Art, wheel thrown. He had another piece that died. This is in B-mix (white) and is also a test... A test to see if he looks at my blog.  He doesn't so it amuses me that I am saying this.




Anyway, you can see the double wall throwing and the leaves formed. This is all greenware right now.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Porcelain


porcelain sux ass... no really it sux ass so hard...
Like throwing drunk!!

Pix to come!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

New Projects

Ok like I said, new projects for El Pueblo and Empty Bowl.

Those are mugs with cookie plates, I think those will be packaged with some Celestial Seasonings Tea

Large Bowl (no clue where that is going) and Sushi Style Plates (there will be three total)

You can see the hand built tea set.









So I plan on attempting a Tea Pot or two, and then of course I need to do a round of 1.5# bowls for Empty Bowls.  And maybe some Raku Animals as well...  Deep Sigh, not sure I will get this all done. The weekend is basically over already.

Another Look at the studio



Just another look at the studio, from the outside.
“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year but when you volunteer, you vote everyday about the kind of community you want to live in.”
-Marjorie Moore

Empty Bowls 17th Annual in Pueblo!

Empty Bowls this year and it will be Friday, Oct. 12th 11am-7pm  In Pueblo, Colorado
At the Sangre de Cristo Art Center

Save the Date!
______________________________
So I missed the one in Santa Fe, they do march. But I am making bowls and then maybe some things for the auction. This all piles up with doing auction items for El Pueblo. So it give me some motivation, keeps me working and gives me a place to put things!  I will post as projects come together!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Project..

Working on creating something for El Pueblo's Bid & BBQ so they can use it for the silent auction.  Thinking about a couple of tea sets.  I have never done a tea pot before, so that might not make the cut. We will see, and of course I will post it here to my non-existent audience ;-)

Kiln Mishap = amazing glaze

So here are two cups/chalice's made by Zeke.  He rarely throws, and you can see his work is very different then mine.  He seems uninterested in the glazing process and like before had me glaze his piece. 

Also pictured is a bowl I made. This is the only bowl from that run that I glazed to preserve. The other three were set aside to use in the soda kiln, a sacrifice to experimentation.







So the kiln had a mishap, was to get to ^6 like normal, but got to about ^7 or ^8.  There was one piece that Laura made that survived and then our work.  Everything else was damaged by the out of control heat. So the glaze got crazy and mixed in a novel way creating the look you see... no real way to reproduce it. A gift from the kiln.

NOT Pottery...

Oh here is some of my textile art as well.  I don't do this as often.  One is a wall hanging depicting a Pima creation story as told to me by Blue Water.

The other is a quilt on our bed, inspired by the Gee's Bend Quilters.  Here there is an interplay between fire (death) and the leaf (life).  It is difficult to see that the quilting itself reflects this.




All art is about Life & Death, and the interplay between them.  ;-)

Things in Progress




Ok here are a couple of things that are simply in progress.  You can see them here as greenware.