Hey folks!
I won’t be in Philadelphia for NCECA – one trip across the country last week is enough for me. But my pots will be there! Here’s where:
Strictly Functional Looking Back: at the conference hotel, Marriott
La Mesa (link): presented by Santa Fe Clay, also at the Marriott
Snyderman/Works Gallery (link): on Cherry St in Old City, not a show, just a group of pots
MT Burton Gallery (link): as part of the South Jersey Clay Tour, so not in Philly but not far
NCECA conference link here.
I’m hard at work for the Smithsonian Craft Show, here’s a preview:
ye olde glaze cart
and pots awaiting the sleight of hand…
April 7, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I found this post very thought provoking. Maybe the two most important things I learned in grad school are caught up in your discussion, but somehow I had never truly thought of them as related.
One issue was that one of my studio mates would have Madonna blasting away on her CD player whenever she was working. It seemed to give subtle direction to her work, and I realized that I too might become unwittingly influenced by Madonna. Horrors!! I decided that for me to truly understand my own work I couldn’t have it reflect Madonna one day and Radiohead the next, so I resolved to make pots only without these distracting influences. Looking back I see that this was more than a little like sticking my head in the sand. You can’t just peel away your influences to find a pure being somewhere inside. We ARE, in fact, made up of these influences, and they don’t need to be staring us in the face to have an effect on us (hint).
The second issue was in a lecture given by Scott Bellville who was a painting instructor at UGA. He told us that he would do something he called “priming the will” before starting to paint. What this meant was that he would do whatever it took to put himself in a space that was conducive to creating new work, be it listening to NPR, having a cup of coffee, doing a sketch, whatever. The idea is that you are in control of some parts of the creative process that have a bearing on its success. Starting work cold can pay off some times, but not always. You never see professional athletes start their events without first warming up. Concert musicians always tune their instruments first. Why should potters believe they can perform their mastery from a cold start every time? Ron Philbeck had a great post on his blog a while back where he discovered what a difference it made to start out with a clean wheel and some warm water. What ever it takes!
Your post helped me see that these two issues are probably only different sides of the same issue. As much as it sometimes feels like the universe shrinks down to an 18 inch disk when we are throwing at the wheel, what we bring to the table is always complex and sometimes makes more of a difference than we acknowledge. By learning what things have which effects on us we are better able to put our creative selves in a position of aptitude. I guess there is no guarantee that doing A, B, and C will result in super fine pots, but avoiding Michael Simon’s teapot isn’t a negation of its inspiration either. What do you think?
April 7, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Damn! I made this comment under the wrong post!