Frank Gaydos on thu 28 jul 11
Info on the newly opened George Ohr Museum:=3D20
Frank Gaydos=3D20
----- Forwarded Message -----
=3DC2=3DA0=3D20
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/us/09biloxi.html?ref=3D3Dus=3D20
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28ohr.html?=3D20
http://www.georgeohr.org/
pdp1 on fri 29 jul 11
Hi Lynn, all...
Wow, nothing like reading a New York Times article for reminding me why I
avoid Newspapers.
Not merely that the articles themselves are so bad, but, as is so often the
case, to find problems with the subjectmatter as such, as well.
Possibly someone can enlighten me as to how Georgia OKeef has anything
whatever to do with George Ohr?
Is it their first names which bound them together in this way in the minds
of those powers-that-be who made the decision? Or..?
And, whatever would impel anyone with any taste, proportion or sense ( I
know, it about wanting a gimmick to dran wan tourists to an erstwhile self
proclaiomed no-where, but still? ) to house either Artist's/Practioner's
Work in a 'frank ghery' design building?
By the time these imbesciles finished with all of it, they may as well have
just bought a big Blender, jammed arbitrary ingredients into it, and
emulated the youtube Video Series of "Will it Blend?"
Yuck!
Oye...
I would travel quite a ways to see Geo. Ohr's Pots.
I might walk across the Street if the weather was nice, and, if I had
nothing else to do, to see Georgia OKeef's Paintings.
I would personally walk WAY out of my way to avoid having to look at
anything supposedly 'designed' by 'frank gehry', let alone and infinitely
worse, that anyone would build it, and even then feel annoyed just knowing
it was 'there' at all.
Golly...
Eeeeeeesh...
How 'bout you?
Am I like grumpoy lately? Is it 'The Heat'? Or was I always like this?
By God, I WAS 'always like this'!!!
Lol...
Love,
Phil
L v
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lynn Barnwell >
>> Frank, thanks for the links to the George Ohr Museum.
>>
>> One of my dear friends, Helene Fielder, was the opening Mississippi gues=
t
>> artist with her sculptural work. It was displayed beautifully in glass
>> cases in the Mississippi Sound Welcome Center just inside the doors
>> before
>> you get to the rotating exhibit galleries. It was fabulous!, she was
>> showing with Jun Kaneko (who was there), works by Andy Warhol, and
>> bronze
>> sculptures by Barthe` plus the exhibit of George Ohr pottery. Great
>> opening. I hate to hear of their financial difficulties. Frank Gehry
>> was
>> also there for the opening.
>>
>> By the way... The upcoming Wine, Women and Song on August 13th will
>> showcase pottery demos by Helene Fielder from Marietta, MS, Beth Gafford
>> from Tupelo, MS, myself and my daughter Rebecca from Corinth, MS. We
>> will have painters Toni Spink from Corinth, Maria Hughes from Booneville
>> and a jewelry artist that I am sorry to say I don't remember her name.
>> She will be demonstrating enameling on copper with a small kiln.
>>
>> There will be a woman chef demonstrating and an all girl band.....fun!,
>> plus wine!. If you are near the coast stop and visit with us. WE are
>> bringing lots of work with us.
>>
>> Also, Brian Nettles has an exhibition currently set up at the Ohr.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Frank Gaydos"
>> To:
>> Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2011 5:57 PM
>> Subject: George: Ohr Museum
>>
>>
>> Info on the newly opened George Ohr Museum:
>>
>> Frank Gaydos
>>
>> ----- Forwarded Message -----
>>
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/us/09biloxi.html?ref=3Dus
>>
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28ohr.html?
>>
>>
>> http://www.georgeohr.org/
>>
James Freeman on sat 30 jul 11
On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 12:03 AM, pdp1 wrote:
Possibly someone can enlighten me as to how Georgia OKeef has anything
whatever to do with George Ohr?
I might walk across the Street if the weather was nice, and, if I had
nothing else to do, to see Georgia OKeef's Paintings.
I would personally walk WAY out of my way to avoid having to look at
anything supposedly 'designed' by 'frank gehry', let alone and infinitely
worse, that anyone would build it, and even then feel annoyed just knowing
it was 'there' at all.
My, Phil, aren't you the Grumpy Gus this morning! Yes, it must be the heat=
,
and living in the city. We need to move you here to Michigan, where you
will have room to scamper and play, and where you can pee off your porch!
Just the place for you right down the road; 10 or 15 partially wooded acres=
,
turn of the century farmhouse with good bones, huge barn with block walls
and stuffed to the gills with cool junk, probably go for $100,000 or less i=
f
the owner (a really cool "oddball" attempting to recover from a stroke)
decides to sell. But I digress.
Didn't have time to read the referenced articles, but have been kinda-sorta
following the progress of the ill-fated museum for a number of years, ever
since attending a roundtable lecture (soft-sell fund raiser in disguise) fo=
r
the place at the Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts conference a number of years
ago. The O'Keefe isn't Georgia, it's the name of the museum's main
benefactor (That one threw me too, prior to the lecture). The lecturer, a
PhD art history-type, had a few gnarly little Ohr "mud babies" (his twisted
and collapsed little bisque pots) on hand, which he actually passed around
the table and allowed us to handle (they differ from Ceramics 101 collapsed
pots in that they are exceptionally and impressively thin and light). He
explained to us that all of Ohr's mud babies were either sexual or
scatological. Really! According to him (and he wrote a book on the
subject!), the taller ones where only the top portion collapsed were all
phallic, the squatter variety wherein the entire pot collapsed upon itself
were representative of vulvae, and those that were somewhere in between
represented "scat" (poop). I think the lecturer actually revealed much
about himself, and very little about the pots!
He also explained to us where all of the glazed mud babies came from. Afte=
r
the cache was discovered, it ultimately ended up in the hands of an art
dealer (can't recall who). The dealer assumed the bisqueware was
unfinished, and was unaware that it was never intended to be glazed (He
believed they were just smaller brethren of the "controlled collapse"
functional ware that we all know and respect Ohr for). He began quietly
"finishing" the "unfinished" pots, having them glazed in colors recreating
Ohr's commercial work, and started feeding them into the market. When
scholars discovered that the pots were supposed to be unglazed, the flow of
glazed mud babies mysteriously stopped, and bisque mud babies suddenly
appeared on the market. He told us that a large number of mud babies from
the original stash have never come to market. It is rumored that the
missing pots had been glazed but not yet sold when the ruse was discovered,
and that they were either destroyed or are hidden away in a warehouse
somewhere. Interesting speculations.
Never understood why Ohr was lumped in with the Arts & Crafts movement, whe=
n
he had pretty much no relation to it other than synchronicity. He made mos=
t
of his money manufacturing and selling slip cast Victorian wash basin and
pitcher sets. While he did sell a bit of his "controlled collapse"
functional work, his mud babies were a mostly private pursuit. I think his
placement in the Arts & Crafts pantheon is just a case of an oddball who
doesn't fit neatly into any art-historical category, and he had to be put
somewhere!
Intended to talk about Frank Gehry and Georgia O'Keefe, but the morning has
gotten away from me, and there is work to do in the studio. Stumbled into =
a
February two-person show with a ceramist whose work I respect a great deal,
Frank James Fisher (www.frankjamesfisher.com), and I don't want my sorry
pots to look like "scat" next to his!
All the best.
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness, too
preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should
not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
Randall Moody on sat 30 jul 11
I would like to know what he was basing this opinion on. I have read nothin=
g
that would support the position that all of Ohr's pieces were based on
sexual or scatological references. I do know that he made puzzle and joke
cups that were based on "blue humor" but I think that it is a BIG stretch t=
o
apply that to all of his ware. But I think it is very common for PhD's and
art history types to make suppositions about things with little
understanding of the process and motivations of the artist based on a few
items and a great deal of conjecture.
Also, I am not sure about the idea that they were not meant to be glazed. I
do know that Ohr had a massive studio fire and many of the pots that were
not glazed were affected by that. Ohr called them his mud babies because
even though they were "damaged" in the fire and wouldn't be completed, he
couldn't bring himself to throw them out.It is wrongly reported many times
that the entirety of his work was destroyed but some survived. The few that
were not completely destroyed languished in the attic of Ohr's rebuilt
studio that later became his sons' automotive shop until the dealer
"discovered" them. There was a time where people were buying the bisqued
pots and faking the glaze since the glazed pots were bring more money than
the bisqued ones.
On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 11:02 AM, James Freeman <
jamesfreemanstudio@gmail.com> wrote:
> The lecturer, a
> PhD art history-type, had a few gnarly little Ohr "mud babies" (his twist=
ed
> and collapsed little bisque pots) on hand, which he actually passed aroun=
d
> the table and allowed us to handle (they differ from Ceramics 101 collaps=
ed
> pots in that they are exceptionally and impressively thin and light). He
> explained to us that all of Ohr's mud babies were either sexual or
> scatological. Really! According to him (and he wrote a book on the
> subject!), the taller ones where only the top portion collapsed were all
> phallic, the squatter variety wherein the entire pot collapsed upon itsel=
f
> were representative of vulvae, and those that were somewhere in between
> represented "scat" (poop). I think the lecturer actually revealed much
> about himself, and very little about the pots!
>
> He also explained to us where all of the glazed mud babies came from.
> After
> the cache was discovered, it ultimately ended up in the hands of an art
> dealer (can't recall who). The dealer assumed the bisqueware was
> unfinished, and was unaware that it was never intended to be glazed (He
> believed they were just smaller brethren of the "controlled collapse"
> functional ware that we all know and respect Ohr for). He began quietly
> "finishing" the "unfinished" pots, having them glazed in colors recreatin=
g
> Ohr's commercial work, and started feeding them into the market. When
> scholars discovered that the pots were supposed to be unglazed, the flow =
of
> glazed mud babies mysteriously stopped, and bisque mud babies suddenly
> appeared on the market. He told us that a large number of mud babies fro=
m
> the original stash have never come to market. It is rumored that the
> missing pots had been glazed but not yet sold when the ruse was discovere=
d,
> and that they were either destroyed or are hidden away in a warehouse
> somewhere. Interesting speculations.
>
> Never understood why Ohr was lumped in with the Arts & Crafts movement,
> when
> he had pretty much no relation to it other than synchronicity. He made
> most
> of his money manufacturing and selling slip cast Victorian wash basin and
> pitcher sets. While he did sell a bit of his "controlled collapse"
> functional work, his mud babies were a mostly private pursuit. I think h=
is
> placement in the Arts & Crafts pantheon is just a case of an oddball who
> doesn't fit neatly into any art-historical category, and he had to be put
> somewhere!
>
> Intended to talk about Frank Gehry and Georgia O'Keefe, but the morning h=
as
> gotten away from me, and there is work to do in the studio. Stumbled int=
o
> a
> February two-person show with a ceramist whose work I respect a great dea=
l,
> Frank James Fisher (www.frankjamesfisher.com), and I don't want my sorry
> pots to look like "scat" next to his!
>
> All the best.
>
> ...James
>
> James Freeman
>
> "...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness, too
> preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
>
> "All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I shoul=
d
> not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
> -Michel de Montaigne
>
> http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
> http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
>
--
Randall in Atlanta
http://wrandallmoody.com
James Freeman on sat 30 jul 11
On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 1:46 PM, Randall Moody wro=
te:
I would like to know what he was basing this opinion on. I have read nothin=
g
that would support the position that all of Ohr's pieces were based on
sexual or scatological references.
Also, I am not sure about the idea that they were not meant to be glazed. I
do know that Ohr had a massive studio fire and many of the pots that were
not glazed were affected by that.
Hi, Randall...
He wasn't talking about "all" of Ohr's work. He was talking about the mud
babies, the small, purely sculptural, unglazed pots, Like this one:
http://www.prices4antiques.com/item_images/medium/17/74/30-02.jpg
...or this one:
http://p2.la-img.com/171/23392/8274254_3_l.jpg
...or the one on the right in this photo (which does, indeed, look more tha=
n
a bit phallic!):
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_pPWeU703DLk/TFGr23bpfoI/AAAAAAAAGQ0/0HWn3TvPbx8/s=
1600/don_pilcher_george_ohr.jpg
He wasn't talking about the "controlled collapse", glazed, functional work,
like this one:
http://mirappraisal.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/ohr2bpic2bvase.jpg
...or this one:
http://www.edenhurstgallery.com/db/upload_files/ohr.jpg
The pots I saw and handled were not damaged at all, just unglazed. A numbe=
r
of the ones I saw in photos were made of marbelized clay, an odd choice if
one intended to cover it in glaze. He said that the cache from the attic
was huge, like on the order of thousands, and that Ohr had buried many more
stashes that have yet to be found. He claimed that Ohr told his family to
sit on the pots for 50 years or some such, at which time they would be
valuable.
Ohr did save all of his broken and damaged pots, which the lecturer
attributed to OCD. Perhaps this is what you are thinking of.
I wish I could remember the gentleman's name so you could look up his book.
I am only repeating what he claimed. I am not an Ohr scholar in any sense,
though I have read a book or two about him. In fact, I don't even like his
work. I do respect his throwing skill, and how he could over-thin certain
areas, then torque the pot until it partially collapsed, a neat trick that
obviously took a lot of practice. I also respect him for going his own
unique way with his private work, even while selling ordinary wares to pay
the bills. Sounds like a number of folks I know.
Take care.
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness, too
preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should
not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
James Freeman on sun 31 jul 11
Though I cannot locate my notes from the Arts & Crafts conference I
attended, I am relatively certain that the gentleman I heard speak about
George Ohr was Richard D. Mohr, professor of philosophy and classics at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
If I am correct, here is his book:
http://www.amazon.com/Pottery-Politics-Art-Brothers-Kirkpatrick/dp/02520746=
53/ref=3Dpd_sim_b_3
All the best.
...James
James Freeman
"...outsider artists, caught in the bog of their own consciousness, too
preciously idiosyncratic to be taken seriously."
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should
not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
| |
|
