Earl Brunner on sun 30 apr 00
At NCECA in Ft Worth there were two charming lady potters
(Catherine Osman
and Irena Alphonse) form St. Lucia in the Caribbean that
demonstrated and talked about their handbuilding of local
cooking utensils, charcoal cookers
and cooking pots. They made them using the coil method
faster than I could throw them, especially the charcoal
cookers.
A spectator asked during the discussion how one of the
ladies know that the
lid she had just made would fit the cooking pot she had just
made (She had taken no mechanical measurements). She
replied simply, "Because I made it
for that pot"
The discipline of repetitive production truly improves the
skills of a
potter like nothing else can. Those who don't have the
discipline or the patience will always try to find a
shortcut.
mel jacobson wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> i realize how difficult it is for many of you to understand
> just how well a disciplined japanese thrower can work.
>
> when i tell people that a thrower works with total precision,
> making item after item, hour after hour with perfect skill, many do not believ
> it. and for sure do not believe the numbers that can be produced.
> of course that concept comes from a standard set in many school programs
> that feel that making 20 pots in a semester is a big deal.
>
> a trained japanese thrower does nothing but throw all day.
> he does not get off the wheel except to go to the bathroom.
> all pieces are hump thrown, and whatever you are making that
> day it is repeated over and over. when we made teapots, i would
> just throw covers, hundreds of them. mr. imahori would make the bodies.
> all to scale...exact scale. my covers would fit the hole perfectly. mr. tanab
> would do spouts and strainers. every part of the process was done to
> perfect scale. all the teapots were identical when complete.
>
> when we made the 4,000 teabowls, mr. uchida brought out the model, we
> talked about it, learned the small variations that he wanted. we all made
> sets of tools for measuring and shaping. we then practiced the form.
> when we set out to make them, all four of us were on the same page.
> each bowl was made to an exact standard, at the end of the day we
> would not know who made what set of boards of pots. the next
> day we would just take a board full and start the turning process. the bowls
> just began stacking up. all the same. you could match the rims, the feet,
> the height. all the same. perfect. that is what training does. the muscle
> memory becomes automatic, much like watching a grandmother knitting. she
> does not have to look, think, she just does it in an automatic way. think of
> the average concert violinist, playing at the speed of sound. think of the
> thousands of automatic responses that the hands and mind make in just a
> few minutes. why cannot a clay thrower do the same thing? and again, with
> the same precision. it can be done, and is done, every day in many parts of
> the world. the answer to the question is of course, most potters that wheel
> throw, are not trained. that is the flaw in self teaching, and most school
> programs of art....technique is forgotten or is unknown by the
> teacher. (and of course, if you do not understand something, minimize it, or
> assume it has no value.)
>
> so, the answer to the question is: do the lessons, train, set a standard
> of excellence and practice as if you are going on the concert stage.
> (and of course you are.)
>
> i did that year of lessons, it was like training for the olympics. my
> hands have never been so strong. at the end of the day i felt as if
> i could crush metal pieces into iron oxide. but, beyond that, i learned
> to measure clay. and i know it can be measured as accurately as metal
> or wood. a fact.
> mel/mn
> training, what a concept. art vs. craft no, training vs. expression. you
> can have both, it just takes work.
>
> http://www.pclink.com/melpots
> written from the farm in wisconsin
--
Earl Brunner
http://coyote.accessnv.com/bruec
mailto:bruec@anv.net
| |
|
