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art is a cracked pot ....

updated wed 14 jan 04

 

piedpotterhamelin@COMCAST.NET on tue 13 jan 04


I recall many years ago while visiting a Crafts shop seeing an upset woman hanging up the phone. Apparently a customer phoned to tell her that the pottery windchimes that she recently purchased there broke when confronted by the wind. The woman, after hanging up the phone, turned to the other person behind the desk and stated to her.."well, what did she expect, it is pottery".
She also felt justified in neither returning the cash or exchanging the item because of it being handmade she reasoned it was justified. It must be art. It didn't need to live up to its expected end use.
By the way,with everything we make, there is the guaranty of implied waranty. It can be legally contested. Don't say it is a cookpot or a windchime if it cannot really be used as one. Unless you say it is an artistic impression of a windchime or bean pot...now where is that Bauhaus mug of mine?
Rick

--
"Many a wiser men than I hath
gone to pot." 1649
> Vince, I do not bemoan the lack of a specific definition of ART. I do
> not believe that any such definition currently exists. I also realize that
> by making this statement I am implying that I have some type of criteria for
> determining whether or not a definition could eventually come along that
> would indeed work (I am also aware of the contradictions that are occuring
> in the thought process.)
> I imagine such as definition to be kinda like a universal field or super
> string thoery of ART....ya know it's gonna blow most of us away before we
> even begin to understand what is being said. Trying to define ART is like
> trying to define GOD in my opinion.The fun for me is in the speculation. My
> levels of understanding and appreciation of that which we often refer to as
> ART are fluid.
> Everytime I swear off the stuff I find myself falling back into these
> discussions again. I have avoided them like the plague here on ClayArt. Not

> that I think these discussions are in any way bad, misguided, off topic or a
> detriment to those who are inclined to join the debate. Indeed, I think they
> are quite healthy.
> When it comes to clay I have repeatedly stated to folks who look at my
> pots and started talking about my ART that I'm not an artist. I tell them
> I'm a craftsman. I probably hold the general world of craft in higher regard
> than I do the art world so the explanation of this is not that difficult for
> me. I can talk about the line of a pot and it's relationship to the overall
> form more readily than I am able to get into these esoteric discussions
> about ART.
> Craig Dunn Clark
> 619 East 11 1/2 st
> Houston, Texas 77008
> (713)861-2083
> mudman@hal-pc.org
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Vince Pitelka"
> To:
> Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 9:02 PM
> Subject: Re: art is art
>
>
> > > What I was reacting to was my own continuing difficulties with what
> I

> > > often percieve as pretentious and academic discussions concerning ART
> > > without so much as a word in the direction of an agreeable definition.
> > > After all, and this is the first question posited in any philosophy
> of
> > > art class, what is ART anyway?
> >
> > Yes, Craig, the first question asked, and the last one answered. In fact,
> > it cannot be answered, because to define what art is just limits what it
> can
> > be. I know how frustrating that seems. But it is the reality of art in
> the
> > contemporary world, and thank god for that. It opens up a universe of
> > possibilities. So please do not bemoan the lack of an agreeable
> definition.
> > God forbid we should ever come with an agreeable definition of art.
> > Personally, I think that agreeable definitions of art only appear when an
> > indidual or a select group are put in a position of such power that they
> are
> > allowed to agree upon their own definition, and the masses are forced to

> > accept that definition without question, as was the case with the
> > propagandistic art of the Third Reich, Soviet Russia, and
> > post-Cultural-Rebellion Communist China.
> > Best wishes -
> > - Vince
> >
> > Vince Pitelka
> > Appalachian Center for Craft
> > Tennessee Technological University
> > 1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
> > Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
> > 615/597-5376
> > Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
> > 615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
> > http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
> > http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
> >
> >
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