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a craft story (cooperative work)

updated tue 12 apr 05

 

Malcolm Schosha on mon 11 apr 05


When I think about this project, one of the most interesting points
is that this could not have been done by one person alone; although
there are individualls who have all the skills necessary to do it.
The size of the job would have required a lifetime for one person to
finish, or close to it.

It would be interesting to see more cooperative efforts from potters
too. It is true that not everyone likes to work with other people,
but for those who do, such work can make life more interesting, and
make work less lonely. There is a lot more I could say about this,
but I do not have time right now.

Malcolm Schosha

............


--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, mel jacobson wrote:
> i was privileged to spend a half hour with
> sally mae the lead text writer for the st. john's bible
> project. the grand opening was this weekend in
> minneapolis.
>
> sharlene and i attended all the opening ceremonies
> and were guests of st. john's university. a very special
> treat for us.
>
> anyway.
> the conversation lead to the affect the bible project
> would have on world craft...we both believe that this
> project will have a great impact on world craft and
> craftsmanship. great projects cannot happen without
> the knowledge of the use of tools, materials, and skill.
>
> i feel that sally mae/right now/has the most skilled
> right hand in the world. she has been writing text
> 8 hours a day for 5 years. hundreds of pages. all the
> same. perfection. she agrees. she said,
> `when i have to lay in the text on a vellum page over the
> work of donald jackson who has just completed a major
> illumination, my hand just comes alive. i have no fear.
> my entire body and mind knows what to do, the quill moves
> on its own.`
>
> then she told me of her daughter, a graduate of a british
> art college.... a young girl that has had no training in color,
> composition, 2 or 3D experience...but is doing very
> `expicit sexual performance art.` and, with very sad eyes,
> sally mae said...`not much hope for my daughter...she has
> been taught to do these kinds of art.` no value.
>
> it is a good metaphor from mother to daughter in
> 20 years. the death of learning in exchange for some
> perverse socially directed performance. it will not have
> any lasting value...and no one can own and keep it as their
> own. it evaporates into the mist.
>
> or as henry moore once said. `the greatest way to view modern
> art is to look around in the british museum.` thousands of
> examples of human history making images. it still has value.
>
> donald said....`the only time my work is alive is when humans
> are looking at it. when the interaction of you and my work comes
> together. the rest of the time the work just sleeps.
> and you can do that over and over and over...every time you
> open my pages.` interaction.
>
> it is like holding an old chinese teabowl. drinking from it.
> a thousand years old...i have it in my hands. feel it, see it...
> use it. over and over and over. it becomes a part of me and
> the potter that made it. it is alive still, a thousand years after
> it was born. but, so is that obscure potter.
>
> i could do a sexually explicit performance...that just takes
> an idiots brain and a need to be silly in front of others.
> but, i will make a pot...that a human will hold in their hands
> a thousand years from now.
> that will be a form of immortality.
> mel
>
> mel jacobson/minnetonka/minnesota/usa
> http://www.pclink.com/melpots
> http://www.rid-a-tick.com
> luckisprepaid
>
>
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