A New Book

I just found a new book by Bernard Leach (that famous potter I mention frequently). You can see the cover to the left. I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering when I presses "buy" online but the cover was enough to make me want it. Bernard Leach was very influenced by Eastern thought, both in his artwork and in his worldview. It is interesting to see how this played out in his philosophies and drawings as he brought them back and modified them to his western life style.

From what I can tell, the book is not his drawings but a collection of drawings that he either owned or enjoyed. The verse I am not sure about yet. Books are so wonderful. Full of mystery and promise. All you have to do is open the cover.

Here I go!

Throwing to the nines!

The trek down to the pottery everyday requires a sure foot. Stairs, rocks, slopes, and plants are ready and waiting to makes sure you are awake. It has been part of my 'slave labor' to take care of some of that. While waiting for pots to set up or clay to stiffen or soften, etc. I would head out to the path, gloved and stubborn, pulling out all sorts of weeds. Today I completed that task and stepped back with a satisfied sigh to see a wide, clear path leading to the studio.

As Michael Cardew says in his book, Pioneer Potter, much of a potter's life is comprised of hard physical labor which seems boring at first. But he quickly follows that with saying that those tasks gradually become less boring as you yourself become less boring. Interesting concept. Pioneer Potter is required reading given to me by Seth. It is his dad's autobiography and incredibly interesting for potters, artists, and really anyone. He and his teacher, Bernard Leach, were philosophers of sorts. They thoroughly thought through their aesthetics and were devoted to learning.

Seth has carried on much of his father's philosophizing. In that, though, there is a definite realistic edge. He had me throw bowls, the Cardew way. He sat down and threw one, talking through it pretty quickly as he threw. I stood and watched, mentally taking note of his nine

steps.

1. open (after you've centered, you thrust your hand confidently into the clay and make a shallow opening, keeping the bottom thick for a nice hardy foot ring)

2. pull (thin out the walls of the pot)

3. flute (while keeping the bottom tight, he opens the top way out so that the shape of the pot at this point is like a trumpet)

4. flatten inside bottom

5. undercut with thumb (to tighten the base of the pot and "give it a good spring" as Seth says)

6. shape (you can only do this once, to retain the grace and flow of the curve ... sometimes I tweak it!))

7. sponge (clean out the inside)

8. stick (clean clay from around the base of the outside)

9. wire (and cut it off!)

The "not boring" 9 menial steps of making a "satisfying to use" bowl. (all quotes mean as Seth says, if you haven't picked up on that already!)

Oh the choices!

Life is grand when you are aware of the simple pleasures of every day! I stumble down the stairs to the kitchen each morning for my breakfast. I assemble the various parts of the meal, picking my cereal, getting out the soy milk, spoon, berries or raisins. I always take a simple pleasure in one particular choice: my dish. It is never a calculated choice, a potter choosing with a critical eye. No, it is much more simple, much more organic. I open the cupboard to an array of bowls from our own basement and from the studio of many other potters. Not one is alike. They all have different weights, decorations, shapes. They all have different personalities. One bowl can catch my eye and there is just something about it, that morning, that I can't get away from. The shape of the bowl, how small or wide the inside seems to me that morning, how open and hospitable or closed and cozy. I am rarely conscious of these details as I choose but as I look, as I touch, I just know that one bowl will suit and another simply will not.

Our mug cupboard is the same way. Friends who come over to our house know this well. The choices when it comes to beverages don't only consist of whether to have coffee or tea or what kind of tea but which mug will you choose? Its a very personal choice and I hate to have to choose for another person! It is always fun to see which mug a person chooses too. Something in the aesthetic of a particular mug drew that person in enough to choose it over another. Most often it is one that I haven't used for a while and their choice draws my attention to it once again.

Some may think that they just don't have that kind of time, the time it takes to choose one pot over another, its just another thing to think about ... but they are so mistaken! It is a very different kind of thought process, unrelated to the list of to do's in the morning. Imagine you are back in elementary school... if you had a good art teacher, art class was not just another class. It fed a different thought process, it was engaging, bit of a break from the norm. The simple pleasure of choosing your mug in the morning can be that little break all over again.

In "The Potter's Challenge", Bernard Leach discusses the value in hand made work vs. machine made and the inexplicable joy and element of humanity that makes all the difference between the two. Read here as he writes about making handles for a pitcher, making it over and over, perfecting the form:

"[The handle] must be comfortable to hold. It can covey beauty, and provide use and pleasure in combination. Now a young potter may say that as a machine can turn out repeated things item for item what is the purpose of trying to do the same thing by hand? The answer is that aside from the rhythm and method of work that develop within the potter, there are a surprising number of people who want to enjoy a pitcher when they use it, and they cannot get that kind of joy when the man who produced it did not really make it, did not have any joy in making it. How is the joy to get into factory-made work? We need that joy. It serves a starved heart both in the maker and the user. We need to find a way for all people in this world to get this extra bonus. There must be an element of choice and the play of imagination." (pg. 18-19)

And more:

"Even under favorable conditions the absence of overall personal responsibility at every stage of execution, combined with standardization of raw material, and absolute uniformity of exact repetition inherent in the process of mass reproduction, reduce the possibility of expression to a cool hard abstraction far removed from the warmth and character and spontaneity of direct hand-craftsmanship. [Here Leach makes allowances for a new sort of beauty to emerge from factory made things but goes on to say:] It is about time that we realized that the real contribution of the machine is mass-production of the basic necessities which a swelling population requires, not the make-believe application of false art. ... Factory-made pots are not produced by the whole man." (pg. 46-47)

So, raise your mugs, brimming with life and imagination and joy: Here's to personality, here's to simple pleasures, here's to the whole man!

Origins

Do you ever look at objects or eat something and think, "ok, who was the first person to try this?!" or "how in the world did they figure this out?!" (Like mussels, for example... mmm, I think I'll break open this shell and eat the gray slimy mass inside!). I've never thought about that with pottery, maybe because I grew up with it and it feels natural, but my reading recently brought up just that! How did this whole crazy thing start? Who squished some clay, "burned" it, and called it usable?! Here is a quote from the introduction to Robin Hopper's book, Functional Pottery:

"...the earliest pottery probably developed by accident. There are two basic theories of development. It may have come from observations of the way the earth became baked around firepits, with the subsequent experimentation of making and firing pinched clay pots. On the other hand, it may have come from the accidental burning of clay-lined baskets. Baskets were the original storage containers. They were made from grasses, reeds, or soft, pliable tree branches, primarily for carrying and storing grain and seed, the major part of the diet at that time. Baskets are anything but impervious to the loss of small seeds, which easily find their way through the basket weave. After a while inner coatings of clay were probably smeared into the baskets to prevent loss. Some mud-lined baskets were possibly accidentally burnt, leaving a fired clay lining. Pottery could even have developed from the process of wrapping foods in a skin of clay and placing them in the embers of a fire, or on heated rocks, to cook. This method was common among the Indians of North America, and may also have been the precursor to the common cooking pot. From these simple beginnings has developed an art form which has served mankind for thousands of years, for his daily needs from birth to the grave, and beyond. Throughout man's pottery-making history he has devloped a huge repertoire of shapes and surfaces to fill his many needs..."

And in Chapter One:
"Looking at pottery in museums, or as illustrations in books, one can't help but be amazed by the huge and subtle diversity of forms that man has molded clay into, for a wide variety of possible uses. Beyond the natural instincts of enjoying the purely manipulative quality of the material, and the function which is required of the formed objects, ceramic form has been influenced and altered by many factors and forces.
Pottery developed as a response to the needs of mankind. Pots became containers and dispensers: pots of purpose. The form that they took developed for a variety of reasons: the use required; religious associations; as a substitute emulating other, more precious, materials; geographical and climatic considerations; and the many variations in cultural customs. Once the basic needs became evident, forms developed and made to serve them."

I think it a wonderful testament to the innate lover of beauty in all of mankind that even a plain, purely functional thing can be a work of art. You can argue about where that comes from or why that is but regardless, I think it is clear that art is an essential part of what makes us human. When the arts are forgotten or shoved aside, the qulaity of life declines.

The Readings

Here are some of the pottery books I am reading right now:

The Potter's Challenge
by Bernard Leach
(click book to read more about Bernard Leach)





Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose
by Robin Hopper
(click book to learn more about Robin Hopper)







The Craft and Art of Clay
by Susan Peterson
(click book to learn more about Susan Peterson)







I am also hoping to jump into:

Fearless Creating
by Eric Maisel






Art and Fear
by David Bayles and Ted Orland
This book was recommended by my fearless mentor (and former master!! ha!), Mel Jacobson. His work ethic and talent are incredibly inspiring and impressive. I will do a post on him when I feel a little more worthy... I miss you, Mel!



Hopefully, as I read, I can incorporate some of what I am learning into my posts and/or post specifically on interesting tid bits in the books.