Musings
The piece you see above is a before and after of the thrown clay cylinder that I had painted the other day. The yellow that you see is shellac and will burn off during bisque firing. I was searching for the name of the technique and I can’t seem to pull it out of my brain files right now. I’m pretty sure it’s a Japanese term-when I remember or find it, I’ll share it with you.
I was reading a book the other day, titled Studio Pottery, that has beautiful images and also a really great explanation of the re-birth of pottery around the 19th C in western cultures. I qualify that as western cultures because the ceramic arts has a solid tradition and reverence in eastern cultures.
In a nutshell the author, Oliver Watson, describes how the Arts and Craft Movement began as a back lash to Victorian tastes and the rise of Industry in the 19th C. Machination made it possible for things to be produced faster, cheaper and more efficiently than handmade items. The movement was a social one and aimed to return the soul back into design and the items that were used everyday. The touch of the artist or craftsperson imbued the items with integrity and purpose, unlike cold evil machines. Wikipedia has a great explanation too. He described “ethical” pots as being ones that have the maker’s touch on it, unlike mass produced items.
So many different mediums were affected including ceramics, fiber, architecture, glass, jewelry, design reflecting nature and more. I bring this up because I think in some ways it reflects a bit of what is happening today too-such as the slow food movement, Etsy, green building, hybrid car and other smart, but social reactions to the technology of today. While many of these are in fact fueled by technology, they are a social response to production and use methods today.
Okay, I’ll step off my soapbox now and offer you a photograph below that I took inside the State Capitol of Colorado in Denver a couple of weeks ago. I took this by placing my camera as close to center looking up into the dome which has recently been restored. I think it turned out really well. Although I have lived on and off in Colorado for 12 years now, this was my first visit to the capitol. I was chaperoning a my daughter’s class field trip.
