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Is Western pottery going through a Dark Ages?
I have consistently noticed upon entering pottery stores
not only in the USA but also in Europe, that many of their offerings are pretty much the same: low-quality, non-artistic highfire garbage. The stuff they produce is badly proportioned, oddly shaped, devised apparently not to aid actual use in some cases, undecorated except for boring combinations of highfire glazes or the use of salt glaze, and often unjustifiably expensive because I know a lot of it is slipcast although for some reason some potters insist on hand-throwing everything and damaging thereby their elbows and wrists (a sacrifice without a reason). When I compare this sort of fare with anything I've seen in pottery classes, where students are encouraged to be creative, or even Native American pottery, or Japanese sloppy-on-purpose raku or other styles, it is clear to me that not a whole lot of creativity is going into the majority of pots that are sold in small potter-owned-or-run stores. Nor is tradition being referenced since I've seen excellent wares produced either by hand or slipcast during the Roman period of Europe or later, and those are profoundly superior. Meanwhile I can't help but notice that many American potters fawn over anything Japanese (pottery and potters alike), as if to say "we are culturally inferior, oh we submit to your greatness". It seems quite ridiculous to watch. My questions thus a 1. are potters in the West not largely going through a Dark Ages, excepting of course those who exhibit their works as Fine Art? 2. what are the causes of this malaise? Was it the hideous influence of modernism that not only ruined architecture but also cleaned the slate in the area of pottery, leaving a vacuum? 3. is mass consumption and capitalism the cause, and if so how could this be, since consumers so often buy pottery because they want something different from Mikasa slipcastware? |
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#2
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Although I hate to overgeneralize, as I think you have done, it's
impossible to argue questions of taste. I think your taste and mine would differ. Brad Sondahl -- For original art, music, pottery, and literature, visit my homepage http://sondahl.com To reply to me directly, don't forget to take out the "garbage" from my address. |
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