If you build it they will come

Lame. I have done nothing that i could topically write about on this blog. I've been too busy with other, less cool things like essays and actual work that pays me actual money (as opposed to thecompletely illusory sense of making money that i get when i spend a day making clay objects).

I did read an interesting book review (err...because i am too cheap to buy the actual book) on Searching For Beauty: Letters from a Collector to a Studio Potter by Richard Jacobs. It's a really carefully considered review. I also love certain quotes that the reviewer has taken from the book, especially this one:


Art contains our insecurities and physical limits as well as our talents...We must reach definitions of excellence that forgive and complement the labor of our hands.


I am in two minds about this. On the one hand, I strongly agree. The individuality and validity of a personal style is something that should be factored in when aiming for 'perfection'. But is it in one's best interest to simply assume that your skills are 'limited' and can/should never be surmounted? Are we really capable of overcoming every technical barrier? This is a dilemma that i think about both in regards to my visual art and my other time-consuming pursuit, playing the piano. Classical piano and pottery are scarily similar; there is always a core group of masters who are completely dismissive of anything short of 'perfection' or 'mastery'. Can we redefine excellence or perfection to mean something that describes a person's limitations with absolute accuracy?

I don't know. I do know that i haven't done nearly enough throwing, handbuilding, or piano practice to satisfy the masters, but I wonder how much it will take to satisfy myself.

and i liked it.

I came across this quote on Monday:

Art is an ode to life;
It is not a form of entertainment,
it is a form of joy.

I have been sick the last two days, which has been bad for work and my usually amiable disposition, but good for my ceramics. I have been messing around with throwing and carving and there will be photos soon!

homes away from home

Well, the forms have been filled out: it looks like i'll be going Back 2 Skool in the next few weeks, as a Graduate-in-residence in the ceramics department at Curtin. I'm really excited about this! I get to use kilns and hang with old friends and maybe even make new ones! Most awesomely, i can use all the resources - equipment, library books, studio space - and i don't need to pay a cent. THAT's education.

Here's a few photos of my garage studio. You see: my work bench:

What you can't see: the ever-spawning community of daddy-long-legs spiders that festers away in the corners, under the bench, under my stool, in my storage boxes - and the accumulating mass of crushed spider bodies in the broom bristles.

You see: my wheel and wedging table:

What you can't see: The half-dismantled old car directly behind the chairs, mechanic's tools strewn hazardously across the floor, my brother spending half an hour hammering an engine part into what he later realised was the wrong place. Seriously. Boys. Can't live with'em, can't get free rent without'em.

Hi ho Silver, awaaaaay

Back in the saddle! I used my wheel for the first time today. I bought it from a lovely friend a while back, but since i lacked some other equipment i hadn't used it. Until today! I hadn't thrown any pots since uni last year, and i stopped throwing pots around September and focused on handbuilding. So it's refreshing to get back into it. My wrists aren't too happy about it though.
I took a photo with my phone but i can't figure out how to Bluetooth it to my computer. Fail.

Just makin it audible.

Today I had two people in two unrelated circumstances tell me to make them something useful. I love functional ceramics and I'm excited about making some in the near future. But if people keep saying to me "when are you going to make some mugs", I'm probably going to start feeling resentful. Maybe i could call myself a sculptor instead of a ceramic artist? Maybe sculptors get asked the same thing. "Nice object, but dude, when can you make me some shelves?"

I kinda get it, I mean, using a beautiful, handmade mug or bowl at breakfast is pretty much the most awesome way to start the day. I have all sorts of ideas for functional ware that i would like to make some day. But seriously. I had my art right there. I was all "Here's something that i put lots of time and effort and thought into!" And they were all "That's wonderful! So anyway, make me something that I can use. With my name on it."

I guess the point of this post is, waa.