pottery and art
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climberg64
NaomiM
tenpot
Potty
dantheman
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pottery and art
I often read that pottery is not an art form but merely a craft, unfit for an art gallery and distinctly less desirable than a painting.
So who decides whether a sculptor is superior to a potter? and what is the criteria?
Last edited by dantheman on January 25th 2013, 3:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
I would say the same about some "art" being a craft, though some popular "artists" I would deem very poor "craftsmen"
For ceramics, I do think there is a difference pots that are craft and those that are art. To me this difference is mainly in the purpose of the pot, i.e. pots for use and pots for decoration. Though many can also be both. Also a lot of potters make domestic ware (craft) and also more sculptural/elaborately decorated work (art). Guy Sydenham would be a good example of this in my opinion.
It's a can of worms really, but I don't see why an "artist" can piddle on a sheet of copper or pickle a shark for art, but if he uses clay it suddenly can't be art
For ceramics, I do think there is a difference pots that are craft and those that are art. To me this difference is mainly in the purpose of the pot, i.e. pots for use and pots for decoration. Though many can also be both. Also a lot of potters make domestic ware (craft) and also more sculptural/elaborately decorated work (art). Guy Sydenham would be a good example of this in my opinion.
It's a can of worms really, but I don't see why an "artist" can piddle on a sheet of copper or pickle a shark for art, but if he uses clay it suddenly can't be art
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Potty- Number of posts : 3583
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Re: pottery and art
you just about said it all potty except that last remark plenty of those piddleing artists use clay from picasso onwards andy goldsworthy ,antony gormley, richard long ect and of course that turner prize winner I keep mentioning Grayson Perry
Re: pottery and art
oh I forgot one of my favorites miguel barcelo look at this sublime pot http://www.theartblog.org/2008/08/irish-museum-of-modern-art-miquel-barcelo-and-janaina-tschape/
Re: pottery and art
tenpot wrote:you just about said it all potty except that last remark plenty of those piddleing artists use clay from picasso onwards
Yeah I know, but I'm just saying it for the overall picture, i.e. if it's someone equally artistic starting off in ceramics, they are not seen in the same way.
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Potty- Number of posts : 3583
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Re: pottery and art
Potty wrote:I would say the same about some "art" being a craft, though some popular "artists" I would deem very poor "craftsmen"
For ceramics, I do think there is a difference pots that are craft and those that are art. To me this difference is mainly in the purpose of the pot, i.e. pots for use and pots for decoration. Though many can also be both. Also a lot of potters make domestic ware (craft) and also more sculptural/elaborately decorated work (art). Guy Sydenham would be a good example of this in my opinion.
It's a can of worms really, but I don't see why an "artist" can piddle on a sheet of copper or pickle a shark for art, but if he uses clay it suddenly can't be art
Guy Sydenham was a craftsman for many years but I believe he became an artist when he took his white coat off and made expressive pottery
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
dantheman wrote:
Guy Sydenham was a craftsman for many years but I believe he became an artist when he took his white coat off and made expressive pottery
He was making both sculptural work and domestic ware at the Mermaid Studios yeah?
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Potty- Number of posts : 3583
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Re: pottery and art
I would say that John Maltby has moved from Craft to Art, which has resulted in the jump in prices for his pieces with the buying public - try telling a collector his work is 'merely craft, not art' and I doubt they'd believe you.
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Carrot cake is just fake cake
Re: pottery and art
Convesly I wouldn't call the Leach family's work Art since their work is firmly in the domestic Craft end of pottery.
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Carrot cake is just fake cake
Re: pottery and art
Potty wrote:dantheman wrote:
Guy Sydenham was a craftsman for many years but I believe he became an artist when he took his white coat off and made expressive pottery
He was making both sculptural work and domestic ware at the Mermaid Studios yeah?
yes he still needed the bread and butter pieces to cover his bills
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
dantheman wrote:Potty wrote:dantheman wrote:
Guy Sydenham was a craftsman for many years but I believe he became an artist when he took his white coat off and made expressive pottery
He was making both sculptural work and domestic ware at the Mermaid Studios yeah?
yes he still needed the bread and butter pieces to cover his bills
That's sort of the difference I was trying to show, the difference between the pots they make by the dozen (yet often still beautifully made) and their more individually made pots.
P.S. I'm not too good at explaining what I mean in text
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Potty- Number of posts : 3583
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Re: pottery and art
I agree that some studio pottery is probably craft but can pottery be art?
I think so
I think so
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
Perhaps art has to move things forward. The only ceramicists to do this in the last 100 years are Lucie Rie and Hans Coper and maybe Ewen Henderson and Angus Suttie imo
climberg64- Number of posts : 1239
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Re: pottery and art
Below is a quote from Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC (1893–1968), who was an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art.
"Pottery is plastic art in its most abstract form".
So no arguing with Herbie from me and anyone who does is just talking nonsense.
"Pottery is plastic art in its most abstract form".
So no arguing with Herbie from me and anyone who does is just talking nonsense.
Last edited by studio-pots on January 27th 2013, 5:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Re: pottery and art
sums it up for me
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
... and if we were Chinese or Japanese it would seem ludicrous that centuries ago some influential people in the West would have suggested there was a difference and that this would be accepted as the truth.
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Re: pottery and art
Carolyn Preston wrote:Maybe the number of pieces one makes of the same design? Whether it be shape, or painting, or glaze.
Carolyn
Absolutely. There is something about the repetition that's important.
Yanagi was a close friend of Bernard Leach and an Art Historian and Philosopher and he believed that the repeated unselfconscious hand production led to pottery having an instinctive quality separate from human artistic intention. Almost the opposite of art which involves the intention for it to be art by the artist.
The value of early Leach and Cardew pots lies in the fact that they are not art. They have no artistic intention.
climberg64- Number of posts : 1239
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Re: pottery and art
" the basis of the art that I was taught was searching for that instintive quality, picasso said he spent his life trying to draw like a child Ie instinctivley or naturally without preconcieved artistic intention
Re: pottery and art
I have always been interested in art produced without pre concieved intent and would often ask my Grandfather to scribble on paper or quickly draw some random lines so I could see what might emerge from them.
Max Erst would use the frottage technique (similar to brass rubbing) with a similar aim in mind.
I find that a ball of clay will begin to produce a form without pre concieved artistic intent when it is worked in my hands,this is possibly why Picasso loved to use it
Max Erst would use the frottage technique (similar to brass rubbing) with a similar aim in mind.
I find that a ball of clay will begin to produce a form without pre concieved artistic intent when it is worked in my hands,this is possibly why Picasso loved to use it
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
Dan - you may well like this then. Very artistic but created without any pre-concieved intent.
Celtic_Fan- Number of posts : 481
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Re: pottery and art
is it ice?
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dantheman- Consultant
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Re: pottery and art
Yep, Ice / Frost.
When I got to work Monday morning the works van looked like this. Within less than 20 min it was gone and my pic's are the only record of its existance. One of the most beautiful things I think I've ever seen - the 'pattern' not the van.
When I got to work Monday morning the works van looked like this. Within less than 20 min it was gone and my pic's are the only record of its existance. One of the most beautiful things I think I've ever seen - the 'pattern' not the van.
Celtic_Fan- Number of posts : 481
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Re: pottery and art
Is nature art?
climberg64- Number of posts : 1239
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Re: pottery and art
art often shows man's ham fisted attempt to capture nature's splendour
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