CLAYTIMES · COM n WINTER / SPRING 2015 Perspectives I As Far As I Know
What ’ s So Special
Every art form has its own distinct , salient characteristics . From photography to dance , teachers and practitioners alike need to understand what these characteristics are to better understand their field , evaluate quality , and to know when “ new ” work is truly new .
If you look back at the critical writing in ceramics that appeared just a few decades ago ( 1970s and ’ 80s ), you might think that pottery was a junior form of sculpture , sharing the same goals and characteristics , but in a sort of light , watered-down way . It ’ s only with time that our field has gradually begun to understand other things about pottery that are important and , to some degree , unique .
Ceramics is just one of seven studio art disciplines that we teach at my university , so most students will only take one ceramics course while earning an art degree . For this reason I think it ’ s important in that class for me to teach about things that are important to pottery . Otherwise , one could easily assume that the only thing that ’ s unique to ceramics is that we use clay . Here are a few points that merit discussion .
Like other visual artists , potters enjoy working with composition and content .
Potters are very concerned with the formal , visual , compositional aspects of our art . We actively engage with form , texture , color , pattern , balance , and all of the other compositional elements and principles of art .
About Pottery ?
Likewise we are now thinking about content : what pottery can mean , suggest , or imply . The work of potters like Richard Notkin and Grayson Perry has certainly raised everyone ’ s awareness of the ability of pottery to carry overt meaning . At the same time , many of us are also interested in the implicit , embedded content that pottery can carry , especially when you think about pottery as having both an artistic and a social aspect .
Pottery is visual and intellectual , but can also be tactile .
Content and Composition are important aspects of our work , but we probably approach them in a slightly different manner than other visual artists do . For one thing , pottery is inherently tactile : we assume that the viewer will touch the object . Certainly our eye can see things that our skin cannot ( I don ’ t know what the color purple feels like ), but touch can reveal information that is invisible to the eye . Ultra-fine sandpaper has a velvety look , but not a velvety feel . Besides that , touch communicates at a much more basic level than vision : this is why we describe the things that impact us the most as having touched us . The ability of the viewer to touch the artwork allows the potter to explore this form of communication in a way that purely visual artists cannot .
We don ’ t just look at pottery , we experience it .
BY PETE PINNELL
Pottery is experiential . Much of the time we assume that the viewer will interact with the object and will incorporate it into one of life ’ s events or processes . This both allows and encourages the viewer to spend more time with the object and to give it different consideration . It also means that the viewer may sometimes interact with the object while not consciously paying attention to it . This is actually a good thing , as a lot of the quieter , subtler messages ( in both art and life ) are only audible during quiet moments . Spending a lot of time with an object makes that possible . According to one study , the average museum attendee spends less than 30 seconds in front of each work of art . One of the great things about pottery is that the viewer might potentially spend hours with the object in a single day .
With pottery , the viewer can collaborate with the artist .
Of course , interaction can occur on many levels with pottery . It may simply mean using a pot in an ordinary way , such as drinking coffee from a cup . This act doesn ’ t require much esthetic decisionmaking from the user . On the other hand , pottery forms with which the viewer can serve , display , or present are an inherent invitation for artistic collaboration between the potter and the viewer . A vase , for instance , can be a complete artistic statement that stands on its own , or it can encourage the viewer take to part in a collaborative artistic venture . Pottery is one of the few art forms today
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