[justanassembler]

[/quote]


I'm sorry to tell you Chris, but Cone 28 is where it is all happening. And real potters do all of that construction work of studio, wheel, kiln, and shelves without the use of those corrupting influences: power tools. But keep at it..... in 2,000 years you might be getting close to acheiving this goal.

best,

.......................john
[/quote

hate to break it to you john, just ask the guys at coortek ceramic--cone 32 is where all the action is these days

[JBaymore]

justanassembler, on 28 September 2012 - 02:51 AM, said:

hate to break it to you john, just ask the guys at coortek ceramic--cone 32 is where all the action is these days

Darn it....... I just can't keep up! Know anywhere where I can find more wood?

best,

...................john

[yedrow]

Lucilla,

I don't disagree with you. For me personally, I primarily care about two things, what I think about it, and what the customer thinks about it. My sole objective is to create a piece that is cherished by its owner. I don't get much more than that out of this craft. I do feel pride when someone/anyone likes my work. And I like to see what people like. But aesthetic input from another potter, in my limited experience, tends to be of little value. It's like an animal feeding off of its own species. Its a feedback loop. I think this is where a lot of the group think rises from in the craft. I see genuine work out there, but there is this huge back channel of similar work that draws influence, seemingly, from the same well. I personally try my best to keep away from this, especially when it is being forced upon me. I had a guy one time spend a few months telling me my handles looked like something a school kid did and trying to get me to imitate his extruded handles. I say, stick to your own style. It is the only thing you have any chance of being best at.

Joel.

[Edith Marie]

OffCenter, on 09 July 2012 - 06:28 AM, said:

Lucille Oka, on 09 July 2012 - 01:02 AM, said:

Coke can't criticize Pepsi. Ralph Lauren can't criticize Betsy Johnson; Arnon Milchan can't criticize Quentin Tarantino, why? Because they are in the same businesses the critique cannot be trusted. Ergo potters can't criticize potters.
Notice how it doesn't sit well with potters. We can't take it, especially from each other. Many of us get jealous and angry at other's potential successes. We are all vying for the same pottery dollar.

In other venues such as movies, plays, art, books and restaurants the critics are not writing to the ‘makers’ of the ‘works’ but to the public. Not to say the maker’s will not read the reviews it affects their bottom lines; they most certainly do. But I will never ‘personally’ or ‘not personally’ accept a critique from competitors.

Pardon my bluntness but what a bunch of nonsense! It's not only nonsense, it's insulting. I'd wager that Tarantino is more interested in Milchan's critique of Pulp Fiction than he is of Roger Ebert's review even though Ebert's review has more effect on his bottom line. That's all writers groups do is sit around criticizing each others work in great detail. They are doing that to possibly learn something about their own work from people they respect and to help other writers. They have nothing in common with the relationship between Pepsi and Coke. WHEN ONE OF THEM HAS A PUBLISHING SUCCESS THEY THROW A PARTY, NOT A TANTRUM. Potters are the same way. When we fire the only anagama in middle Georgia a dozen or so potters come together to fire it and I don't think a single one of us is hoping our "competition's" pots come out looking bad. Last Spring for the biggest (or maybe second biggest) show in Georgia, one of my "competitor's" kiln broke down. I busted my ass to get her pots fired in my kilns in time for the show, even to the point of leaving a few of my pots out of the show. Recently, I have what may be a big break for me in that a collector who donated an incredibly beautiful collection of 807 pots to the Crocker Museum started a new collection by buying all of my anagama bottles. The first thing I did was introduce him to one of my "competitors" who makes better anagama pots than I do. I'm not bragging about being a nice guy; it's just that those are the examples that spring to mind and I don't know a single potter (except maybe you and, fortunately, I don't really know you) who wouldn't do the same thing for his/her "competition".

Jim

[koreyej]

JBaymore, on 17 July 2012 - 09:02 AM, said:

Chris Campbell, on 17 July 2012 - 10:20 AM, said:

The competition for who is the most "real" potter is one that I am determined to win ... so I have decided to plant my own forest so by the time I build my own studio, wheel, kiln and shelves ... dig my own clay from a local river bank and process it ... mine and grind my own minerals and chemicals .... the forest will be mature enough for me to harvest enough wood to fire the work I will have made in my spare time. I will also be firing to at least Cone 20 so as to have the pleasure of hand chipping clay from shelves.

I'm sorry to tell you Chris, but Cone 28 is where it is all happening. And real potters do all of that construction work of studio, wheel, kiln, and shelves without the use of those corrupting influences: power tools. But keep at it..... in 2,000 years you might be getting close to acheiving this goal.

best,

.......................john

I really appreciate your comments about "real potting". Made me laugh. I have heard a bit of this snobbery over the years and wondered how other potters reacted to it. Glad to know some of you think it is just as ridiculous as I do.

I view it like this: my math teacher used to make us learn how to do calculations by hand. Then we got to use the calculator. It's nice to know how to do some of these things on your own, and have an appreciation of where materials come from, how much energy it takes to fire a kiln, etc. However, it's not cheating to use the calculator (or the electric kiln, or Mason stains, or premade clay, or even a commercial glaze or two). It's efficient.:Dsrc="http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif">