Happy Meaninglessness

So the wheels have been turning about 100 miles an hour around here the last 3 weeks or so.  I went to the Burlon Craig festival about this time last month and sold more pots than I thought I would.  So in response to that I had to make a load of work for the Fairgrounds show this weekend.  I had about 3 weeks to turn work and believe me it got done.  School pretty much hit the back burner during this very short, yet strong period of concentration on my work.  

I finished up the throwing last Wednesday (Nov 4) of cups and little things.  There were about 100 pieces or so total.  I loaded and fired at the beginning of this week and got them out this afternoon.  They all look pretty crazy awesome except we had an accident with some of the ceiling falling down on a bunch of the big pieces.  The kiln got a little hot too, but it really just made things look crazier.  The clay and glaze took it fine so all was good.  

So needless to say the past few weeks I have been in another world concentrating very hard on making the best work possible.  I have also been reading in Ecclesiastes lately and it has really been speaking to me.  I am very thankful that I am doing work that if looked at from a certain angle is extremely meaningless.  I mean, people don't really need pots to stay alive or give life meaning.  They are simply a luxury or enhancement.  I am glad it is not something like selling tires or something that seems very needed by the world.  I prefer to live life in happy meaninglessness.  Seeing the work like a spiritual act of worship that is for the furthest thing from myself is the most gratifying choice I make on a daily basis.  When the work it is looked at after being fired into a physical object it almost humors me to thing that I put all my time into what comes out to be a simple physical object that can be held or touched.  Something on the same playing field as every other meaningless worldly thing.  

We make the choice as the artist not to get too attached to the work we do, nor to ourselves as the maker.  When you loose touch with what the work needs in order to start focusing on what will make you look better as an individual, the work suffers and doesn't speak for itself properly.  If you look at making pots like a natural living response such as breathing or walking then what you make should speak like a natural living responsive act.  Hopefully, subtle yet bringing life and energy to the surrounding environment. 

I suppose the first thing anyone must do in order to obtain a subtleness to their stride is learn to stand up and walk.    

    

Poem and Thought from a Thesis

I have taken a break from making work for a while just to read and write for my thesis.  I have to say that it has been so great to do some writing and thinking on a deep subject I build tremendous amount of my life around.  I have read a number of books so far, but none have hit the nail on the head more that "The Unknown Craftsman, A Japanese Insight into Beauty."  If one understands what makes an object, or work of art of any kind beautiful and balanced before you read it then your world will most likely be rocked.  

  Lately I have had so much churning through my head that I keep note paper with me to write down ideas all the time.  I had a great thought last Tuesday night while I was at a worship service at school.  The song was about dancing.  It brought to mind an incident that happened to me about 3 weeks ago when I went contra dancing.  

I was swinging with a girl in the corner of a dance floor.  It must have been a 16 count swing because it seemed like it lasted a lifetime.  There was a connection we had that was out of this world.  Our eyes were locked so tight that it was like we were reading each others minds, knowing the next move the other was going to make like it was magic.  

The only thing was that I did not realize how beautiful this moment was until someone tripped the girl.   Here is the Poem:

Swing

I go to a dance hall to dance none the less,

To have fun and not impress, 

But I have achieved a state of mind that has put me on a quest,

For mysterious beauty,

Engagement in a intimacy only attained through a state of mind rarely achieved where two minds become one.

Swing,

We become like our own world spinning in the corner of a dance floor,

Everything else slowly diminishes as our eyes lock tighter,

as our swing grows smoother, faster, stronger.

We become closer, 

not physically,

 not mentally,

 But because we have shared in a moment we both interpret as a mystery.

We have found it, but neither of us can pinpoint exactly how,

But because IT IS BEAUTIFUL,

We hang on to this moment as long as the two of us can.

WAIT! your eyes have left mine,

Can this moment be ending?

The look in your eye is of defeat,

Someone has tripped this world off its axis,

Broken this trance like meditative state,

Has interrupted my life like an earthquake,

The downfall so dramatic I can feel the earth shake.

It is the mystery of what creates that moment that makes me want to live in the state of a dance,

The state of a trance like swing,

Where there is nothing living on that floor but you and me,

To live is to dance,

Maintain that trance.

Swing.

-Brad Lail

I have been reading some Thoreau looking for some ideas about how seclusion can make work have presence.  I do believe seclusion can enhance a mindset that is great for making art of any kind from poetry to pottery.  The night before I wrote this I slept outside to enhance a mindset.  I believe it worked out very well.  When you wake up to the sun instead of an alarm clock your desire to arise is much stronger.  To be able to pray and concentrate is no challenge at that point.  It was excellent for writing.  I am planning on doing it again.

Anyway... this poem is about goals.  The reason I set the goals I do is because I have seen or experienced something I love.  I love beauty.  I love the mystery that creates the beauty in a swing, a pot or any work of art that has presence.  

The works with the most presence are created intuitively.  They are made without crowded thought, so in essence the work is not crowded or overworked.  Attaining a mindset that is proper for creating intuitive work is not easy.  It is much like the type of trance I am referring to in the dance poem.  When something is made by an artist that has presence it sets a higher standard, and the artist should then be on a quest to make more art with that type of presence.  The work you can see emotion in.  The ones you can feel when you walk into a room are the ones that have presence.  It is something hard to pinpoint, but one knows when something is beautiful.  Even when you cant explain it.  

"Neither one of us can pinpoint exactly how, 

but because IT IS BEAUTIFUL, 

we hang on to this moment as long as the two of us can."  

This is also very applicable with a Christians walk of faith.  There are people that will try all day to define God.  They overcrowd religion with intellect.  They try to define something undefinable with some kind of scientific reasoning.  

What makes nature beautiful?  It is because these seemingly miraculous things happen? Beautiful colors bloom, trees grow, live thrives onward and there is a presence living in nature at all times and in every place without an overwhelming amount of human interaction.  The fact that we cannot define everything that happens in nature is what makes it beautiful.  

Therefore if we try and define something as immense and beautiful as God we do nothing but rob it of the beauty.  We take so much beauty from life by trying to define it.  Why do we need to know?  If we know it is beautiful then why cant we just live in the beauty?  Why do we try and fix something when it is not broken?   

Applesauce!

Last week I got together with a friend and peeled apples for about 3 hours for 3 jars of home made applesauce.  

One large pot was made into applesauce and the other was left simmering to make into apple butter.  I have not tried any of the butter yet, but I am pretty excited to see how it tastes.  I had never made applesauce before this so it was a pretty awesome learning experience.  It takes alot more work than I thought to make applesauce.... and ya know what I peeled around a whole box of apples and did not have one get finished in one solid peel.  A bit of a shame, but at least it sets a standard for the next apple I peel.  

My Thesis

So I am currently working on my senior thesis.  It is called "a quest for presence".  It is out to prove what gives a piece presence.  Like a pot you can feel tension from the minute you walk into a room.  It is a cultural ceramic comparison of east and west as well.  Here is a quote I developed after reading my professors thesis on Cezanne and Matisse that I thought was extremely applicable to a potters lifestyle and work. 

 "There is an innocence, a beautiful innocence that is created within solitude.  Because with no influence one is permitted to create only with the resources available to him which are yourself and your God, in an honest responsive way."    

Right now I am standing in front of one of the best kiln loads I have ever had while pictures are being made.  So expect some sweet pics from the most recent firing very soon.  Thanks all!

Rare Old Seagle

This is a ten gallon jar made by a potter a man named Daniel Seagle.  He lived in the Lincoln County area and was an absolutely phenomenal craftsman.  This jar was probably made around 1840 or so which is pretty insane considering I picked it up and it has almost no cracks or flaws.  Seagle had some of the best bulbous forms created in the Lincoln County region So it was  areal pleasure to be in the presence of a jar made by one of my favorite old time potters.   

I got a call the other day from a good friend who told me he was getting his hands on this amazing piece.  I told him I would love to see it so he stopped by school on his way back from picking it up.     

Here is a picture of the DS (daniel seagle) stamp on the left soldier lug handle along with some real sweet ash drips.  

Here is the other handle with 10 stamped on it.  This is because it is a 10 gallon jar.  

Here is a close up of the glaze and clay body.  Check out the big chunk of quartz.  this pot is super light and efficiently thrown.  It is pretty impressive considering the big chunky pieces of sand and quartz in there.  

When I get to see something like this I like to imagine the potter making it.  It was really great to get to feel it and hold it rather than seeing pictures.  I must say being in the presence of a pot like this one is a much more awesome experience that just looking at a picture.  

 

Loads of Change

So now that I have started school it is a whole new ball park as far as the business of making work goes. I did not want to drive home (like thirty minutes) to make pots so I am renting this 18 by 26 carport with a dirt floor for the semester because it is pretty much in my back yard.  As you can see there is still grass in the floor because it has not died yet.  I am not doing any bisque at all and am moving the work to whatever kiln I can use.  Normally it is the schools salt kiln.  

This picture and some of the others are of the inside of the new studio.  I love the floor, but the walls are somewhat boring.  It is going to get super cold in the winter unless I do something, and I plan to get some insulation of some kind and use a space heater or something.  I am alos planning on making some sort of hot box for my clay and wet pots so they do not freeze and crack.  The shop is super messy in this picture bc it was near the end of my cycle for this load and it got a little chaotic with green glazing.  I have broken quite a few pots trying to get the green glazing timing down.

Here is another view of the new studio.  I really like being able to pay close attention to my work while I am at school.  It is a little strange though when I have more visitors that I am used to, but I like it much more than I thought I would.  Juggling this job with school work has been a whole lot to handle since I have more shows and junk this semester than I have ever had before.  But overall this change has been really great because I can escape and concentrate on my work pretty easily with this awesome resource in my back yard.  

fresh minded work

So I have taken about the last 4 weeks or so off.  I have been gone on a few trips since I have came back from penland and it has really been a great time to clear my head.  I made twenty plates of this size and did a whole bunch of loose sketches before hand.  These are a few of the slip designs I came up with.  The red slip is a slip made from a local clay, the black is a black slip, amd the white is a slip I made from a different clay body I use.

This is a coin I recently acquired from a good friend of mine.  Her father used to be my scoutmaster until he died when I was about 13 or so.  She and her sister are selling a bunch of things from his antique collection.  

The scout slogan is "do a good turn daily" and the point of this coin was to promote it.  You left the coin in your left pocket until you performed a good turn (helping an old lady cross the street, or something of the sort).  Upon performing the good turn you "secretly" move the coin to your right pocket.  I thought it was a pretty cool object.  I hope you do as well.