"My Heroes Have Always Been Potters..."

...as sung to the tune of My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys...this has been a working title for an essay that I've had in my head for a long time.  Why I feel that this is something that should be committed to print, I'm not sure...maybe for a future Ceramics Monthly or Studio Potter solicitation or something.  Mostly, I find it's an easy way to break the ice as an inaugural entry to this blog.  Much like it always seems easier to draw on a napkin or a roughed up notebook than a pristine white sheet of paper, this entry will serve as the smudgy handprint that will eventually become my Hand Turkey Masterpiece for the refrigerator door!

I always thought that if i was spending time writing my seemingly trivial thoughts and posting them online, it was time that could be put to a more productive use in my studio.  And it probably could.  Just as your time spent reading this could probably be put to better use in your own studio.  Regardless, this short entry begins what I hope will become a regular practice, without expectation or delusion of any greater reward other than that of a brief but unapologetic self indulgence.

In all sincerity though, I have recently found myself fascinated reading the blogs of some of my fellow potters, most notably Euan Craig and Sequoia Miller.  If you've never read either of these, I highly recommend them, especially on the days when you've been second guessing yourself, your work,  and the past, oh, ...say, 15 years of your life: ....."Clay?!...man, what was i thinking?!....Maybe it's not too late to join the electrician's union or get that real estate license?"....Those are the times to settle in with a nice cup of coffee (or whiskey)....(or, ..whiskey in coffee)... and read Euan's latest post.  I've never met the man, but i have a feeling we would get along well.  At the very least, we would eat well.

Sequoia Miller, on the other hand, I have had the good fortune to meet when he was teaching a fall concentration at the Penland School of Crafts back in the Fall of 2004.  His class was in the lower clay studio and I was upstairs, taking a glaze chemistry course with John Britt and sleeping on the sofa on the studio porch, listening to the coyotes and train whistles in the distance.  Sequoia is a consummate artist/craftsman and a true gem of a human being, as I'm sure any of you who have come to know him and his work, over the years, would agree.

......Crisp, cold October nights in the mountains of western North Carolina and a real goose down sleeping bag!...the smell of freshly cut wood waiting to be stacked and eventually stoked into the kiln.....you don't get these too often down here in New Orleans.  It's coming upon almost 7 years since my brief stay in North Carolina, and i find myself missing it....especially now, as fall is just starting to hint at it's approach to Louisiana, while my friends and family to the north have been cutting wood and wearing sweaters for a few weeks .....

My own studio work has come at a slower pace lately...mostly, but not entirely, due to a very busy teaching schedule this semester, with 3 ceramics courses at Loyola University and 2 others across the street at Tulane University.  I say "not entirely" because, while I feel that I have been very proactive and responsible about waking up at 5am to get to my studio by 6 in order to put in a few good hours before a 9am class, ....i admit that i am a man who is prone to distraction, living in a town ripe with this commodity.

Last night, I had the pleasure of going to see the Amazing AcroCats....a trained cat circus..at a friend's theater.  ....Trust me, this was totally worth a night off from the studio!  My favorite was actually the chicken, Hendiana Jones, who played cymbal and tambourine in the trained cat band.  No, seriously, if they come to your town it's worth the $15 to go check it out.

On the way to the show, we stopped by Gallery Bienvenu on Julia St. to see the exhibition of Eva Hilde's unbelievable new work.  I've always admired her sublime forms and the sheer physicality of the work, and these new pieces are some of her best yet.   Of course, this got me thinking, "Hmmmm....maybe you should coil build pieces based on some of your own forms, ...only larger".  And this coming just after a week of resolving to commit to the intimate scale inherent to functional pottery and porcelain, in particular!

Which leads me to my personal mantra for the day: "Just because you Could doesn't always mean you Should".

While this may or may not be true, it certainly gives pause to question the personal reason for making.  Is  my making of this piece in a certain way (in this case, large) a means to an end or is it merely to prove to myself that it can be done..and that it can be done by me?  This is a question that I've asked my students, on occasion: "Certainly, you can make something very large, but how important is that to the meaning of the overall work?"  In other words, doing something for the sake of doing it...or to show off skill...begins as a distraction that can become consuming..and perhaps lead the artist away from the true intention of the work.  

Of course, it could be argued that by doing so, one could reveal an entirely new and otherwise unrealized path to follow....In any case, it's subjective, and should not be taken as gospel.  For myself, however, at least for the time being, I will continue to focus on what I do best.  Only smaller:)

Earlier, I admitted to being prone to distraction and, as I get older, prone to ramble (even more).  I had every intention of writing about ceramic artists, in particular the one's who have come to shape my own perspective of functional pottery and sculptural vessels since first bitten by the proverbial "clay bug" back in back in 1995.  This, unfortunately, will have to wait while i go off to the studio and get my hands dirty.  And,  since this is New Orleans, yes, my studio happens to be in the attic of a bar.  Seriously.