If you have been waiting for textiles you will have to wait no more....and glass grows into its own layered field. A decade of massive change in our society...assassinations, movements, and new organizations. This was a time of finding voices and making changes to our society. So for the extra question this week...of all the idealistic movements which speaks to you and your life?
If any of you love having "important" books around try to find a copy of "Objects USA". For many classes it became a bible of information.
Chapter 7
ReplyDeleteI was most impressed by Nakashima and his developments in wood furniture. He was so educated and well-traveled, and I appreciated his spiritual approach to making. I was interested in reading about his spiritual journey and how he took from several faiths to construct his own. How that related to his furniture making. I also was impressed that even during his horrible and unfair internment as a Japanese American, that he used that time to learn some valuable craft techniques and traditions. The Japanese internment is one of those shameful periods of our American past. I am sure it personally affected him and his family. I am glad that he did not give up on what was important to him.
I was surprised to learn that Dale Chihuly exhibited his first garden show in the fifties decade. I have always been a fan, and seen several of his botanical exhibits in Phoenix and Dallas, and Corpus Christi. I can see how the art of the fifties maybe influenced him “forward”. He is such an impressive artist, and I really admire his work. I also liked Fike and his cufflink invention with the niello substance. I was quite entertained reading about the art building needing to evacuate as he experimented with this substance. That kind of story has legendary qualities.
I think I would have liked to learn from Leach in Cornwall. I have always wanted to visit Cornwall, and I think I would have enjoyed learning and watching him and the others who followed him working. I like that he was a “potter’s potter” so to speak, and had such a strong foundation of information for those interested. I think I would have liked to learn from him, just because I’m not well versed in that art form, and feel like I would have had an excellent education in that environment. I have always been more of a 2D artist. But as I get older, I find myself more interested in 3D – or the things that I missed out on in my college learning days.
So what I am taking away with me, is to be more open to experimentation, and making in as many ways as I like. I like the artists who worked for years in one vein, and then were open in their older years to try something new. I like that attitude and approach to art, like and making. That inspires me.
Response to Corina (Chapter 7)
I also could not get the Japanese internment out of my mind. Moreover, thought it so ironic, that this would be a decade of Asian influence in art and craft, and yet we imprisoned those of that ethnicity. I agree with you that Americans assimilate the culture of diverse ethnicities, while at the same time disparaging and discriminating against the people from those countries. It just does not make sense. Yet I see it happening all around me. We cannot have enough Mexican food restaurants, or taco trucks, but there is still so much discrimination towards people of Hispanic backgrounds. America’s attitude towards immigrants does not seem to change over the centuries – and that is a sad commentary, I think.
Response to James (Chapter 7)
Great comments on Voulkus. He is such a larger than life personality in ceramics and had such a great influence over others. He is a little bit scary to me though. Not sure why. Maybe I do not like the competitive edge that he fostered. It did spur on a lot of great work, but I do not think that competition should be the motivation for the creation of art. It is ok as a byproduct, however – I do not think that it should be the main impetus in creativity.
Diana, I agree that competition and external stimulus is not always the ideal environment for creativity. I personally feel that intrinsic motivation is best, but probably a combination of the two could produce a great deal of growth and innovation.
DeleteIt is a shame that cultures can "use" other cultures while dismantling their very being. This was not the first time nor I am afraid will be the last.
DeleteI also appreciated Nakashima's spiritual approach to craft and the materials. Fike's use of niello (I had never heard of this alloy) was pretty cool, though I never wear cufflinks and had some difficulty picturing how they would work and look on one's sleeves.
DeleteAs a small child growing up in the SanFrancisco area, my neighbors were all Asian, Puerto Rican, and Filipino. George Sakarai, his wife Gloria and their two daughters lived next door. George and his wife were placed in internment camps as teens. After the war their families rebuilt their lives, and George became a public servant for the State of California. I was just a boy then, and never even knew about their experience. All I knew was that they were very kind and had a beautiful garden and children. Only later did I learn about the internment camps that the US forced them into. And now I see the same fear-based discrimination directed at any and all (non-white, non-Christian) immigrants and even their US born children. It's pathetic.
"Go back to your own country!" is being yelled by people whose ancestors weren't from this country. If Native peoples yelled this to most Americans, they'd be insulted because this is their country. It's everyone's country, not just those "chosen ones," whatever that means.
I think that surprised me was that craft seemed to undergo an "artification", “...shifting away from utilitarian forms and toward expression and intellectual content”, p. 257. To me, the reverse of Daniel Rhode's statement, p. 309, about craft acquiring a snobbish aura is evident. The more the work's focus became artistic and expressive the more it grew esoteric to me, leaching away at the practical heart of craft-work, leaving it simply concept or design. Designer-craftsman giving way to artist-craftsman, award winning faked art, and even Dorian Zachai's rant about judgment really makes me think about my ideas of craft. I enjoyed Zachai's notion of looking “...at things with my insides...” In sum, I think what speaks to me most about craft is that it has a life beyond decoration and conceptualization. I did enjoy the more “artistic” examples, such as those created by Hicks and Takaezu, but I just seem to look at them with a different sense of expectation and appreciation. To answer Daniel Rhodes, I want a fine, so-called beautiful mug to use and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteWhat impressed me was the “subtractive furniture” of J.B.Blunk. His work really seemed a curious blend of the experimental and expressive nature of art with the traditional aspect of craft utilitarianism. Looking up his creations, I didn't find all of the work pleasing, but I did like his overall aesthetic. I especially liked the heavy, substantial quality his pieces display; it is ties into both nature and industrialization.
I'm taking away a clearer personal understanding of my ideas of crafts. I see two facets of the term. First, is the idea that a work is made with the sensibilities of the human hand. The second is a work that combines utilitarian purposefulness with the splendor of design. Thinking back to the beginning of this class, this is a clearer and broader estimation of the craft-world for me.
Your last comment is exactly why I always return to this book. The layering of history with art movements while showing us the 5 main materials side by side as they grow or almost disappear never ceases to amazing. And it continues to challenge my personal thoughts on craft/art/making.
DeleteI agree with you James that I want a fine and beautiful well made mug to drink from and enjoy. I do appreciate the hand made-ness of things. My favorite mug that I is today was my dad'a favorite. He purchased it at a pottery in Colorado. And that if very special to me.
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ReplyDeleteI was surprised that craft moved from being utilitarian and more towards expression and intellectual. I think that once craft was more widely accepted and taught in higher education that the shift was bound to happen. Another thing that surprised was the statement that craft products were being rediscovered in the 1960s. I guess in the 50s because of mass production people loss a sense of what truly was crafts.
This was my chapter. I was impressed with the way textile artist used and created with textiles. They size and scale of their installations and the way they used and combined thread to create 3D shapes and art. I fell in love with Sheila Hicks’ use of color and the way she combined thread to create different textures. I loved her hanging installations the best. They reminded me of the way a waterfall cascades down and crashes on rocks.
What I will take away from this chapter is to push the boundaries. In my mind I was thinking of just the functional aspects of thread. The artist in this page showed me that the ways to create with thread is not just limited to wall hangings, scarves, or drapes. There are limitless ways to twist, bind, and combine threads together to create something beautiful.
Thread is an wonderful material. Boundaries are simply the beginning point.
DeleteI was also impressed with the fiber artists. I especially liked the varied textures achieved in the artist's works. Even the flattened, painting like designs undulated with visual and actual surface variations. P.259 mentions the term "touchy-feely", although in a different connotations, but I like the term and think it could also applies in a positive way to the fiber art's tactile qualities.
DeleteI loved reading and learning about the fiber and textile artists. I was interested to learn how macrame came into being, and then seeing how that was pushed forward into sculpture. And I loved that women were at the forefront of this movement. Very inspiring!
DeleteThe ideal that stood out to me the most was probably from the Ronald Pearson section, p.271. It said that he tried to work with the changes of modernism. He continually experimented leaving some techniques behind in favor for ones that fit effective process and his personal preferences. Pearson competed with industry by holding fast to his core crafting beliefs and creating “... designs that could not be easily reproduced by the machine...”. I think this is a great attitude and work ethic, and places craft-work within a noble, human light. Interestingly, this makes me think of today's technologies. I feelthe gap between what machines can and cannot has significantly shrunk since Pearson's time. 3D printing is a prime example of such technology. It has been used by both artists and industry with amazing results. Such abilities could be seen as favorable, or unfortunate, depending on the perspective taken and the given situation.
ReplyDeleteAll materials are subject to the interpretation/imagination of the artist using them. For some it is enough to fully master a process or technique, while others want to push or ignore the traditional rules. The creative journey is hopefully a mix of both.
DeleteI most respect those artists/artisans who master a process and then push beyond it. It's not about breaking rules as much as it is testing them, and you can't test that which you are ignorant of.
DeleteI was impressed with the Woolley's enamel pieces(pg 279). I wish the book would have gone more into their process. I tried to find a picture of Bibliocosmos (the Fresno Library commission), but couldn't find one online. Does anyone have it by chance?
ReplyDeleteI was really surprised by Stanley Lechtzin's use of styrofoam and electrofoarming to create his jewelry pieces (pg 275). I like that the book went into his process a little more. While his pieces aren't my favorite from the chapter (I like Skoogfors better!), I was surprised with the intricate pieces he could create.
For me, the biggest take away I had from this chapter was that the traditional boundaries of art were kind of thrown out the window. This allowed the artists to remove any inhibitions they had and really create some amazing pieces.
I think the idealistic movement that most aligns with me and my life is self expression (woodworking, pg 283-293). I love the fact that this group of artists took expressiveness into their pieces. Carpenter described the four basic criteria for good furniture design: function, durability, simplicity, and practicality of construction (pg 289). It makes me look at wood pieces in a different way, these artists adhered to those four basic designs, but also allowed for self expression in their work.
Think of a chair that combined wood with enameling.
DeleteDavid: I, too found the woodworking movement that was described as inspirational. Because I started working with wood as a boy, without any guidance or training, the ingenious approaches to making non-traditional shapes that were furniture-like was thrilling. Stack-laminated pieces were something I became aware of when I was in my teens, but I didn't have access to the woods or the equipment to do this work.
DeleteI have to are with you that it was great to see them push the boundaries of traditional art. I also surprised with Lecntzin process and the materials that he used.
DeleteI would have to say that the Zen influence and the influence of mindfulness and Budhaism speaks to me most in my personal life. I have begun a daily practice of mediation and am still very early with the learning of it. But am finding it so needful in my life and to help retrain my brain into more peaceful thinking. And more positive responses to everyday life. So I really enjoyed reading about this and how it influenced many artists of this decade.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to learn about how glass got its beginning and the first hit glass class at the college/university level. I was very interested in this history. And I can really see and relate to how this movement totally opened up this medium to such artistry. I could see the influences and how these artists learned from one another and grew the medium into what it is today.
I'm so impressed with how Dale Chihulu was born just at the right time and place and was in just the right places and times to become what he has become today. I did some extra research on him as he has always fascinated me. Or I should say that his work has always fascinated me. I really enjoyed my detour of reading more about him on my own. The whole hot glass thing is scary to me personally, as far as working with it goes. But I'm also very attracted to it. I'm looking forward to my class in it this summer to give it a try.
What I take away with me is how crucial and defining that this decade was really for all of the crafts. What a turning point and exciting and yet confusing time. Craft becomes more into the high art realm, and yet we also lose I think some of the roots of craft. Or maybe the foundations of it. I know that this loss or confusion is really brief in the course of time, but it feels really edgy and uncertain.
I really like this chapter though. This begins my own experiences in this decade as I was born in 1960 and can relate to and identify with so many things personally. My older cousins were also so involved in what was happening in this decade and it is just interesting to look back and see the decade from this crafts perspective. I couldn't help but think about the emergence of Pier 1, and how very cool I thought that was in the sixties. Great chapter. Fun reading!
You will love glass. More importantly you will experience the "dance" of glass and how it takes a team.
DeleteI'm very much looking forward to having this experience!
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ReplyDelete(chp. 7 response) I do not intentionally divide work into art or craft. I truly do not see a divide- society does, critics do. As educators we should expose students to all forms of art – all forms at every level. It might be hard to change the mindset of some who feel certain mediums belong in a separate category but in today’s times with contemporary art and the use of media crossover (mixed ) how can you really say one is more art and one more craft? I think my question should be rephrased as, why are there NOT any children’s art books on potters? Woodworkers? Jewelers? Why has well-known children’s art book author Mike Venezia not written a book on any of these artists from Makers? My collection or library consists mainly of fine art masters, modern artists, cultures, ‘isms” …Etc. You can always find something on the subject of ‘woodworking ‘but not a book on an artist in that genre. I am ashamed as a teacher that I have not taught my students about some of the great potters and their style. I hope to correct this deficiency in my program and start by searching for these artists and their work.
ReplyDeleteGood!
DeleteNo one should categorize creativity. It's what psychologists call essentialism, an adaptive behavior with some useful applications when sorting out a complex world, but it can lead to stereotyping and bigotry (think of the Japanese internment camps mentioned in this chapter), but studies show that those who essentialize excessively are significantly poorer problem solvers.
DeleteYes, this was a tough time. I had friends who were drafted and either went to Viet Nam or refused as conscientious objectors. The former were scarred for life or killed, the latter were heaped with indignities. And the returning veterans got both. Claire Zeisler's knotted work surprised me. I loved the scale and the fact that it deviated from the painfully prevalent macrame' of the time. (I actually had a fellow grad student in the 70's who was using macrame' as their primary medium. She thought they had a major breakthrough when they "discovered" nylon twine). Heisler's free-form fibers approach really worked because it wasn't randomly made. There was a design strategy behind her work that was very evident. Then when sculptor Kay Sekimachi used the dreaded nylon filament, I had an epiphany. It was entirely possible to use any material w/o being constrained by expectations.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that really surprised me was the inventiveness of all of these artists. When I read about the originality of Ronald Hayes Pearson's jewelry processes, I was sold on the work. Using the smithing techniques with articulated joints was really novel. But this work was soon eclipsed by Stanley Lechtin's super-experimental electroplating processes that made large but light jewelry possible. He must have had a scientist's curiosity about matter, because he seemed to search out totally unique (and seemingly unrelated) ways to create forms. As I read about these processes, I was thrilled at this inventiveness, an apparent characteristic of this decade
Then we came to a sculptor-turned furniture-maker (or vice versa) who influenced me in my late teens, Wendell Castle. Combining superb skills with sculptural sensibilities, Castle always found a new way to take furniture and wood working. I was unaware of his misadventures in fiberglass furniture, though the forms were very similar to his wood pieces of the time. I saw pieces of his in Philadelphia and Cleveland, but was most impressed by the imaginative series of clocks he constructed that were featured in Smithsonian magazine in the 1980's. Of the thirteen clacks he made, the most impressive, and the only one w/o any time-keeping mechanism was "Ghost Clock." Here's what the plaque for his grandfather clock seemingly draped with a white sheet says:
"At first glance, Ghost Clock appears to be a grandfather clock hidden by a large white sheet tied with a rope. A close look, however, reveals a masterful deception: this entire sculpture was hand-carved from a single block of laminated mahogany. With meticulous detail, Castle re-created in wood the contours of soft, supple cloth, then completed the illusion by bleaching the “drapery” white and staining the base of the “clock” a walnut brown. This work is the last in a series of thirteen clocks the artist created in the 1980s; unlike the others, it lacks an inner mechanism. Its haunting stillness and silence suggest eternity—the absence of time." Wendell Castle – Ghost Clock, 1985., Smithsonian collection. I highly recommend you check it out: http://twistedsifter.com/2014/08/ghost-clock-by-wendell-castle/
All war hurts, everyone. The best book I have read on the subject of the Viet Nam war is "Long Time Coming", a series of in depth interviews with every walk of life and how the war effected them. It has not changed,
DeleteWow! Ghost Clock is superb. I looked up the series and was even more amazed. I really loved the Dr. Caligari clock, it masterfully evokes the film's aesthetic. I have been impressed by many of the artists in this book, but Castle's skill, ingenuity and variety blew me away. Thanks for sharing the link!
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