I read an interesting blog recently

I read an interesting blog recently by Richard Jacobs entitled, "Searching for Beauty."  In it he poses questions for potters about integrity of purpose.  He wants our pottery to reflect where we came from and what made us who we are.  He asks, "Is it a good thing or bad thing that one can pick up a pot in some swank ceramic gallery in Soho or Manhattan or Tokyo and they often all look the same?  They seem to follow the latest trendy fad on what's hot right now in the ceramic world."  Wow, I don't even actually know what that means.   What is trendy right now I wonder.  Is it what I call those 'nouveau Rococo pots' - the ones with all the curlicues and a million handles, and everything else you can think of put on them.  In fact, I just saw the best example of that kind of pot the other day in a magazine.  It was made to look like a wedding cake or some sort of fanciful cake.  Clay as icing.  A few years ago it must have been crazy teapots, since that's all I ever saw in ceramic magazines.  Does anyone ever wonder who starts those trends?  Who was the one who made the first piece and afterwards everyone else scrambled to make their own version.

I found the blog interesting because it made me wonder.  Do I follow trends that I recognize from my limited knowledge of what is in mode right now.  Am I trying to do something that is mine alone, as Richard Jacobs asks of us, or am I trying to make what will be more easily accepted, get into shows, or sell.  I'm not sure.  I do know that everyone wants recognition, and who wouldn't want fame.  Ultimately I believe that all that we make is a sort of self-portrait, we can't help it, even if what we make looks more like what will get us on a magazine cover.

Mr. Jacobs' blog is taken from letters he wrote to a potter after buying one of her pots.  Critical thinking questions.  Maybe I should write letters to him as a collector  What is the role of the collector.  Is it to make sure that his or her collection maintains monetary value as an investment, or is it to simply have things around that are loved and appreciated.  Is it looking for that special something gift that is handmade and unique but less expensive, or is it an exercise in educating themselves to the value of craftsmanship, artistic form, place in history, integrity and that elusive quality of "completeness."

I can't with satisfaction answer these questions right now but will continue to think about them, as should all  artists and artisans who make things on which they put value, both artistic and monetary.  So while I don't necessarly agree with Mr. Jacobs that we must always stay true to our roots  and discard those powerful outside forces that relate to money, fame and success, because those forces are too hard to ignore.  I do agree with him that in doing so we create a sort of blandness of art.  Craftsmanship today in the U.S. at least,  seems to be more about the piece that is the most impossibly put together and most perfectly made, and exhibitions offer no surprises.