Excerpts of one of my previous posts (click here to read it) has been published in the latest edition of Ceramic Review which landed on my door mat this morning. I said some pretty judgmental things about the legacy of Bernard Leach. But I shan't go back on my word! I stand by everything I said! Even though I am but scared of some kind of potter backlash!..... I have already had a few (polite) comments on twitter.
I have started an online group to open up the debate on ceramics and its future here where you can vote on how you think Bernard Leach has contributed to the development of Contemporary Ceramics, and leave comments. I will be interested to hear feed back of every kind. Even if you think i chat utter rubbish! I can take it!
Thank you
3 comments:
Anne - You presented your opinion and this is really a follow-on debate that has been raging for some time. Certainly the new designer/makers I feel will not be constrained by the Leach traditions but there still certainly seems to be some `purity` around the use of clay and it`s separation from mixed-media. Some way to go yet towards a different era for the dirty hands brigade, but undoubtedly the march has started!
many rules are meant to be stretched and broken (i.e. "leach rules" as you call them). he was his own person with his own constraints. like advice, take it or leave it.
Hi Jan, I think you are right that new makers will not be as overshadowed by the rules of Leach-esque pottery. However I think that anyone who chooses to delve into the history of ceramics will find (I certainly did) that this man had an incredibly loud and instructive voice and made a deep impression on those he met. Quite a gift.
Leach's connections and collaborations with Soetsu Yanagi and Shoji Hamada, added in my experience an aura of Eastern mysticism to the concepts behind his work. I found anything i made that was slightly decadent filled me with a feeling of shame with what I had made, especially when I read the 'Unknown Craftsman'. Maybe somewhere I believe some of their ideas and concepts and that is why I just can't put this debate down.
As you say Phil, I should just take it or leave it. But some how I feel I am being judged from beyond the grave by the Grandaddy of pottery when ever I make anything that is against the 'rules'.
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