Art is a relative construct, and Fine Art is particularly so, noticeably in its relationship to artisan crafts.

Assignment One – Literature and Contextual Review – 16/12/2022 – Paula E. Canney – Ceramics MA

The first written assignment for the MA was submitted in December 2022.      

We could choose our own theme, but it had to be framed as a review of literature and practice placed in within the context of our chosen subject

I chose as my subject  Art is a relative construct, and Fine Art is particularly so, noticeably in its relationship to artisan crafts.    This is a recurring debate within the arts and artisans world.    Basically what is ‘art’, is it fundamentally different or superior to ‘artisan and craft’.     Does any perceived or actual difference justify the elevated pedestal – and prices - that Fine Artists, dealers and collectors place on ‘art’?

The series of lectures that took place over the first term were eclectic – covering a wide range of creatives and their experiences.    Although many did not seem too relevant at the time, they did give useful insights that I could draw on for this assignment,  and they were extremely useful for the subsequent written assignment.

The mandatory use of the Harvard Referencing system was a pain, but also very necessary to achieve the academic rigour required.    Once I got into it it was quite simple.    I did not use the on-line programme to generate my references, as I preferred to practice the method for myself.

The main takeways for my personal practice from this was that it encouraged me to look at not just the overall theme, but more importantly a range of makers and creatives that I had very much skimmed over.       In particular I found myself won over to the work and personality of Grayson Perry, and was encouraged to see his engagement with the scions  of the rarified Art World.

My research also introduced me to the work of Sandy Brown, a ceramicist and creative that I featured in my second assignment, and who I had the pleasure of visiting in 2023.

Assignment One – Literature and Contextual Review – 16/12/2022 – Paula E. Canney – Ceramics MA

Art is a relative construct, and Fine Art is particularly so, noticeably in its relationship to artisan crafts.

Contents:

Bibliography & References  .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 3

List of illustrations .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 5

Definitions .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 6

Introduction:  .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 8 (209 words)

The Potter-Artist Dichotomy – True to nature, and seeking flow                             

Literature Review:  .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 8 (1157 words – including in text quotations)

Inventing the social construct that is Art – and the rejection of skill

Appropriation art and the death of the artisan – creatives provide X Factor tick-boxes for the seriously over-rich and hedge-fund managers

Contextual Review: .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 10 (1178 words)

“Art for Art Sake: Money for Gods Sake” – towards a standard, and back again ….

Conclusion:  .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. page 15 (215 words)

‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ – seeking balance and flow                               

Total words = 2759, including intext quotations, excluding citations, definitions and section headings.  

Bibliography and References (** indicates resources directly cited in the body of the work)

Videos and Films

‘Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’ (2011) Imagine. Channel 4, 1st November 2011. **

Anderson,J. and Fournier,R. (1965) ‘Isaac Button – A Country Potter’.   Slide Loans (Ceramics).  Published by Peters,M. (17/2/2009) YouTube. (last accessed 7/12/22). **

Articles and Journals

Andrews,I. (2022) ‘Disfigured Dialogues’. Ceramic Review (September/October), pp.12-18. **

Cooper,E. (1995) ‘Sense and Sensibility’. Artists Newsletter (November), pp.5-7. **

Gleadell,C. (2022) ‘Art Market Forces – The humble pot is now an object of desire’. The Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2022, pp.10-11. **

Reilly,S. (2022) ‘Why treating traditional African art as a political football does it a disservice’. The Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2022, pp.9-10.

On-Line Journals and resources

Calvocoressi,R. (2021) ‘The Thinking Hand’. Gasogian. (27/10/2021). (accessed 1/12/2022).   Edited version of the online conversation “The Thinking Hand,” commissioned and hosted by the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, on June 30, 2021:  This Living Hand: Edmund de Waal Presents Henry Moore exhibition 18/5/2020 – 1-8-2021.

Houghton,N. (2012) ‘ExhibitionREVIEW: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’. Contemporary Psychotherapy. (volume 4 – issue 1, Spring 2012).  (accessed 8/12/22). **

Hudson,M. (2011) ‘Grayson Perry: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, British Museum’.  thedesk.com.  (8/19/2011). (accessed 9/12/2022). **

MacDonald,A. (2019) ‘Edmund de Waal – Psalm’.  Gasogian Quartlerly. (Summer, 2019). (accessed 1/12/2022). 

Morris,S. (2022) ‘Artwork that will be UK’s tallest ceramic sculpture takes shape in Devon.  Guardian on-line. (22/3/2022). (accessed 22/3/2022). **

Morris,S. (2022) ‘ “Unwanted junk”: Earth Goddess statue prompts unholy reaction in St Austell’. Guardian on-line, (23.6.2022). (accessed 9/12/22). **

Searle,A. (2017) ‘Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! Review – the court jester strikes again’. Guardian on-line, 6/6/2017 (accessed 8/12/2022).

Anon. (2021) ‘UK’s tallest ceramic sculpture to be erected in Cornwall’.  BBC on-line, (22/6/21). (accessed 23/3/22). **

Anon. (2021) ‘St Austell religious leaders object to Earth Goddess statue’. BBC on-line, (21/8/2021). (accessed 23/3/22). **

Websites 

PhillipsAuctionHouse (13-18 October 2018)Important Design+  Lucie Rie & Hans Coper Potter and Artist. Available at: https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/UK050518 (catalogue for action and viewing at 30 Berkley Square, London,2018) (accessed 2022).

Mall Galleries London (2020) Modern Made, A Potter’s Partnership – Lucie Rie and Hans Coper 23/10/2020. Available at: https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/modern-made  (accessed 2022).**

York Museum Trust (2017). Savage,H - More than Words: A New Exhibition of Work by Sara Radstone. Available at: https://www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/exhibition/sara-radstone-more-than-words/    (accessed 27/9/2022).   **

Catalogues and leaflets

Booton,S. (2022) ‘Only Clay 2022’. Sheffield: S. Booton.   Catalogue of Art In Clay Exhibition, Kelham Island Museum, 24-25 September 2022. **

Books

Bell,A.C. (2017) Clay – Contemporary Ceramic Artisans. London: Thames and Hudson.

Burroughs,B. (ed.) (1960) Vasari’s Lives of the Artists – Biographies of the Most Eminent Architects, Painters, and Sculptors of Italy. London: George Allen & Unwin. **

Caroselli.S.L. (ed.) (1987) The Quest for Eternity London edition.  London:Thames and Hudson.

Casson,M. (1977) The Craft of The Potter. BBC:London. **

Groom,S. (ed.) (2004) A Secret History of Clay from Gaugin to Gormley.  London: Tate Publishing. **

Hanaor,C (ed.) (2007) Breaking the Mould – new approaches to ceramics. London: Black Dog Publishing. **

Jones,W. (2007) Grayson Perry – Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl.   London: Vintage Random House.

Klein,J. (2013) Grayson Perry. 2nd edition. London: Thames and Hudson. **

Leach,B. (1976) A Potter’s Book. 2nd edition.  St Ives: Faber and Faber.

Linscott,R.N. (ed.) (1959) Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects by Giorgio Vasari. London: The Medici Society Ltd. **

Naylor,G. (1971) The Arts and Crafts Movement. London: Studio Vista Publishers.

Petry,M (2012) The Art of Not Making – The New Artist/Artisan London:Thames and Hudson.  **

Quimby,I.M.G. (ed.) (1984) The Craftsman in Early America. Delaware: W.W. Norton.

Rawson,P. (1973) Introducing Oriental Art.  London:Hamlyn.

Rawson,P.  (1984) Ceramics  Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Turnbull,S.R. (1977) The Samurai – A Military History. London: Osprey.

Weltge-Wortmann,S. (1993) Bauhaus Textiles – Women Artists and the Weaving Workshop.  London:Thames and Hudson. **

Yap.Y and Cotterell.A (1975) The Early Civilisation of China  London: Book Club Associates Limited.

Illustrations

Page 13 ….. The Rosetta Stone – Grayson Perry – from Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman Exhibition, British Museum, 2011.

Page 13 ….. The Ark of the Unknown Craftsman – from Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman Exhibition, British Museum, 2011.

Page 14 ….. Earth Goddess, St Austell – Sandy Brown – from BBC On-line.

Page 15 .... Workshop with Sara Radstone, York Day of Clay – personal photographs 2018.

Page 15 …. Shroud – Sara Radstone, York Museum Collection – personal photograph 2018.

Page 16 …. Incised beaker, Incised teacup and saucer, Bowl with explosive pink glaze - Lucie Rie, York Museum Collection – personal photographs 2018.

Page 17 … Royal Doulton Figurine, Best Wishes  - Jessica Harrison – Ceramic Review 2022.

Page 18 …. Form – Gavin Webster - Only Clay – personal photograph 2022.

Page 18 …. Owl Slip Trailed Plate – Ben Fosker - Only Clay – personal photograph 2022.

DEFINITIONS – Britannica Dictionary definitions

ART:

1 : something that is created with imagination and skill and that is beautiful or that expresses important ideas or feelings

2  : works created by artists : paintings, sculptures, etc., that are created to be beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings

3  : the methods and skills used for painting, sculpting, drawing, etc.

4  : an activity that is done to create something beautiful or to express important ideas or feelings

 the arts : painting, sculpture, music, theatre, literature, etc., considered as a group of activities done by people with skill and imagination

arts and crafts noun

ARTS AND CRAFTS [plural]

: objects that are meant to be both useful and beautiful

: the activity of making such objects

fine art noun

plural fine arts

FINE ART

1 : a type of art (such as painting, sculpture, or music) that is done to create beautiful things

2  : an activity that requires skill and care

ARTISAN

: a person who is skilled at making things by hand 

ARTIFICE

: dishonest or insincere behaviour or speech that is meant to deceive someone

CONSTRUCT

: something (such as an idea or a theory) that is formed in people's minds

INTEGRITY

1 : the quality of being honest and fair

2 : the state of being complete or whole

VIRTUE

The Britannica definition.  Refer also to the use of the word Virtue as a translation of the Chinese word Te …

1 : a good and moral quality

2 : the good result that comes from something

Virtue – Te (or The)

Noun (in Taoism) the virtue or power inherent in a person or thing existing in harmony with the Tao.

Introduction - The Potter-Artist Dichotomy

True to nature, and seeking flow

Lucie Rie famously compared herself to her student, Hans Coper, “I am a potter, but he was an artist” (Mall Galleries, 2020, p.1).   That she would define their creative relationship in this way, and that this dichotomy should be understood and accepted by those in the creative world, illustrates a profound imbalance, a sickness. This imbalance has risen with the invention of Fine Art as a concept, and its continuing hegemony within the creative world mirrors the growth of trade, commercialism and the rise of the individual.    It has been a function of Art criticism and collectors to raise Fine Art onto an undeserved pedestal,  whilst devaluing the skill and integrity of the Artisan.

Within these social constructs of Fine Art, Crafts, Artisan and – most insidious of all – The Artist – it is important that the skilled, hands-on makers of modern pottery challenge their relegation to ‘country cousin’.   Potters need to cherish each other – it is as important for a ceramic artist to love the “little brown jug” as it is for the craftsman potter to appreciate the aspirations of the artist-maker.    Potters need to sidestep the seduction of their new-found (and probably temporary) fashionability in the commercial world of Fine Art and recognise that a healthy tree has both strong roots and wonderful leaves.

Literature Review - Inventing the social construct that is Art – and the rejection of skill

Appropriation art and the death of the artisan – creatives provide X Factor tick-boxes for the seriously over-rich and hedge-fund managers

Artifice supercedes Art.   A social construct trumps integrity.   Commercialism and fashion provide the framework for ‘worth’ in the creative process.  This is the gift of Fine Art to the 21st century.  Increasingly contemporary ceramicists have sought validation by emulating this approach, decrying the history of their craft.

Vasari’s work ‘Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects’, is the most influential and long lasting codification of artistic worth. It split Fine Art from the mundane Artisan.  Vasari was commissioned by his patron Cardinal Farnese to “advance the arts” (Linscott,1959,p.vii) in a society that was basking in the wealth and prestige that trade had brought.  It wanted totems for the oligarchs of the time/place to pin their intellectual pretensions on and invest their wealth into. Vasari raised the old masters into godlike figures and set the scene for the commercialisation of individual artists that has met its apogee in the modern cult of the individual artist – a X Factor array of personalities defining the hang-up’s of the era.

This cult of the inspirational ‘artist’ who apparently makes ‘art for arts sake’ is examined by Petry in The Art of Not Making – the new Artist/Artisan Relationship. Self publicising Fine Artists who claim “art lies not in the making of an object, but in the naming of it as art” (Petry,2012,p.11) whilst traducing the skills that produce their ‘art’. Duchamps re-setting of modern art in 1917 through his work Fountain eventually led to artists such as Sherrie Levine brashly repurposing other peoples work and to Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and others not even being involved in the making process – delegating it to teams of assistants (Petry,P8).    Hirst, the artist businessman, has a workshop producing his lucrative dot pictures, which he then claims as his personal art, because he says it is so.   Many successful artists produce their art as a collaborative process with skilled crafts people who are rarely acknowledged in the final work.  Picasso painted on pots and plates that use the work of potters as a 3D canvas, and the glassmaking skills of  Egidio Costantini by artists such as Jean Arp were rarely credited. (Petry, p.8).   The patron, art critic and galleries have driven this institutionalisation of the superficially rebel artist, and chasing Luca has supplanted chasing Apollo when seeking inspiration.   The Renaissance patrons of Vasaris’ artists are now Saatchi and a cabal of dealers, critics and galleries who define high-end fashion and trends through the artists they decide to take up.  

As the contemporary art world was redefining what is art many in the contemporary craft/artisan world were seeking to emulate them by decrying usage and respect for their material, creating a profound disconnect between what is acclaimed as ceramic art and the actual making process.  In  Breaking the Mould (Hanaor,2007) Natasha Dainty outlines a view set out by Rose Slivka in Crafts Horizon (1961 July/August issue) that redefined the parameters of contemporary ceramic art as basically good for little else than providing a ‘canvas’ for expressive art (Hanaor,p.18).   A furious retaliatory outburst from potters in the arts and crafts tradition stated ceramic artists would be “free to concentrate on getting the cow [cash cow?] to cooperate for higher and larger works of ‘ART’.” - Letter to the editor Craft horizons.  No. 5, 1961  from Warren MacKenzie.    Harking back to the history of ceramic art and craftmanship/skill “was enough to have an object rejected as irrelevant”. Determined not to have their art and craft sidelined many successful ceramicists rejected “enforced bondage to functionalism” (1961 cited by Hanaor,2007,pp.18/19).   Chasing the cash cow seems to have paid off for a select band of makers.      

In his critique of the exhibition ‘Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art’ (The Daily Telegraph.1/11/2022,pp.10-11) Colin Gleadell muses that only 10 years ago ceramic art would never have “credited such a glittering array of “supporting” galleries …” and that the works on show “remind us of a time when ceramic art was still considered only as a craft” though now there has been “a radical change in attitude – and value.”    He highlights the exponential increase in the value of pieces of ceramic art,  most tellingly the work of Magdalene Odundo – “whose curvaceous pots could not be sold at auction 10 years ago when  they were placed in design sales” now selling for up to £375,000.   The tone of the article is reductive and patronising.    The implication is that ceramics can only be of value if it takes on the cloak of Fine Art and financially successful ceramic makers are sold as “bringing a contemporary sensibility to pottery.” (2022,Alison Jacques,  2022, cited in Gleadell,2022).   Increasingly ceramicists appear to be buying into this devaluing of the nature of their medium by the arbiters of ‘taste’ and ‘value’ in the art world.    In the world of ceramics Appropriation Art and using Ready Mades (Petry.2012.p.12) are valued in comparison to functionality and joy in the nature of the clay.     The ‘brown jug’ is dismissed as passe and unworthy.    The craft of the potter is redefined as being an intellectual pursuit rather than appreciated for its intrinsic use/value, and as Emmanuel Cooper so eloquently said “Skill is rarely thought of as a sufficient aspect of making to ensure work is taken seriously” (AN,11/1995,pp5-7).

Skill, craftmanship and tradition are recurring themes– together with cultural and functional value - by those reacting to fashion and monetisation in ceramics.   From The Arts and Crafts Movement, through the Craft Workers Guild, onto Bernard Leachs ‘Setting a Standard’ and Philip Rawsons explorations in Ceramic Art (Rawson,1984) – makers have tried to resist their work being devalued, or assimilated and perverted within the ‘Art World’, but their basic message has been misinterpreted in a rush for a more ephemeral ‘authenticity’ and aesthetic.    By 1995 Emmanuel Cooper was making the point in his review of the exhibitions ‘Making Sense’ and ‘The New Designers’ curated by Jane Hamlyn (AN,11/1995,pp5-7).   The exhibition was a multi-media celebration of "some of the ways in which making things helps us to make sense of the world, adapt to change, make ourselves comfortable and explore our fantasies”.     The functionality of made objects was referenced, celebrated and linked to rich and meaningful traditions.        He discusses the way “skill, function and intention” are intrinsic and implies the integrity of the items on display come from this balance.    Function is not necessarily making a usable drinking cup. Rather functionality is tied to world view, tradition, ceremony – and perhaps having a drink from a vessel!      Cooper distils tensions between artisan-made artifacts – the roots of the craft tradition – and modern expectations within the context of modern alternatives to items that could previously only be made by the skilled artisan, who were therefore highly valued in their societies -  “In approaching and appreciating craft today … the extent to which modern artist-makers are able to call on tradition and use it as a bench-mark of understanding, is, at best, of limited use” (p5).       He points a way to reconcile design, aesthetic, skill and function. There is room for both craft for crafts sake, and art for arts sake.    They are sides of the same coin.    

Contextual Review - “Art for Art Sake: Money for Gods Sake” – towards a standard, and back again ….     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7dgRxpx6XY 10CC

Grayson Perry, Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman, British Museum 2011

In his 2011 Exhibition at the British Museum ‘The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman’ Perry dives into the roots and veracity of his own craft/art.   It focuses on the unknown but valued craftsman described by Cooper.   From Fine Artists dismissing him – Tracey Emins “sardonic grin” and dismissal of him as “pretty popular with the masses” when Perry won the Turner prize in 2003 (Klein, p9) – Perry was by now internationally recognised, selling big-time and able to challenge the pretensions of the ‘arts world’.   Perry was going back to cultural, craft and personal roots. His thematic piece is the Ark of Craftmanship, carrying skills and ideas into the future, but it is his ceramic pieces that most closely link his work into the craft tradition   ‘The Rosetta Stone’ is obviously personal (Houghton,2012) linking his own development to a personal recognition of his craft, rather than just “an orgy of Eministic Me Art” (Hudson, 2011).    In Imagine he says “people who made these objects … attained a relaxed fluency” (Perry, Imagine, 2011) and the objects have integrity in virtue and form.   He juxtaposes this to much of modern art – “the only thing that qualifies it as art is that it’s in an art gallery”.   I was reminded of Isaac Button, recorded in 1965 (YouTube,2009) – whose “relaxed fluency” endowed his work with virtue of form and aesthetic.

The Rosetta Stone

The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman

Sandy Brown – Earth Goddess, St Austell

Almost to prove Perrys point about the medium, the intent and the skill of making the “UK’s tallest ceramic sculpture” (BBC, 2021), is rooted firmly in the history and creative tradition of place.    The figure is self-consciously female, rising from the china clay from which she is constructed.  The white china clay body is a perfect base for swirling bright colours, “it makes them shine”, and the base tiles coated in local mud as a slip substitute add to the sense of time and place.  (Morris, 2022).    This ceramic art has virtue in the skill of the artisan maker and its ‘usage’ is identifying timeless and timely local tradition.    In the true tradition of arts and crafts holding a mirror to their times, Earth Goddess has brought recognition to her time and place - welcomed and celebrated by some and castigated as “unwanted junk” and ‘heretical’ by others! (Morris, 2022) (BBC,2021). 

Earth Goddess

Sandy Brown

St. Austell, Cornwall

York Centre of Ceramic Art – including Day of Clay 16/10/2018: Lucie Rie and Sarah Radstone

The Day of Clay event at York Centre of Ceramic Art brought together makers and works from across the ceramic makers world.     On a personal level I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, engrossed in looking at seminal works in the museums collection and participating in hands on events by Susan Halls and Sara Radstone.

Radstone’s work is challenging, experimental and deeply personal – but also accessible.  In no way attractive – to my personal taste – it was nevertheless inspirational in its use of textiles, used newspaper and slips to create structure and flow.   Her work is looking to interpret ‘things’ around her, and her focus has moved from reinterpreting the vessel form to less utilitarian work, much of it based on the – almost zen-like – draping of clay laden paper and textiles.      Her work involves skill and an appreciation of the materials used – it has flow.

My photographs from the workshop with Sara Radstone,  2018

Sara Radstone – in York Museum Collection

Image of third in series titled 'Shroud'. Referencing themes of memorial and frailty, extending the language of ceramics

Sitting alongside were cases holding the work of Lucie Rie, from early buttons, through usable tea cups to explosively wonderful bowls in vivid colours.    Rie’s method of work - glazing and firing greenware forms that are covered in carefully crafted glazes (just enough flux to not run of the pot, or sufficiently incised to emphasis the shape of the vessel) is awe-inspiring.     Her work takes the craft of the potter to rarely attained heights and, in my view, negates her own comparison to Hans Coper.   She is a potter, artist and inspiration.  

In this seeking for ways of making, of exploring the materials of the potter and pushing boundaries, the apparent disconnect between Radstone and Rie falls away. 

Lucie Rie

Incised beaker

Incised teacup and saucer

Bowl with explosive pink glaze

All in York Museum Collection

Jessica Harrison – Royal Doulton Figurine, Best Wishes, 2017

By comparison to the work of Sara Radstone, there is no attempt by Jessica Harrison to engage with the material of clay, nor the ethos of making.      Her work is a manifestation of the Appropriation and Ready Mades that abound in current Fine Art.    She doesn’t attempt to hide the fact that she is copying/using existing works, indeed she uses it to justify her aesthetic, “My work is tied together by these questions of authenticity, forgeries and things you can access …”.   A trained fine artist and sculptress, clay is obviously not her natural medium. She describes her works as “handbuilt ceramic sculptures”,  also describing them as ‘re-makings’ (CR,Nov2022,p.16).  Her work ‘Best Wishes’ is superficially striking to look at but encapsulates a lack of integrity in the making process.    It is “an orgy of Eministic Me Art” (see above).      Taking Royal Doulton figurines that have been mass produced and altering them by defacing, destroying, or adding resin is not being in touch with the virtue of the medium, is not being a maker – it is producing art for arts sake, with skill as a secondary consideration.    

Only Clay 2022 – Exhibition at the Kelham Island Museum.  24/25 September 2022

There was the full gamut of contemporary ceramics at the exhibition – from well known and respected practitioners such as Geoff Cox, self conscious attention seekers such as David William Sampson and traditional makers of utility stoneware vessels such as Ian Morrison.   I was, however, particularly drawn to 2 makers at opposite ends of current practice.

I interviewed both to try and grasp where they were coming from.

•      Gavin Webster is a new kid on the block.    His ‘finished’ work is visually exciting.  His method of work seeks to avoid “falling into the trap of conformity” – using whatever clay is to hand (though tending towards use of basic stoneware – because it’s available) and focusing on the unplanned process rather than the result.    To help the process along the clay is quickly thrown then the form is altered at subsequent stages – often including heavily indented finger gouges where it has been removed wet from the wheel.  At leather hard it is torn, and at times it is further altered by the destructive use of a hammer after bisque firing.   Glazes are applied in layers, and forms are fired several times to build up layers and complexity.   A nice drippy glaze that does its own thing adds bonus levels of emotion into the finished work.      This work is as far away from the appropriation ‘art’ of Jessica Harrison as it could be.    The work builds on personal artisan skill -  creation, destruction and resurrection of his own work. 

Gavin Webster – form, at Only Clay 2022

Ben Fosker, Owl Slip Trailed Plate, at Only Clay 2022

-          At the other end of the spectrum is Ben Fosker.      He is very commercially successful – though not in the ‘art’ world.     .     His method is in the tradition of British artisan craft potters, including slip-trailing.   It’s rustic manufacture and stylised design is in keeping with the naïve tradition,  and fluid application of lines and blocks of colour is evocative and in keeping.      You can feel the barn owl gliding like a country ghost over rough grass, back-lit by a full moon.    There is an integrity in the work, a link between the maker and the observer that is drawn from the material and the making process.  

Conclusion : ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’  seeking balance and flow

A trawling of literature and articles about modern ceramics, and the distinctions between ‘art’ and ‘craft’, appears to reinforce the idea that to be a serious ceramic-artist one has to question the value of function and the notion of the vessel in favour of abstraction and intellectual airy-fairyism.

Modern ceramics’ response to the devaluation of their art within the ‘Art World’ has included a knee jerk rejection of ‘the little brown jug’ and towards an acceptance of such developments as “appropriation art” and the redefining of works as ‘sculpture’.   The intrinsic virtue* of ceramic art is in danger of being undermined by a subconscious acceptance of the Fine Arts negative view of skill, craft and usage.

The way forward is to step back, reassess and laud the material and process in all its forms.

For myself integrity and virtue in the process, the use of the material and the outcome - including its place in the creative world – is a core objective.       Whether the outcome is a functional vessel or a different type of functionality that represents a world view, the virtue (Te) of the work will be in recognising that “Earth, water and fire are the basic elements of this craft that … demands(sic) a response from our senses as well as our minds” (Casson,1977) 

* Te