Later that day, Gwynn Hanssen Pigott gave the perspective as someone very much a product of the Bernard Leach tradition. Her years spent in workshops with potters such as Michael Cardew and Ivan McMeekin has granted her the legacy of a wonderfully intuitive feel for clay. She spoke of the mystery of celadon glazes—their capacity to be hard but soft, cool but warm. He was adamant that her work was not design—‘it’s a gut feeling’. In an act of long-term responsibility, she spoke of the need to plant a forest of timber in her Queensland property, after taking so much wood in firing her kiln. Gwynn’s went way over time, but the conference was thrilled and gave her a standing ovation.
The two talks gave the audience quite different alternatives: the yellow brick road to the Big Apple, or the lonely mountain path to the studio?
3 comments:
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I have always thought of Clark as Garth Vader. He uses the "Fortress Ceramica" image, but I think starwars is better, because what Mingei did was stress the underdog: the blue collar craftsman. So, I would see Hamada and Leach as Yoda and Obi-wan, on the side of the rebels and The Force, fighting against the monied materialistic consumerism of the likes of Garth Vader and the Empire. That makes me a Pottery Jedi Knight, I suppose.
May the Force be with you!
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