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| image via http://cartergilliespottery.wordpress.com/ |
One of the changes I’m hoping will evolve on musing over the next year is the inclusion of more guest posts by other artists and writers. I have always hoped that musing could become more of a space for dialogue, debate and critical writing. This voice shouldn’t me solely my own as this is a blog for the community, so I am encouraging anyone and everyone that is interested in writing for musing to get in touch. I’m open to just about anything you can come up with so long as it’s some how clay/craft/art related.
Earlier in the week I posted the video Adopt a Potter by Lisa Hammond, and Carter Gillies has started a great conversation in the comments of this post. Now I often worry because musing is often a bit thin on comments that people might miss these conversations that happen in the background of a post. So I’ve asked Carter to present some of this discussion here as a guest post. I encourage you to go back and read the comments, and of course add your own thoughts to the conversation.
Make sure as well to check out Carter’s website here for a glimpse into his incredible practice and for a wonderful read of a great established blog, which if it isn’t on your reading list, it should be.
Thanks Carter!
The following is Carter Gillies:
When I think of current and recent eminent potters almost all
of them either were pottery students at Universities or had some
exposure there which led them to pursue it outside academia.
The exceptions right now are a rare breed. How many of today’s great
potters had absolutely no contact with pots in college? Can you name even a few? So what happens when fewer and fewer people have that opportunity? What will happen if some depressing future day no one has that chance to study pottery in school any longer?
In the video Carole posted a few days ago, the potter Lisa Hammond
proposes that apprenticeships are at least one of the solutions to what
she and I both see as a problem facing the art of pottery making. She
talks about being “really disheartened” by “the demise of colleges and
ceramics colleges closing down” and what needs to be done “until those
in power realize what’s missing”.
This seems like an issue that impacts potters not only now, but the
future of our craft. Is it something we can talk about? Are we
interested in talking about it?
Lisa Hammond and some others are suggesting that apprenticeships are a
stopgap measure to fill the need for ceramics education, and obviously
it is a path to serious professionalism. I just worry that this
alternative is far too small a band-aid on the hemorrhaging of potters
from Universities. This is an extremely narrow chute to pass the future of all pot making through. The question I need to ask is whether apprenticeships will be enough…..
How many working potters can afford to take on apprentices? How many
of those will have the time and commitment to replace full time
University instruction? If even one out of every ten potters were able,
would this be enough to keep the momentum going? And if this is our only
solution will it ever be less a bottleneck than our current
situation?
And the question is also how a person got to the point that they were
willing to commit to a one to four year span of learning a trade from a
professional potter. They won’t often be starting from scratch. And few
potters would accept them if they didn’t already demonstrate the
serious motivation to be there and learn. Really, apprenticeships will
only fill the need of a ‘finishing school’. And while it is a viable means of honing one’s skills and
knowledge, it almost seems too quaint and romanticized a throwback
to have much currency in the modern world. It speaks of a pathway that is only rarer and rarer…..
Workshops and crafts schools are in a similar position. They are
opportunities for folks already on the path to becoming professionals or
passionate amateurs. And they would be too expensive for most folks to
spend one to four years of continuous class time…. They are a different
sort of ‘finishing school’ at best.
So how do folks get inspired to make that apprenticeship commitment?
One way that prospective professionals are exposed to pot making is
through classes in grade school, summer camps, and community centers.
And perhaps these are enough to get folks interested. I’m not
discounting that. But I’d think that the transitional step from summer
camp to prospective professional still requires enormous training and
persistence. It requires opportunity. And the question is how folks will
get this.
If the community center where I teach is like most others, then it
will be rare that an academic-like training can be offered. Most folks
taking classes already have their lives sorted out. Even the ones
who are serious about learning almost always have full time
jobs or are in school to become something else. They have the serious
passion for a hobby, not a career path. And so it is extremely
rare that I can teach to an academically rigorous standard. Its almost
impossible to even give homework assignments…. There are no grades. And
I’m not a gatekeeper….
So the question is whether a seriously trained professional potter
will be the exception in the future. Will the future of pot making be
mostly in the hands of willing and enthusiastic but under-trained
amateurs? I worry that without the opportunity afforded in universities
the overall health of our craft will be mostly up to folks who take a
class or two at a community center and then sell the begeezus out of
their pots on etsy…. (Not to disrespect or diminish the self directed
passion of these artists. Its only that passion is not always a
substitute for training and the honing of academic critique. And its
perhaps rarest of all that an artist is self directed enough to do
without even occasional critical feedback. We tend to think that if it
sells its good enough. And is that always a standard of quality? Will
this future be almost entirely market driven? And does our audience
always know enough to push us towards excellence? How often is that the
case? Etsy anyone?… These seem like important questions….)
But over and above the actual training that prospective potters miss
out on with diminishing opportunities in academia, perhaps the worse
harm is a lack of exposure. Of the countless students to walk through a
university’s Ceramics department doors, how many did it take for some to
stick? And of those how many to actually make a career of it? Are the odds any less than one in a thousand?
Universities are
that golden opportunity that you can take a class without yet knowing
your major. Its that golden opportunity to DECIDE what you are
interested in…. University educations are that incredible time in
one’s life when a person is figuring out what they want to do with the
rest of their lives. And they can experiment with little risk that wrong
turns and dead ends will be more than the waste of a semester. Its a rare time of freedom and diversity. When
folks eventually graduate most are started on the paths that will define
their lives. And it scares me that fewer and fewer will have an
opportunity to choose pot making from this irreplaceable period of
gestation.
How many of today’s potters walked into a college ceramics class by
mistake? They took a wrong turn and ended up in the Art school basement?
Because the painting classes were all full? On a dare? Because
some cute guy was taking the class….? It almost seems that becoming a
potter requires this touch of the irrelevant and accidental…. Just how
do we replace THAT?
So here’s my question. Does anyone really think that
apprenticeships will fully substitute for the loss of pottery opportunities in
academia? Are we worried about the situation? Enough to do something
about it? Or are we too disinterested to lift a finger? Are we content
to get ours now and let the future generations of potters sink or swim
on their own? Are we apologists for the direction that academic
institutions and the gallery/museum establishment are heading? Are we
defending the pathway of community classroom settings and the amateurism
of many etsy sellers?
It seems there is no one right answer but that we need ALL these
opportunities in play. I just fear that our future as a viable craft
will be diminished if we give up on pottery being taught in academia.
Anyone else see what I’m worried about?
Sometimes I wonder if my BFA was worth it. I had access to studio space and some really wonderful teachers, and I credit them with kindling my interest in pottery. After my first ceramics class (22 years ago), I knew absolutely *this* is what I wanted to do. At the same time, there were so many things in college that kept me *out* of the studio: it was shared space, so it was generally off limits when class was not in session; I had other classes to attend and study for; and I had to work a regular job to make ends meet. And when I graduated, I was no where near ready to start selling work- I simply needed more experience. But by then, I was left with student loan debt and tremendous financial pressure to find a job. It's only been recently, after a major detour into a second career (and more student debt), that I've been able to afford a studio and put in the time that I needed to make decent pots.
I'll concede that most eminent potters have *some* university background, and college ceramics departments are the only exposure to the craft many people will get. So a university education can be valuable. But then what comes to mind when I think of "eminent potters" are academics. And if you'd rather make a living as a working potter than as an academic, a university education is not sufficient.
"…sell the begeezus out of their pots on etsy…"
Right. Because it is so easy to sell loads of pots on etsy. {sorry- I know its rude. But so is the suggestion that etsy sellers are somehow cutting corners and raking in $$ without working at it.}
I feel I need to respond to this portion in particular. I am not academically-trained. I am an etsy seller. I make pots that people buy and use. I need to make pots that people buy and use. You won't find my work in galleries or in shows. I don't apply to them. I am "livelihood-driven."
And I know I am not alone in this. There are a ton of potters at my same level. Lucky that our studio work pays the bills. We can be found online and at your local craft show.
I think it is this segment of the pottery/ceramics world that will continue to carry on the tradition of education and introduction (if colleges continue to drop ceramic programs.) Teaching out of our basement studios, talking about our craft to drunk customers at neighborhood art festivals. And letting people know that, "Yes, I did make this. And so can you."
Are academics important? Absolutely. Is there a difference between my work and the work I see in Ceramics Monthly? Absolutely. Would I like to have the time and space to develop? Absolutely. But, for now, I'm content to move at a snail's pace in my development.
And as we ponder the loss of higher ceramics education, let us also remember that ceramics has been around for a long-ass time. And chances are good that people will still explore and develop this mysterious and intriguing material know as clay, even outside of universities. As Carter suggested in his previous blog post- the odds of a working ceramic artist emerging from a ceramics program are probably pretty low.
I agree with Carter that we do need all of the opportunities at play. And if ceramics at the academic level is lost- I guess I just believe that there will always be outliers that push the envelope and continue to develop the material. Giving the rest of us "livelihood-driven" potters something to ogle at and admire.
God-willing there will always be the internet and hopefully those outliers will have an instagram account.
Points well taken, Jay and Jeanette!
A university education or exposure in itself in not sufficient to make a living from as a potter. Perhaps not even earning an MFA…. But that's not really the question I'm asking.
And I apologize if I seemed to suggest that etsy sellers cut corners and don't work hard at what they do. The "begeezus" comment was more a caricature, I know, and I'm sorry if it was taken in the wrong way.
That notion of the outliers always cropping up is indeed reassuring! And of course I am personally grateful that they do exist. I suppose the question I am really asking is less an issue of quality and more about the loss of opportunity that we are seeing diminished. But maybe a bit of both?
As you point out Jeanette, pot making has been around for ages and will continue with or without academic support. The deeper question I'm asking is whether it makes sense for us to give it up so easily and without a fight….. Is it even something *worth* caring about? That's all I'm wondering…..
And there seem plenty of reasons why the answer is "yes" and plenty why the answer is "no". Is it something we can at least talk about? And that seems like another interesting question……
I think we hobby potters get tired of being bullied about in the name of "art" and "craft"… and are quite sensitive to academic vs craft sellers comments in general. There is a lot of that, that goes on in general on artists blogs, especially once the craft season opens up, when there is a lot of whinging over prices etc. and professional vs amateur.
I like to remind artists that it is we the hobby set (in the tens of thousands, here in the USA) – that are your biggest fans and probably your biggest consumers. We stimulate the economy of art by taking courses, visiting museums, buying art books, attending juried shows, going to demos, buying dvds, and starting collections.
We stimulate the culture of art by supporting arts in our schools and camps, and encouraging our children to find value in it. We share our hobby with countless others, who might otherwise never have considered a handmade piece of pottery. We are the subscribes to CM and PI and learn about "real" art, as we cultivate our own skills. We are the ones who are spreading the word, the love of art, to the masses.
On the second topic,
I don't see ceramic academic art programs in the USA going away anytime soon. The big name schools are well defined and not shedding faculty at a rate any more so than any other department. This has been a really tough 6 years for schools – many programs have been trimmed to bare bones, not just art programs – and when the economy recovers, things will pick up again. The UK can not compete in the same way via academia because they are not funded in the same way – their losses are greater because of the structure of their economic and educational systems and their college vs uni system. They are going through some difficult change and growing pains. We won't see that in the USA – it's not how our system works. Our schools also have the ability to respond quickly to change – it's not unusual in academia for areas to come and go – to rise and fall based on economics.
In my state (NY) there is ample opportunity to study ceramics – and at both the private and public school level and at the college vs university level. As is the beauty of the USA, States make most of their own decisions about how public money is spent – and often it follows private money – it's up to a given culture of a given state to promote it's own values – in art or otherwise.
I don't think you can compare the situation in the UK to the situation in the USA at all.
I think it's a non-issue here. There are plenty of excellent MFA programs turning away students – who then have to go to the secondary stream of schools. There seems to be no lack of supply or demand at this point in time.
I'd hate to see any art including ceramics vanish from academia but where it may (sadly) vanish from colleges and universities I think opportunities to learn from professional artist via workshops will remain and may gain a larger interest.
I tell young potters who want to go to school for pottery that they should consider at least minoring in business because, let's face it, if you're going to try to sell your work you are going to be a business. Many artist could benefit from this knowledge and learn their craft in a non-university setting.
ditto what Jeannette said. I studied photography in college and didn't even look behind that door that said 'ceramics studio' until after I finished school. I started clay as a hobby but now, like Jeannette, my work is market driven. I started working for my first pottery in 1994, and becoming self employed in 1997. It doesn't bother me that a lot of people consider Etsy sellers uneducated. I have found that a lot of the academically trained potters have zero business and marketing skills to present their work and make a living from it. (although they know how to present it to galleries) Having the ability to produce a quality product and understand the market to keep that product moving is something I have learned over time and experience. You don't get that in an academic setting. I think apprenticeships are important too for studio potters.
Laura,
While I am very encouraged by your optimism, as a professor of Ceramics in the US I can not say that I share your opinion. I have seen numerous programs shut down in the last ten years I have been teaching, and know of friends in New York state and others, who have had the entire Art Department cut at there university. More often, when a professor from an art program retires he or she is simply not replaced. I think the higher educations system in the United states is in the middle of an identity crisis, with the University of Phoenix leading the charge. As more and more universities run into funding problems and are forced to make cuts they almost always look to the Humanities as a place to make them. The current attitude seems to be that Universities are supposed to be career mills, where students often believe they are buying a piece of paper that guarantees them a job rather then getting an "education". With this growing attitude the liberal arts are under attack, because they are not seen as providing viable career paths. As an example, florida is looking into lowering tuition rates for particular majors. (see the NY Times article below) And as one last piece of evidence if you look at the number of ceramics job opening in Higher Ed each year, they are at a small fraction of what they were a decade ago.
That doesn't mean i have given up hope. As a person who planned on going into medicine and then had their whole life' changed by the power of art. I still believe in the importance of education. I believe it has the power to shape culture. But I also believe that choosing to be an artist in the US right now is choosing to be counter cultural, it is a choosing to but your belief in a different set of values then we are being told is the main reason for getting a college degree. The almighty dollar.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/education/florida-may-reduce-tuition-for-select-majors.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
These are great points Laura!
It may in fact be the case that the situation in the UK and the US are constructed so differently that they face entirely different pressures. But it may also be the case that different pressures sometimes still lead to the same outcome. Pottery departments can be affected by many different interests. Just like a person can be malnourished from not getting enough vitamins, insufficient, minerals, a poor source of unspoiled food, lack of education, and whatever else. Just because the situations are different doesn’t mean that things won’t turn out in similar ways…..
And you suggest that this is a non-issue in the US. I’m glad to know that certain states are doing much better in supporting pot making within their University art departments. But its also true that the whole “craft” vs “art” debate you mention HAS had an effect on academic institutions. And perhaps its because, as you suggest, the snobbery and elitism of a typical academic perspective finds an art designation more worthy of funding than ‘mere craft’ that this issue even comes up. If art departments didn’t come down so heavily on one side of this issue would my concerns really even make sense? I’m not fighting to keep pot making academically ‘pure’….
Personally I am much more interested in an inclusive way of looking at what we do. And I am disappointed that many institutions follow the trail of exclusivity. It seems more than a bit inconsistent that academic art praises the postmodern position that art can be anything and then adds the provision that craft and pot making are not….. So personally I am much more interested in ANY and EVERY expression of our craft. Our art. I don’t have a narrow axe to grind. My question is really whether it affects ALL of us to see those opportunities diminish…..
So your point about the elite end of the spectrum only benefiting from the countless amateurs is excellent! As someone who advocates not just for pot making but art in general I have come to understand that the only way an art form flourishes is that there are non-professional people who have experience in a participatory capacity. And this can come from all sorts of opportunities. This amateur involvement is something that should be praised and encouraged by any means possible. Which is why IF it turns out that opportunities to make pots in academia are diminishing that this IS something we should struggle against. The world is full of amateurs who got their introduction to the arts in college, so if not just for the sake of professionals but for the sake of amateurs too, it seems we need to change the minds of institutions that are downgrading their support for things like pot making……
What do you think?
Christine,
You are of course absolutely correct that academic art programs fall short in many respects. But despite any failings, are we better off having the chance to study these fields than to not have that opportunity? That's what I'm asking. After having 4 years of undergrad and 6 years of graduate school I'm under no illusion that the system is perfect….
But Peter raises the excellent point that an education can be so much more than simple 'job training'. Its why studying a broad range of subjects seems to matter. Its also the issue that being an 'amateur' or 'hobbyist' is NOT something to be disparaged…. Perhaps the biggest mistake our education system makes is that it thinks of students only as future employees and not as well rounded human beings…. But maybe that's another topic.
So, rather than worrying about an imaginary fight between 'professionals' and 'amateurs', or between academics and market followers, perhaps we should be focusing on what unites us. And rather than advocating for only a narrow branch of that tree, perhaps we should be more nurturing off all its shoots and tender leaves…..
Until we can get all these people with our common underlying interest to respect what each other is doing we will be stuck bickering and squabbling over who stole whose toy and which one was responsible for breaking the dishes….. I'd like to think we are bigger than that.
Can't the world include all of us, amateur AND professional, academic AND market follower? Isn't the world a better place for having more of our diversity rather than less of it?
But maybe that's another question too…. Or IS IT?
I am from the UK and even my old course has fallen to the sway of cost cutting and has disappeared as a pure program. In my eyes I think this course needed some change as there was a major failing and my experience of critique on my program was rare to none… the one real critique I ever got was that my work wasn't big enough.
Here in the UK there seems to be a major failing with a lot of people I have spoken to especially those entering teaching. That level of critique and support that we got in the '16-18' college didn't continue at degree level and our teachers were generally disinterested at the prospect of teaching us.
I agree that very few that leave University in the arts in general go into working in their field, at graduation it seems to be around 10% but it quickly goes down.
The problem is if they are failing with the core of the course they aren't interested in teaching the extra bits such as business, they don't have a clue either, which is why they are generally in Academia at university level.
Generally teachers in college were more approachable and willing to share techniques and ideas with students, and were very skilled individuals. There individuals are slowly being forced to retire to make way for the next generation, that only seem to care what grade their students are getting not what they are learning.
My own experience of teaching in college is that people are only there to get the grade, even those that want to be "artists" try and get by with the minimum of work for the grade and aren't really invested. Most don't want to get dirty so there isn't a lot of interest in learning some pottery skills out of 400ish students the most I ever got was four when going to an activity was required of them.
Trying to engage with students and at least improve awareness of clay is something I really want to try, but right now I have been put off by teaching in formal education. Unfortunately where I live there is no community centre where people can go to learn new things, those sorts of courses were the first things to be cut in the UK and are long since gone. For a year, I provided a place where people could come and have a go at making in clay, but I never quite covered my costs for renting the place so I had to leave.
Since the first time I threw on the wheel I knew it was what I wanted to do, and teaching full time just doesn't afford time to go near clay often enough.
Its my understanding (and observation) that most of what universities concentrate on now in clay is conceptual art, and much less on the fundamentals. What I've seen of many recent graduates has been people who can talk the talk and write one heck of an artist statement, but don't have the chops or have work with enough substance to back it up. I'm not the only one to notice this..
Craft as a whole has been marginalized and dumbed down so much in the last several years. That degenerated perception of fine craft combined with an increasingly uneducated public when it comes to the arts or craft, is a disastrous combination. Its not surprising that clay programs are being cut in college. And its increasingly more difficult to survive as a professional craftsperson, unless you are fortunate enough to have nurtured some collectors over the years. What does that say for these kids coming out of these programs that leave them ill-prepared.
I really do believe in apprenticeships as it fills the gaps in one's clay education and it brings students back down to earth. Oh boy what an opportunity, if you can find one. Sadly, apprenticeships here in North America, at least, are an increasingly rare thing. Like it has been mentioned, I don't know too many potters who could afford to take on or accommodate an apprentice.
There is not just one way to learn to pot. University is not the be all and end all and I have met some quite good potters who did not go that route, but they had lucked out and hooked up with some very good teachers along the way, so I know going that route can be done. You don't necessarily have to have a piece of paper to be a good or master potter and similarly just because you have a degree does not necessarily make you more qualified or somehow superior to someone who works in the field, or that you can even make good pots. The system is skewed.
Hey Joseph,
Uncaring instructors is a problem in any educational system where the priority is not on the students. Tenure is a double edged sword. And its so sad to see an opportunity to make a difference that is wasted. Bad teaching can often do more harm than no teaching at all…. So obviously I'm not advocating for a system that does this poorly!
And then quality and interest of students is also something beyond our control. In many ways I'm grateful to be teaching in a community center. There ALL the students want to be there, whether they are interested in learning or not. At the U you face the issue of perhaps even a majority of students who have no intention of following the lessons or of doing more than 'earning' enough credit to simply pass…..
But that goes for ANY introductory level class in any department. The difficulty I see is not what happens with that majority but with the few who actually DO take a liking to pots. Do we give up on them simply because their classmates are not that interested? I'm advocating for the special few, and to do that the only possibility is to accept the good with the bad. Unfortunately. And I know how depressing that can be for teachers…..
Which is perhaps why we need better teachers more than anything.
The caution I have is to not throw out the baby with the bathwater. One bad apple doesn't always spoil the batch. Sometimes you need to instruct whole hoards of philistines before you get to one that sticks…..
Keep up the good work! I know you are trying! And never doubt that it DOES make a difference, if even only for that one student who crossed your path and whose life was changed.
Dear Anonymous,
The system IS skewed! So what are we going to do about it? Wash our hands of the whole mess? Or try to do something to fix it?
What I'm suggesting probably involves more than a simple band aid, but that's why having a conversation is so important. Without folks from every interest coming to the table we can never expect comprehensive changes.
And maybe I'm dreaming that change can be made in a positive way. But I don't want to go down without a fight….
So if the system has problems lets fix them! If it turns out that this is a conversation that involves more than simply the Ceramics department will we let that discourage us?
If anyone said the important things in life would be easy they were misinformed. The question is whether we are up to the challenge. Have we quit before the conversation even got started? Did we give up ages ago because the wind was against us?
I'm not sure what other people do when there is a problem, but I hope I don't simply run from it. Not always at least…. In fact, with this one issue I am tired of seeing the sad results of a system that has gone wrong, and I'm nervous that we may have waited too long to do anything substantial about it.
So, if we can both see there is a problem will we stand shoulder to shoulder to help stop the rot? Can I count on you?
And maybe our anonymity is not our greatest strength…. There are plenty of folks in positions to be heard that are calling for action in our educational system. You should see the energy and commitment among arts advocates! It seems like the potters are the only ones who are silent…. There IS in fact a conversation going on, but unless we potters get involved we risk letting others do all our heavy lifting for us. Is it right to ask others to carry our load? Will they be as careful with it as you or I?
All I'm asking is that If you see there is a problem that you take steps to help make a solution. Having this conversation is a small step, but maybe its the step that leads to further steps. And, as our many feet gather, perhaps those very same first steps we took leads to a march and then to a movement and then to actual change….
Who else is in?
Dear Anonymous,
The system IS skewed! So what are we going to do about it? Sit on our hands in helpless frustration? Learn to live with absurdity and inequity? Or actually try to DO something about it?
If we both recognize that there is a problem then I imagine that its solution probably involves the both of us at the very least. And having a conversation is a small start, so thanks for putting your two cents in!
But, as you note, the issue is a bit larger than simply what is going on in Ceramics departments. And so it may be likely that we need to be more involved in a wider discussion as well. Can we do this?
It turns out that folks in other fields are asking these questions too. You should investigate the upsurge in arts advocacy to see the energy that is being directed at some of the issues facing the field. And in all those conversations it seems that only potters are not really represented…. Why is that? Do potters not care? Or do we expect others to do the heavy lifting for us?
Admittedly this conversation is only a baby step. But perhaps that step can turn into further steps. And as our feet gather, perhaps those many steps can form a march and that march can form a movement and that movement can make some positive change…..
The idea is to not get discouraged too easily. Who was it that said "Keep your eyes on the prize"? It seems that anything worth fighting for involves a struggle. Are we up to the challenge?
Well, one solution many academic programs and schools choose is to seek wealthy donors to GIVE to specific academic programs. Believe me, it works. Gifts can definitely build programs. You have to have a very motivated and active Department Chair and a very smart Foundation Office – but often when sought, the money comes in. A gift of over $20million increased one major's staff from 4FTE to 7FTE plus 2 endowed positions in just one year at one local college. The money is out there. More than ever before the cash from donors is available and looking for a home. Take a look at where Bill and Melinda have been putting some of their cash in education.
The Art vs Craft debate in academia is too complicated for my limited knowledge, but similar wars are being fought continuously in many other academic depts – just ask any rhetoric prof 🙂 – that seems to be the nature of the beast. Music – vocal v performance v pedagogy; Business – Acct v Investment v Itech; Applied Health – PT v OT. The wars in academia are endless, and not limited to Humanities. Yes, much of it has to do with timing – who is the Chair? who is the Dean? who is the President? What are they interested in fighting for? Who are the wealthy donors? Where are their interests?
It's not just an idle game. It is very deliberate.
Back to the original question "whether a seriously trained professional potter will be the exception in the future. Will the future of pot making be mostly in the hands of willing and enthusiastic but under-trained amateurs?"
So, Yes, I do remain optimistic that the fine craft of pottery will remain in academia.
Time to start beating down the doors of those wealthy donors.
That's a great point about funding and timing, Laura! I think you are absolutely right that we should involve our discussion of change from the top down as well as from the ground up. Securing interested patrons, and advocating for an academic bureaucracy that is sensitive to our concerns are part of an overall strategy that we can adopt.
At one point I considered writing letters to the Deans of Universities where pot making and perhaps the whole Ceramics department were under threat. To be honest, I grew disheartened that so few potters out there felt as I did. Many even appeared grateful that pot making might get expunged from academia. Too many seemed willing to throw the baby of opportunity and diverse training out with the bathwater of the recent trend of dishonoring honest pot making……
It felt a bit like I was crying wolf…. And you are right that it can't be an idle game. If I am the only one howling the message can easily be laughed off. So I do hope that others out there will take an interest. Offering apprenticeships is one very positive thing. Teaching in community centers or offering classes out of your studio is another. Volunteering at grade schools as a way of introducing young minds to the process of pot making is not wasted. Encouraging struggling and novice potters everywhere is absolutely necessary and important to the cause. Embracing the whole range of what we do has to be a part of that. I'm not sure if we can survive without a true diversity of expression…..
If changing the culture has a place to start it surely starts with us.
Maybe one place to put our infant steps is to open dialog with the bureaucrats in power. Express our concerns to our representative politicians. Let them know that WE are concerned. Sign petitions. Involve ourselves in advocacy discussions. Make sure we have a place at the table when decisions are to be made….
One thing that might help is that we confront the institutions that are neglecting our interests. Not in an adversarial way, mind you, but opening a dialog. We know what our concerns are, but its likely that we don't know what theirs are. We can ask them, point blank, "Why is pot making disappearing from your institution?" If we learn the why, perhaps we have grounds to make a case for "Why not?"…..
Right now it seems like a gestation period. The issue hasn't forced itself on our awareness yet to the point we feel we need to do something about it. Or, some of us may feel that there is something that needs to be done, but we are intimidated by the task or feel like the weight of the entire situation is too large for our shoulders alone…..
The first step seems reaching agreement that this IS an issue, and then looking about and seeing that there are plenty who feel the same way. Can I get a show of hands? 8 commenters on this post is a start. More have read about it and are thinking about the issue. Can we talk about it some more? Can we discuss it in our communities? With our spouses, our friends, neighbors….? Can we invite our local amateur and full time potters to enter the conversation?
I don't know…. What do you all think?
First of all I have to comment on the fact that I am thrilled to see this debate and conversation happening – here on musing and in general.
I am an example of a student that had to take a ceramics course for my degree and who within two weeks of said course resigned myself to the fact that I didn't want to do anything else with my life other than work in clay. That being said I am also keenly aware of many of the issues that have been brought up so far in this conversation – both my undergrad and grad programs are downsized in staff recently, as a young artist I have had to search for opportunities that would help bridge the gaps of my education and would help support me becoming a professional in this field. I state that I work as an artist, but the reality is that you might as well consider it volunteer work for the little profit it turns. Access to apprenticeships, workshops, and gallery opportunities have been slim. I have participated in a mentorship program, but sadly I was the mentor – a position I felt fraudulent in due to my lack of financial successes. But do I focus too much on the need for financial sustainability in order to claim success? If I were teaching with my MFA I guess that would be success as well.
What am I trying to say? There are so many trains of thought going through my mind right now that this discussion has brought up so forgive my rambling…
I feel that there are so many paths to becoming an artist and maintaining that practice long term that putting all our eggs in one basket in order to find success is fraught with problems. There is the overarching issue of lack of exposure, understanding and valuing of the arts and the handmade in the greater community that needs a shift before any change can trickle down. But I'm for one lately hopeful. I feel the shift in consumer culture towards the DIY as a positive thing for artists. Sure there are limitations and there will be watered down versions of everything, but the slow movement, the DIY movement, the local, organic, etc movements show us that there is a mass of people coming together. Those that want change, that will find that change in their own lives and by example with teach others. Does that mean that the issues of academia will be cured? Possibly not within the next generation. But things move in response to generational concerns and values. Money focused individualism will hopefully give way in the next decades to the community spirit, to the one in service of the group. These shifts will ideally impact how we look at industry, at the importance of knowing better where our goods are produced and how. There is a limit to how long we will all continue to be blind to how mcdonalds burgers are made. Our values are already shifting. What does this mean for pottery? It means that those with the funds to bestow on a university will channel them into the humanities. That the crafts will see a rise in popularity as the knowledge of the handmade will be valued again. Sure taking up the fight now in what ever way is possible – letter writing etc – sign me up; but I think that time will be a factor as well. It's not that I'm trying to be indifferent or lazy towards the struggle, but I feel that change takes time. The negative changes we are seeing in our craft programs in academia are not overnight decisions. They are the result of years of decline, years of the populous choosing to value other things. I think that those hobby potters, those of us that sell on etsy, that are stuck behind tables at craft sales trying to explain ourselves are making constant steps forward in the battle. Simply by being visible, regardless of the debate of quality of product at this point – simple visibility of a different way of life; of passion and of different types of knowledge. Standing as an example of a different way to live is a huge contribution to the fight.
Yay! Amen sister!
It won't happen overnight. And our ducks are being lined up as we speak. But it may be excessively hopeful that the effect these societal changes will have on potters will be as far reaching or timely without our active instigation. They may even bypass academia as that last bulwark and bastion of specialization in the face of populist concerns….
How many Rosa Parks do we need to take a stand before the thousands of unheard voices find their equity? (Not that I'm making a comparison with the civil rights struggle, but rather the idea of social change.) The nature of change is that it happens all around us as momentum builds, and sometimes without a particular catalyst. But the underlying truth is also that we CAN influence the tipping point. And as you suggest, "standing as a different way to live is a HUGE contribution to the fight".
In the meantime we plug the holes and fill the gaps as best we can. We sow other crops to replace the ones lost to blight and poor soil quality. Things like apprenticeships help. Things like community arts centers help. But they are not like for like substitutions….
And perhaps the health of our field in the future will be based on these other harvests instead. As Jeanette pointed out, pot making has been around a long time and will certainly continue for the foreseeable future, with or without academia. The question is whether we have a hand in deciding that. Will our new future field simply not include academia?
That question seems independent if the slowness, DIY, revolution. Those influences have yet to make much headway on the institutions of formal education and academia but are pointed more directly at commercial and entertainment spheres.
And while these interests also benefit the potters who have come through academia, will that interest translate into a reconstruction of future art departments to necessarily include crafts again? Will we ever again see basket weaving and macramé taught for college credit? Those ships sailed back in the 70's/early 80's. Will pottery simply be the new macramé…?
Thanks for allowing me to post this question and for hosting this discussion!