Reading 2

I had to re-read this article in most parts to get a good understanding of what the author was conveying. The point they were making were really interesting and to me felt pretty new. It was definitely good perspective to gain on ceramics and objects as a whole. In the beginning of the reading the author made the distinction between things operating in space as an unlimited environment or using space as content or as enclosure. This is where the idea of potters space came from. This distinction helped me to understand the rest of the reading more and also think about the work being made in our studio. The author talks about the transformation of material in the making process and how when we create something it doesn't really turn into one thing, but into more of a "complex of sensuous analogies". Even when we make a cup, it seems as though it exists as more than a cup. This makes me think of what we all experience when our work is out on a table in critique or wherever it is displayed and how vulnerable it is to an endless amount of analogies and associations, many of which are dependent on the environment the work is in. I also found what the author was saying about historical and cultural context very interesting and the influences of in on trends and standards withing art. The author gives an example of ceramics being compelled by fashion and the transformation that occurred in the forms created becoming part of the norms established for artists after the fact. Technique, the way we evaluate work, what we make all seems to be subject to this building and layering context of what has been done and accepted before. This also reminded me of how important it is that we understand the context of what we find inspiration from. I appreciated what the author said about "potter's space" and "that the very act of containing creates a special kind of cell or focus in space which is extra-ordinary, maybe even timeless."

-Dehmie