Metaphor and conceit were the themes that ran through this reading. Higby articulately examines how these two ideas manifest in the ceramics world and relate to the traditions of potters. The areas I was most drawn to were when Higby talks about how potters can create forms that live in “high-style” that are then reproduced and taken as norms in the pottery community. I think that this idea plays out today in contemporary ceramics and the “root pot” can easily be traced. I think this then relates to Higby’s idea of the “potter’s space”.
For me, the ‘potter’s space’ is an area I am trying to explore in my own work. I use the pot as a jumping off point for ornamentation and transformation. I am trying to, as Higby states, “...advance [a pot] towards the point where it ceases to be a container of its own space and becomes simply a clay medium for a sculptural image, which may both ‘exist’ in its own symbolic space,”. I think it is important to recognize, however, Higbys notion that all things that are made out of clay inherently have a reference back to the pot. Any for that creates internal volume finds its thread in pots. I try and not hide this occurrence in my work, but rather give it significance in my handling and manipulation of the forms.
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