Material Consciousness

I love the way Richard Sennett discusses metamorphosis and ceramics. It’s true that we’re fascinated with that which we can change; as artists, I think we all understand the allure of utilizing one material to generate something different. Our entire society relies upon such practices; from creating buildings from bricks, concrete, or steel to developing infrastructure like roads in a logical and meaningful pattern. Out of this necessity comes developments in technology and refinement of concept, which eventually births the luxury of choice and the ability to expand upon pure utility to generate objects and systems with layered purposes. The first pots were built in the most efficient way possible, with the pure intent of storing grain or the like, and with time they developed into pictorial objects, capable of engaging social commentary, or even establishing an economy. These conceptual shifts paralleled physical developments such as discoveries about the wheel, firing techniques, and glaze/clay/slip chemistry. 

Looking back on these developments, our knowledge and opinions allow us the 20/20 vision to think of them as “just-so” developments. The physical and conceptual metamorphosis of ceramics seems, to us, entirely logical and almost predestined, as if the coexistence of clay and wheels necessitated the development of wheel throwing as a building process. In making such an assumption, we take for granted the slow and evolutionary developments in the thought process of the craftspeople who preceded us. We forget that the development of this art form wasn’t linear, that there are many places the building process could have gone and still could go. Developing new methods of making objects requires “more engaged states of consciousness” than simply following technological developments in a straightforward procession of building techniques.  

In contemporary craft, we are challenged to participate in an “engaged state of consciousness” as the technology and concepts of our craft change. Advancements in our personal practice, as well as the culture of craft, are never straightforward; it may take weeks, years, or decades for a cognitive snap to occur, facilitating new developments. In Sennett’s words, “put as a principle, ...metamorphosis arouses the mind,” which I suspect is why the development of such ancient processes as wheel throwing continues to fascinate us, and why the craftsperson still plays an important role in modern society.