Spring 2014:
Reading 1:
"Towards a Standard", Soetsu Yanagi ; The Unknown Craftsman
"ART VERSUS CRAFT: THE ISSUE OF CRAFTSMANSHIPIN TWENTIETH CENTURY ART", Nancy Selvage; "Ceramics Millennium", Garth Clark ed.
Reading 2:
Ceramics, Philip Rawson, pp188-206
reading 3:
Where What’s Done Comes Undone (Is a Museum)
Reading 4:
Chapter 4: "Material Consciousness", The Craftsman, Richard Sennett
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Reading from Fall 2013:
Readings 1 "Ceramic Typologies":
"Launching the Imagination", Chapter 9: Elements of Three Dimensional Design, pp. 180-204
Yau, John, "Ken Price's Time", Hyperallergic.com, August 25th, 2013
Write a response to either:
Greenhalgh, Paul ; "Discourse and Decoration: The Struggle for Historical Space", Ceramic Millennium
Clark, Garth; "Shards: Garth Clark on Ceramic Art" select and read one essay from Part One: Artists, pp. 1-255 (on reserve in the Wold)
Readings 2: "Color Rules" (read 2, and write a response to one):
Peter Schjeldahl, "Feats of Clay", The New Yorker, October 6, 2003
Meloy, Ellen, "The Anthropology of Turquoise", Vintage Books 2003 : Chapter 1 "The Deeds and Sufferings of light" pp. 3-17
Bachelor, David, "Chromophobia", Reaktion Books 2000: Chapter 4: Hanunoo, pp.73-95
Readings 3: "Transformations: Moulding and Casting" (read 2, respond to one):
Clark, Garth; "Shards: Garth Clark on Ceramic Art"; pp. 89-101 "Geert Lap - Some Notes on Minimalism in Ceramic Art" (on reserve in the Wold)
Baudrillard, Jean, "The System of Objects", Verso Books 1996 (first published 1968), pp. 1-10 "Introduction"
Foucault, Michel, "The Order of Things", Vintage Books 1994, pp.17-35 "The Prose of the World"
Reading 4: "Ceramics in Context" (read both, respond to one):
Shales, Ezra, Essay: "Metabolic Decor" from: "Echo Chamber: Anders Ruhwald and Marie Torbensdatter Hermann", Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, 2012 (on reserve in the wold)
Brown, Glen: "Intervention, Interaction, and the Will to Preserve" from Ceramics and the Expanded Field, Contemporary Essay Series, University of Westminster
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ReplyDeleteNot sure where we're supposed to post? So forgive my repetitive redundancy in posting twice:
ReplyDeleteDiscourse and Decoration:
The Struggle for Historical Space
While reading Paul Greenhalgh’s paper “Discourse and Decoration: The Struggle for Historical Space,” I found myself most interested in his discussion of the interplay between historical reference and innovation in art. This interplay certainly has an interesting affect on the ceramic arts, which already struggle to carve out a space for themselves in the art world, and then upon creating a niche have to defend and legitimize themselves in the context of contemporary movements. As Greenhalgh mentions, the ceramic arts have accumulated an array of unmistakable “iconographies, forms, and processes” which some audiences may consider aged and obsolescent. Running astride modern art movements, ceramics are sometimes perceived as an archaic craft; the act of making pottery reduced to a purely historical and antiquated endeavor. But Greenhalgh argues that just because the process and culture of ceramics are dated, and just because they have been arguably misrepresented in recent art theory, doesn’t mean that ceramic arts have a lesser place in the contemporary scene. Greenhalgh does a good job of acknowledging and paying homage to the history of ceramics, from Greek urns to nineteenth century figurines, while still asserting its modern relevance in the art world. He encourages makers to embrace a similar attitude by “resist[ing] that particular urge of the modernist ethos: to be embarrassed about the cultural heritage of ceramics.” In an evolving art world, the ceramic artist must decide how to address these established notions of their craft. Some deliberately avoid historical references for fear of being perceived as rustic or kitsch, others copy historical forms directly, and there are countless shades of appropriation and reference between. Greenhalgh advocates for a marriage of historical reference and innovation in the development of ceramic theory, discouraging artists and theorists from either eschewing the rich history of ceramics or allowing it to devalue it in contemporary context.
-Kelsey