Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Struggles.......

Here lately I have been struggling with certain aspects about my work.  I dearly love wood firing, but find that many people dislike the "non-uniform" aspect about it. Which is ok by me but frustrating none the less.  They have comments like "you should make bright happy cheerful pots" and my all time favorite "eww brown"! My question is this, Why do brightly colored pots with no real sense of design sell so well? 
Has pottery become like most every other thing on this planet, it has to knock us over the head with wild decoration and bright colors for us to look at it and pay attention to it?  What has happened to people appreciating subtlety, nuance, and gracefulness?  Maybe people are so used to the cgi this, 3d that, 4g faster, on-slaught that they have turned off their senses and have lost the ability to think for themselves.  
In a world of perpetual entertainment and connectivity, I find it a blessing to be able to slow down, contemplate and enjoy the hidden, the minuscule  and ephemeral things in life. For all of you with comments like those above, This is why I make the pots I do!  

4 comments:

  1. oh boy I hear this all the time especially here in Florida, I've been trying to use brighter colors, perhaps folks think their mood will be enhanced if they have brighter colors in their home and then I also think the season affects the color folks want, brighter colors in summer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Blake you have done great. As I love the new things I still love where things come from and earth colors. Now as for the comments on people saying bright and/or eww brown. Remember aot of the people that love the let's say "old" style don't have internet access or understand a blog. Just keep doing what your doing its great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's all a matter of taste and aesthetics, not everyone is up to challenging their pallet and are quite content with the virtues of the predictable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zygote, I agree taste is an issue that does have a tremendous impact on the formulation of ones sense of aesthetic beauty. Its just sad that few people are up to trying to understand or see the quality/beauty in something that they don't personally like.
    John thanks for the encouragement. I know you understand.

    ReplyDelete