A View To A Kiln

Ingo Maurer’s exhibition, Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer, raises the question of where the distinction between designer and artist occurs. The characteristics that separate an artist from a designer lie in the treatment of the work both as it's created and as it's sold. Whereas an artist both creates the art him- or herself, a designer comes up with the idea for the art and allows others to execute the idea. By this token alone, Damien Hurst (the second most expensive living artist) is a designer rather than an artist - a statement I have neither the motivation nor the credibility to defend at this time. Hurst, unlike Maurer, resists being labeled as a designer by defying the field's second criterion: the replication and sale of works of art on a (relatively) large scale.
Maurer, despite the uncertainty of regarding him designer or artist, is certainly a fantastic innovator. His work revolves around light fixtures and installments. That which sets his fixtures apart from the rest is the way he treats the light they put forth. As opposed to considering his materials solely the components that make up his works, Maurer uses light as expressively as he does paper, metal or plastic. He treats light as a transformative medium that, according to his blurb on the Cooper Hewitt website, “not only illuminates what is seen but changes how it is seen”. In light of this, you’re able to understand some of the motivation for making a chandelier out of shards of broken porcelain buddahs or paper lamps reminiscent of carnivorous pitcher plants.


Attending his exhibition offered me a new way of looking at sculpture in general and my ceramics in specific. Only now can I see how violently lighting can change a piece of art, creating and eradicating its depth and shadow.

Original photo contexts:
http://biladesign.wordpress.com/2005/12/
http://www.einrichten-design.com/product_info.php/cPath/75_76/products_id/2441

I had mixed feelings about the pieces Viola Frey exhibited in her show at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery (http://www.nancyhoffmangallery.com/about/nhg.html). Though I was intrigued by the sheer scale of her pieces, their construction and glazes didn't appeal to me. Imposing as her enormous figures were (one, titled "Stubborn Woman, Orange Hands," rises just over six feet, even with its subject sitting down), their rough texture and under-finessed glazing simply seemed, in many cases, rushed and lacking subtlety. This, however, was not the case universally. A piece sticks out in my mind. Titled Rooster, this four foot fowl was perfectly balanced, being both wonderfully detailed and remaining in accord with the tone of timber of the rest of the show.

Hello,
I apologize for the lengthy hiatus I took from my blog; but work piled up, as it tends to do. Here, in addition to the three projects I was assigned throughout the semester, I put up photos of two of my side projects.

Assignment 1: The Platter
"Untitled"

Assignment 2: The Sacred Vessel
"Untitled"

Assignment 3: Mixed Media/Found Objects
"Untitled"

The following are my first thrown piece and my first piece done using high fire porcelain, respectively

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

A preface to this post: In order to maintain a veil of artistic mystery, I will 1) refrain from giving as in-depth an answer as I had in the previous post and 2) end this post with a quote from the philosopher of ancient china, Lao Tsu.

The Sacred Vessel: Assignment #2

Design
The form, scale and texture of my vessel combine to give the vessel a relaxed asthetic. Paired with its bold coloration, however, these elements of the piece defy the sedentary and give a strong feeling of potential movement.

Concept
My piece, intended as a sister work to a piece that I've not yet made, deals with the concepts of birth and conception. These themes may become more clear when the sacred vessel is paired with its (as yet) nonexistent partner.

Execution
I used the coil technique to build up over a kidney-bean-esque shaped base. After I built the form, I smoothed the surface with a rasp, then a hacksaw blade, and finally a metal scraping tool.

Influences
The main influence for my sacred vessel was the work of Madeleine Odundo, some of whose work can be found on page 13 of the magazine Msanii found here:
www.msanii.com/Archives/3.pdf

"The world is a sacred vessel. It should not be meddled with. It should not be owned. If you try to meddle with it, you will ruin it. If you try to own it, you will lose it"
-- Lao Tsu

Design
The form of my piece is most important when considering its design. My platter has a raised S-shape, with one end of the S rising to a higher point than the other. This asymmetry, combined with an increased curvature of the raised side gives the piece a dynamic, nearly motile quality.

Concept
The concept behind my work was to explore the relationships of two different pairs of ideas. The form of the piece deals with the first relationship: that of the organic to the inorganic. The flowing shape of the piece draws to mind both the physical contours of the human body and, the cyclic process that sustains almost all living things, breathing. The texture, on the other hand, serves as a harsh and uncomfortable contrast to the idea of life that the form carries. Jagged outcroppings cover the piece, reminiscent of geological formations, attempting to dispel any connotations of the living that the form may summon.
While the glazing technique furthers this idea of the relationship of organic to inorganic (by causing the raised ridges to appear vein-like when underglaze is wiped off of them), it mainly deals with the second relationship the piece explores, the relationship between perception and actuality. The orange-brown of the underglaze was meant to emulate the color that I associate with the Earth, while the bare, white, non-underglazed clay simply remains the color that its components give it, highlighting the difference between a concept's (in this case, a material of the Earth's) instantiation in one's mind and its instantiation in reality.

Execution
In order to get the shape I wanted, I created an armature out of newspaper. I then draped a large slab over the S-shaped newspaper support and blended together those pieces that I felt needed to be connected. Once the slab was leather hard, I took very fine slip and daubed it over the surface of the piece, using a variety of sponges to achieve slight variations in the texture.

Influences
One thought, the Idea of a something being inseparable from its context and connotations, influenced me heavily while working on this platter. While going for a walk earlier this year, I found that, no matter how hard I try, I couldn't look at a word without reading it. The letters on street signs and awnings were so steeped in mental and emotional coloration that I had no choice but to impose a greater meaning on them. I couldn't stop the letters from coalescing into words each bearing a multitude of significances. I believe a similar, yet less explicit idea is true of almost all visual stimuli. Although the visual elements of works of art may not bring to mind a certain, specific meaning, as the letters of a word do, they carry imports and references of their own. In response, I tried to break free of these connotations by juxtaposing conflicting elements (the organic & inorganic) close together in my piece.

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

"Untitled"

Hello again,
Spoiler: In this post I complete a profile questionnaire.

Profile Questionnaire
Name: Jonathan Charles Gottlieb
Class: 2010
Major: Undecided

1. Your art Background (Schools, Teachers, etc.)
Aside from the ceramics class I took last year (Intro to Ceramics with Shida Kuo), I hadn't taken an art class since the third grade.

2. What artists do you like and/or dislike?
The artists I like most are Ron Mueck, a contemporary Australian born sculptor who makes incredibly realistic silicone statues, and Marcele Duchamp, a French Dadaist and Surrealist painter who died in 1968.

3. What are your strengths and weaknesses in your art making?
My most prominent artistic strength is my ability to envision spatial relationships. I'm able to see what shapes I want to create in my head before I actually make them. This strength is tempered, however, by my biggest weakness, my lack of formal artistic training and experience.

4. Do you think craft materials can express the social and cultural backgrounds of the makers? Explain.
Yes. Since craft materials are, in most cases, passed down from artisan to artisan they inherently carry a sort of cultural signature unique to their makers.

5. Do you think there is art without craft? Can you make craft without art?
I think there can be both art without craft and craft without art; but, if done well, art necessarily incorporates craft. If only to rebel from it, art needs to draw on everything that came before it. Something similar holds true for craft. If the craft is done well, it draws a compulsory appreciation arising from an understanding (or, at the very least a recognition) of the underlying principles governing its mode of creation.

6. Do you think a sense of history is essential and important to your art? Explain.
Yes, I do. I have very little specific knowledge of history as is pertinent to my art. The small bits I do know are mainly associated with the fact that that ceramics has been used for centuries. When I look at ceramics' historic uses and instantiations, I'm both humbled by the legacy left by past artists and craftsmen and, (although paradoxical) at the same time, emboldened by the scope of expression that my medium is capable of.

7. What is content? Is content the same as subject matter?
Content is the message trying to be conveyed by a work of art. It is, in a sense, what gives the work meaning: a concept that the work seeks to explore. It (content) is by no means the same as subject matter, however. The relationship of content to subject matter is similar to that of blood to a heart. The subject matter is a classification that helps sequester and direct the content, but carries neither vitality nor (to depart from the heart metaphor) meaning.

8. Can form be content? If yes, explain how?
Though form cannot be content, it can serve as a means for content to manifest itself in a work.

9 Describe your work.
I do mostly sculptural abstract work, relying on form and color to communicate my ideas.

10. Why did you take this course?
I took this course because I enjoy working with ceramics and want to expand my technical and creative abilities.

11. What do you specifically want to learn
I would like to learn to recycle clay, mix my own glazes, clays and to become more proficient at throwing on the wheel.

12. Do you like the ceramic art of any culture? If so, which culture?
I can appreciate most of the cultural ceramic arts I encounter, now that I know the processes involved in creating it, but I haven't had enough experience with any for one to emerge as particularly stimulating.

13. Do you already know what sculpture/objects you want to create this semester, or would you rather have assignments that center of a specific idea and technique?
I'm not sure what sculptures or objects I want to make this year. I was toying with the idea of making a life-size statue of a man throwing a discus but reconsidered - its a little bit too ambitious to attempt in addition to the projects I'm assigned in class. I would like assignments that dictate what technique rather than idea, though. I feel that type of assignment is still pedagogical without being as creatively restraining.

14. Can you make a simple glaze? Do you want to learn or would you rather use prepared glazes?
I can't make any glazes, but would like to learn.

15. Do you think you might ever teach using clay as an expressive material?
In all probability (as much as I may like to), I won't end up teaching ceramics.

16. Can you make a plaster mold from an object? Would you like to?
Just like the glazes, I don't know how but would enjoy learning.

17. Do you know how to fire the kiln? Would you like to?
Again, no idea how, great interest in finding out.

Sadly, I can't give you the "past work" portion of this entry yet, large file sizes and a lack of know-how prevent me from posting any photos here. I'll get them up soon enough, though.

Jon

This is the inaugural post of A View To A Kiln a (soon to be thriving and heavily trafficked) web log focusing mainly on ceramics - albeit with a certain amount of attention directed to crushingly witty wordplay - painstakingly maintained by NYU undergraduate student and amateur ceramicist, Jon Gottlieb (Me). I sincerely hope that this blog will blossom into a forum for exciting discussion, the rapid exchange of ideas and, in fulfilling its potential to become more than simply the sum of its parts, a stage through which its participants can begin to work towards momentary satisfaction and, ultimately, temporary amusement.