Definition of Craft

 Craft ya can piss in and art ya can piss on. At the Toronto Outdoor Exhibition this past weekend I saw lots and lots of excellent ceramics, some good painting and lots and lots of mediocre paintings. It takes a hellava pot to fetch $1000 but it seems that's the starting point for the painters. I couldn't wait to get home to the workshop on Monday morning to make my paper thin ceramic canvas's.  I dried them in the sun and so far all is well. I was able to move them off the plastic bags to a kiln shelf dusted with alumina hydrate without so much as a crack. I used a tenmoku glaze for brushwork and added some colour with glazes. I'll high fire them and keep my fingers crossed. If all goes well I figure I'll be able to do this work on that island in the Mediterranean I have my eye on. Hey, I hope I get as good as my grand daughter Olivia. Her painting is my new screen saver.


Comments

Annied01 said…
Olivia has a good eye for colour ;) Robin gave me a few sheets of alumina, thin thin stuff for painting on... I'm looking forward to painting with glazes and underglazes on them later this fall... When all the summer fun has passed and it's time for quiet contemplation...
July 10, 2014 at 5:57 PM
Dennis Allen said…
Most of the paintings I see at shows around here could easily drop a zero from the price. Guess you don't have to sell so many that way.
July 11, 2014 at 4:56 AM
Peter said…
That definition of art and craft made me smile, and it seems quite a sound one really! As a former painter, who turned potter about 10 years ago, I rather enjoy making something that can be used... for all sorts of purposes! I also am bewildered by the art/craft divide and debate. To me so much of what I see hanging on gallery walls is formulaic and rather boring, and is not really art at all.. Yet there is art to be seen in every day things,like a nice handle on a mug when that negative space is just right, and the handle looks lively and springy... Oh well!
July 11, 2014 at 10:42 AM
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