Why make marks 2. The Dialectic of Permanence/Impermanence.
You might want to settle down with a cup of tea (ideally in one of my mugs) it’s a long one…
Let’s deal with a few definitions first. Dialectic means “a way of discovering what is true by considering opposite theories” (Cambridge Dictionary, online). This is another idea that has come from my background in psychology.
A further concept that I relate to from my psychology days is that of Mindfulness. It’s a mainstream idea now, and I learnt that this is about bringing awareness to one thing in each moment of time, in a non judgemental manner. So, being accepting of things being the way that they are. This can be brought to small moments in time (I made that mark in the clay like that and now I can’t change it) or big existential concepts (life is a transient thing). Both scenarios require acceptance of the situation as it is, noticing when judgements are made in your mind, in order to try to give some space between you and your thoughts.
And thirdly (stick with me here) there is Wabi Sabi…….
Why make marks 1: The nature of the material.
One of the most wonderful features of clay is that it is plastic when it is wet. This means that you can move it, bend it, fold it - and make marks in it. Some of the earliest pots have rope or stick marks in them. I guess humans have always wanted to explore and see the consequences of their actions on materials.
My Clay
I’ve worked with many different clay bodies in my pottery journey over the years, mainly stoneware bodies. These fire to quite a high temperature (1200⁰C -1300⁰C), being in between earthenware firing temperatures (1100 - 1200⁰C) and porcelain (1300 ⁰C and above). I like stoneware because it is durable for everyday use, meaning it doesn’t chip quite so easily as earthenware, and more often than not, it becomes vitrified in the firings. This means……
Introduction. A context, Clay.
In this series of blogs I am hoping to explore more deeply what I like to do as a potter and why I do those things.
I thought that I would start at the beginning, with the clay itself. People have been digging into the ground for many thousands of years, using what they found there to improve their lives. Human curiosity and creativity is insatiable. Somewhere, someone, 10,000 years or so ago¹, realised that clay when placed in a fire creates a different material and ceramics was born.
My pots are merely a tiny step in this long lineage, connecting the distant past with life in the 21st century. Like so many UK potters my work is partly informed by Japanese and Korean ceramics. There is a rich history of the transfer of ideas…