"One of the practical advantages of a rigid academic tyranny was that it fostered, in any individual strong enough to withstand it, a correspondingly powerful urge towards freedom and individuality." -
Hilary Spurling
I have been thinking about how this quote, (which relates to the formal training of a painter) relates to an apprenticeship or maybe academia but my sense is that the apprenticeship model relates more to how academia was in the 1890's and that art school now maybe fosters a bit more individuality. Then again I did not spend much time in an academic environment. Any ideas?
- Alex Matisse
- Alex Matisse recently completed a two-year pottery apprenticeship with Matt Jones in Sandy Mush NC. He currently works with the potter, Mark Hewitt and in the spring of 2010 he plans to build a kiln and pottery of his own.
Readers
Links
- Bandana Pottery
- Charlie Tefft Pottery
- Crimson Laurel Gallery
- Farm and Sparrow Bakery
- Linda Hoffman - Artist (and mother)
- Mark Griffiths Pottery
- Mark Hewitt Pottery
- Michael Kline Pottery
- Nonfiction Design Collective
- Paul Matisse and the Kalliroscope Gallery
- The Jones Pottery
- Wild Apples Literary Journal
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4 comments:
Alex,
I am only a 20 year old junior undergrad, but am currently in a somewhat graduate level environment. I was brought up into the pottery world in a very sheltered self taught way. I did not realize that until coming here and seeing potters from all over the world work. I am having a serious debate within myself right now about whether to attend grad school or not. I am really starting to see the advantages of locking myself in the studio with little to no influences. I did that for the first 2 years I was turnin pots. I am coming to the conclusion that going to grad school is a good advantage and helps you use your resources well, but it is certainly not necessary for everyone. Especially if you already attain most of the potting skills. I hope that was not too off topic for ya. Let me know what ya think.
thats an interesting quote. the part that sticks out to me is "any individual strong enough to withstand it." i think the traditional apprenticeship model has created some of the strongest potters of our time. many(not all) of the potters straight from acedamia are weak. i think about how if my college were as stringent as an apprenticeship how many of those students would have given up and done something else, i think that number would be the same as how many of those students are not practicing artists now. out of all my friends in the art dept. in college there are 2 of us that are practicing artists. i would have loved to have an apprenticeship, sometimes i still think i might but i'm getting too old and have too many responsibilities for that now so i have to self teach the best i can. one of my teachers said something to the effect of "how can you express emotion if you can't speak clearly?" an obvious analogy i think. skill comes first then expression. i think as far as schools go undergrad is the time to beat you into technical skill, grad school is the time to seek your own voice. i really love teaching but if i want to do it fulltime i have to have an mfa. i'm willing to go back to school but the majority of clay people that come out of grad schools have poor work that is trying too hard to be original(generalization again of course). its like they want to beat the tradition out of you. i digress, i'd like to hear what other people have to say. i don't have time to proofread this so i apologize if its incoherent.
there is a current discussion 'here' on the same topic, i learnt a little a college as a liberal study enough to get me started and went back to study kiln & glaze many years later, important stuff.
apprenticeship or uni all processes to become an individual maker, some people have that vision or drive to work alone, others learn from osmosis.
Thanks everyone for the thoughts. I think that more than anything I really was just having a bad day and that quote really hit the spot for me.
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