Clay: a phenomenological approach

Includes bibliographical references (page 18)Because my Master's show does not follow a traditional craft format, I think it is necessary to preface its physical description with a brief explanation of my influences and present thinking.\ud I have been involved seriously with ceramics for about fifteen years. Clay has become an unconscious part of my being. As in all long-standing relationships, ours has had its ups and downs, excitements and disilusionments.\ud When I began teaching privately about ten years ago, it became necessary for me to familiarize myself with handwork as I had but one wheel on which to teach throwing. At that time (and even to a great extent today) hand-work was considered elementary, lowly, and totally lacking in sophistication. As I am still involved in teaching handwork, I personally find it to be the most challenging aspect of clay ... that which requires the most thorough knowledge of the material and a clear concept of the resultant art work. Working almost exclusively by hand has both stressed my relationship with clay to the breaking point and enhanced the intimacy of that relationship.\ud As time goes on I realize more and more that the finished pottery or ceramic piece is not a part of my experience. Infact, the glazed and fired piece (mine at any rate) is usually repugnant to me. All the life and giving seems to have been frozen (or more correctly fired) out of it. The more I invest of myself in working on a particular piece, the less I relate to the finished, vitrified object. \ud As co-owner of the Ross-Freeman Gallery, where we operate a ceramic studio and teach, as well as put on exhibitions, I have been responsible for doing all of the bisque firing these past three years. This entailed transporting the work to and from my kiln at home. During this time I have built up an unconscious respect for the beauty and fragility of the dry, but as yet unfired, clay. Working with clay in this state as a part of my Master's show has been an enriching experience. In addition, the size of my work was no longer limited by the size of a kiln. The clay's marvelous fragility could be utilized as a source of unpredictability; and, happily, this unfired clay would be able to be reclaimed and reused at the end of the show.\ud As I wander off into "fragility", "unpredictability", and "reclamation", I realize that it is time to go into some of the other things that have influenced my ideas and methodologies