COLOR MY WORLD

                                    HI EVERYONE, HAPPY NEW WEEK!

I’M GOING TO START THIS WEEK WITH A NEW IDEA, A THOUGHT OF THE WEEK SPECIAL FROM BOTH MY AND OTHER PEOPLES’ EXPERIENCES.  THE FIRST IS ABOUT GIVING THANKS. THIS ISN’T A SERMON, JUST OBSERVATIONS.

WAY BACK IN THE MID 1970’S WHEN I STARTED TO WRITE ANYTHING, I WROTE A SERIES OF ARTICLES FOR THE BRITISH CERAMIC MAGAZINE “CERAMIC REVIEW”. THEY WERE IN RESPONSE TO ONE OF THEIR READERS QUESTIONS ABOUT SIMPLIFIED GLAZE AND COLOR DEVELOPMENT. THE ARTICLES CAME OUT IN A THREE MONTH SEQUENCE, APRIL, MAY AND JUNE  1976.. I WAS STUNNED AT THE DEAFENING SOUND OF SILENCE THAT FOLLOWED.  IN THE FOLLOWING FIVE YEARS I RECEIVED FIVE LETTERS AND ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER FOLLOW UP. NATURALLY, I THOUGHT IT WAS OBVIOUSLY A WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY AND I COULD USE MY TIME MORE PROFITABLY ELSEWHERE. SO I QUIT WRITING SINCE IT APPEARED OBVIOUS TO ME THAT NOBODY WAS INTERESTED OR THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE RESPONSE THAN FIVE LETTERS IN FIVE YEARS. THE WORLD OF THE WRITER IS PROBABLY MORE ISOLATED THAN ANY OTHER AND FEEDBACK RESPONSE TO WHAT YOU WRITE IS CRUCIAL TO THE WRITER’S MINDSET.  HEARING NOTHING CAN BE DEVASTATING. THE WRITER ISN’T LOOKING FOR PATS ON THE BACK, JUST PROOF THAT HE OR SHE ISN’T THE ONLY PERSON LEFT IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, OR THAT HE OR SHE IS TALKING TO A VOID..

                                                             COLORS FROM COPPER

                                         COLORS FROM NICKEL IN VARIOUS GLAZE BASES

IN 1981, I WAS INVITED TO DO A THREE-MONTH TOUR OF WORKSHOPS THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.  PEOPLE KEPT COMING UP TO ME AND ASKING IF I WAS THE ROBIN HOPPER WHO WROTE THE GLAZE ARTICLES, AND WHY DID I STOP. I SAID ”BECAUSE I GOT ALMOST ZILCH RESPONSE FROM PEOPLE LIKE YOU!”

                                                   COLORS FROM CHROMIUM

WHEN I RETURNED HOME TO CANADA THERE WAS A HUGE PILE OF MAIL WAITING TO BE DEALT WITH. ONE OF THEM WAS FROM THE LATE TOM MARSH, OF U.LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, USA, A FINDER OF NEW AUTHORS FOR THE CHILTON BOOK COMPANY.  THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A GLAZE AND COLOR BOOK TO FOLLOW UP ON DANIEL RHODES’ “CLAY AND GLAZES FOR THE POTTER”  I SAID I MIGHT BE INTERESTED BUT DIDN’T THINK THERE WOULD BE MANY SALES, AND MY TIME WAS VALUABLE, CITING THE NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO THE ARTICLES IN CERAMIC REVIEW. TOM TOLD ME IN REPLY THAT HE KNEW OF PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD USING MY ARTICLES AS COURSE TEXTS IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, AS WELL AS BY STUDIO ARTISTS.  I WAS LITERALLY DUMBSTRUCK AS I HAD NO IDEA OF THIS. AS FAR AS I WAS CONCERNED, THERE WERE ONLY FIVE INTREPID SOULS WHO HAD EVER READ THEM! SO I AGREED TO WRITE THE BOOK AND TITLED IT “THE CERAMIC SPECTRUM”. IT WAS PUBLISHED IN 1984 AND IS STILL GOING VERY STRONG NEARLY THIRTY YEARS LATER. THINK WHAT MORE I COULD HAVE WRITTEN IN THOSE INTERIM  YEARS. HALFWAY THROUGH WRITING “SPECTRUM” I STARTED THINKING OF ALL THE BOOKS I USED TO LOOK FOR THAT JUST WERE NOT THERE SO I WROTE “FUNCTIONAL POTTERY: POTS OF PURPOSE”.   HALFWAY THROUGH THAT I THOUGHT THERE

NEEDED TO BE AN IN-DEPTH BOOK ON THE CERAMIC SURFACE. IT BECAME “MAKING MARKS”.  BETWEEN THEM THEY DEALT  WITH ALMOST ALL ASPECTS OF A CERAMIC OBJECT. – FORM, SURFACE AND TECHNOLOGY – A CERAMIC TRILOGY.

SO THE MORAL OF THIS STORY IS: IF YOU READ SOMETHING, BE IT BLOG, BOOK OR ARTICLE, THAT CHANGES YOUR LIFE OR THOUGHT PATTERNS AND  IMPROVES YOUR UNDERSTANDING,  THEN JUST JOT DOWN A LITTLE NOTE AND SEND IT TO THE AUTHOR. THAT SINGLE POSITIVE ACT COULD ELEVATE THE WRITERS PSYCHE, MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD AND POSSIBLY BRING FORTH MORE.  NOW, IS THAT SO REVOLUTIONARY – SAYING THANKS OR GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.  AT THE TIME WHEN I WAS GROWING UP SAYING “THANKS” WAS AN EXPECTATION. IN TODAYS “GIMME, GIMME”  SOCIETY IT APPEARS TO BE A DISTINCT RARITY. IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TERMS IT IS CALLED ”POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT”.

 

 

 COLORED CRYSTALLINE GLAZES – CONE 6 ELECTRIC  FIRING