Photo: Ayumi Horie

Repaired with brass staples, this dish is a great example of how people would "make do" and save pots for repair by itinerant tinkers, rather than throw them out. The repairs are watertight! Andrew Baseman gave an amazing lecture yesterday at Leslie Ferrin Gallery surveying the history of repaired ceramics. He writes an incredible blog called Past Imperfect. http://andrewbaseman.com/blog/

Historic cup... our ancestors had a sense of humor

A Pythagorean cup (also known as a Pythagoras cup, a Greedy Cup or a Tantalus cup) is a form of drinking cup that forces its user to imbibe only in moderation. Credited to Pythagoras of Samos, it allows the user to fill the cup with wine up to a certain level. If they fill the cup only to that level, the imbiber may enjoy a drink in peace. If they exhibit gluttony, however, the cup spills its entire contents out of the bottom (onto the lap of the immodest drinker).

Welcome!

Eastfield  students welcome to Handbuilding Ceramics Fall 2014!
Missing class and not looking at this blog is one way to fall behind so bookmark and check in often for inspiration, assignments info, calendar updates, important news, technical info and artist research.

I hope your ready to learn a few new things and challenge your ideas and expectations about contemporary clay in the world. That said, let's begin:

Lesson 1: Ming Dynasty Fu Dog 1968 AD = Traditional, historic and gorgeous glazed terracotta
or fabulous contemporary functional ware like Margaret Bohls

 Lesson 2: Kristen Morgin= unfired life-like sculpture 

or  Jeanne Quinn's sculptural installations = Unexpected, informative and sometimes even unfired!

Lesson 3: Ai WeiWei's installation of millions of ceramic sunflower seeds = Clay can reference the past and have a contemporary language full of consequence and power.

  "It is a work of great simplicity and complexity. Sunflower Seeds refers to everyday life, to hunger (the seeds were a reliable staple during the Cultural Revolution), to collective work, and to an enduring Chinese industry."-   Adrian Searle's  review for the Guardian

Lesson 4: Form follows Function. Beauty must not overshadow functionality...

Lauren Meaden