Wednesday
Feb242010
What Am I Thinking...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 11:11AM 
Michael and Carter both asked about my thoughts as I'm working on the current batch of pots. Here's Part 1 of some answers to their questions.I wish I could say that I was thinking about those birds migrating and how they moved across the pot (as Michael noticed) and how I included a bit of landscape or imagery or whatever as I thought about their long flight. Ha. Not the case at all. At this point I'm thinking, "how can I not screw this up!"
I am bringing to the pot various little bits and pieces of imagery that I have collected over the past couple years. The animals have been here since the beginning, we do live out in the county and are surrounded by birds, cows, the occasional stray goat etc. I really wanted to put animals on pots because I love Ron Meyers' pots. He's one of the reasons I tried earthenware. But as I drew the animals they became mine and I did start looking at the squirrels and crows and cows around me.
Same with the plant imagery. We have a big oak on our fence line that I love to look at. Sarah also has a weird house plant that I like. But the first deco. with leaves and trees was inspired by Pennsylvania Dutch slipware. And English slipware and Italian majolica.
So it seems that I look at pots first, see what others have done, and then sort of work backwards to what may have inspired them. Then I go out and see what's around that is similar and I draw inspiration from that. Does that make sense? Ha. It's a funny way to go around one's elbow isn't it. I'm also looking now at textiles and origami paper, and wood block prints for inspiration of imagery.
I do lots of drawing with a pen in my sketch book everyday. Then I take all that stuff and try to combine it on the pots in a way that works. I'll write more about that in Part 2 and try to answer how I respond to the drawings in the moment and what the pots and the tool I'm using play into the process.
Reader Comments (6)
oh- I have had that thought before- sometimes i think about a movie I just watched or some tunes i am listening to- anything to bring the the voice in the back of my head from taking over.
Voices- yea, it is that voice of doubt.
Love the combination of things- Keep thinking and not thinking seems to be working.
I loved Joy Tanner's post about imitation, assimilation and then innovation. I think you and I have both gone through those various stages and hopefully we are both at the innovation stage! I don't like it when people try to find some sort of symbolism or "artspeak" in my work. It is what it is, ya know? I think one does their best work when you do what you know. You know cows, squirrels and oak trees, that's a good place to be.
I like Ron Meyers' work too. Are you familiar with Mike Norman's work? Sometimes his animals are 3D.
I think I saw some of Mike's animals at NCC when I was there. There isn't much on the internet about him.
Inspiration and influence are funny things. Were you drawn to Ron Meyers because you already liked animals as images, or vice-versa? My vote would be both/and - taste isn't something that can be pinned down, and when it comes down to it, inspiration and influence are very close to taste.
Yesterday I went to see Kevin Snipes do a demo over at UGA. His work is heavily influenced by Japanese pop culture, especially anime and manga. Here's the funny thing, though - when he talked about how he got to pop culture images, he explained that it was because as a child he was fascinated by a book of ancient Japanese woodblock prints. Rather than finding his way to Japanese animation through Speed Racer or the Transformers as a kid and then following it to the roots of Japanese art, he came to pop culture through the fine arts door.
So that's just to say there's no direct route to inspiration - we all go around our elbow, and I think once we get around it, we end up back where we started with a new perspective.
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