Monthly Archives: February 2015

Tales of the butterfly and snake

The great potter/blogger Whitney Smith just ran a post in which she confesses feelings of shame about her older work, which is much different than her new explorations. She says; “This puts me in a strange spot with my older … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Beauty, Creative industry, Creativity, Pottery | Leave a comment

50 shades of clay

Someone in Monday night’s class mentioned that in an alternate Universe we would have a class called ’50 Shades of Clay’. The whole rest of the evening was spent cracking up and delivering jokes between getting pots on and off … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition, Pottery, Teaching | Leave a comment

Props for Tony

My fellow pottery blogging buddy Tony Clennell just posted his admission of self doubt that the conferences he has been invited to speak at this year were really meant for him. He puts it like this: In the next year … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Clay, Pottery | 2 Comments

What art and toilets have in common

(Another example of why the instrumental argument for arts advocacy misses the point) “There may be no greater evidence that increasing arts in schools won’t create more arts patrons/lovers than the fact people in India won’t use toilets.” Joe Patti, from … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Arts advocacy, Arts education, Imagination, metacognition, Wittgenstein | 1 Comment

Valentine’s Day Special: The artistic importance of self-love

Here goes another foray examining the place that love has in the practice and manifestation of art! Maybe a bit off the beaten path, but its rarely as simple as just doing what we love…. So: There is some debate … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Creativity | Leave a comment

Follow up to potters: How important is the instrumental argument?

Last post I argued that the arts making their case by instrumental means was actually counterproductive. If the value of art is that it does creativity and innovation well, not only does that displace the importance of art but it … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Arts advocacy, Arts education, Beauty, Ceramics, Creativity, metacognition, Pottery | 2 Comments

Respect for the intrinsic value of the arts

Here’s a comment (slightly modified) I just submitted on Americans for the Arts’ ARTSblog. The original post is part of their ‘Cultural Districts and Communities’ blog salon that ran last week. The case being made in this particular post is … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Arts advocacy, Beauty, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition | 5 Comments