Monthly Archives: April 2015

The Black Pearls of pottery

“When black pearls were first introduced to the market, nobody wanted them. But then the famous jeweler Harry Winston placed black pearls in his display windows alongside his rubies, sapphires and diamonds. He set the price of black pearls high, … Continue reading

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

The bitter truth about professional standards in pottery (and art)

“Talk about equality gets off on the wrong foot if we start from the assumption that it expresses an immediate moral demand to treat everyone the same. Of course, there are thousands of legitimate reasons why people may treat different … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Creative industry, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition, Pottery, Teaching | 11 Comments

The illusion of technique

Originally posted on CARTER GILLIES POTTERY:
I have always been fascinated with this idea. I have kicked around different ways of looking at it and I see with increasing clarity that taking a stand on it says something about both…

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If Steve Jobs had been a potter

“When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, it was producing a random array of computers and peripherals, including a dozen different versions of the Macintosh. After a few weeks of product review sessions, he’d finally had enough. “Stop!” he shouted. … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Arts education, Creative industry, Creativity, metacognition, Pottery, Teaching | 2 Comments

Raising the bar and keeping out the riffraff: What Calvin and Hobbes have to say

Pottery, art, music, what have you, are all facing a future that has alarmed folks with a vested interest in what they might like to think of as ‘the status quo’, even the way things were ‘supposed to be’. The … Continue reading

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“Stay on the f-ing bus!”

From an article by Oliver Burkeman in the Guardian (followed, of course, by some of my mind blowing and otherwise dubious ramblings): This column will change your life: Helsinki Bus Station Theory ‘The theory claims the secret to a creatively … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Creative industry, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition | 1 Comment

Through the Looking Glass: Studio focus and the vortex of flow

A brief conversation about how ‘inefficient’ time in the studio can sometimes be. This is culled from the larger email conversation between me and Scott Cooper that took place over the course of a few days this past week. ………………………… … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Ceramics, Creative industry, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition, Pottery, Teaching | 1 Comment

Trawling through Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life

My friend Joel posted a link on fb to an artnet article based on the new book ‘Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life‘. “artnet News has trawled the book to distill the most useful pearls of wisdom, so you … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Creative industry, Creativity | 2 Comments

Repost: What Ron Meyers said

It seems my last essay fell utterly flat, DOA to your computer screens…. Thankfully I was just made aware of another post I ran almost exactly four years ago that said many of the same things, but perhaps more interestingly. … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Beauty, Ceramics, Clay, Creativity, Imagination, metacognition, Pottery, Teaching | 9 Comments