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A Real Utility Vehicle (from p. 19) start with the basic meaning of pottery’s appointed tasks: probably few objects more naturally talk about the idea of home than pottery, with its close association with the preparation and serving of food. This, in turn, is closely related to other important social ideas, like family and sharing. These acts take on even more importance when these simple acts are extended beyond one’s immediate family. In the book Three Cups of Tea2, Journalist David Relin describes Greg Mortenson’s inspiring work building schools in Northern Pakistan. The title refers to a proverb that describes what happens when you share three cups of tea with a stranger: with the first cup you are strangers; with the second cup you become friends; and with the third cup you become family. It’s hard to overstate the symbolic importance of the sharing of a meal, and the enormous influence this idea has had on societies around the world. Do I even need to mention an event known as “The Last Supper?” Every time Christians celebrate communion, they are symbolically recreating this meal. Pottery is also closely tied to the idea of beauty. This includes the beautiful object, as well as the beautiful event or experience. Contemporary potters, like other artists, are often uncomfortable discussing beauty, and sometimes afraid that even acknowledging beauty will somehow diminish the objects they produce—to make them seem shallow and unimportant. But few artists (and almost no potters I’ve ever met) would be insulted to have their work described as beautiful. Real beauty isn’t shallow or boring, after all, and it’s interesting how often the word beauty is preceded by words like “unexpected,” “simple,” or “quiet,” or is combined with seemingly contradictory traits like “awkward,” “coarse,” or “rustic.” There is no formula for creating beauty, and formulaic objects are almost never beautiful. In fact, beautiful objects are sometimes surprisingly odd or idiosyncratic. Beauty can also describe the experience of using pottery, or making it a part of some larger event. Beauty is at the heart of the Japanese tea ceremony, for instance, and it’s not just the objects that are beautiful, but the entire experience. Every movement, every sound, every flavor is selected for its aesthetic effect. For those of us who are most interested in utility, it’s good to
be reminded that it’s not the pour that’s important; it’s the beauty of the pour. On the flip side, the friendly and approachable nature of pottery provides it with the opportunity to be a surprisingly subversive vehicle for artists who wish to express social, political, or religious views. Grayson Perry (winner of the Turner Prize in 2003) is a perfect example of a contemporary artist who uses the unassuming nature of pottery to explore a wide range of social issues, including child abuse and sadomasochism. “I like the whole iconography of pottery. It hasn’t got any big pretensions to being great public works of art, and no matter how brash a statement I make, on a pot it will always have certain humility ... for me, the shape has to be classical invisible: then you’ve got a base that people can understand.”3 Closer to home, American artist Ian Anderson has received a fair amount of attention for his politically inspired pottery, including his series of anti-war soap dishes. Seriously—when was the last time you saw the words “anti-war” combined with “soap dish?” Which brings me to humor—and sexiness—and silliness, and comfort, and stylishness—and, well, everything else we might want to express or talk about as people and as artists. There is no limit to the ideas that can be combined with utility. Remember, Marcel Duchamp chose a urinal (a porcelain vessel, you know) to express his idea of the “ready-made.” In the end, both idea and utility are not only compatible with pottery—it’s almost essential that they be married within it. As a happily married couple they can agree, disagree, argue, negotiate, and find accommodation. And, they’ll be far happier together than either would be separately. [ Footnotes: Clay Times Magazine, “Fully Functioning,” 2003 Mar/Apr:20-21, and “Transcending the Naked Truth,” 2004 May/Jun:19-21.
1
Three Cups of Tea—One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David O. Relin.
2
Peter Pinnell is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. You can reach him at ppinnell1@unl.edu.