Post #8 Going Deeper

Part 1:  The Problem

It is easy to project our own opinions on to other people or into their arguments.  These projections are reinforced by the acculturation of our respective communities (Art or Craft).  But these projections often reinforce the entreched positions instead of helping us respect each others' unique differences and areas of commonality.

Garth is just a human being with dignity and intelligence and a sharp critical mind.  He is not a monster, and his arguments are certainly worthy of our respect.  Having said that, I have found some of his argument “How Envy Killed the Craft Movement…” to be challenging, at times goading and adversarial, and in some ways, (from my perspective as a craftsman potter at least) to be incorrect.  I have at times vilified him in my mind, but from the very first post I have maintained that we share a lot of common ground.

The art v. craft debate has had a long and tricky history, with petty entrenchment on both sides.  At times it seems to be a war between fundamentalist camps who care less about the debate than the self-righteousness of their own feelings.  There are lots of folks out there in the middle who don’t subscribe to either point of view but see the argument as more complex and subtle.  However, they do not want to enter the fray, because of the risk it entails (getting entrenched with one of the groups of “haters”) and the seeming hopelessness of finding any ground that is worth defending.  We all need to drop some of our anger and pain if we want any peace or understanding.  I have always thought that without the fundamentalist hate mongering, violence, anger and pain, on both sides, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would have a chance.  But it is easier to talk about peace than to actually let go of our pain enough to seek peace.

The trouble I have had with Garth’s argument is that in certain places it seems to be rubbing my nose in my own excrement.  A potter-craftsman like me feels he is being mocked and then responds in bitterness by striking out at the messenger.  But much of this has to do with our own acculturation.  A person can look at one of Degas’ ballerinas or one of Mapplethorpe’s photographs and think about the purity of form or of indecent lasciviousness (its polar opposite). 

What we see (a projection of our own beliefs) says more about who we are than what these images objectively represent.  We are strongly influenced by our personal feelings and the collective feelings of our communities.

Part 2 :  Accents 

A small symbolic component of this acculturation problem that might serve as an analogy is that Garth has a South African accent.  Years ago, I struggled with another authority figure in my life.  In 1997, I worked for Mark Hewitt (who for those of you who do not know is an English potter living on the eastern piedmonte of NC) for 6 months before moving to set up my pottery in WNC.

Americans have a peculiar inferiority complex about their accents and a far too willing tendency to assign credibility and authority to people with British accents (or in Garth’s case what sounds to us like a British Accent).  Therefore when Garth or Mark speak with their natural accents, particularly since they have earned their stripes (I believe both of these men have), and stake out a challenging argument, Americans like me tend to have a quiet monologue somewhere at the back of our minds that runs like this: 

“He is too cultured and sophisticated to be my equal.”  (flat voice)

“He must be smarter than me.” (in a gloomy Eeyore voice)

“Maybe he is condescending to me!” (disbelief and anger setting in)

I am from South Carolina and understand all of this very well as a Southerner.  White southerners are rightfully ashamed of the corrupt institutions of slavery and segregation (I think that as a white South African, Garth knows what I am getting at here).  But in popular culture we are stereotypically portrayed as ignorant, lazy and hateful.  We want to shed our racial baggage and the lazy image we have been assigned by pop culture while hanging on to our dignity and all of the little things that we can be proud of that have made us a unique (actually a lot of subsets here) and distinct regional people.  Unfortunately, waving a rebel flag is not a good way to do this.  The battle flag of the confederacy (obviously tainted with slavery) is claimed as a symbol of heritage by some, but it only reinforces the stereotype of ignorance that the rest of us would like to escape.

In short, we project credibility onto a british accent (art) and ignorance onto a southern accent (craft).

“There’s a southern accent where I come from.

The young’uns call it country, the yankees call it dumb.

Got my own way of talkin’ but everything is done

with a southern accent where I come from”

--Tom Petty

Part 3:  Seeking Intelligent Debate

“Nattering about matter (clay) is almost as important as matter itself” 

 --Mark Hewitt

As I mentioned earlier, many of us look at the art/craft divide as hopeless and unchangeable.  “Why bother with it?”  

I think Garth comes perilously close to making matters worse by fanning flames that had begun to go cold.  But he thinks the conversation is worth the pain, and I personally agree.  He wants to provoke the craft side into speaking up.  This is his “Goliath” role.  But by declaring the craft movement dead, he comes very close to betraying it.  He then moves into the role of Judas Iscariot.  But as I interpret the pop musical “Jesus Christ Super Star” (an old favorite), Judas Iscariot is the tragically doomed hero who must betray Jesus (craft movement) in order that he (craft movement) may die and be “resurrected.”

I think the art v. craft debate is polemic and semantic but worth hashing out.  So let us argue passionately.  Let us agree to disagree when that is the best option.  But by all means lets have the courage to engage and discuss this painful divide.  A hidden or untreated wound festers and becomes an infection.

Part 4:  Concluding Metaphor

There are two closely related tales in the Arthurian legends first written down by Sir Thomas Mallory in Le Morte d'Arthur that might serve us as an Art v. Craft metaphor.  In one of them, the two most powerful knights (and interestingly enough also considered the most significant lovers) of the age, Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram meet unknown to one another on the field of battle.  After a ridiculously valiant fight they pause for a parley.  When each learns the identity of the other, they stop battle at once and declare allegiance and service to one another for all time.

In the other tale, two twin brothers Balin and Balan are forced to do combat by an evil sorceress.  (Significantly, they also don't know each other's identity while they fight.)  Epic violence ensues, and each is mortally wounded.  As they lay dying of their wounds they speak a few words to one another and discover their fraternal bond.  It is the tragic opposite of the other story.

As these stories might relate to art and craft, recognition of identity and mutual respect and love are the keys to making the history have a happy or tragic ending.   

Let us show one another the proper respect that we deserve as we talk about closely related fields and stumble through popular v. scholarly definitions.  

"Vive la difference!"

--Matt Jones