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10 Cool Trends In Contemporary Ceramics


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If your sales are slumping or are feeling uninspired, maybe you need to reinvigorate your wares with the latest trends . . .

 

http://www.artnews.com/2014/06/09/10-cool-trends-contemporary-ceramic-art/

 

 

I'm not sure if some of these will help slumping sales; Customer:  "How am I supposed to use this mug?  It was cut apart, rearranged, and has holes everywhere!"

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If your sales are slumping or are feeling uninspired, maybe you need to reinvigorate your wares with the latest trends . . .

 

http://www.artnews.com/2014/06/09/10-cool-trends-contemporary-ceramic-art/

 

 

I'm not sure if some of these will help slumping sales; Customer:  "How am I supposed to use this mug?  It was cut apart, rearranged, and has holes everywhere!"

 

Yeah, but now you can charge 10X for it . . . and maybe make the cover of a monthly ceramics mag. After which you can double the price again.

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That article just tells me I'm trying to hard. Trying to make usable items USABLE. Make items that are beautiful. Make items that show a high level of technique. Trying to get better with each piece I make.

 

I guess I should toss some clay on the floor and let my dogs drag it around and fire it then I too can be in a national museum.

 

Sorry if that sounds negative. I just tossed a bunch of items in the recycle bucket because they just weren't doing anything for me. Also have spent the day second guessing my choices to try and jury into a local higher end gallery tomorrow and the whole process has me stressed out. All this reminds me why I no longer do high end art fairs and such it's better to do small local and not have a heart attack from the stress of it all.

 

If anyone has work shown in the article I do not mean you lol. I hope you continue to follow your artistic muse successfully. I just recall from past nose in the air venues, questions like what is the meaning behind this particular painting. Hmmmm it's pretty? I liked the colors? The location was awesome! But no they want ehem... The juxtaposition of the many complex forms captured in mid movement convey a dream like quality of the tortured psyche. Blek artistic dribble.

 

I like to say I no longer do art I do craft and it's way less stressful because I can make what I like and not have to have a reason for doing so.

 

Terry

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thank you terry,

 

I have been around a long time.  at 21, I attended a showing of art at a college I wished I had money to attend.  the ridiculous artspeak that was going on around me sounded just like what you wrote.  I knew I would not do well there.  as it happened, I never attended any college.

 

when I visit D.C. and the art museum, I look at paintings of local scenes done through history and notice the calming effect pasture, clouds, cows, have on viewers, the street scenes of paris show life happening all around, the paintings of ships make me feel the wind and spray shown, dancers getting ready for a show.   those artists were representing what was happening in their everyday life.  they did not have to explain anything beyond allowing other people to see their art.

 

today, street scenes include graffiti on every surface, guns in the hands of children, war torn buildings and rubble piled up, people so wrapped up in their portable electronics that Lady Godiva could ride around forever and not be seen.  what kind of art do we expect?

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thank you terry,

 

I have been around a long time.  at 21, I attended a showing of art at a college I wished I had money to attend.  the ridiculous artspeak that was going on around me sounded just like what you wrote.  I knew I would not do well there.  as it happened, I never attended any college.

 

when I visit D.C. and the art museum, I look at paintings of local scenes done through history and notice the calming effect pasture, clouds, cows, have on viewers, the street scenes of paris show life happening all around, the paintings of ships make me feel the wind and spray shown, dancers getting ready for a show.   those artists were representing what was happening in their everyday life.  they did not have to explain anything beyond allowing other people to see their art.

 

today, street scenes include graffiti on every surface, guns in the hands of children, war torn buildings and rubble piled up, people so wrapped up in their portable electronics that Lady Godiva could ride around forever and not be seen.  what kind of art do we expect?

I would expect a highly visible, media-fueled art climate that serves the individual a daily dose of preference and feedback driven art selections. Instead (in the US), I find a rather large departure from this expectation...

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Sorry, I can't get excited by anything that I saw in the article. Not that I don't like funky pots in their time and place, but. . . my HS kids would try to bowl me over with their intellectualism when jockeying for grade. These look like they need some grade boosting also, but not at my expense.

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 Thinking a bit more about what we've been discussing , it really does reflect a pseudo-intellectual society that has no focus or purpose other than self absorption. It has no past or structure and no vision for the future.

Graffiti does express the social movement of people that feel they have to set lines of territory and power bases within what they believe  they control.

Graffiti at least demands we pay attention or pay a price. Where as the vacuous art world is like the French royal court before it's demise, out of touch with reallity .

I'm more  attuned with a street artist that has something to say over the presumptuous stuff we're discussing.

I've often wondered if Artspeak is a code that allows those that want into the inner circle, a way of fitting in while filtering out, those deemed unworthy.

Growing up in the South in the 50's, I didn't understand the unspoken  social codes till I looked back years later. Even now I know it still exist but dislike the implications.

Maybe I'm over thinking all this, a cow patty is a cow patty

Wyndham 

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Wyndham, I think a lot of it is people trying to "break out" by doing something different... isn't that what artists are told, that they won't be successful if they are doing what everybody else is already doing?  They have to be unique, find their own vision, their own style, etc.

 

Some of this feels like "I don't know what people like... I'll make random crap and see what people respond to."  Maybe I'm totally off base and the artists who made them love those pieces, but I can't help feel that there's some Emperor's New Clothes involved in some of this "artsy-art".  Which I don't see any harm in if neither side feels cheated.

 

I think this ties right into the earlier discussion about Volkous' "Stacks" and Ohr's "mud babies"... people are reacting rather differently to these, from potters they haven't heard of, than most of the reactions in that other thread.  Would it change people's opinions about some of these "trending" ceramic forms if they knew Volkous, Ohr, Leach, etc had made them?

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Wyndham, I think a lot of it is people trying to "break out" by doing something different... isn't that what artists are told, that they won't be successful if they are doing what everybody else is already doing?  They have to be unique, find their own vision, their own style, etc.

 

Some of this feels like "I don't know what people like... I'll make random crap and see what people respond to."  Maybe I'm totally off base and the artists who made them love those pieces, but I can't help feel that there's some Emperor's New Clothes involved in some of this "artsy-art".  Which I don't see any harm in if neither side feels cheated.

 

I think this ties right into the earlier discussion about Volkous' "Stacks" and Ohr's "mud babies"... people are reacting rather differently to these, from potters they haven't heard of, than most of the reactions in that other thread.  Would it change people's opinions about some of these "trending" ceramic forms if they knew Volkous, Ohr, Leach, etc had made them?

The images also brought me back to that same discussion as well as the one on Paul Soldner. The key difference, I believe, is that Volkous, Soldner, and others all established themselves as potters with a mastery of the both the technical and artistic skills/aspects of making functional wares and then gravitated (for whatever reasons) or evolved to more abstract pieces. Now, you see people starting out with abstraction and you wonder if any of them possess the technical skills and what is the trajectory for growth and evolution in their work. Hard to determine that by looking at many of the images.

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I agree Bruce. I can respect an artist, who goes more "conceptual" or "abstract" later on, once they've established themselves, with the more traditional/ sikilled techniques and processes.

Picasso churned out a lot of art, towards the end of his life, much of it very simple. But he started with realism, developed the associated skills, and then moved on to his experimental work.

I have seen artists, many times students, who try to approach it backwards. They never take the time to learn the base skills, and just try to do something "different".
I had a classmate in college, who was there on scholarship. He did a lot of conceptual/ abstract work, that his teachers in high school, and some of the instructors at college just ate up. He thought pretty highly of himself, and signed just his first name, largely, on his projects. However, there was one occasion, where we had to do a value drawing, in charcoal. During our critique, his turn comes around, and many of us think "And here we go again with the praise." Well, this student didn't really shade, more like random smearing with heavy outlines. During the critique, the teacher actually ripped into him a bit. The student tried to defend his work saying, "Well, I was going for so and so look...", and the teacher responded by saying, "That wasn't the assignment."
It was just amusing, that he thought he was above learning the basic skills, and found out otherwise.

Pres, I've had a few students try using such justification too. I've also had students use the , I'm not an artist/ very good at art, as a reason their project is terrible, not average, terrible. I just recently rediscovered a syllabus, that just so happens to be from my college Ceramics teacher, and there was a part that I may have to steal for my syllabus. It said, "You will not fool me into thinking, that you have worked harder than you have.". I love that line, because I've seen such behavior numerous times; minimal work for most of the alloted project time, then rush to get it all done in the end. "What do you mean I got a C-?!!! I worked really hard on that!...."

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My father in law used to tell his chemistry students that if he wanted them to work hard, he'd have them dig a ditch. He wanted them to think. Not all aesthetic prose are pseudo intellectual. Some yes, maybe. The Mingei craftsman remains humble and does not sign his name. I recognized one or two names from that list. Sergei Isopov is a very successful artist with great craftsmanship and a really good speaker.

 

Marcia

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Thanks for this great article. This may seem a bit harsh but just cause you dont like it or think that it could be made by 3rd grader doesnt mean that its not trendy. I mean if you look deep down on THIS current generation its trendy to be grunge, thrift store style, dare i say perverted?   I beleive its our "duty" to keep ceramics up to date with times because if we dont this art will die out even more due to this generations lack of interest because its not their style.

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I don't see it as my duty to keep up with ugly trends in the slightest. If I like something, there are bound to be others out there that like it. Likewise if I think something looks like crap. There are many many many successful artists and craftspeople who make loads of stuff that I think is absolutely hideous, and I think it's pretentious to imply that if I understood the motivation behind it, or the mastery underlying it, then I should like or value it more. Nope. Tastes vary so widely that there will always be *somebody* that likes that bud vase that looks like a dog pooped out a rainbow and then put donut glaze on it. But there will always be people who love and prefer the simple, functional, beautiful work that comes from a skilled Craftsperson just doing their job and making things that they love and would use themselves.

Beauty doesn't go out of style. Trendy does.

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If I wanted to build a house and chose a contractor without experience, I'd likely get what I chose.

 

In Charleston , SC there are many fine art galleries. Many of these are founded on solid business principles, still 95 % fail.

Some others  are vanity art galleries. These are simply an indulgence or window dressing for the "well to do" to have a venue for social/business communication. They have no knowledge of art or care to have any deeper level of art other than the window dressing for their event.

Have you ever noticed at some social event that several musicians are hired for background music. Most pay them any attention, but if you did , you would notice the hard work and professionalism that goes into making simple background music.

 

If the art, whether ceramic or 2d, is simply "window dressing" for another purpose such as mentioned above AND the artist is used without understanding the true nature of the event, then a misdirection of quality following society leads to inferior art.

If good clay is said to have "Legs" or "Bones" to define quality, then also art should have those quality as well

 

I guess my point is that art should stand on it's own, and it's value not dependent on who you know and the politics of social life.

I maybe asking too much.

Got a kiln to load

Later Wyndham

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My reaction to the article was a shrug. There are some nice pieces there, and some that are hilariously bad. Made a note to myself: do not submit your work for publishing in ARTnews. It might be printed next to something awful.

 

(oldlady ... as someone who writes a lot and cares about spelling and grammar, spelling mistakes on this forum really don't bother me (or the other mods). We moderators will sometimes correct a typo in the TITLE of a thread, but typos and grammar mistakes within the bodies of posts are yours to own. We don't want folks to feel like they have to be formal here, we are having (hopefully) a comfortable conversation. Also, lots of people are typing on a mobile device, typos are pretty hard to avoid on a tiny keyboard!)

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Ah we have had discussions about spelling and misspelling here quite a bit. It does make a difference often as to what you are saying if the word comes out wrong. Spell checkers will not always correct you, as in the difference with something like "rapping" and "raping" very different context, at least to most people! :wacko: I am not a poor speller, but a poor typist so I have to be extra careful not to double hit, or mid stroke(catch two adjacent keys). All said, spell checkers and rereading the post help a lot. One added thought, with the help of the edit button. Does some misspelling bother me? No, not at all, we are human. Do I change misspelling in Titles? Yes, and the only reason I do is to make a search pick up on wording correctly, searches are not human. :huh:

 

I should clarify my earlier rant about the pieces in the article. Sometimes I wonder if lack of craftsmanship, even if a breakout idea is needed. Is this breakout idea an excuse for poor finishing/craftsmanship, or really an important part of the entire statement. These things cannot be defended if the literacy of the piece in question is compromised by poor execution. Best I could do for explaining it to the smarter than I student, or the smarter than I adult. :rolleyes:

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There are students out there, that think they are smarter, than the teacher?!!!

 

 

I don't let spelling and typing here bother me. The way I see it, everyone here is a professional adult. We all help each other and contribute. Spelling becomes a bigger issue on other boards, where heated debates take place. It's always amusing, to see someone trying to come off as superior, and even call the other person an idiot, but have a post full of errors.

 

I DO get on my students about spelling though. They are not yet professionals, and I want to make sure they have every chance to become one. Many of them don't seem to understand that an letter of application consisting of: "i wuld rlly lik 2 wurk 4 u.", is not acceptable.

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I'm not sure why the majority of posts here qualify ARTnews magazine to recognize trends in contemporary ceramics. They clearly missed a lot of work that is trending right now. It's not worth having a discussion with lemmings that don't bother to question sources. I'm pretty sure respected forum personalities (such as Mr. Baymore) frequently suggest being wary of sources. Instead of taking a couple of moments to research that ARTnews is a magazine that rarely bothers with the ceramic world, it seems the majority of you have taken the article as fact and argued moot points. This is evidenced by the artists that they're representing in their article. Jeffry Mitchell for example is a painter and print maker, represented in the article. He just started making sculptural work in 2012, when the first and latest sculptural ceramic show he had, took place at a small gallery in LA. Please let me know how his story plays into "trends in contemporary ceramics..." I don't have time to write more, but please, please, please read and think critically!

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You're right, soooo, is trendy for trendy sake make for a trendy Sake set. :unsure: Who sets the trends, an honest question really. How do we evaluate the trend. Is it based on "who" set the trend. Is it the market the trend generates or ????

I look at the color trends for decorating each year, but the information is already old by the time it reaches the magazines.

At best, there may be some inspiration in a new trend or help kick us out of our complacent work habits.

I'm always leery of putting too much faith in an unproven path because my living depends on having a product for the majority of the folks that buy pottery

I think if we had information on how often people redecorate their living spaces and you they follow for decorating advice, that might help evaluating new ceramic trends

Wyndham

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