Common Clay

by Charles Counts

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Gentle Breeze Publishing (2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1-889250-37-6
Dimensions: 11.0" x 8.5" x 0.35"
Shipping Weight: 0.81 lbs.

In the work of the common-ordinary-man there lie depths of truth in human expression. These potters made things according to a common spirit... not mainly to express themselves. In the making they express commonly what was inherent in their culture. Their form-making thereby transcends the self-consciousness so often found in contemporary art pottery. One does of course detect individual expressions in the work of these traditional potters, but within the framework the framework of their histories there is a unique dignity and rightness to the form.

A craftsperson works directly with their material. Their ideas of form and expression come through their work naturally. It is quite like the individuality of a person's handwriting. While we are all started with the same alphabet, the same basic concepts of shape, ultimately our signature is distinctly and unmistakably our own. Every person works within their own frame of reference. From where does our notion of form come? What shape does a society find acceptable, usable? What establishes the norm?

The potters in Common Clay state the answers to these questions in their work. The work itself and the pattern of their existence must speak for themselves. Their ideas reflect not only their common experience in the craft of pottery but also the traditions of their communities. In most cases they reflect five generations of European notions having taken root in the soil of the United States of America. They have persisted and pushed into our times and into our consciousness their agrarian concepts of form.

In studying their patterns of work and their life-styles we also celebrate the opportunity in our times to see history live... to know about the past by living examples. We celebrate this direct opportunity and reflect upon the beauty found in everyday objects.