It is very curious that James Trilling associates Mozart and Matisse as “complex givers of simple pleasures”, I did not know Matisse when I was growing up, but I think Emanuele Luzzati can be associated to Mozart in the same way.
What I am hoping is that my pots show the real essence of me with all my history, and that eventually I will understand what my hands are doing and where I am going. Reading Richard Jacobs’ “Searching for beauty” I select phrases that resonate in me and I want to capture them. In the first letter he talks about asking questions and not to look for answers. I agree that I should enjoy the questions about my work and where it is taking me, without trying yet to find the answers.
I must look up at Yanagi’s book The unknown craftsman: Richard quotes from it “the love of the irregular is a sign of the basic quest for freedom”. I know that I need to add irregularity to my throwing, but I also know that there is a limit to how much off it can go. I am the arbiter with my internal set of values that are determined by my personal history and influences.
Sherman Hall in his editorial to the February edition of Ceramic Monthly says that "…to make an object it requires the intellectual act of design and the physical act of making. The most successful examples of design in handmade ceramics are where the two are executed in harmony with each other. One does not necessarily dictate the other".
In the same magazine at page 32 artist Cristine Wright states that "Design is an answer to a question other made, while Sculpture is the artist's answer to her own question".
My work is not sculpture, but a teapot or a mug or a dish have elements of design in it, as they have to satisfy functionality, and also have to respect my personal quest for aesthetic and "emotional rightness".
I include in my objects elements of ornament intended as James Trilling does as the "art we add to art, shapes and pattern worked into an object…for the pleasure of outline, colour or fantasy".
I try do understand where my need for ornament comes from, and why I always felt unhappy with the statement that all my teachers made that" Less is more". Finally Trilling talks of the historical context of that statement and of the time when "More was more"( pg 12 of "Ornament a modern perspective").
I am battling with tecnical and design problems and my sense of beauty.
I divide my working hours between making my standard production for future shows and trying new ideas. I am studying the book by James Trilling: "Ornament, a Modern Perspective", and I want to clarify what is the origin of my need for ornament and decoration in my life and work.
Since last year I have become aware of the double influence that my parents' different personalities have had on the moulding of my personality. On one side the need for neat and tidy lines and rigid planning and on the other a rich surface of colour, curves, uneven patterns and freedom.
Whenever I grab a pen and a piece of paper I start doodling and all the patterns in my subconscious come up, the paving stones in my home town, the railings along the sea promenade, the patterns of Emanuele Luzzati's paintings, and so on. How can I incorporate them in my work?
