MARIA MARTINEZ

THE DEADLINE FOR POSTING TO THIS BLOG FOR THIS MARKING PERIOD WAS FRIDAY, 11/6 AT 6pm. NO NEW ENTRIES MAY BE SUBMITTED.

THE FIRST BLOG ENTRY OF THE NEXT MARKING PERIOD WILL BE DUE ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20th.





READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT MARIA MARTINEZ AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6th AT 6:00 PM.

Make sure your NAME is in your response and that your responses are each at least 5 sentences long to receive full credit!



"Few craft artists, Native American or otherwise, can claim worldwide fame and appreciation, but these accompanied the life of potter Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. Through her hard work and generous sharing of her techniques, Maria reintroduced the art of pottery making to her people, providing them with a means of artistic expression and for retaining some aspects of the pueblo way of life.

San Ildefonso Pueblo is a quiet community located 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Inhabited since A.D. 1300, the pueblo saw many changes that resulted in a rich culture, in which ancient traditions mix with Spanish festivals and Anglo conveniences. Life in the Tewa-speaking village on the Pajarito Plateau is filled with love for one's neighbor and respect for the God-given gifts of the earth. Into this community, at a time of great transition from isolation to increased contact with other peoples, Maria Antonia Montoya was born, probably in the year 1887. For nearly one hundred years, until her death in 1980, Maria lived in the pueblo, eager to greet visitors and to share her craft with those who would like to watch and listen.

Maria's fascination with pottery-making started at a young age, when she would watch her aunt making pots, after her chores were done. Although many women in the pueblo knew how to make pottery, by Maria's time it was no longer a necessary part of daily life. Inexpensive Spanish tinware and Anglo enamelware had replaced traditional containers and cooking pots. In many ways, the art of pottery making was facing extinction. Fortunately, Maria's interest and willingness to experiment with techniques prevented this from occurring. Not long after her marriage to Julian Martinez, Maria was asked to replicate some pre-historic pottery styles that had been discovered in an archaeological excavation of an ancient pueblo site near San Ildefonso.

These excavations of 1908 and 1909, led by Dr. Edgar Lee Hewett (who was also the director of the Museum of New Mexico), produced examples of many pre-historic pottery techniques. Dr. Hewett asked Maria, who already had a reputation in the pueblo for being an excellent pottery-maker, if she could make full-scale examples for the museum of the polychrome ware. It was then that Maria and her husband, Julian (who painted the designs on the pottery after Maria shaped them), began an artistic collaboration that would last throughout their lives together. Part of their success came from their innovations in the style of black-on-black ware. Maria and Julian invented a technique that would allow for areas of the pottery to have a matte finish and other areas to be a glossy jet black. Through experimentation that began in 1919, they created a style that would become world famous.

Part of the unique-ness of San Ildefonso pottery is the clay that is used, which comes from their reservation. Dried clay and volcanic ash are collected yearly from selected locations throughout the reservation, and later combined with water in small batches. The clay from each pueblo has its own mineral composition, allowing for rich differences in texture and color. The watery clay slip that is used on the black wares, for example, has a rich iron content that turns black when fired in a particular way.

After a batch of clay is mixed and has set for a few days, a "pancake" of clay is formed and pressed into a puki, beginning the process of building a pot. The puki is a bowl-shaped form that supports the bottom of the pot as it is being built. Most commonly, pots are formed with a coil technique, in which long snake-shaped coils are circled around the base of the pot and blended together to create the walls of the vessel. A potter's wheel is not used in traditional pueblo pottery making. When the height and the amount of clay are just right, the walls of the pot are smoothed and shaped into curves with pieces of gourd, called kajepes. The pot is left to partially dry after the form is completed. In its semi-dried state, the pot is ready to be scraped, which refines the shape and removes any irregularity. Then the pot is sanded with sandpaper to rid it of any grit. The red slip is applied next, and the pot must be burnished with a stone before the slip dries completely. This step is most critical for the glossy nature of the black wares.

A decoration is painted onto the polished surface, resulting in matte areas once the piece is fired. Traditionally the men of the pueblo do the painting, but women were taught the process and painted during the times that the men had left the pueblo for work. Julian replicated and was inspired by many pre-historic designs. He was fond of many motifs, using ancient symbols in new combinations. He often painted the avanyu, the horned water serpent, which he saw as a symbol for the rush of water after a hard rain, and as a metaphor for the pueblo itself.


Black wares become so in the firing process. This labor-intensive task is done after many pots have been made, to maximize efficiency. Wood and dried cow manure are piled around an iron grill, upon which the pottery has been carefully stacked. The pile is lit and left to burn for a specified amount of time, until the fire has reached its maximum heat. At this time the fire is smothered with ash or fresh manure, producing a smoke-filled reducing atmosphere that turns the pots black. Variations in the process can produce pottery with black areas and red areas, which are also popular.


For many years, Maria and Julian produced their pottery together amid raising a family and carrying out traditional duties for the pueblo. Their children were taught the importance of the craft, and they participated in various ways. Many other family members and people from San Ildefonso continue to make pottery, carrying on the tradition so openly shared by Maria."

From http://www.mariapottery.com/


For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Martinez


PROMPT #1

• Look around at professions along with accompanying techniques/tools that people use daily – now imagine that they suddenly became obsolete.
• If you had to choose one profession that you would like to keep alive – what would it be?
• Why would you choose that profession?
• In 100 years, what do you think people would think of your choice?

PROMPT #2

• Look at the San Ildefonso pottery to the right.
• Imagine you were going to create your own piece of pottery using these techniques.
• What shape would your piece of pottery have? Be specific – size, shape of base, body, neck and rim.
• What type of images would you carve into the pottery?
• What areas would you make glossy black?
• What areas would you make matte (non-glossy) black?
  

PROMPT #3

• Maria and Julian Martinez freely shared their discoveries about creating their beautiful black ware. Part of this is related to their culture – based upon the importance of community and that what benefits one person benefits the community.
• If you had discovered (or rediscovered) a beautiful and unique technique – that was also technically difficult - that you used in your artwork to worldwide acclaim, would you be inclined to share the technique/process freely?
• Why or why not?

PROMPT #4

• Imagine that you are a potter who creates pottery similar to San Ildefonso pottery in shape and color.
• However, you have decided to decorate it with contemporary signs and symbols.
  What type of symbols/signs would you carve into the sides of your pottery?
• Why would you choose these signs/symbols? Are they personal symbols (with specific meaning for you) or are they more globally understood symbols?

BURNT EARTH INSTRUMENTS - MUSIC OUT OF MUD

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT BARRY HALL AND BURNT EARTH CLAY INSTRUMENTS AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30th AT 6:00 PM.

Make sure your NAME is in your response and that your responses are each at least 5 sentences long to receive full credit!


Northern California musician and instrument builder Barry Hall is fascinated with clay and musical instruments....he creates a variety of instruments out of clay - including drums, didjeridus, horns, flutes, and even fiddles. All of his instruments are hand-formed out of stoneware clay.

Go to his website - http://www.ninestones.com/burntearth.shtml - look at his creations and listen to the different musical sounds that can be produced by clay instruments.

PROMPT #1

• After looking at the various instruments created by Barry Hall, which do you find most visually interesting?
• Explain your thoughts - be specific.
• After listening to the music created by these clay instruments, which do you find most interesting in terms of the sounds produced?
• Explain your thoughts - be specific.
  

PROMPT #2

• If you were going to create a musical instrument out of clay, what type of instrument would you create?
• If you were going to create music using clay instruments, what type of instruments would you use? Would you use all clay instruments or would you combine clay instruments with other instruments?
• What type of music would you play using these instruments (jazz, rap, classic rock, folk, etc.)?
• Why would you make this choice?
  

PROMPT #3

• If you could suggest that a musical artist or a specific band or incorporate clay instruments into their music, which musician or band would you choose?
• How would you suggest the band incorporate the instruments into their music?
• Why do you think that these instruments would enhance the musician's work?
  

GEORGE OHR - THE MAD POTTER OF BILOXI

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT GEORGE OHR (THE MAD POTTER OF BILOXI) AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23rd AT 6:00 PM.

Make sure your NAME is in your response and that your responses are each at least 5 sentences long to receive full credit!



"Riding the train south through the deep pine woods of Mississippi in the early 1880s, tourists to the Gulf Coast came to Biloxi for sunshine and surf. Along with its beaches, the little town had its own opera house, white streets paved with crushed oyster shells, and fine seafood. Yet back in those years, there were no casinos as there are now, and not a lot to do besides swim, stroll and eat shrimp. Then, in the 1890s, the town boasted a new tourist attraction, one based on genius or madness, depending on one’s point of view. Just a few blocks from shore, a five-story wooden “pagoda” labeled “BILOXI ARTPOTTERY” towered above the train tracks that ran across Delauney Street.

Approaching it, a visitor saw hand-lettered signs. One read: “Get a Biloxi Souvenir, Before the Potter Dies, or Gets a Reputation.” Another proclaimed: “Unequaled unrivaled—undisputed— GREATEST ART POTTER ON THE EARTH.” Stepping inside, a curious tourist found a studio overflowing with pots. But they were not your garden variety. These pots featured rims that had been crumpled like the edges of a burlap bag. Alongside them were pitchers that seemed deliberately twisted and vases warped as if melted in the kiln. And colors! In contrast to the boring beiges of Victorian ceramics, these works exploded with color—vivid reds juxtaposed with gunmetal grays; olive greens splattered across bright oranges; royal blues mottled on mustard yellows.

The entire studio seemed like some mad potter’s hallucination, and standing in the middle of it all was the mad potter himself.…there was something in Ohr’s eyes—dark, piercing and wild—that suggested, at the very least, advanced eccentricity. If the pots and the man’s appearance did not prove lunacy, his prices did. He wanted $25—the equivalent of about $500 today—for a crumpled pot with wacky handles. “No two alike,” he boasted, but to most customers each looked as weird as the next. No wonder that as the new century began, thousands of the colorful, misshapen works collected dust on Ohr’s shelves, leaving the potter mad, indeed, at a world that failed to appreciate him. “I have a notion . . . that I am a mistake,” he said in an interview in 1901. Yet he predicted, “When I am gone, my work will be praised, honored, and cherished. It will come.”

Some 85 years after his death, the self-styled “Mad Potter of Biloxi” will be praised and honored as he predicted. Two years from now, Ohr’s startling ceramics will be showcased in a new $25 million Biloxi arts center….as America’s first museum dedicated to a single potter, the complex will call attention to an art more often seen as craft. And if yet another story of “an artist ahead of his time” sounds clichéd, the resurgence of George Ohr will cap one of the art world’s most remarkable comebacks. For although his work is now in such museums as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, until the late 1970s, the only place to see an Ohr pot was in a garage behind a Biloxi auto shop—in a crate.

Ohr asked a reporter, “You think I am crazy don’t you?” Assuming a sober demeanor, the “mad” potter confided, “I found out a long time ago that it paid me to act this way.” It did not pay well, however. Ohr was a notoriously bad businessman. He put shockingly high prices on his favorite pots because he simply could not bear to part with them. On those rare occasions when customers paid the asking price, Ohr would chase them down Delauney Street, trying to talk them out of the purchase. Ohr didn’t seem to care that he made so little money. “Every genius is in debt,” he said. By the turn of the century, Ohr had begun to get a little respect if not much success. A survey of ceramics published in 1901 called his body of work “in some respects, one of the most interesting in the United States.”

Although Ohr exhibited his pots around the country and in Paris, the prizes always went to more traditional pottery. Ohr’s only medal, a silver for general work, came at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exhibition in St. Louis. Still, he did not sell a single piece there. Even his few admirers misunderstood him. Still confident that the time would come when his work would be recognized, Ohr died of throat cancer at age 60 in 1918. His pottery, some 7,000 pieces in crates, remained in the garage of his sons’ auto-repair shop. Every now and then, a few kids carrying BB guns would sneak in and take some pots out for target practice.

A half-century after Ohr’s death, James Carpenter, an antiques dealer from New Jersey, was making his annual winter tour of the GulfCoast. Carpenter wasn’t looking for pottery; he was shopping for old car parts. One sweltering afternoon in 1968, he stopped at the Ohr Boys Auto Repair in Biloxi. While he was browsing, Ojo Ohr (George Ohr's son), then himself in his 60s, approached Carpenter’s wife. In his slow Mississippi drawl, Ojo asked, “Would y’all like to see some of my daddy’s pottery?” Carpenter rolled his eyes as if to suggest they had to be going, but his wife, whose curiosity was apparently aroused, said, “Sure.” Back at the cinder block garage, Ojo opened the doors to reveal the most amazing collection of pottery in the history of American ceramics. Several pieces were set out on tables; the rest filled crates stacked to the 12-foot ceiling. A few had been cleaned of their greasy film. Catching the sunlight, they sparkled like the day Ohr had given them life.

Carpenter had never heard of Ohr. Few outside Biloxi had. Yet he recognized the beauty of the work, as did Ohr’s son. When Carpenter reached to pick up a pot, “Ojo chewed me all out,” he later recalled. “ ‘Nobody touches Daddy’s pottery!’ Ojo said.” But he relented, and Carpenter, wondering if he might be able to sell them, was allowed to examine a few pots as Ojo held them up for inspection. Finally, Carpenter decided to take a gamble. He offered $15,000—about two bucks a pot—for the entire lot. Ojo left to consult with his brother and came back shaking his head no. It took several more years for the brothers to decide to part with their legacy and agree on an asking price. In the end they settled on a sum that back then, says Carpenter, “would have bought a very desirable house”—in the range of $50,000. But according to one Ohr scholar, by the time Carpenter returned with the money, Ojo had upped the price to $1.5 million.

After three more summers of negotiations, for a price rumored to be closer to the lower figure, Carpenter moved Ohr’s treasures to New Jersey, where they began trickling onto the marketplace. Meanwhile, the art world had begun catching up to Ohr. After a series of one-man shows of Ohr’s work, collectors such as Steven Spielberg and Jack Nicholson purchased pieces and drove prices up. Today, the same pots scorned a century ago sell from $20,000 to $60,000 each. Back in 1900, when his pots were barely selling at all, exasperated exhibition organizers would ask Ohr to put a value on his works. “Worth their weight in gold,” he would answer. In retrospect, he sold himself short.

Today, Ohr is hailed as a “clay prophet” and “the Picasso of art pottery.” His resurrection proves that madness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. But then, he always knew that, and so did visitors to his shop, at least those who were trained in the classics and paid strictest attention.

On their way out of the cluttered, crowded studio, they would pass yet another hand-lettered sign, this one inscribed with a Latin phrase: Magnus opus, nulli secundus / optimus cognito, ergo sum! Translated it read: “A masterpiece, second to none, The best; Therefore, I am!” "



adapted from: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/biloxi.html?c=y&page=1



PROMPT #1

• Go to Google and look up pottery from the 1890's.
• Imagine that you were alive in the 1890's - what would you have thought about Ohr's pottery?
• Would you have appreciated it or would you have thought it was the work of a madman?
• Ohr's work isn't that radical when compared to today's pottery - if you could go back in time, what would you tell George Ohr?

PROMPT #2

• Can you think of any artists whose artwork (visual arts or music) was ignored in their lifetimes but is now appreciated?
• What are your thoughts about these artists artwork?
• Do you appreciate their artwork or do you dislike it?
• Explain your thoughts.
  

PROMPT #3

• If you were an artist and had spent your entire life creating artwork which would you prefer - To be recognized while you were alive and make a modest living OR not to be recognized while you were alive but to have your work be worth millions after your death?
• Explain your reasons for choosing this option.
  

PROMPTS #4

• Over his lifetime, George Ohr demonstrated incredible dedication to his vision of what pottery should be....so much so that he continued to make his pottery when the entire world refused to accept or purchase them.
• If you were a potter and no one accepted your artwork - indeed, ridiculed it - would you continue to create the same type of pottery?
• Why or why not?
  

COLOR

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT COLOR AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16th AT 6:00 PM.



Make sure your NAME is in your response and that your responses are each at least 5 sentences long to receive full credit!



Color is a design element that artists use to describe or decorate an object. Color can be used to simply describe an actual object (brown for dirt, blue sky, etc.) or evoke an emotion (blue for sadness, red for angry) - it can also be used symbolically (associated with a flag's color, sports teams' colors, etc.).

There are many, many aspects to the science and art known as "color theory", however, we're going to keep it simple and focus on description and symbolism.



PROMPT #1

• Looking at the colors in the pottery on the right, choose ONE piece of pottery and describe the colors.


• Be as poetic and specific as you can.


• For example: I could say that the Tall Textured Vase is a light tan with a burnt sienna color rubbed into the textures. The dark brown, almost smoky color of the vase makes the vase look like it is ancient; something you might find in an archaeological dig. The dark brown brings out the texture and the coils at the top of the vase. I imagine placing long-stem dried flowers in this vase - something along the lines of the tall reeds and sea grasses found at the shore."......you get the idea - be SPECIFIC. BE POETIC.


• Look closely.


• Take your time!
  

PROMPT #2

• Roam around online and find an example of how a potter has used interesting colors on his or her pieces of pottery.


• Copy the links to the work into your posting.


• Describe the color on one of the pieces of pottery in excruciating detail.


• Look closely.


• Be poetic.


• Be specific.
  

PROMPT #3

• Think about the piece of pottery that you are designing right now. How do you plan to use color?


• Will your colors be bright and glossy?


• Will your colors be muted and have more earth tones?


• Will your pottery be smoke fired or smoke fired AND glazed?


• Will your colors be used symbolically?
  

PROMPT #4

• Look at the pottery on the right.


• Choose two pieces of pottery and describe how colors are used symbolically.


• What emotions are evoked by the artist's use of color?
  

RESEARCH

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT RESEARCH AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9th AT 6:00 PM.


Make sure your NAME is in your response and that your responses are each at least 5 sentences long to receive full credit!


This week I'd like you to think about how you choose your references and resources when designing your functional pottery. Below are two well-know pottery websites. Go to each website, roam around and then answer the prompts below.


Clay Art Web Guide: http://vickihardin.com/links/index.htm


Ceramics Today: www.ceramicstoday.com/

PROMPT #1:

• Choose an artist from one of the two websites that you would like to use as a resource or reference for one of you projects. Projects we will be working on this semester besides the Face Jugs are: Cup on the potter's wheel, a clay drum or windbells/chimes and a smoke-fired pinch pot bowl.



• Paste the link to the artist's website or their work in your response.



• Describe the artist's work.



• Describe why you chose this artist's pottery - how will you use this artist as a resource or a reference?



• How will you incorporate the potter's forms/shapes into your own work? Their textures? Their glazing/underglazing/colors?
  
  

PROMPT #2:

• All artists create artwork that is based on their own personal experiences. Artists also freely use ideas from other sources. There is a fine but definite line between copying or plagiarizing another's artwork and using their work as inspiration or appropriating parts of their work, techniques or concepts and incorporating them into your own artwork.
  Dictionary.com defines plagiarism first as "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work."


• Where do you draw the line when using other artists as inspiration?


• Give an example of definite artistic plagiarism.


• Give an example of using another's artwork as legitimate inspiration.
  

PROMPT #3

• Paul Gaugin said, "Art is either plagiarism or revolution."


• Gaugin gave only two options.....is the topic this black and white?
  
• In a minimum of 5 sentences, give your response to Gaugin's statement.
  

PROMPT #4

• Ron Ranson said, "It should be obvious why it's easier to copy someone else's painting, rather than work on site or even from a photograph. All the selection, rejection and design have already been done for you."


• Ranson believes it is very easy to copy another person's artwork - that all choices have been made for you and basically that you learn or create nothing new.
  
• What do you think prompts artists to copy another person's artwork as opposed to simply using it as a resource or source of inspiration?


• Have you ever been tempted to plagiarize someone's work?


• Why did or didn't you plagiarize their work?
  

FORM AND FUNCTION

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT FORM AND FUNCTION AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2nd AT 6:00 PM.


MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS IN YOUR RESPONSE AND THAT YOUR RESPONSES ARE EACH AT LEAST 5 SENTENCES LONG TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT!!


Form and function refers to the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE USE OF THE CONTAINER AND IT’S SHAPE.

Simply put, in functional ceramics, WHAT a container is used for determines it’s SHAPE.

The form is determined by the function. For example, a coffee mug has a shape that fits into a person’s hand easily, has thick walls to keep the heat in the coffee and has a lip that makes drinking hot liquid easy and spill-free. A container with a long, thin neck, a bulbous body and a handle may be used to pour liquid in a slow manner. Olive oil is often kept in such containers that have long necks and small openings to slow down the pouring speed. Iced tea kept in such a container would be an annoyance; iced tea is kept in a pitcher with a wide mouth, a lip to keep in the ice and a sturdy handle. In all of your projects this semester, you should always consider the form of the pottery you are creating and how the function is served by the form you create.

PROMPT #1

• Look at the pottery on the right.


• Choose 5 pieces of pottery and describe the function for which they have been designed.


• Explain your thinking for each piece.


• Remember....5 sentences minimum!
  

PROMPT #2

• Look at the pottery on the right.


• Choose three pieces of pottery.


• Describe the function (as you see it).


• Describe what you could do to each piece to change the function dramatically.

PROMPT #3

• When artists create coil pottery they have the option to leave the coils exposed or to smooth out the coils.


• This in no way affects the function – it only affects the aesthetics (what is artistically beautiful) of the coil pottery.


• When you are creating your piece of coil pottery, will you leave your coils exposed or will you smooth them out?


• Why or why not?


• If you choose to leave the coils exposed, will they create an interesting design or will they simply coil around the pot horizontally?

PROMPT #4

• Think about the pottery in your house (plates, cups, bowls, mugs, etc.).


• If you were to create a piece of pottery for a specific function for your household use, what would it be? Describe it in specific detail!


• If you were to improve on the function of one piece of pottery already in your household, what would you do to improve it?
  

TEXTURE

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT TEXTURE AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th AT 6:00 PM.


MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS IN YOUR RESPONSE AND THAT YOUR RESPONSES ARE AT LEAST 5 SENTENCES LONG TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT!!

TEXTURE refers to how something feels or looks like it feels. Clay has the delightful property of being able to capture a myriad of textures simply by pressing objects into the clay. Clay may be made to look like stone, bark, lace, burlap, leather, whipped cream or icing, terry cloth, metal or made as smooth as glass. The number of textures that you can create in clay are infinite.


PROMPT #1

• You've spent two weeks creating the form of your African-inspired Face Jug. At this point, please take a few minutes and think about the textures your will create on your jug.


• If you had to change the texture on your jug right now, how would you change it?


• Do you prefer pieces of pottery with texture or do you prefer smoother surfaces? Why?


• Did you do any experimenting with texture while creating your jug? If so, what did you try and what techniques did you like or not like about your experiments?
  

PROMPT #2

• One way to create texture is to press objects into clay - this method is called embossing.


• If you were to choose a pot from the pieces on the right and were going to change a texture on one of the pots by embossing the surface, what kind of textures would you emboss into the pot?
  
• In what way would this improve the look of the piece?
  

PROMPT #3

• Other ways to create texture are to carve into the clay or to build areas of the clay up to create a textured surface.
  
• Choose one of the pieces of pottery on the right that has a smooth surface and describe how you would improve the pot by creating carved or built up area to create a textured surface.


• In what way would this improve the look of the piece?