The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 2 July 2014

Focus: Eme rgin g
A Search for Answers
Caterina Leone: From my small experience of writing about ceramics, there have already arisen many
questions born from the particularities of this medium that I desired to have answered by those with
experience and knowledge surpassing mine. So, from an emerging writer to two established writers,
Moyra Elliott and Peter Wilson, a request for answers and advice.
Caterina Leone: Back in 1991, Peter Schjeldahl described ceramics as "a field where suspicion of
intellect is a given, anti-intellectualism being the shadow of certain positive values embodied in most
craft movements"'. Do you think that this is valid to contemporary ceramics, and if so, do you believe it
to be a negative trait?
Moyra Elliott: It's still there, this anti-intellectualism, but increasingly debilitated. Philosophies through
to the 'BOs celebrated and emulated nostalgia and were sceptical of rationale that compromised this. It
bore relevance for a post-war world but was essentially deeply conservative - our hessian-skirt moment.
Then we swung in an opposite direction with a quixotic lust for academic theory and the fit was like
Cinderella'S slipper; only bits were eligible. Conceivably, vestiges at both ends provide balance rather
than embarrassment.
CL: Do you feel that the only way to disconnect ceramics from the craft (as opposed to art)
categorisation is to sever all links with function?
Peter Wilson: It's unfortunate that for many, ceramics is seen as linked to utilitarianism and therefore
lacks fine art status. The argument implies that anything useful is not art.
Pablo Neruda talks of the objects of simple beauty that we use and brush past in our dai ly lives and how
they define our existence. For me, creating objects for people to use is a rare privilege. A simple bowl
for example, is held as it is used. Deep consideration needs to be given to the nuances of its design
according to its purpose, form, balance, weight and proportion, how it fits in the hand, its glazed finish
and its durability. Is this not an artwork?
Yanagi Soetsu, in Leach's A Potter's Book (1940) states: "'Utility is the first principle of beauty."'
CL: What is your opinion on the place of negative judgement in critical writing about ceramics?
ME: Working in ceramics, we link to long-standing networks of alternative cultural movements imbued
with va lues that favour cooperation and support ra ther than competition and judgement. Also, a
dominant idea within our culture is that the work created is a bringing forth of the maker's inner self.
When an object is understood this way it becomes difficult to distinguish between work and maker.
Therefore criticism of the work becomes personal. And we don't do that in our corner of the art world.
Or we haven't. But now that so many desire acceptance in the broader arena called fine art, maybe we
must become used to more rigorous scrutiny, as fine artists must.
CL: What is you r objective when writing about ceramics?
ME: To ignore any promotional press release sent to me and to scrutinise the artist's statement with
great care . Then, look at the work and see how that work fits with that statement. As Roberta Smith,
arts critic for the New York Times, once wrote, "'I thought I was on the artist's side explaining what
they were trying to get across .... Then I realised I was on the opposite side. It was very liberating. Your
48 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS JULY 2014