Functional World

I found this article, 'Functional World' in the new edition of the Studio Potter journal in the library. It was originally delivered as the keynote address by Polly Ullrich at Utilitarian Clay V: Celebrate the Object, which was held in September 2008 at Arrowmont School of Art and Craft, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

The address was based around a comment by musician and artist John Cage who said 'The meaning of something is in its use, not in itself.' Ullrich writes that

'Talking about the meaning of utilitarian art is especially important now as contemporary artists tap into increasingly diverse sources for their practices. Art categories, materials, and histories are now leveled and mixed' (Ullrich 2009).

I think that this comment about using 'diverse sources' is particularly relevant, especially to my practice at the moment.

Ullrich believes that functional ceramics have historically offered an aesthetic model to the wider art community which has not been recognized as it deserved. She defines functional ceramics as 'useful objects made within - or influenced by - the modern American craft tradition.' I would apply a wider definition of functional ceramic than this, not just limiting it just to American craft.

Ullrich writes that there are four values embodied in functional ceramics. Firstly,

'Thinking about things as more than "dumb objects"...functional ceramics springs from two equal, intertwined bases for constructing meaning: one is located in the body and the stuff of the material world, and the other is located in concepts, ideas, traditions and narratives.'

I chose this quote as I think it reflects why I wanted to explore functional ceramic. I have the opportunity to work both with practical aspects and concepts and narratives.

Ullrich believes that functional ceramics challenge the 'old-fashioned mindset perpetrated by twenty-five centuries of Western philosophical speculation'. This defines consciousness as a product of the 'superior mind, not the lowly body'. However as functional ceramic has an 'affinity' for the body Ullrich writes that this is the reason it has been assigned a low status in art which she believes is a mistake.

'Functional ceramics offers a unique perspective in our dematerialized, electronic culture. Its alliance with the body and sense of touch embodies concepts as much as relays them abstractly.'

Secondly, functional ceramic 'is about doing as much as being', it is an experience. She writes that 'functional ceramic objects are springboards for an activity, not representations of a static world.'

Thirdly Ullrich discusses how

'Functional ceramics operates at the centre of contemporary art, by bringing us closer to ordinary experience rather than farther from it. It is located in the social context of daily life.'

This is something I need to think about when designing my cups; how can I bring people 'closer to ordinary experience'?

Ullrich writes that the fourth characteristic of functional ceramics is

'the commitment of aesthetic objects to improving the world. Art such as functional ceramics, which works within everyday life but also stands as art, operates in an arena of extraordinary influence and power'.

I think that this fourth point seems quite idealistic. Ullrich goes on to discuss the social goals of some of who design aesthetic objects, for example William Morris.
Ullrich begins to conclude the article by writing that

'a contemporary hybrid art of experience and social interaction, located in daily life and with the potential to bring about change, owes a great debt to the aesthetic traditions of functional ceramics. Functional ceramics is art which implements both body and mind. It is art that comes together as an event as much as a solid object. It is art that is based in daily life.'

Lastly she writes that

'Functional ceramics stands as an art form of humanizing values, one that opens a path to a mutual relationship with our physical world. It generously acknowledges the importance of both knowing and doing in the making of aesthetic objects'.

I like how she writes of 'the importance of both knowing and doing' in making functional ceramics.

Ullrich, Polly. 2009.
'Functional World'
The Studio Potter
Winter/Spring 2009. p71-76.