Decorating. Sophie Milne wrote a post recently on how trivialising she finds this term as a description of what she is doing to the surface of her pots. I too find the word "decorating" inaccurate and a bit demeaning. I spent many years studying drawing and many more studying ceramics in order to make theses pots. "Decorating" implies a bit of frippery, something superficial added at the very end, something not integral to the vessel. What should we call it?
Working
drawing
surfacing
Sophie's beautiful pots..........
3 comments:
I think decorating as a term for the process of drawing is fine. In my case I could say "patterning".
Decoration is ornament and as Adolf Loos postulated "The evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects". Loos introduced a sense of the "immorality" of ornament, describing it as "degenerate", its suppression as necessary for regulating modern society. He took as one of his examples the tatooing of the "Papuan" and the intense surface decorations of the objects he makes and uses.He believed that the 'native' hadn't evolved to the moral and civilized circumstances of modern man, who, if tatooed , would either be a criminal or a degenerate.I say reclaim the word and the activity. Modernism sucks!
I agree with Gerry.
Post a Comment