Matt Long Throwing Demo

Had the privilege of going to a demo yesterday. Master potter Matt Long was the one doing the demo. I guess he's teaching at the University of Mississippi right now, as well as doing his own work. As the only novice potter in the group I was quite enamoured by what he was doing.

He often designs his pieces using slip, and, what appears to me, strong control over a goo-like medium.

He also made a really wonky looking teapot. Not bad-wonky, he did it on purpose. Though my mind kept thinking that it wasn't so practical for actually drinking tea, but he'd said that in the beginning, that practicality for drinking tea was not his purpose in making it.

What I find amazes me about potters, is that many of them seem much more like "smiths" than artists. It's like a smith that has full use of all the artistic vocabulary. Far more than the art girls I see wandering the halls. These men (and I'm sure there are women, too) own the words, these words are part of their everyday vocabulary, and yet the physical appearance doesn't match the assumed stereotype. These men do hard work, they get dirty, they don't exist in an existential land of finery. I love it! I wonder if it's just the 3-D mediums, or only some 3-D mediums or if it's "men" taking art for themselves (and there's nothing wrong with that).

I can see how mediums like clay can really draw in men, because it requires an understanding of math and chemistry as well as a physicality that mediums like painting don't. And, I've heard before, though it was mentioned again today, that it can satisfy different interests inside of you. Pottery (and perhaps glass, and wood, and metal) are multidisciplinary.

I'm also struck by how gentle and confident their hands are, and they seem perpetually patient. I have a hard time conceiving of potters screaming.

I wonder, do men feel free from the expectation of appearance, or is it that once they've come to a point where they're regularly selling their work that whether or not they look like people expect no longer matters to them?

Matt long also said a couple things I thought were kind of awesome while he was working on the wheel (and who can talk and do that at the same time? I can't even listen to music and do pottery) so I'm going to quote him now;
"You can do whatever you want to do if you're willing to do whatever it takes to get there."

"Happiness is worth a lot, so is your health."

"Why try so hard to ascribe concept to a coffee cup when its' a damn good coffee cup and people are going to love it?"

He sells his porcelain clay if you want to buy it. It seemed very obedient but I am too new at clay to know if that was a quality of the clay or of the potter's skill.

I also enjoyed hearing him talk about his home and family and enjoying life in Mississippi. Overall it was a very good demo and really really amazing to see him work and to see the way such a small community of individuals interact.

Here are a few more pictures from the event: