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CONTENTS OF THIS PAGE: "CHALLENGES: HISTORICALLY ACCURATE & HISTORICALLY INSPIRED" (1/29/05 )Mary Farrell "WHAT IS A WESTMOORE POTTERY REPLICA?" (1/28/05) Mary Farrell "CHALLENGES: HISTORICALLY ACCURATE & HISTORICALLY INSPIRED"(1/29/05) Challenge, on many different levels, is what keeps pottery interesting to the potter. We're always sure we could learn more about firing kilns, or learn to make a particular shape better or more easily. It's sort of a joke among potters that whenever things are going smoothly, we get bored and do something like alter a clay formula, just to mess things up! Part of the appeal of the pottery we do at Westmoore Pottery is that we have a real variety of challenges. Redware, salt-glazed stoneware, and green-glazed wares each have their own "personality quirks." In addition, the historically accurate and the historically inspired work have challenges unique unto themselves. To do an exact replica can be a massive technical challenge. In a way, each one is like a test of our skills as potters. Do we really have the understanding of history necessary to make a certain replica? Do we understand how that particular shape was made, and if we do, do we have the necessary skill to make it ourselves? Can we replicate the look of the glaze? Or the colors of the decorating? Or the particular touch on the handle? Can we really plausibly duplicate another potter's syle, neither making our replica more slick nor more crude than the original? Will our finished replica evoke the same mood or reaction from someone handling it as does the original pot? There is also to some degree, an "artistic" challenge to making a replica. It is somewhat like a symphony orchestra attempting to play a piece of music the way a composer meant it to sound. The artistry involved is more about interpretation and forging connections to someone long gone, than it is about originality. On the other hand, the work we do which is only "inspired by" old pottery is very much more about artistic challenge. Sure, there are always the technical challenges that occur with all pottery. Does the glaze fit the clay body? If meant as ovenware, can it be repeatedly used in a preheated oven? However, our "historically inspired" work also involves a lot of creative challenges. When we are working in this style, we work very freely. There are almost no boundaries. We draw from knowledge, but may combine bits and pieces from a lot of different places or from different time periods, right up to the present. Some of the pottery will end up very similar to old pottery, but some very different. A musical composer might visit an African country and then write a symphony with obvious inspiration from African musical traditions; however, his symphony would be something different from the traditional music that influenced its writing. So too, with our pottery, the "historically inspired" work we do shows strong evidence of the influence of early pots, yet no piece like the resulting pottery would have existed in that earlier time. Somewhere in the middle are the pieces that we refer to as "in the style of..[something or other]..". These pots are a lot of fun to do! With these, we are not replicating a particular piece, but are working within the boundaries of knowledge and style of a particular place and time. Everything about the pot must fit within the boundaries of historical accuracy, but it is a lot more free than doing a replica. It is as if we are creating the persona of a hitherto unknown potter, such as a yet-undiscovered potter working in 18th century backcountry Carolina. (Our persona is of course always that of a highly skilled potter with a great sense of shape, and who happens to also be a highly skilled decorator!) Think of an actor in a play whose character, rather than being that of Ben Franklin, is simply that of a middle class 18th century man; that actor has a lot of freedom in how he dresses and acts, but also has limits of historical accuracy. That is how an "in the style of ..." piece is meant to be; it is not a replica of an exact piece, yet if archaeologists dug up one just like it tomorrow, no one would be surprised! Mary Farrell "WHAT IS A WESTMOORE POTTERY REPLICA?" (1/28/05) When we make what we describe as a replica, we use a particular antique pot as a starting point, and aim to make ours as much as possible like the original piece from which we are working. For us, a replica must be the same size and shape as the original. For instance, if an original decorated plate was 15" in diameter, and we do one like it, but only 12" in diameter, that to us is not a replica. On redware, the clays used for decorating slips should be the same color as the slips used on the original, etc. If the original jar was decorated with a light yellow slip, then we will also use a light yellow slip, and not settle for a white. If the original stoneware pot was salt-glazed, then to be a replica we must also use a real salt glaze, and not just a grey or brown colored glaze that somewhat resembles a salt glaze. Particularly with our replicas, we do constant research to try to present to you an accurate product. Every potter who does replica work has to make choices about which characteristics to duplicate, and which not. Due to health concerns, we at Westmoore Pottery made a decision long ago to not duplicate the use of a lead glaze on our redware. Instead, we aim to achieve as close a look to the antique piece as we can, without using a lead glaze. We also do not "age" our pots. Essentially, what we are doing is trying to replicate the old pot as it waswhen it was new , not as the somewhat worn antique it is today. We allow a range of colors in our salt-glazed replicas, as the original wood firings would have also resulted in color range rather than in sameness. These are all individual judgements such as makers of replicas must make all the time. We don't put them forth to be the "right" decisions; they are simply our decisions! Mary Farrell Westmoore Pottery Westmoore Community 4622 Busbee Road Seagrove, N.C. 27341 Phone: 910-464-3700 E-mail: westmoore@rtmc.net Website © Westmoore Pottery, 2001 |