Karen Weiss
How are we as ceramicists ‘holding space’? How and in what context can
we ‘make place’? Are there alternative approaches to ceramics practice we
might consider that could cast light on these questions?
Drawing on the work of philosopher Michael Polanyi and his outline of
‘tacit knowledge’ (1966) and Ellen Dissanayake’s ‘making special’(1995),
this paper examines the shifting terrain of ceramic practice and how the
skilled ceramic hand is ‘holding space’ in our contemporary digital society.
Arising from this are questions of visibility and authorship in collaborative
art and design projects. Using a phenomenological methodology, I include
my own reflections on my experiences as a ceramicist holding my own
space of practice.
I refer to the work of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his idea of ‘cultural
capital’ (1986), and to Howard S. Becker and his proposal of ‘artworlds’
(1984) to explore how contemporary ceramics practice attempts to ‘make
place’, caught as it is between mainstream discourses of art, craft and design
and the fluidity of the contemporary art, craft and design practice.
I draw on my PhD research to explore the distinctive ways in which
Japanese, Pueblo and Aboriginal pottery cultures make place and how their
approaches to their practice may illuminate our contemporary ceramics
practice as ‘an unstable territory of permanently shifting allegiances’
(Lees-Maffei & Sandino, 2004, p.207).