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| What is Art .... ? .... What is an Artist ?
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 | Greek lekythos |
 | Pre-Columbian pot |
 | Pot by Joe Monk |
At a basic level painted pottery consists of items fashioned out of clay, hardened through a firing process, and then decorated with color pigments. However, this process can be as simple or as complicated as the potter sees fit. Different types of clay may be blended, pottery can be a multitude of shapes and sizes, various firing techniques may be used, and the ways in which pottery can de decorated are innumerable.
Painted pottery has existed for several thousand years. In fact, shards of painted pottery have been excavated from the remains of some of earth's oldest civilizations. From these remains, anthropologists have ascertained that pottery has been considered to be both useful as well as decorative since its inception.
There are a number of Biblical references to clay and pottery wherein humankind is compared to clay and God is equated with the potter who creates and molds complex beings from a simple lump of earth. "Yet, Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter" (Isaiah 64:8).
Today, painted pottery is still used in many different ways. Pottery can be found in the kitchen as a receptacle for food and liquid or in other areas of the home as a form decoration akin to sculpture.
The fact that throughout history pottery has been both useful and decorative leads to a discussion concerning pottery's inherent value as an art form. In other words, at the most basic level, can all painted and fired clay be considered art, or should some pottery forms be thought of as well developed craft? If, in fact, some painted pottery may be considered art, whereas other forms of painted pottery are craft, then what specific characteristics or qualities must exist in order for painted pottery to be seen as art? The answer to this question may lie in the permutations the potter creates in the clay, the firing, or decorations of the art or craft. "Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and other for menial use?" (Romans 9:21)
DECORATED POTTERY
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