| The Potter's Art |
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The Potter's Art. By Henry Glassie. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. Pp. 149. Index, bibliography, photos. $25.00 cloth, $12.95 paper. "Pottery is the most intense of the arts," writes Henry Glassie. These indeed are the first words of The Potter's Art, and they introduce a colorful and delicately drawn world tour of artists who work with clay, paint, and fire. After a brief introduction, Glassie takes us to Bangladesh, a nation cash-poor but clay-rich. Almost five hundred thousand people in Bangladesh are potters, and they divide themselves into two groups: those who make kalshis, utilitarian water jars, and those who make murtis, images of deities. We meet some of these artists, learn a bit about their aesthetic, and are introduced to the connection between art and religion. Glassie concludes the Bangladesh section with words that could stand as his mission: "Where use meets beauty, where nature transforms into culture and individual and social goals are accomplished, where the human and numinous come into fusion, where objects are richest in value--there is the center of art." From Bangladesh, we leap to Sweden, where we meet a young man whose passion for creation caught the attention of an elderly potter who was resigned to the death of his art. Today, Lars Andersson creates the old utilitarian forms as homage to the past, and people admire his work without putting it to everyday use. Then we're off to Georgia, in the United States. The Meaders family continues to make pottery with a passion, and among the artists' specialties is the "face jug" or "ugly jug." These dark jugs present distorted faces with gleaming white eyes and crooked teeth. We also meet the Hewells, who infuse their pots with fragments of God's words as a statement of rebellion against the overly modern and painfully detached society that surrounds them. Glassie then turns to Acoma, New Mexico, where potters offer abstract designs as prayers for rain. They also create storytellers, small figures shown in the act of telling stories to others. We aren't long in Acoma before we're off to Turkey, where Glassie has focused his attention for decades. The artists of Kütahya create çini plates and vases, bowls, and tiles, elaborately adorned with interlocking patterns and occasional references to a perfect Nature. It is here that Glassie pays tribute to Ahmet Sahin, the grand master of çini design. He reigned benevolently over the çini world in Kütahya for decades, and now his son, Ahmet Hürriyet Sahin, and daughter-in-law, Nurten Sahin, continue the family heritage. Nurten in particular, Glassie has noted, carries with her the seed of her father-in-law's genius. We also, in this chapter, meet Ibrahim Erdeyer and Mehmet Gürsoy, two more of Kütahya's brilliant çini artists. We linger in Turkey for some time before moving on to Japan. Settling into the city of Hagi (across the Sea of Japan from Korea), we meet Norio Agawa, who creates the distinctive vessels and bowls called yaki. Glassie concludes this selective world tour by contemplating the passion, pride, and joy that potters find in their art. He writes about them with gentle admiration, noting that "I have become an admirer of the maturity of the sincere worker with clay, and I envy the options of the modern potter." In addition to graceful writing and rich detail, The Potter's Art offers readers an abundance of photos depicting the villages, artists, and examples of pottery discussed therein. These photos make the book visually stunning as well as informative and inspirational. Readers of Glassie's other works will find here a familiar tone and approach. The author positions himself as the champion of artists who work enthusiastically within a culture, clinging to an existential authenticity that Glassie finds essential for true creation. The Potter's Art is a useful book that instructs through persuasive argument and sophisticated example. Michael Evans |
