what about the the three-quarters of everyday life that we don’t pay attention to
I define myself more as a historian of design material culture or contemporary craft more than an art historian
in many cases I’m talking to artists who often view manufacturing with contempt or like oh well that’s that’s okay that’s just everyday life
I love factory art – I’m not asking you to convert or be you know change religions I’m just asking you for for a little more love for the world around you
so this was the factory worker not as a kind of miserable person who doesn’t like drudgery but actually who could discuss with me how, oh you know, when he first got the job after five he thought he knew it all but then after 12 months he thought no he wasn’t so skilled actually and he realized after four years that really he had learned so much more and in some ways it repeats the old adage of it takes seven years to serve an apprenticeship before you’re actually skilled
the first person to ever have a kind of professorship in art history John Ruskin
they absolutely said plaster casts are mechanical they reduce people to mere operators they’re not skilled artisans they’re not definitely not artists
the failure rate is still quite enormous because the material like ceramics or glass is actually kind of fickle and has a life of its own
this is still craft to me you know to know the molds; to actually test the clay every morning think how is this going to behave today; how do I have to adjust my work
