This essay was first published in Ceramics Monthly June and I think it fits well in this blog because Mark Hewitt has been "Wrestling with Garth" for many years. I am a relative newcomer to Garth's writing, but Hewitt has been an avid reader of ceramics periodicals and journals for many years and has been an admirer of Garth's writing even when at odds with some of its content. In this essay he attempts to reclaim functional pottery from the critics who have dismissed it. Putting the Fun Back into Functional Pottery.
I am a maker of mugs, pitchers and plates, among other things. I do not want to make non-functional pots; I tried it once and I did not like it, neither the process nor the outcome. I am neither a ceramic artist nor a sculptor: I am a potter and I am proud. My pots are expressions of my individuality; they illuminate the world; they rage against it; they fascinate me with their myriad details.
My reasons for making pots are complicated and keep changing, but make them I do, and make them I will. My soul is at stake each time I squeeze eloquence out of dirt.
My mug is worth every penny of the asking price, though I would be quite willing to give half of the money to whomever sells it. My mugs are valuable beyond their monetary worth, because people tell me so - one customer even said that one of my mugs saved her life. She is sick and takes pills daily to keep her alive, and she sips water from my mug to swallow down her medicine. Other testimonials are equally moving. It is a direct and simple reward to know my aesthetic has touched her life.
I know I am not the only contemporary functional potter who has experienced this. Because of this intimacy, we let our guard down around pots, allowing them to convey ideas about aesthetics, function, and social issues. Through repeated use, pots can become habit-forming and comforting, creating memory for those using the pots. They are objects of service and conduits between people. These pots are independent of me; they are finding their own way and accumulating histories with various people, in various homes, in various places around the world.
