HISTORIC CRAFT OBJECTS; NON-HISTORIC MATERIALS

Henry James Crissman and Virginia Rose Torrence graduated from Alfred University in 2015 and took their MFA degrees with them to start grown up life in Detroit.  Henry was hired to lead the ceramics department in a small liberal arts college and Virginia found her niche in studio ceramics with a few adjunct faculty jobs thrown in.

Virginia Rose Torrence, Untitled Mosaic, 48"x69"

Remember that old adage about “best laid plans?” The college abandoned its ceramic program and Henry was without a regular paycheck. Now what?

“What” is this couples’ search for creative routes toward a full-filling way to live in a challenging neighborhood, in a depressed city, in a stressed physical environment without my generation’s requirement - financial security. Here are routes they are exploring.

Teapot form

Virginia built rather ugly sculptural work at Alfred interspersed with (snooze alert) “utilitarian sculpture.” (Please spare me from ever seeing another “teapot form!”) But in her new studio spaces, she noticed the bins of discards and throw aways. She began retrieving junk from which to build collages. (Didn’t we all do that few years ago -  making mosaic backsplashes and picture frames out of broken china?)

Her mosaics took on added dimension when she began incorporating junk - real junk! - into the ceramic mix: leaves, wood shards, orange peel, odd cast offs picked up along her daily routes. To preserve the organic pieces, she turned to resin as the grout for these super tiles. The resin gives the illusion of looking through cataract lenses. (Virginia describes the effect as “looking through water.” I like my analogy better.)

Will these constructions survive or will the organic bits begin to rot out? I doubt that Virginia knows. Not much in our world is eternal - why should we expect that of art? 

Detail, ceramic mosaic with ½ lemon, resin grout

Henry, meanwhile, built himself a wood fired kiln in the yard of his pottery place and decided to produce  utilitarian tableware - plates and cups and bowls. He set off to blaze new trails that trace back to William Morris “Arts and Crafts” Movement, the dignity of handmade.

North End Pottery

With an NCECA grant in hand, Henry’s first aim was to seduce his impoverished North End Detroit neighborhood. He passed word to announce the firings and invited neighbors to participate in loading, stoking and unloading the kiln; the firings became “people events.” Each piece of pottery was stamped “Made In the North End” and each piece was sold for $1 each but only to neighbors, people who lived within 1 mile of the pottery. 

I don’t know if using hand made dinnerware changed any lives. I’m pretty sure that a few schemers found ways to circumvent the residency requirement - there are always abusers. Clearly, this system required financial subsidy.

But Dang! What a cool project! During my lifetime, I’ve witnessed and been part of the “Turn Inward - Me Generation - Explore the World Within” years. It’s time for change and the change seems to be the age of socially engaged art projects. Our planet cries for compassion. The multiple strands of society must be knit together. 

Artists can be Cassandras warning of the breakdown of our physical and social climate -  a legitimate and honorable role.  But they are uniquely qualified to explore and show us alternative options.  

The rest of us are required to pay attention.  

Tableware made for neighborhood restaurant

LIAR! LIAR! PANTS ON FIRE!

FAKE!  FAKE!  FAKE! 

The art world nearly invented fakery - paintings signed by “the master” when any of his ( always “his”) apprentices actually did the work, blank pieces of paper slipped in front of demented artists (I’m thinking of Salvador Dali) to sign as his originals for later-prints that he never actually saw, copies of copies of copies passed off through the years as originals, often hanging in prestigious museums.  

A few years back, the FBI closed down an art scheme here in Rochester that made national news. An art teacher bought a 15 year old ho-hum neighborhood art gallery.  With the “history” of a mature gallery to lend credentials, he sold “master prints” on line (complete with documents attesting to authenticity). He was the printmaker, was convicted of fraud and spent jail time (but he kept the money.)

With sophisticated technology today, fakery is more advanced, and I was recently hooked into one of the newest frauds.  When a friend, a retired artist and art teacher, recommended a newly released documentary touting the discovery of ancient sculpture, I nestled into my comfy chair for  90 minutes of spell-binding art adventure.

The documentary turned out to be a very cleverly produced “mockumentary” - a completely made up story, fabricated and financed by conceptual artist Damien Hirst. (Remember him? His ‘sculptures” - animals suspended in formaldehyde? He sold all his art at auction to raise money for this project.) 

Called “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable,” the film recorded the adventure of a deep sea diving crew as it followed up on a lead and sailed off the coast of eastern Africa in search of a  treasury of artifacts lost during the reign of Nero.

Quite an elaborate back story accompanied the discovery and tension builds when the divers report that not only have they found nearly 100 pieces of marble and bronze sculpture but a trove of gold castings as well (with a gold coin stamped with NERO to verify age.)

detail of full human figure with claw feet

Using a huge crane, they manage to bring up even the largest pieces, wash them down without removing attached barnacles and coral, transport the load back to Venice, find a willing and appropriate exhibition venue and there it all sits….magnificently installed…looking for all the world like ancient artifacts…except for the Mickey Mouse character…and all the buxom women…one wearing knickers…and that beautiful, colorful coral that managed to stay intact…and the lost ship’s name Cif Amotan II - anagram: I am fiction.

O.K., I admit, it was fun to watch and marvel at “how are they going to bring that tonnage to the surface?” I also admit there were small clues along the way that sent me to investigate the “real story.”  One: who owns ancient artifacts? Surely not some weird conceptual artist! Since when does one person - an artist at that - bankroll such a venture? And if this is all from the 1st century a.d., how many huge museums - and governments -  would fight for the privilege of exhibiting? And oh, by the way, if this stuff has been underwater that long, doesn’t it nearly disintegrate upon reaching open air and sunshine?

Lapis Lazuli with barnacles

So now what to make of all this? Should we innocent viewers feel … stupid?…inadequate?…suckered?…for falling for this elaborate “art?” Are we maybe ticked off that conceptual art has once again made us feel this way? how many “insiders” got the joke?  why are we all “outsiders” when it comes to art? how does this further art/empathy or art/cultural awareness? What exactly is Damien Hirst up to with all this? 

I might have felt better about it all with a tasteful disclaimer somewhere during the film’s credit scroll. It was fun to watch but…I’m still flummoxed.

How about you?