Wednesday, August 4, 2004

Olympics and Pottery and Function- We looked at ceramics as an athletic (skills) competition, but there is the more traditional art competition based on aesthetics.  For the 2004 Olympic games the Greek Municipality of Amaroussion will be hosting the 1st European Ceramics Competition. "Disturbingly", the jurors did not find many truly functional ceramics that were well designed so THEY DID NOT AWARD GOLD NOR SILVER MEDALS! Most of the Functional Ceramic awards did go to things that at least refer to functional objects, teapots, bowls, etc...  But I guess they were not so much judged on how well they could actually be used. So what does it do to the meaning of a piece, such as Tsami Theodora's wall / plate piece (?), that wins a bronze in Functional Ceramics, when the field may not have been judged by the functional component?  How does one understand a piece that wins a 3rd place award in a competition, when 1st and 2nd were not given? 6:53:29 AM