Saturday, August 7, 2004

Olympic Functional Pottery (lack of) Awards, cont'- Would the judges know good functional/ergonomic design if they saw it? Jeroen Bechtold is an industrial designer who has designed teapots and vases (pretty utilitarian stuff.)  He also has a more fine art bent with light skyscrapers. Emidio Galassi is doing sculptural, architectural, pieces. Jindra Vokova does sculptural, figurative, as well ones based on functional ceramics. Maro Kerassioti at least does figurative/abstract work.  At least the one piece I found on the Internet. Of Drosaki Eleutheria, I am not sure as I could not find a piece on the Internet. I have few (no) examples of some of the judges work so it is hard to tell what there expertise is in.  Looking at their work, I think that at least some of them understood the needs of good ergonomic/functional design.  (More likely they all did, as I doubt they would allow judges of lesser caliber in such an event.) Further, since the judging was by slides/photo, it takes a bit more understanding of pottery to 'guess' as how well the items function ergonomically.  The artists submitted their pieces in either the "Ceramics for Use" or "Ceramics for Expression" category, as well as include an artist statement.  Thus, the artist is able to give addtional information to the judge outside the image of the piece.  (As well as a Curriculum Vitae.)  This would help the judges somewhat in understanding what the piece would be  "in real life." I think the judges knew what they were doing and look a pretty bold move in not awarding gold nor silver.  More power to them! 10:06:57 PM