Juror's Statement: John Glick 2005

As I looked at the 980 slides submitted to the Thirteenth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National exhibition, I was encouraged to see both sound craftsmanship and the sense of exploration alive in many of the submissions. After 50 years of looking closely at ceramics and over 40 years of making and critiquing my own work, it's still fun and energizing for me to see the investigative spirit in our vigorous clay movement in 2005. It has been a privilege to be the juror for this exhibit.

Toward the end of my three weeks of intermittent slide viewing, I contacted Jean Lehman and tried some well-intentioned arm twisting, explaining that I now had pared down to my "final choices" of 135 pots. Once again she gently explained the realities to me - available space, etc. Rededicating myself to the task, I undertook the most painful phase of the process, which required culling out many more pieces in order to create a realistic exhibit for the display space.

Artists, thank you for your efforts and obvious energy. Clearly, quite remarkable work is being done, and it's always an honor to see and respond to a cross-section of creative voices in the ceramics field. Because I wanted to include worthy pieces by the greatest possible number of artists, my process was made particularly difficult. In eight instances I would have preferred to include two or even three pieces by a single artist, but that didn't seem consistent with the goal of a broadly representative exhibition. (Being human, I did make two exceptions.)

Issues about the degree and meaning of "function" quickly became a matter of focus. Using teapots as an example, some pieces which might have been included were ultimately rejected because the tips of the spouts were too low for the liquid level of a full pot. In other words, where the clear intention was "use me," I was quite particular. On the other hand, in many cases I was looser in my interpretation of "function" -where it served issues of humor, playfulness, or the sheer joy of expression. And candidly, I was disappointed to see only a few submissions in the dinnerware category.

In Art&Fear, Bayles and Orland write about artists who wish to make things "perfectly." Apparently the photographer, Ansel Adams, often referred to this old adage: " The perfect is the enemy of the good." It struck me that as potters, rather than seeking perfection, we can instead seek the spark that compels our spirits and hands to investigate this present body of work, and then the next - and the next. What emerges is richly informed by our passion, and the reward becomes both the journey and the work.

Thank you for the opportunity to be engaged with this Thirteenth Annual Strictly Functional Pottery National, and with the many journeys already underway.

John Glick

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