Abstract:
Craft is the act of perfected attention, absolute skill, with which the maker brings her/his
rhythms to bear on the means, whether material or words, that will bring out, find out the
form. Craft enables the object to do exactly what it wants to do whether it be pot or a
poem or both. When we willfully – with our senses and our intellect – transform that
which is essentially ephemeral, temporal, and transitory by giving it form, we enter the
state of art, the state of poetry. (Page 13.)
Rose Slivka, The Object as Poet on the occasion of an exhibition at the Renwick Gallery
December 15, 1976 – June 26, 1977
The art-craft dialectic, and its concerns with developing oppositions and defining
intentions (in which time, process, and material became a common denominator in
determining the value of both) has obfuscated a poetic and metaphysical notion of craft.
By investigating the filmmaker/ potter James Whitney (1921-1982) as a case study in
how notions of converging artistic pursuits were conceived around expanding interests in
artistic techniques, mysticism and perception, this paper identifies how inherent in craft,
and its language at the time, was a connectivity and relatability that invited appropriation
and interpretation. The meaning of process was two-fold for Whitney: learning how to
make pottery and how the direct experience of making craft affected oneself. He found
spiritual and artistic commonalities with potters like M.C. Richards who strove to
synthesize her understanding, personal experience, and cross-genre methodologies in her
work. More so, Whitney’s own practice as a filmmaker, and his varying interests topics
like alchemy and perception become part of Whitney’s own potting.
Whitney focused his creativity on pottery after he made his most-celebrated film
Lapis (1963-1966). His shift to crafting tea bowls, Raku pots, and expressive ceramics, in
Los Angeles in the 1960s and 70s, is more than a biographical anecdote. This paper
examines Whitney’s stated reasons for making pottery, how other contemporaries had
considered his decision, and elements of his film Dwija (1973), which is identified as
being created with his own experiences with studio craft in mind.
