Quote #8

Since the Subversive Clay conference all I have wanted to do is devour any kind of craft writing I can lay my hands on. I guess it got me thinking. I have ordered many of the books mentioned by presenters and am eagerly checking the post box each day to see if any have arrived. 

In the meantime I have once again picked up Lucie Rie: Modernist Potter by Emmanuel Cooper. Readers of this blog will know I had rather a shock when I received this book a while back so I tucked it away for a few months to compose myself. I am now thoroughly enjoying reading it. Nearly every chapter reveals similarities in our work approach and thinking. I must admit I nearly cried when reading the first sentence of chapter one...  "Lucie Rie Gomperz was born on 16 March"... my birth date also... freaky. However there is something validating in the similarities and Cooper has an eloquent way of expressing many thoughts that muddle about in the recesses of my mind. 

Lucie Rie in 1988

Photograph: Tony Evans/Timelapse Library Ltd/Getty Images

I feel I may be recording a number of quotations in the months to come. So to begin, a note to self...

"Throughout her working life, Lucie never sought to make things as cheaply as possible or to reach a mass market, knowing that there was a limit to the quantities she could produce. The pots she made were labour intensive, carefully thrown with precisely turned bases and meticulously applied glazes  They were sophisticated in both concept and making, aimed at an educated, appreciative market that was specialist rather than popular, and their relatively high prices, as far as Lucie was concerned, was a fair reflection of their value."                     

Lucie Rie: Modernist Potter by Emmanuel Cooper p.72