alison gayton

The title is extremely  provocative, clearly, and I confess to feeling baited, it’s even caused me to come out of my social media black out for a moment. First, read Bjorn Lomborg’s commentary “What I’d like to see this Earth Day is More Fracking” in the Globe and Mail, 2013, April 22nd. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/what-id-like-to-see-this-earth-day-more-fracking/article11449919/.

We can all admit that technologies worth their salt take time to research and they take investment to perpetuate this research. Currently, all the numbers on energy efficiency are stacked against solar, wind and tidal energy. Lomborg’s commentary brings this predicament into full sun.  But, of course these technologies are less efficient at this point; the infrastructure of this era has been built around and is totally reliant upon fossil fuels. What’s to say that this cannot (must) change? We came into this wealth of industry just 200 years ago.

It’s like talking about the cost of fossil fuel dependency to the environment is the elephant in the room. Under our current rubric, the resources of the planet are taken as quickly and (at best) efficiently as possible and sold (at best) to the  highest bidder. We are selling out our present at the cost of our future instead of investing in our future at the cost of the present.  I mean, yeah, the earth is going to give us the oil (for now) if we keep looking for it (the earth is our silent partner in all of this progress), but we should be smarter than that, considering the consequences of this dependency thus far.

Okay, let’s make  fracking and the use of fossil fuels more efficient. That should be among our top priorities, because they are not efficient enough to be  100% safe, and self sustaining. But guess what: they never will be. Fossil fuels will always require renewal (more mining, more refining). Lomborg rightfully sites the reduction of emissions as a positive shift, but what else is there to measure? How about the impact of fracking on fresh water supplies (just to start looking at the cost to the environment of this lower emission fossil fuel). Less emission is not enough. Investing solar and wind and tidal energy is what I consider realistic for our future. Yes, it takes a lot of energy and time and money now, and so what? The end result could be worth the wait. Imagine if New Brunswick spearheaded wind or tidal research (like we did with telecommunications) and came up with a design that revolutionized the way the whole world used energy. That can’t happen if we don’t put our resources in that direction.

Bringing up the false dichotomy of  either investing in alternative energy research like solar, wind and tidal, or sharpening up our fossil fuel extraction and refinement techniques makes me kittenish. It’s worse than on facebook when we are shown a picture of a fighter jet and it’s price versus the amount of money it takes to keep the CBC running (on par, coincidentally). People should not have to choose between domestic safety and free media. They are each essential for their own, separate reasons, and it cannot be said which is definitively more valuable than the other. Investing in fracking research versus solar energy research not like choosing one pair of shoes over another, it’s like choosing where you are going with those shoes.  Self sustaining energy is not a destination if we don’t invest in it. Our default setting is investing in fossil fuel efficiency for now; we are toeing the party line.

But really? My biggest problem with Lomborg’s article is this quote: “This Earth Day, we need a dose of realism about real environmental challenges – like the air and water pollution which make life so miserable for billions – and the real opportunities that exist for environmental innovation, to make our planet a better place”.  * Blush*. The use of  ’realism’ and ‘real opportunities’, given the content of the article leading up to this statement, is a little brazen. First, which definition of realism could one possibly mean when giving a commentary on which energy sources they’d like to see our government invest in for the future? There is no objective, universal good to using fossil fuels, there is no consensus among the everyday man that fossil fuels are the best way, and finally, a description of today’s use and availability of  energy sources  cannot define what the future use should be realistically. But, the consequence of not investing in research and development of alternative energy sources is universally really bad. Right?

So let’s look at this pragmatically: instead of defining our future by what we don’t want: emissions, oil spills, ground water pollution, let’s look at what we want for the world’s great-great-great grandchildren:  clean water, sustainable energy, and hope (among other things that people may or may not agree upon).

Read at this article:

Chief Medical Officer of Health’s
Recommendations Concerning Shale Gas
Development in New Brunswick

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/h-s/pdf/en/HealthyEnvironments/Recommendations_ShaleGasDevelopment.pdf

Do you feel reassured?

TLDR?

Why not ask the people YOU are paying to research fracking to make a their compelling data public. If there are realistic reasons why my government is not choosing to spearhead research into alternative energy resources, let’s hear it.

The Department of Health: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/contacts/dept_renderer.141.html

The Department of Environment: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/contacts/dept_renderer.139.html

The Department of Natural Resources: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/natural_resources/contacts/dept_renderer.604.html#contacts

I’ve been teaching a lot more than I have been producing, which is ok for now, but I really enjoy spending my days being physically present and silent with clay. I’ve talked with other teachers, mostly teachers of Yoga, who also say they do not get the same sense of personal progress within their practice while teaching. The book Quiet, by Susan Cain describes a state called Deliberate Practice. It’s my understanding that this is when we are in the flow, unaffected by the presence of others. Cain sites a study by Anders Ericsson* describing the differences in ability of a set of violinists at the Music Academy in West Berlin (pp. 80). They all practiced the same amount, but some were way better than the others. Why? Ericsson found the best group spent a greater proportion of their practice time alone. It is when we are alone doing our thing that we can most readily confront our own weaknesses and grow. At first I couldn’t see exactly why, because other people’s issues with the same trade/medium are instructive. But something about group thinking prevents some people from going fully into their flow (I call it ‘the zone’). It could be fear of judgment, could be overwhelming curiosity about others, and it could just be the distraction of the presence of another human.

At the moment I am in three classes (one is French) at St. Malachy’s High School through March – with the ‘Artsmarts’ program – thanks to Cara Cole’s work and for inviting me to be a part of it. We’ve been teaching grade ten students how to embellish clay book covers with relief sculpture and ceramic stains. Their books will contain answers to reality therapy based journal questions such as: Show a time you felt free to be yourself; show a time you felt loved and respected; show a time you felt powerful and strong; show a time you had a lot of fun; and finally: which of these is most important to your future and why?

None of these topics is definitively more important than any other, so there’s such a variety of answers. When asked to show a time they felt free to be themselves, some kids listed friends they hang with, others described the awesomeness of being all alone.

I ask the same questions to the 5 and 8 years old kids in my Art with Alison class. The things that are fun when you’re 7 are a little different than when you’re 15 or when you’re 35. The openness with which people provide this information depends on their relationship to the person who presented the question and whether they have to share that information with others.  In every case, I consider sharing optional. I do not wish to know anything about people that they do not wish to tell me. The point of the exercise is to self reflect deliberately in a way that one can refer to at a later time.

Say you’re 15 and you’re bored. If you were to look back at the ‘show a time you had fun’ sheet I gave you when you were 7, you might see that you drew a picture of yourself building a snowman, then do something about it. Say you’re 35 and feeling confined by all the pressures of your life and family and don’t remember the last time you felt free. You could look back at your journal and be reminded of what made you feel free in the past, then make it work for your present.

*Anders Ericsson’s work is used as a launching point for  Geoff Colvin’s book, Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. 

 Last night a student asked me which I prefer: throwing or painting. My teachers of painting were Rick Burns and Philip Iverson, so my approach gives a lot of grace to method of application and to the material itself. When I am throwing at the wheel I can’t dance around like Philip, which I’ve never gotten used to anyway. I like throwing like I like a fantastic grilled vegetable salad with no dressing, with a light, peaty single malt scotch (not sherry casked). I like painting on my pottery like how I like Birthday cake and ice cream, with a mochachinno (with whipped cream, a heavy sprinkling of nutmeg, and only one shot of chocolate-stirred at two critical stages). One cannot decide between these two things, they complete life. 

Because the screen is green on my phone, I take a fewer pictures of my process. but I recently posted this video of me making handles. I love making handles because it’s a little more musical. Here’s a video of that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhGln1Qnyg

The things I am glazing today (I was making in this video) will be available at my studio sale this  Dec 15th, Saturday at one until 6 at 244 Duke St WEST. 

I’ll have snacks and things for you as well as a clean studio. I’ll break an apple in half in front of you too, just for bragging rights.

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So, basically these days I make lots of things in my studio, which is very quiet because I am the only person there, most of the time. Sometimes I luck out and Joanna is there at her wheel, or a student comes up and helps me see clay in a new light. I’m making my winter line for for Handworks.

I teach classes at the Saint John Art Centre to children and to adults. In the kids class there are up to eleven students, and up to four in the adult classes. Both classes have things in common. I always start things off by sharing that my goal is to introduce any new things they would like to know, as well as improving areas were they need work. They help me know what the ambitions of the group are and then we make a plan to form the class structure. After all that we know one another well and then we establish the ‘cool rules’. I ask them – and it’s harder for grown ups to talk like this than it is for children- “what kind of environment do you need in the classroom in order for us to get all this work done?”

Most of the time someone reels in the usual suspects, like: raising one’s hand to share (more important in the larger class), only walking around in the room, only speaking positively about one another’s work, and leaving other people’s work be. That’s usually all they ask for and I write them down on a large sheet using only positive statements, like: walk only, use and inside voice, hands off others and their work. I refer to the rules as little as possible, but please remember that many of these kids can’t read yet.

Last group, the kids wanted to make small clay houses, among other things. Adorable.  So here is the list of things they determined were important to the construction of a clay house:

So I cut up the clay into bits for the home, the roof, the chimney, balconies and left a slab for the yard. They each used the clay differently and then painted them to the next level:

So, the big things I have seen turn my class room into a smoothly operating creativity mobile include: everyone talks positive about the work, no matter if it’s their own. Adults especially try and get away with saying that they find their work boring or that it’s ugly. The way that I indicate this is in violation of the cool rules is to say: “if you looked at my pottery and said that it was boring and ugly, that would hurt my feelings. So, we can’t do that here. Let’s find a way to talk about what your pieces need in order to inspire you.”

Maybe that sounds lame, but we all have to be jarred out of our mental tilt-a-whirls to see what’s really going on. I need that tremendously, since I spend so much time alone.  It’s easy to say small cruel things to ourselves, and get away with it, but it’s important to have a cool ruler inside who sticks up for and demands positive growth. I think it’s a little easier for me to enforce this in the classes because there’s a physical space and in that space, the cool rules are in effect. So, if things get totally out of hand I can say, “of course you can engage in negativity, once you’re all done here.”

I will say more about the adult classes soon. They’re a bit more complex and difficult to document, but probably more interesting for this crowd.

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Hello!

Here’s a link to a ceramic object of interest by Agnieszka Mazur:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/corezone/5200229

I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle a bit before writing about the conclusion of the 2012 Saint John Sculpture Symposium. The part of me that saw this project as a staycation thought to write: in a way it’s like I never left the city; but I didn’t leave the city – it just felt like I did. The Coast Guard site was an impromptu, ad hoc country with its own set of needs and its own structure – our sovereignty was in laying down lines, acquiring tools, removing stone, polishing, and clearing out space and time to support these artists so they could extract their inspiration from our granite.

First most asked question: “Will you be taking up stone carving?”

Perhaps being a potter has entrenched my philosophy of craft with a bold sense of utility. I would like to make a granite bathtub and then build a house around it. I would like to make some small animals, but most of the things I think of making out of stone, I could also make out of clay. My imagination peters out a little. It’s great that you don’t have to fire stone for it to last for 10,000 years. I think Phil Savage should take up stone carving, that’s for sure.

Second most asked question: “Are you glad it’s over, or do you miss it?”

If it’s possible for both to be true, then let’s have that. I’m glad the project was a success, but I am a person who thrives in intense scenarios, not in transitions. I’m most focused when I know I can work on a project until the essence is attained and elevated, in this case, we (the interns) were not as much a creative element as muscle and precision tools. So, it was more about performance, support, and troubleshooting than aesthetics, but I was relieved because seeing the potential in something so massive kind of hurt my brain in a good, expanding way. So yes, I am glad that I got to learn so much about tools, utilities, language, sunscreen, site maintenance, tools (again), safety, cranes & rigging, prognostication, music, popular movies, skinny jeans, cohabitation, food, and extroversion. I find all of it quite engaging and could have been with the project for longer. I’m also glad to be back behind the wheel because I need clay. I need my cat. I also need my community and my business and they need their alison. So here I am: a potter at your service.

I’ve been told it’s like I am leasing my pottery rather than selling it – and it’s true, I always want to see (have) them again. I’ve seen Asano’s piece ‘Sunshine and Night Time over Saint John’ installed at the entrance of Rockwood Park, but I’m going on a sculpture tour this Sunday to have a look at all the pieces in what’s now their natural habitat. On Saturday the 15^th, seeing them all without the manifold’s electrical wires, air, and water hoses felt risky somehow. It’s as though I wondered if they would be ok without these life lines. I know that’s irrational but this is coming from a person who does not particularly enjoy letting her creations go.

For the locals who worked on the Sculpture Saint John project: wasn’t it alarming to be here, and not see the faces we’ve seen every day for six weeks? But at least we have the sculptures to visit. Maybe the people who’ve returned to their homes miss the site and the sculptors, sculptures, volunteers and interns. We miss them and we are extremely grateful to have had this experience. Come visit!

Getting back to the grind: I’ve been completing the Sculpture Saint John mugs while I also prepare the Saint John Arts Centre’s first kiln for its first glaze firing, amid commissions, my productions for Handworks, and learning to cook again. It’s very quiet. I taught a really fantastic class on Saturday and that’s what this blog will be transitioning into: a place to reflect and share about how and what I teach in Art with Alison, Adult pottery classes,  what I do in my studio, what I do in the community.

I will be hosting an Empty Bowls (of soup) fundraiser on October 5^th at 6:30. Come to the Sanctuary Theatre (in the InterAction School of Performing Arts) on 228 Germain St, eat (amazing and hearty) soup,  listen to soothing music, and buy a bowl – the proceeds will go to Outflow, a group who provides food for Saint John’s people in need. For tickets, email: me@alisongayton.com.

The Harvesting the Arts Festival is that following Sunday (Oct 7^th), so please come and see me, so that I can give you some money to buy me some biscotti from the Queen Square Market. I will have new pottery at that time as well, and I don’t mind telling you it’s a bit of a departure from my typical line.

It was a false alarm, but we all gathered in the rain, then car. I grabbed my purse, quilt, and the mug I made in Montreal.

Sleep? Don’t mind if I do.

Last night we learned eachother’s national songs and the music popular in each region in 1981.
The night before my friend Adam Dickinson hosted a whiskey tasting.
The night before we watched ‘Hugo’.
Tonight we will visit my friends the Fleets and eat with them.

I am mostly introverted, but I find people fascinating. Living among (these well informed and dedicated) people has been very healing for me and I will miss it. I like eating together most of all.

Anne Hickey knew I would have a good time on Thursday (a little day trip to St. Andrews). I insisted all the way up until Wednesday that I must go to my studio and work on some ideas; I came to my senses.
Started reading a new book called ‘Quiet’, and chilled in Signe’s car until we reached the whale watching warf. I opted out because I start to feel famished the moment I get outside of town and the tour was three and a half hours long. I worried that they were hungry the whole time, so I bought crystallized ginger, gluten free scones, raw coconut butter truffles (oh.my.god), and some cured duck breast.
We went to Ken’s studio and saw how he turns stone on a lathe. He also showed us his (extensive) rock collection before we met up with the (successful and starving) whale watchers: Kingsbrae Gardens for a (scrumptious) lunch and a sculpture tour.
Their collection is pretty decked out, including a smattering of mediums and scales. It’s a gorgeous place too, quiet. Whenever I hear an air compressor or heavy machinery working or masonry saws, I feel the need to investigate. We all do, right?