Clay as a finite element
Despite learning to throw in Georgia, USA and continuing my practice in Montreal, QC, I have only once used clay that was produced locally. My favorite clay, Lizella, is produced in Lizella, GA, a two hour drive away from the studio I learned how to throw at. Every other material that I use (and have used) in my practice comes from somewhere else across the globe. I learned how to throw on a mixture of stoneware called B-Mix and at times ventured to use porcelain. Porcelain mines are all over the planet, with a specific kind of porcelain, kaolin in high demand. A neglected kaolin mine in Brazil led to the white floods in nearby poor communities. Additionally, a study found that the soil around a kaolin mine was negatively altered while it was active. In addition to the environmental impacts brought on where kaolin is mined, the fact that kaolin must then be processed in a facility and then shipped across the world adds to the environmental weight of my practice.
The general mindset around pottery is that it’s an art form that promotes mindfulness, grounding, and generally therapeutic all while being “good” for the planet. Really, pottery is extremely extricative and not inherently sustainable. Though many potters have adjusted their practices to reduce waste, especially by recycling clay, doing so doesn't do much to offset or change clay mining practices.
When clay is seen as a resource, and pottery itself as the newest hobby to promote “mindfulness”, the ignorant narratives that gloss over any potential environmental impact are reinforced. If clay is viewed as the Earth itself and pottery is approached as an art form that takes part in extricative methods to make something beautiful, but that cannot be reabsorbed into the clay-cycle, only then we can begin to correct the narrative around pottery's impact on the Anthropocene.
(hack/undo)
This page has paths:
- Clay as narrative/law Evelyn Logan
- Of Cotton, Clay, and Water: A Black retelling of the Anthropocene narrative Evelyn Logan