There is more to art than meets the eye, especially when it comes to ceramics. You see, humans love symmetry, but our minds also are intrigued by imperfections. It is the mixture of the two in superior art pieces which makes it so - so pleasing that we must have it - or just can't take our eyes off of it. Okay so, let's talk shall we?
The other day, I was in Starbucks and I was talking to an art student who was studying for his ceramics class. As we got to talking he explained that his art instructor also got into material sciences, glad to see that I thought. Specifically the types of clay, the temperatures at which the clay was hardened, and the rotation speed of the device while the students were molding the clay. It turns out there is actually quite a bit of science when it comes to ceramics, and many people don't understand this. Personally, as the coordinator for a think tank, I am pleased to hear that his instructor was indeed focusing on the material science side of things.
We talked a little bit about the need for symmetry, the mathematical realities of nature, and how that was pleasing to the human eye, however if everything was symmetrically perfect, it would be a world that humans wouldn't care to live in. In other words, every tree of the same species would have branches coming out at the exact same angles and distances. Everything would look very methodical, robotic, and systematized to the point that it would be no fun at all. That's not a world that you or I care to live in, although perfection in our society is often honored nevertheless.
Still, there is a fine line between the perfect tempered Japanese samurai sword made to absolute perfection, showing the skill and craftsmanship as well as the honor of the individual who produced it - and that of a painting with slight imperfections, even accentuating the imperfections of nature. Both are intriguing, of value, and worthy of consideration. It is that area between perfection and imperfection where we find our minds in a most pleasing state.
Still, even a perfect ceramic pot with perhaps a slight imperfection to make it noteworthy, still has perhaps perfect molecular structure in its clay or perfection in the temperature variations used to create it. The process of producing art needs to be somewhat systematic to ensure quality, but the slight flaws in the actual artwork are also paramount in the same vein. It doesn't matter if you are working with metal, alloys, clay, wood, canvas, marble, or if you are writing text.
In the future artificial intelligence will use formulas to find the perfect sweet spot in the human mind capturing our emotional component in the vague gray area between perfection and imperfection, as it produces art which is pleasing to humans up and beyond what even the most intuitive artist might produce. Is there a formula for this? I believe there is, and I believe that formula varies by culture, and even individual human minds. Indeed, if you'd like to discuss this further, it has been a topic of conversation at our think tank.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Creativity Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/
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