Discourse and Decoration

While reading this essay, I caught myself thinking back to when I took art history 111 about ancient to medieval art history. I was trying to remember certain ceramic pieces that our class had gone over during the course. I remember certain Greek amphora shapes, but this is honestly all I could conjure up. Because of this, I found myself agreeing completely with Greenhalgh and his ideas. Ceramics as a history really don’t have a major or even minor presence. The art knowledge I acquired growing up really stuck with the famous artists of their media. Primarily, I could recognize famous paintings, painters by their works, sculptors, and even some drawings. The downfall is that I don’t have any knowledge of ceramic artists or famous ceramic pieces. Ceramics as a whole doesn’t fall under other media forms because of the many movements and important changes that have occurred.

I love Greenhaulgh’s reference to thread and beads, because this is the truth. The ceramics art needs to be brought out into mainstream teachings and histories, therefore beginning a historical content and knowledge to students and the public alike. At this point, ceramics is my chosen medium and I would feel so much more connected with my art if I knew the history behind the movements and pieces that I make on a daily basis. I want there to be a background for future ceramicists and a common appreciation of ceramics as a true art form.