Just wanted to add an acknowledgement, that since my last post Frank Lloyd Gallery responed to my query about Cindy Kolodziejski’s work and were very helpful. So, many thanks to the staff there!

I’ve been pondering about this piece by Cindy Kolodziejski:

"Clapping Monkey", 2000 by Cindy Kolodziejski

The image of this piece is a link from the “Contemporaries” part of the California Community Foundation website. Kolodziejski was one of their grant recipients. I love this piece because of the trompe l’oeil reflection – it creates a notional space for the object to exist in – and the viewer becomes a clapping monkey in this alternate universe(!)

What I’m curious about though is what is on the other side? Does anyone know? Kolodziejski often sets up a narrative in her work by painting two seperate but conceptually linked images on each face of her piece. The handle and spout would serve as a dividing line. I can’t find an image of the other side of this piece on the internet and I can’t get in touch with the artist. She doesn’t have a website. At the moment she’s represented by Frank Lloyd Gallery, but they haven’t responded as yet to my enquiry and it’s been a while since I asked.

I’m thinking maybe I should call them… Anyway, if anyone can enlighten me, I would be most greatful.

In our ceramics reading group led by Dr. Patsy Hely at the ANU SOA, we talked about a chapter from Richard Sennett’s book “The Craftsman”. I found this reading fascinating, as I thought anyone interested in the working process and the idea of craftsman- or craftswomanship might. (Sennett says that the ending -man in the title refers to human – as in our species – as opposed to denoting gender).

Here it is, now available in paperback on Amazon UK.

Sennett is a sociologist and as such refers to many sociological studies in the text, but also to philosophical and psychological sources. He was a student of the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who in turn was a student of Martin Heidegger.

“The Craftsman” is written in a very clear, flowing and readable format, maybe due to the author also being a public intellectual, and well practiced in speaking and presenting concepts without being needlessly obscure or verbose. In the book Sennett explores what it means to be a craftsperson.  As examples he cites not just artists but people from across all fields (including computer programming and the NHS) who like to do work well for its own sake and who combine – in his words -  “hand and head” and “problem solving with problem finding”. He leads an insightful discussion about what inspires people to take pride in their work and how this affects the economy as well as the individual’s feeling of self worth, what shapes larger society’s views and reactions to craftspersonship, and why this type of work is unique and valuable to society.

Richard Sennett has a very good website which you will find a link to here. He also was interviewed on BBC4, together with Turner Prize winning ceramic artist Grayson Perry on a program titled “Thinking Allowed”. The interview aired in February 2008 and is no longer available on the BBC4 website, but here is a link to it on Richard Sennett’s website.