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Matt Long shows us how to make mugs with movement in today's Video Tip of the Week.
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August 1, 2008
Video Tip of the Week: Matt Long - Making Mugs with Movement
by Matt Long | Read Comments (7)
I had the good fortune to be one of Matt Long’s students when he was in graduate school at Ohio University. Sadly, I only had one class with him because I happened to take it the quarter I graduated. But, that one class had an impact on me. I really identified with Matt's philosophy on making pots and that is probably why clay has been a big part of my life ever since (ceramics was not my major, although it would have been had I taken the class earlier!). Matt is one of those gifted educators who really impacts his students both because he is an excellent instructor and because of his genuine enthusiasm for what he does.
Today’s video is an excerpt from Matt Long: Vessels for Victory, a full-length instructional DVD (available in the Ceramic Arts Daily Bookstore). This clip gives you an idea of Matt’s teaching style and a glimpse into why he has chosen the noble (though not necessarily lucrative) profession of making pots. It also shows you how to make some sweet little mugs! –Jennifer Harnetty, editor.Matt was featured in the January 2004 issue of Ceramics Monthly. Below is an excerpt from that article. The entire article, which includes more images of Matt’s work, can be found in the
Ceramics Monthly Archive Vault.
From "Matt Long's Moments of Victory" by Glen R. Brown:“To be in the front of the cupboard, to be on the counter top, to be
set on a table where someone is having a conversation with someone they
care about: that matters more to me than making money or driving a
better car. Maybe my flasks get passed around at a family gathering to
celebrate the new year, an anniversary, or the birth of a child -
events that really define who we are.”
– Matt Long |
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Community is clearly one of the central themes in Long’s work. The principal forms that he has developed, in particular the martini glass and the whiskey flask, are designed less with an interest in pure utility than with a concern for their potential social role. In fact, the primary reward that he seeks for his efforts is the knowledge
that his work has been successfully integrated into someone’s life, especially into that person’s interaction with others.
Establishing contact with others through the medium of a vessel is a process that one might easily characterize as expressive, as paralleling, in other words, the way in which artists are sometimes said to “speak” to the viewer through their work. Long, however, is less concerned with conveying a personal communication than with relating the general message that his vessels are produced through direct involvement of the human hand. While he professes no aversion to the products of modern technology, he believes that the handmade vessel adds an element of uniqueness to the experience of use that no mass-manufactured object can match. “I think that people sometimes confuse quality with convenience,” he explains. “I’m not after convenience, and I’m not trying to compete with industry. I only want to suggest that there are aspects of experience beyond what machine-made objects like paper cups or Tupperware pitchers can provide.”
Click here to read "Matt Long's Moments of Victory" in its entirety.
To see even more of Matt's work, visit his website,
www.fullvictory.com.