Ginger vase

[Mark Sanger]

I thank you everybody for this nice conversation.
Regards.

The thanks goes to you. These types of treads I very much enjoy as it challenges the way I think, this thread has made me look again at this subject in greater depth and that has to be a good thing.

When I started turning I waited for a long time to have a flash of inspiration strike me as indeed I thought it would out of no where like a lightening strike. It was not until many years later of making that a few small embers started to burn in my grey matter and I realised that inspiration does not, at least for me, come as a bolt out of the blue but is a slow drip drip from previous exposure. As I highlighted earlier most of my work if not all is derivative so if we look at this then it can not be original. 'Unique' may be to me in design but of original concept no.

This got me thinking last night, if this is the case, that even if there is even a infinitesimal connection some where from some time with our ideas, and thus the work we produce from those ideas, can anything indeed be 'Original'.  Umm got me thinking.

I appreciate that this may be taking it to the extreme and is possibly not relevant in or work on a daily basis, as I say most of what I if not all is derivative and I am never going to be rich from turning, it just got me thinking that's all and as I say that is a good thing 

That ties in with 'Unique' which is slightly different, I think  and the clarification between the two is something I will muse over for a while.

So, Thank you Sevilla for getting me thinking and I hope you raise some more thought provoking threads in the near future , and show some more of your work.

[Nick Simpson]

Ooooh.............I like this.

This is the good Kardomah and frothy coffee stuff of my teens.

Surely originality is a matter of context. It is the point at which an apparent step change in thinking or action occurs. It is completely dependant upon historical events.

Does the artist have complete freedom to develop ideas and form?
Neuroscience is telling us that the unconscious mind is the driver of all actions; that the hand moves to perform an action before the conscious mind is aware that the movement is taking place. It follows that only previous experience lodged in the unconscious can determine what we do or are about to do.

Einstein did not produce his theory of relativity without rather a lot of dreary mathematics followed by an insight (probably unconscious) into how to tidy it up. The originality came from the ability to use items from the past to make sense of the present (and indeed the future).

We should delight in the ability of some people to combine items from the past into beautiful words, forms or visions. Our desire to codify their efforts (golden rules etc.) may serve to block the development of the content of our subconscious minds .

A thought:  If the lathe had been developed 6000 years ago then we might be carping that the ceramicists are copying our forms and ideas.

My name is not pseudonymic. But pseudoscience is all around us.

Great thread............Nick
 

[fuzzyturns]

I've stayed away so far from this debate, but now I do have to say a few words (yes, George, the other know-it-all is at it again!  ).

Neuroscience is telling us that the unconscious mind is the driver of all actions; that the hand moves to perform an action before the conscious mind is aware that the movement is taking place. It follows that only previous experience lodged in the unconscious can determine what we do or are about to do.

If this were true, we would be complete slaves to our unconscious, essentially animals, with no free will to decide on anything. However, (admittedly by our own definition in the absence of any other judges on the subject) we are not animals, and we do possess free will. Therefore it follows that although the fine motor control in the arm may be subconscious, the overall action of the arm is dictated by the will of the mover.

I will admit that the totality of experiences during our lifetime has a dramatic, deep, often unconscious, influence on what we perceive as ugly or beautiful, and that much of what we do is a repetition or extension of these experiences. But all of us are capable to (every now and then) jump over the edge of our bowl (pardon the pun, fully deliberate) and do something "outside of the box". In fact, this is something that can (and should) be practised. The results are generally surprising.

[GBF]

I think I am very lucky because I am thick and haven't got a clue what you are all on about.

Regards George

[Les Symonds]

I think I am very lucky because I am thick and haven't got a clue what you are all on about.

Regards George

....that's what we all like about you, George!
Les

[GBF]

 

[John D Smith]

 Hi George (GBF)
                        I think I will join your club(GOM) I have read everything in this thread several times (sad) and I still do not understand all of this I am glad we have a lot of clever members on this Forum I might need to use some of their knowledge on day.Good Luck everyone.

                                                  Regards John