Everyday Art

In my current work I hope to bridge the gap between craft and fine art and create objects which exist in both realms simultaneously. I propose it is the elements of ritual use and intimate contact unique to pottery which make it meaningful to the contemporary art world and our culture as a whole. Craft value and art value start to merge when "use" of an object is measured more by its social function and less by its practical nature as "tool." Pottery more fully becomes art when it functions to serve people and not just food. It can be both a "mere real thing" and a language about life. "The difference in the end between art and reality is less a difference in the kinds of things than in kinds of attitudes, and hence not a matter of what we relate to but how we relate to it" (Danto, 1981 p.22).&nbsp; I gained a greater clarity of my role as "artist" while struggling to understand the tools and materials needed to build the shelves. The shelves were not built for their own sake as "craft-object," but for a specific purpose as part of a larger work of art. In the gallery context, the shelves act much the same for dinnerware as conventional pedestals and frames act for sculpture and painting or as a stage functions in a theater. Additionally, the shelves graft or weave together the different objects into a single whole. The shelves thus function both as a convention of display and as an integral part of the whole piece.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p