Simon Levin is a regular contributor to Sawdust and Dirt. He lives and makes pots in Gresham, WI. When Simon is not making or firing pots, fighting fires, or caring for his lovely family, he is creating such wonders as WikiClay! To find out more about Simon Levin and his pottery go to woodfire.com. If you have questions for Simon he can be reached at simon@sawdustanddirt.com otherwise please leave comments for Simon here!See Simon's most recent work at AKAR beginning tomorrow, June 25th!
I thought I would take a moment away from answering the questions that flood my inbox, and use that time to draw your attention away from the namby-pamby narcissistic blather that you people call advice requests. There are larger issues that directly affect our ceramic world. More specifically I am referring to a conspiracy that has infested our field to a disturbing level and is so underground and subversive you may not even know it is there. I am talking about the Rabbit Conspiracy. Yes rabbits! Sculptural rabbits, slip trailed rabbits, scraffito rabbits, glazed rabbits. The use of rabbits in clay is spreading like.... well I am sure an analogy will present itself.
Perhaps you think I am crazy, well let me lay the facts before you and let reason, logic, and overwhelming evidence open your eyes. Look at the January 2010 issue of Ceramics Monthly, check out the ears front and center!
Or the cover of 500 Animals.
Many of the great artists of our time have fallen victim to the conspiracy, Ken Ferguson could barely handle the Rabbit influence.
His work soon began to succumb as the rabbits took over.
And if Ferguson's proliferation of rabbits is not proof enough, look at these current popular artists' examples.
beth cavener stichter
lesley hildreth
kelly connole
ron meyers
russell wrankle
I suspect Bernard Leach was the grand high rabbiteer at some point. Not only did he make work that looked like this,
but lets look a little deeper down the rabbit hole, shall we? His student, perhaps the foremost American potter is named after a den of rabbits. Warren Mackenzie. Too subtle, huh? The whole thing is insidious. Bernard strongly influenced popular ceramic author Robin Hopper. Are you starting to believe me yet? For heaven's sake my own graduate professor was named Bunny McBride. Are you all ears yet? Let's look at who is rising to the top of American pottery today, Ayumi Horie. Why? Perhaps because she is prolific in spreading rabbits around.
Unscramble Ayumi Horie's name and it spells "I IOU MY HARE". Think about it!
