CONTEMPORARY CRITERIA CONTINUED - by Kathleen Whatmough

The March issue of Tactile was kind enough to publish a short piece I
wrote entitled, "Contemporary Criteria in Pottery". It seemed to
affect quite a number of people in different ways. A few of these were
moved to object. Two, Bob Bozak whose protest was published in the
May issue, and Jack Sures, published in July, were basically on the
same ground; although there was some difference in the points made
and arguments offered, it seems to make sense to answer them jointly.
And I certainly do want to answer them.

The primary objection really appears to arise out of their desire to
retain the present criteria unchanged. This is understandable; excel-
lence and professional competence within a style or trend is hard to
develop and takes years, (An attachment for, and defence of, the status
quo is perfectly natural, But this does not guarantee the validity of the
status quo). The fact that a person displays excellence within the
framework of a particular set of criteria only proves that that person
is an excellent potter. If the criteria are inadequate then the pottery
produced will be of lesser ultimate worth than would otherwise have
been possible.

The key point which both objections share hinges upon the notion that
intuition is some sort of non-rational inspiration; which is, quite
Simply, wrong. Intuition is no mystery; the meaning, grounding and
validity of the term is well known and well defined both philosophically
and psychologically. Intuition is that form of rational comprehension
reached directly through experience, when confronting an observable
fact. This is to be contrasted with such awarenesses as require de-
duction or analysis for comprehension. Unfortunately, the word
intuition is often misused simply as a means of attempting to justify a
whimsy; in this context it is given a mystic connotation and is intended
to imply that rational evaluation should not be used in this particular
case, A whimsy is a determination of some sort, which cannot be
defended by any rational means. It is important to realize that
rationality is the criterion which distinguishes true intuition from
whimsy.