Points of Departure

摘要

In his far-reaching book Material Culture and Mass Consumption (1987), Daniel Miller draws on a range of perspectives from the fields of cognitive psychology and psychoanalytic theory (in particular the works of Piaget, Klein and Winnicott) to make a case for the special importance of artefacts in our attempts to make sense of the world. Miller points out that, in the early stages of a child's development -from the time of infancy to imaginative pre-school play - ante-facts can be observed as the essential means for expressing personal feelings and desires. Then, as a consequence of the pressures of socialisation, language takes over as the primary organising principle. He suggests, however; that '...as language strengthens its hold on consciousness ... objects may retain their place in the ordering of the unconscious world'.I mention this because I have been struck by the fact that many ceramists I know speak of having first discovered the pleasures of creative making in childhood, subsequently pursuing an unrelated career path before following an impulse to return to clay as a means of self-expression. Steve Buck is one. It was while working as a French language teacher during the 1970s that he found himself irresistibly attracted by the opportunity to work after-hours in the school's pottery workshop. From there he went on to study on the Harrow Studio Pottery Course, graduating in 1981.