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THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1964 GEORGIA BULLETIN PAGE
ANCIENT SKILLS
♦ *8 *
Trappist Pottery Display
At Our Lady’s Monastery
Clay was perhaps one of the
first gifts of the earty that man
was able to appreciate and make
both beautiful and useful. It con
tinues to be so right up to the
present day providing as it does
a protective shield to the rock
ets of outer space travel. In its
simpler uses it is not so “out
er space,” and has in the Chris
tian era seemed a material well
suited to monastic industries,
and recently became so at the
Monastery of Our Lady of the
Holy Ghost when someone gave
them a kiln. Thus thrown into
the current they taught themsel
ves the art of pottery.
Teaching themselves seems
to be a tradition with them:
There is really nothing that
should be considered impossi
ble.” Perhaps this is true, for
what, after all, seems more im
possible than becoming a Saint
and yet that is exactly what we
are all supposed to become.
MEANWHILE back at the kiln
a lot of “pots” had to be
ruined before they learned
enough right ways to make it
all worthwhile. Edison had once
remarked something about hav
ing learned one thousand and
one ways not to make rubber out
of goldenrod. Things were not
quite that hectic. There were
enough pleasant surprises to
make it exciting and there con
tinues to be.
Ceramics have generally suf
fered from over-refinement in
the raw materials used since
this industrial age got under
way. When the monotony of this
manufactured look began to
wear on aesthetic tastes, na
tural impurities (also refined)
were often added in hopes of
regaining the down to earth
look. You can hardly get more
down to earth than good old Geor
gia clay and that is what the
works are using, with even the
grass roots sometimes remain
ing in it and burning out when
the pottery is being fired, leav
ing marks as natural as those
left in fossilized rocks.
ONCE -WHEN one of the monks
was trying to find a suitable
clay, he asked a local potter
where he had obtained the clay
he was using. “From your prop
erty,” was the unexpected an
swer. But that was at the time
of bulldozing for the first lake
and already there has been the
building and completion of a
second lake. Maybe the third
which is in the offing will pro
vide the monastery with the clay
as local as local can be. At
least the Department of Agri
culture's prognostication is
coming closer to being realized
when it answered the late Dom
Robert's inquiry as to what the
soil was good for with the re
ply, "...for making bricks.”
tery on the wheel with the help
of Professor Dick Palmer at
Georgia State in Atlanta, it was
almost simultaneously learn
ed how difficult it is to make a
financial go of such studio work.
As a result single pieces were
designed and then taken to a lo
cal potter whose years of prac
tice make it possible for him to
turn out a great quantity which,
after an initial firing called
“bisque firing,” was brought
back to the monastery, then
glazed and further decorated
and fired in the monastery kiln
at much higher temperatures,
sometimes reaching twenty-
four hundred degrees farenheit.
In this way the desirable quali
ties of completely handmade
work was assured.
BEFORE THIS, however, there
was a long search in learning
the rather secretive process of
glazing. Valuable formulas are
not just handed out by those who
have gained them through years
of work and expense. Even if
they were, each hand built kiln
would produce different results
on the same glaze and so there
are few short cuts. Even each
firing in the same kiln has its
difference and this enhances
the ware for each piece comes
out "an individual,” especially
since each area in the kiln is a
little different in heat intensity.
similar to a thin layer of glass
adhering to the clay body, but
much harder due to the alumina
which is lacking in the compo
sition of glass. In China, glaze
was first discovered by noticing
how the bricks in the kiln near
est the fire had a slick coating
due to the ashes from the fire;
and so a mixture of watery clay
and ashes was made and a coat
ing painted on the pieces before
firing. This may still be done but
many other elements are used
now in place of ashes; lead,
borzx feldspar to name a few.
The dry ingredients are care
fully weighed, mixed with water
and then dipped, painted or
sprayed onto the pottery. Often
in appearance it resembles
whitewash; but due to metal
oxides and carbonates, it will
turn various colors when fir
ed. Our local Georgia clay will
also have a great effect on the
color because of its high iron
content. This is all to the good
for it tones down harsh shades
and gives them a warm earthy
touch with variations of tone
as most natural things have.
THE NEXT commodities need
ed in the new industry were cus
After learning to make pot- In composition a glaze is
TRAPPIST monk practicing ancient pottery skill.
FROM COUNCIL
Pope Tells World It Can Expect Liberty Statement
VATICAN CITY — (NC) Pope
Paul VI has assured the world
that it "can legitimately ex
pect” a statement on religious
freedom from the Second Vati
can Council.
The council's declaration, he
said, "will be of far-reach
ing importance not only for
the Church but for all those—
and they are innumerable—who
feel themselves affected by an
authorized declaration on this
subject.”
THE POPE’S prediction
came at the end of a speech on
freedom of information deliv
ered to participants in a United
Nations
Ject.
seminar on that sub-
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The Pope said the Church is
now engrossed in the subject
of freedom of religion, which he
characterized as "somewhat
different but not without affin
ity” with freedom of informa
tion.’
RECALLING that the council
has been dealing with problem
of religious freedom, he said;
"One legitimately can expect
the promulgation of a text on
this point.”
The Pope devoted all but the
second to last paragraph of his
French - language speech to
freedom of information.
"IT IS QUITE evident—there
is scarcely need to point this
out—that the problem of infor
mation presents itself in a man
ner very different indeed from
what it was in past centuries,”
the Pontiff said.
"In formation by this time is
unanimously recognized as a
‘universal, involable and in
alienable” right of modern
man.”
HE RECALLED the saying of
John XXlII’s encyclical, Pacem
in Terris: "Every human being
has the right to objective in
formation.”
Pope Paul emphasized that
since this right is based on the
very nature of man a procla
mation of theory is insuffic
ient.
"ONE MUST also recognize
it in practice, defend it, and
so direct its exercise that it
remains faithful to its natural
purpose,” he added.
The Pope characterized the
right to information as "at once
active and passive.” Its active
aspect, he said, is "the seek
ing of information” and its
passive aspect is "the possi
bility for all to obtain it.”
IN STATING this Pope Paul
appeared to go a step further
than the council’s decree on
mass media, which fonfined it
self to stating that "men have
IN NEW YORK
a right to information.” This
decree had run into criticism
for omitting mention of any duty
to make information accessible
to those whose Job it is to pub
lish it.
Pope Paul recalled Pius XII’s
words to a group of American
Journalists: "Your profession
renders an inestimable service
to society.”
POPE PAUL said that from
this very purpose of informa
tion—"to help man to shoulder
better his destiny and that of
the human community”—flow
the moral laws which both
Pope Paul Honors
Cardinal Spellman
NEW YORK (NC) — Paolo
Cardinal Marella, papal legate
to the opening (April 19) of
the Vatican Pavilion at the New
York World’s Fair, brought a
gift from Pope Paul VI to Fran
cis Cardinal Spellman of New
York.
The gift, a precious clasp
that belonged to Pope Pius XII,
was a reminder of the close
friendship that existed between
Cardinal Spellman and the late
Pontiff.
ON THE BACK of the clasp,
Pope Paul had inscribed a mes
sage stating that it was a gift
from him to Cardinal Spellman
to mark the 25th anniversary
of the latter’s appointment as
Archbishop of New York. The
Cardinal was named to head the
New York See by Pius Xii on
April 15, 1939.
The clasp, made of gold en
crusted with precious stones,
was among Pius XII’s most
valuable possessions. It was
designed for use with a cope,
a long cape-like vestment worn
at most religious services be
sides the Mass.
tomers. These didn't seem to be
as numerous as the budding pot
tery, but now that people have
seen it on sale at Rich's they
are amazed to find that it has
been on sale at the monastery
for almost two years without
their having noticed it sand
wiched in among all of Brother
Hugh’s many items in the gift
shop. It is also on sale at St.
Joseph’s Gift Shop at the hos
pital and at the Auto Museum
Gift Shop at Stone Mountain. It
was recently displayed at the
Dixie Flower and Garden Show
at the Merchandise Mart where
Mr. Ed Contad generously do
nated space. Mrs. Ayers was
the first customer and still
uses it in her flower business
and Harper's Flowers were the
second customer and likewise
use it in some of their arrange
ments. In all, the customers are
fast catching up with production.
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govern the spread of informa
tion and guarantee its healthy
exercise.
Information must "above
all” be truthful, he said.
"NO ONE, therefore, has the
right knowingly to propagate in
formation that is erroneous or
presented under a light that
twists its real meaning. Nor has
anyone the right to choose his
information in an arbitrary
way, spreading only what
follows the thrust of his opin
ions and passing over the rest
in silence
"IT is not sufficient that in
formation be objective. It must,
beyond that, know how to impose
on itself limits required by a
higher good. It must, for ex
ample, know how to respect the
right of others to their good
reputation and to stop short be
fore the legitimate secret of
their private life. What brea
ches of these two duties to
day l”
HE ASKED: "Who would dare
maintain that all information of
whatever sort is equally bene
ficial or inoffensive, always and
for all kinds of people? Think,
for example, of that especially
sensitive and vulnerable group,
youth 1
"That is to say the limits
which the very dignity of in
formation demands for is
exercise, not at all by pro
hibitions arbitrarily imposed
from without, but in virtue of
the requirements of its noble
social mission.”
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