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<n 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- ST. JOSEPH'S INFIRMARY SODA FOUNTAIN COFFEE SHOP AND RESTAURANT LOCATED NEXT TO GIFT SHOP ON MJUM FLOOR IN NEW BUILDING ATLANTA, GJL “PET.^you bet! H ‘5 (rerl | PET miuAmhm DAIRY DIVISION For Convenient Home Delivery In Atlanta Call 636-8677 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. Office Equipment Business Machines Sales-Service-Supplies fl”Ki. PHONE 525-6417 172 WHITEHALL STREET, S.W. ATLANTA 3, OEOROIA IGNATIUS HOUSE RETSfATS IV JESUIT PRIESTS W#ek«nd* For Men And Weekend* For Women 6700 Rlvertlde Drive N. W. 255-0503 Atlanta, Georgia 30328 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.” 9nU4Aance tit all iU jj&utu! Uli wAitten, we wsule it. Sutter & McleHan 1422 RHODES HAVERTY BLDG. JAckson 5-2086 WHERE INSURANCE IS A PROFESSION NOT A SIDELINE