NM 1976 News Article

Below is a transcription of a New Mexico news article from September 26th, 1976

The surroundings are an intrinsic part of what happens there, for Tom Dickerson is a craftsman of special order. He is a potter, and like the home he has built,  the pots that he makes are conceived of as “space,“ as containers. What is important is the Valium – – the inside should truly express the centers of gravity that exist within. “The parts are not even necessarily pretty “he says but in fact, they are very beautiful.
Tom Dickerson was never trained as a potter. He received his BA from the University of New Mexico and his MFA from Wichita State University and painting. He has worked with the museum of New Mexico and as a curator of traveling exhibitions for the museum of international folk art. It was only a few years ago that he began his “apprenticeship“ in pottery.

The ground is level and well packed. The buildings form a courtyard as their center. Wolf skins drape one of the work areas, and a fire is always burning. All is adobe and wood, flanked by more earth and trees. There is order and tranquility, a form and space at Tom Dickerson‘s home outside of Glorieta.

In the course of his professional studies, Tom discovered historic forms of pueblo pottery that had become obsolete. They intrigued him because they were “functional without self consciousness or or commercial concerns. Although his initial notion was to master the forms and go on to “make a new statement“, soon after he got involved, he realize that he needed and wanted to return to an older purity. He feels very strongly that he is still serving his apprenticeship, that he is still far from mastery.

One of his projects has been to discover a certain black glaze that was given up around the time of the pueblo rebellion in 1680. For 300 years prior to that, the black glaze had been very much in vogue. With the coming of the Spanish, it’s use died out.  The Indian produce did not pick it back up again and today it is generally considered to be too drizzly and shiny to make it worth the effort. Tom experiments with the glaze because it’s technological antiquity and natural beauty. He has given his recipe to the few Indian potters who are interested.

The technology that has been lost is what Tom hopes to regain. It is the tradition I have of this area that he wishes to work with. Without a master to guide him, he has had to find his own clays his own shapes his own colors. He must take up the clay from the surrounding area circuit, strain it and further prepare it before I can even begin. Then he handles the forms, refined the earth colors for slips and paints, and burnishes the surfaces. The pots are warmed on the wood-burning stove and then fired in the obit using Wood and Dung for fuel.
There are problems that arise from this purest method. The clay is not a very high-quality and does not take the glossy glazes well. On the other hand, the clay fires hard and gives out of itself functionalism. Shape takes precedent, then, over decoration. Open-firing which uses wood and dung is less precise and controlled than with gas or oil. But that, too, can’t be appreciated the pots have a gift that fire gives them. 
There is a philosophy behind all of this which tantalizes the predominant views held on crafts and artistic expression. The concern of this Potter  is to be a craftsman, not a “artist“.  Crafts, as he sees it, Are going through their death throes as a result of the struggle to be considered “fine arts “.  Tom further believes that the time has come in artistic freedom where, “We can choose our own masters. If I want to choose anonymous Indian woman of the 1700s as my masters, that’s my privilege“. Persons can now choose their own artistic heritage.
“ in New Mexico, it’s a fallacious idea that you can live off the land – – you have to live with it.“ His home and his work speak of that commitment. He does not intend to get rich off of his pots and is aware that his work has a limited appeal. His greatest investment is the time and love that goes into his pottery. The subtlety of shape, intricacy of simple design and richness of the earths colors tell a lot about their Creator. 
Tom Dickerson is a teacher and a student by nature. He pioneers into lost traditions to learn and passes his knowledge onto those who care to listen. He currently lectures in the department of performing arts at the College of Santa Fe. The rest of the time he makes pottery at La Cueva Mountain pottery, which is his home.

As a part of the Southwest collaborative’s summer programs, Tom offered two weeklong workshops in July. His intention was to take students through all the steps involved in making the traditional south west earthenware.  Every aspect of the training involves technique, superimposed on a reverence  for and appreciation of the intangibles involved.“I hope the pieces that I make not have enough energy and life that they will give people a pleasure. They might even make people think about the possibility of pottery as a form.”
They should also inspire contemplation of the interrelationship of the creator and the object, the beauties of utility from an older tradition of technology, and the joys of choosing a heritage. There is a lot to be learned from Tom Dickerson and a lot to be learned from his pots.