'Vessels of Life' documents Lombok earthenware

'Vessels of Life' documents Lombok earthenware

By Diana Darling

LOMBOK, West Nusa Tenggara (JP): Most people who still have to
carry water on their heads prefer to use a lightweight plastic
bucket that costs a dollar rather than an earthenware vessel that
costs three.

This was part of the dilemma faced by the Sasak potters of
Lombok a decade ago, when economic hardship forced these artisans
to live from a craft that was becoming obsolete. Only a few
connoisseurs were aware of Lombok pottery and the traditions
behind this quietly noble form of domestic art. Now, even as
Lombok pottery gains recognition among international collectors,
it faces new challenges of commercialism.

This story is given a human face -- indeed many beautiful
human faces -- in the new book Vessels of Life by Jean McKinnon,
published by Saritaksu Design Communication of Denpasar.

The Sasak potters of Lombok are women, practicing a craft that
has been handed down from mother to daughter for longer than
anyone can remember, possibly for over a thousand years. Pottery
shards dated from the fourth century A.D. have been excavated in
South Lombok. Relief panels at Borobudur show women forming pots
and men carrying clay on shoulder poles, scenes that differ from
present-day Lombok only in the hairstyles and the absence of
wristwatches.

Vessels of Life is probably the first and is certainly the
definitive study of the forms, techniques and cultural context of
Sasak potter. It is also a beautiful and unusually coherent book.
The author -- an artist in her own right and uniquely qualified
for the task by her years of collaboration with the Sasak potter
-- has illustrated the text with her own photographs, many of
which are superb. The writing is balanced and clear; and
McKinnon's sympathy with the pottery, the people, and the
elementary power of the earth is luminously apparent without ever
becoming a subject in itself.

The structure of the book moves with the logic of a single
sentence. It begins in a dreamy way and moves gently through the
world of rural Sasak village life, introducing the reader into
people's houses and finally to the pots themselves -- the warm
belly of the book. McKinnon identifies five main types of
traditional pots, all associated with water and rice. She
illustrates the pots both singly, as purely aesthetic objects,
and in the context of their domestic and ritual uses. She also
provides a generous survey of local variations in forms,
techniques and terms.

The next chapter shows master craftswomen forming pots in the
three major techniques -- paddling, assembling, and building with
coils -- a section so lucidly documented that it is like watching
a film. One is stuck at once by the leanness of the technology
and the dexterity of the artisans, who achieve perfect roundness
without the mechanical aid of a wheel. Best of all, with the
appearance of this book, the artisans are no longer anonymous.
They are presented here as individuals, with names and their own
special expertise.

The production process climaxes in the firing. The traditional
method, tenunuk lendang (firing in the garden), looks a bit like
the one most people use for burning trash. McKinnon shows us how
very difficult it is. In passing, she points out stages in the
process where potters are forced by economic pressures of time to
make technical compromises -- a point that becomes relevant in
the concluding section of the book.

In the final chapter, Potter, Tourists and Traders, a quick
historical sketch traces the evolution of threats to Sasak craft
traditions: colonization; agricultural hardship; the erosion of
adat; and the introduction of cheap utensils of metal and
plastic. In response to this, the Indonesia-New Zealand Lombok
Crafts Project -- a bilateral collaboration between the two
governments -- was devised to help the Lombok potters develop an
export trade by improving quality and building market
relationships. (McKinnon is modest. One must read the jacket
cover to learn that she managed this program for its initial
three-and-a-half years).

Besides teaching management skills, the New Zealand advisors
introduced a few technical and design innovations based on Sasak
traditions. The success of this project has transformed the local
economy of several traditional pottery villages, bringing general
prosperity and a much-deserved respectability to the artisans.

McKinnon is clear-eyed, however, about the danger that this
commercial success holds for the integrity of the craft. She
acknowledges that aesthetics are subject to the rule that
whatever sells is good, and she does not shirk from showing some
harsh examples of new tourist wares. She also points out that
"within the network of artisans, trades and middlemen, it is
invariably the artisans who fare least well."

Hope, she suggests, lies in the diffusion of understanding of
this art and its origins. Thus the importance of this book.

Sarita J. Newson, the New Zealand-born Indonesian owner of
Saritaksu Design Communication, has been involved in the Lombok
Crafts Project since she worked with McKinnon to create its
promotional materials. Newson settled in Bali, married and took
Indonesian citizenship 24 years ago. Saritaksu is a design
company specializing in corporate communications in the visual
arts field. Vessel of Life is Saritaksu's first book.

The book was officially launched in Jakarta yesterday at the
residence of the New Zealand Ambassador to Indonesia Tim Groser.