Searching for Beauty
Critical Acclaim
Review by Jane Hamlyn - Ceramic Review
'..his questions deal with ideas and concepts which should concern us all, as potters and as people. they are challenging difficult and sometimes unanswerable questions about skill, amateurism, prices, state support, collecting, modernism, aesthetic experience, fame, criticism, post-moderism, feminism, tradition, innovation, democracy, Abu Ghraib and 'the dark side of the human species'....He can be erudite, exasperating, endearing, elegiac, self-mocking and sometimes hilarious....this admirable book could become a cult classic.' Read the complete Review
Review by Helen Bevis - Ceramics Monthly
'Perhaps the most striking letter is number 29, where he takes in torture techniques used in Iraq, a Harvard professor of aesthetics, Soetsu Yanagi, Edmund de Waal and news that "Letters to a Young Potter" was selected for a conference program. It is a mind blowing ramble…. There are many rich threads to this book. There is a beauty in ideas, the beauty of a worldly observation; the beauty of self-referential humor, derision and burgeoning comprehension. 'Searching for Beauty' works on many levels, as one man's odyssey to understand the strands of his life; as a guide to understanding a collector's mind or even simply as an eclectic guide to ceramic literature. The range is intriguing, frustrating, eye-opening and crazy; much like us all. It is a haunting book that demands reading and re-reading of selected passages.' Read the complete Review
Review by Andrea Vinkovic. (PYRE - Ceramic Arts Association of Western Australia)
'By making the letters public, the writer and the recipient are creating an inspiring and very personal gift to all potters, makers, craft people and by extension to all of us that share the values and aesthetic of hand-made. I feel richer for the experience and will return to the book many times, sometimes to take comfort in Jacobs profound understanding of my struggles, sometimes in search of contemplative insights he provides, and sometimes for the inspiration and strength his words lend me in the moments of doubt.'Read the complete Review
