Plastic!

Just as our ancestors found an ideal medium in their environment to transform ideas into physical, long-lasting legacies that provided a story for future generations, we too, have a medium that is representative of modern times. Plastic.

There are those who would argue that the fact that polymer clay is a plastic lessens its value as an art form. There are those who would argue that plastic is cheap - the stuff of children's toys. Let us, for a moment, examine that argument. Look around the room you are sitting in. I'd wager that you could easily name 20 items that are made entirely out of plastic or incorporate plastics in one form or another. From the computer that you're looking at, to the switch plate that it is plugged into. Telephones, light fixtures, appliances, floor and wall coverings, paints, pens, storage containers, credit cards, remote controls, and the list goes on and on. Plastics have become a constant, almost inescapable part of our daily lives. Plastics have also opened the door of possibility to technological advances that were hitherto unheard of.

One of the reasons why plastics are all around us is because they are extremely versatile. From bubble-gum machine toys to spacecraft, from acrylic nails to artificial limbs, from Tupperware to digital media storage devices, from plastic fruit to plastic explosives, the possibilities and applications are virtually endless! As we can see, by way of comparison, the relative value of plastic lies within the dynamism of its appositeness.

There are polarities and dualities existing everywhere. Just as the invention and circulation of clay tokens as a system of accounting led to great technological advances for our ancestors, it also had its disadvantages. The elite and those holding positions of power used the tokens to set control systems into place that forever changed the life of the average villager. Society changed from agrarian to bureaucratic. Ancient traditions, customs, and cyclical ways-of-life were lost to modernization, progress, and linear hierarchies.

It is the same with plastic. Just as plastics have given impetus for advancement and improvement in many aspects of modern existence, its propensity for reduplication and mass-production combined with society's apparent willingness to fecundate its convenience has resulted in exceedingly complex global dilemmas, namely catchpenny disposability.

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In the Summer 2006 issue of Polymer Cafe, on page 27, Natalia Garcia de Leaniz said:

"The main goal is to lift polymer clay up to the place it deserves among other, more established art materials. We strive to make the "it's just plastic" opinion disappear and show everyone that the art lies within the creation. This is one of the biggest and most motivating challenges we face everyday."

In the December 2000 issue of PCPolyzine, Debra Woodward asked Nan Roche, "...what is different now from when she first published her book in 1991?" She replied:

"There are dozens of books published now, [...] there is a wonderful heritage now, a community. There is so much innovation and excitement, and new people are recognizing what great possibilities there are for polymer clay. [...] Polymer clay is here to stay."

The following quote comes from a 2003 interview with Lisa Pavelka from the Los Angeles Review-Journal.

"It hasn't gotten the respect it deserves," Pavelka said, although she noted one polymer-clay artist recently was accepted into the Smithsonian Craft Show. She remembers one traditional sculptor who pointed out that polymer clay is essentially plastic.

"What they're working with," she said, "is dirt. I don't know how that makes them so much better than me." (emphasis mine)

James Lehman, epitomizing the essence of polymer clay, said:

"Polymer clay is not alive but it, and almost every other kind of plastic, is a human modified organic molecule made entirely of the-stuff-of-life."

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If our ancestors were able to develop systems of accounting and written language through earthen clay, if humans have used clay to build everything from beads to megaliths, if plastics have opened the technological floodgates of science and industry, and if polymers are everywhere - we could not ask for a more advanced, innovative, and apt modeling medium for modern times than plastic polymer clay!