The Pottery Workshop will been hosting an exhibition of contemporary Turkish ceramics for the month of November. The thirty four artists were chosen by Zehra Cobanli, the dean of the art faculty at Anadolu University, Iskeshir, Turkey. The work in the exhibition represents a large cross section of styles and techniques including saggar firing, salt firing, intricate slip casting, and traditional wheel throwing. Its great to see how much of this work relates to Turkish ceramic history.
I had the pleasure of hosting Zehra, Lale Demir Oransay, and Onur Mustak Cobanli for a week long trip through Jingdezhen and Shanghai. Our visit to Jingdezhen coincided with the International Ceramics Fair. The exhibits were somewhat lame from an art perspective but it was an interesting cultural event. Their were elaborate opening/closing ceremonies, a ceramic fashion show, and every kind of blue and white porcelain you could imagine. It was presented like a trade show with hundreds of individual booths selling pots. There was one international exhibit that featured work from international artists, including a few sweet pots from American potter Mike Jabbur.
Our tour culminated with the opening of the exhibition in Shanghai. The reception was packed and we had many distinguished guests from the local Turkish community. The Consul General of Turkey, Murat Ulku, came and gave a nice talk about China/Turkey relations. Our director Caroline Cheng also spoke about silk road trade connections and their affect on ceramic design.
I hope to do a series of posts on the areas we toured in the near future. My favorites were the Longua Temple in Shanghai and the Sanbao ceramic village outside of Jingdezhen. I took hundreds of pictures so they will trickle out on the blog as a sort through them.
Ceramic fashion show? Whaaa?
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