Kiwi Clay: Work shopping in New Zealand

The countdown has begun. In a little less than 16 days Ill make the 5826 mile trip to New Zealand. Living in China has afforded me the ability to travel to places that I never thought possible. I'm super excited to visit a country that is know for its hospitality, beauty, and amazing accent.

I will be teaching in Hamilton at the Waikato Society of Potters and in Wellington at the Wellington Potters Association. I plan to drive all over the North island during the two weeks I will be there. Ill fly into Auckland to visit an old friend and then start hostel hopping on my way down south.

Click here for more info about the Waikato Society of Potters workshop.
Click here for more info about the Wellington Potters Association workshop.




New Zealand's "All Blacks" are the best rugby team in the world. They prepare for every match by doing the Haka, which is a war dance from the indigenous Maori people. Imagine stepping out onto the pitch after seeing that.




The second image above is of Wellington. It appears courtesy of www.marktanner.com.

Happy New Year! - Holiday Tea and the White Elephant Exchange

2010 has passed. I feel like that statement should coincide with advertisements for hover cars or time shares on Mars. I had a great year with many changes that have not fully sunk in yet. Part of my great fortune has been meeting the amazing group of people that work at the Pottery Workshop Shanghai. 

We recently got together for a holiday party to celebrate the end of the year. We had an international potluck with sushi, chicken satay, and tasty home-made chicken wings. One of our studio renters performed a tea ceremony for all those in attendance. I have read many accounts of the ceremony but I had never participated until the party. It was great to see how a ceremony known for its quiet focus could be translated to a group of 20 people. We each took turns as Premala took us through the process of whisking the Matcha (powdered green tea), turning the bowl three times, and drinking the mixture in three quick sips. (For a better explanation of the ceremony click here or here) I appreciated Premala's willingness to teach us about the ceremony and its place in ceramic history.

The group picture above is with our White Elephant gifts. For those not familiar with this system of gift giving it is based on the idea that you can "steal" a gift from someone else at the party. At the party every person chose one pot out of our holiday sale based on a number they drew from a lottery. During the White Elephant, number two can take number one's gift, number three can take both one and two's gifts, and so on. With this system its best to be the final one to draw so you can pick from the largest group of objects. Once we got going it was fun to watch each persons excitement as they picked their pot. The best part was watching the early participants try to hide their pots so that no one could take them. We had a great time with lots of laughs. In the picture above we have students from China, Ireland, England, Denmark, Japan, Turkey, Canada and the US. One of my plans for our new studio space is to hang a small flag from every country where our students are from.

2011 will be a great year for the Pottery Workshop Shanghai. We will be moving to a newly remodeled studio this week. Ill post pictures of the new space as soon as we are in. Ill be traveling a large amount in the next few months and I look forward to posting more about that also. Happy New Year to everyone! Please come visit, China is fantastic.

Pots as far as the eye can see-Pt.2

It is very common to see carts of pots being pulled through the streets of Jingdezhen. They might be going from the pottery to the decorators, or from the decorators to the kilns. There are large gas car kilns spread through out the individual factories. (By factories I mean the pottery producing neighborhoods that have grown out of old state run factories. It is common to see families living above their workshops so these factories become small villages within the larger city.) The community kilns are rented by the cubic centimeter to individual artists/shops. After the pots are fired they are unloaded and wrapped in grass bundles to be transported to other parts of the city to sell.

One advantage of large scale commercial production is that glazes have been tested and retested to fit the clay bodies perfectly. You can buy a pristine Celedon that doesn't craze on the local porcelain. Copper reds, rutile blues, and crystalline matts are at your disposal for ridiculously cheap prices. The glazes are sold premixed in liquid form so that all you must do is apply them. If you wanted to be extra lazy you can hire a glaze person to come and glaze them for you. This highly specified division of labor allows international artists to come to Jingdezhen with designs and have them realized in a relatively small amount of time.

Pots as far as the eye can see-Pt.1

I am fascinated by the shear number of pots that are made in Jingdezhen, P.R.C. The unofficial numbers are that 40% of the local economy is ceramic based. (Thats roughly 400,000 people!) Some of these people are potters, some are decorators, some fire kilns, some process clay, and others are in the packing/shipping portion of the economy. The division of labor is very specific with each step of the process being handled by separate groups of workers. (To see an older post of throwers click here. To see decorators click here) While people hand throw a variety of forms most of the pots are slip cast. The images above are of a mold maker and a pair of slip casters. The day we visited pots were lined up down the edge of the train tracks. A train came through which surprisingly didn't cause enough vibrations to knock the pots over.

While the parents work the smaller children attend an open-air Kindergarden located on the same street. I had a great time playing peek-a-boo with the kids. The kids that look blurry in this image where my partners in crime. They would duck under their desks and giggle when I held my camera up. I had to hide behind the edge of the building so they would come out again. The teacher didn't seem to mind so I kept it up for about five minutes before we went on to see the rest of the potteries.

Turkish Ceramics at PWSSH and Jingdezhen Ceramic Fair

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.

Cake Plate at Table Manners-Lark and Key Gallery Charlotte NC

Lark and Key Gallery is hosting the invitational exhibit Table Manners until November 27th. This show centers around table ware and food presentation. Julie Wiggins and Amy Sanders curated the show and asked each artist to produce a plate, bowl and cup. They were very kind to allow me to send service ware. I was in between studios at the time of the invitation so I sent a cake plate and condiment tray. They wrote a beautiful statement that I copied below. When I first read that second paragraph I was nodding my head saying "right on". Its a good reminder that potters are bound by their appreciation for our community and the good meals that build that community. Click here to see images from the show. I particularly like Molly Hatch's set.

Functional Pottery For Your Table, A feast For Your Eyes.

Group pottery exhibit featuring functional pottery for the table. Curated by Lark & Key potters Julie Wiggins and Amy Sanders.  The exhibit aims to showcase a diverse collection of ceramic tableware and bring awareness to the hand-made in conjunction to the homemade.

Mealtime often revolves around rituals and routines; the use of hand-made plates, bowls and other tableware can enhance these events.  The care and love with which they have been made contributes to the joy of eating and provides a sense of connection and community with the artists that created them. The combination of homemade and handmade allows us to focus on the moment - the aromas, tastes and textures of the food along with the visual and tactile experience of the vessels in which it is being served.

Other potters include Jason Bohnert, Robert Briscoe, Ben Carter, Naomi Cleary,  Chandra Debuse, Susan Dewsnap, Amy Halko, Molly Hatch, Shawn Ireland, Nick Joerling, Linda Johnson, Suze Lindsay, Allison McGowan, Kent McLaughlin, Kelly O'Briant, Kristin Pavelka, Joe Pintz, Emily Reason, Elizabeth Robinson, Joe Singewald, Gay Smith and Lana Wilson.

The cake plate that I sent is similar to the one pictured above. I started to make that form in reference to my father's Apple Sauce Cake. This simple Christmas cake replaces the oil/butter with apple sauce. It adds a little extra sweetness to the raisins/cinnamon/flour combination and makes the cake really moist. He also makes our secret family recipe oatmeal cookies around Christmas. I'll be overseas this year so I hope to get both of these treats in a care package around December 23rd. (hint, hint...Dad I know you can get them through Chinese customs)

A little goes a long way- 2010 Orton Cone Box show

One of my vine tumblers was accepted into this years Orton Cone Box show. I had totally forgotten about it until one of my Twitter friends emailed me to say she bought the cup. I love how small our clay world is. Here is more info from the Lawrence Arts Center's spot on the show. It will also be on display at NCECA this year.

Lawrence Arts Center also has a clay symposium happening October 22-23rd. It features Linda Christensen, Matt Long, Julia Galloway, Mark Burns, David Hiltner, and Tom Bartel. That sounds like a fantastic group to hang out with for the weekend. For more info click here

The International ConeBox Show reaches every part of the world. The 287 pieces submitted for the 2010 show came from 11 countries, including 40 USA states and 3 Canadian provinces.
The 147 pieces selected for the show were chosen for creativity, humor, imagination, craftsmanship and aesthetic excellence in combination with the artist’s knowledge of the clay medium. It is often heard that making ceramic art to fit the 3x3x6 inch dimension of the Orton Cone Box and still have work with a presence is a challenge.
Since 1994, Inge G. Balch, Professor of Art at Baker University in Baldwin City Kansas, has been the curator of the show and the show became international. The ConeBox Show is generously supported by The Edward Orton Jr. Ceramic Foundation.
The high quality of the show is maintained by inviting national and international jurors, who are recognized in the field of ceramics, to jury the show. Jurors for the 2010 ConeBox Show were Peter Callas, Malcolm Davis and Inge G. Balch. Past jurors have represented USA, Australia, England, Japan, Cuba and Denmark.
During the nine bi-annual shows from 1994-2010, artists from 36 countries, all fifty USA states, Puerto Rico, Washington DC, eight Canadian provinces and US army personnel stationed in Germany have been part of the exhibition. The artists have made 3680 entries resulting in 6050 pieces of art work.
The ConeBox Show was started by Bill Bracker in 1975, while teaching at Perdue University, as a way to encourage and promote creativity and excellence in the ceramics art. The standard Orton Cone Box, 3x3x6 inches, was chosen as the size limitation for the pieces in the show. The show continued in 1977 and 1979 but lay dormant from 1979 to 1994.
Inge G. Balch

Best Foot Forward ends Monday the 27th- Bid online now

Jana Evans

Jane Shellenbarger

Gwendolyn Yoppollo

Charlie Cummings Gallery is hosting Best Foot Forward. This benefit goes to raise money to help Drew Johnson in his recovery from a motercycle accident. Drew has been an inspiration to the whole University of Florida ceramics family. His persistence and peace of mind through his recovery have been remarkable. I have never seen someone cope with tragedy in such a proactive and postive way. 

Many artists and clay companies donated goods for the auction. There are lots of great pots available for purchase. The auction ends tomorrow so bid while you still can.

Click Here to go to the website.

 
 "Best Foot Forward is a fund-raiser for University of Florida Ceramics major Drew Johnson begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting, a junior student who lost a foot in a motorcycle accident. He was hit by a driver who had no ability to pay, leaving Drew with large hospital bills. Drew has a wonderful can-do attitude, is a very promising student, and is now back at school.
Potters, sculptors and clay related businesses have generously donated 191 items to help raise money for Drew. Please show your support both for Drew and for the generous artists whose donations make this auction possible by bidding on items in this auction.
The auctions are divided into four groups that begin Tuesday, September 21st, and end in the evening on Monday, September 27th."

Tim Ludwig's beautiful pots

Tim Ludwig is a potter and educator from Deland Florida. I know of Tim through the students he taught at Volusa County High school. Their ceramics program always sent fantastic students to the Univ. of Florida. You can find more about Tim and his work in this months PMI. He has the cover article- Spontaneity and Control. The intro to the article states "Tim Ludwig uses an earthenware clay to make forms influenced by Peter Voulkos’s abstract expressionism, then he decorates them in the botanical illustrative style of the 18th century."

I'm a big fan of the way he frames his decoration with form. He creates two dimensional boundaries and then decorates just outside of their edges. The scale relationship gives the feeling that his flowers are going to jump off the pot. It is a really nice way to enliven scientific drawings that sometimes seem stiff when they are in books.

Flora at the Schaller Gallery

The Schaller Gallery is presenting Flora for the month of August. Images from top to bottom- Brenda Quinn, Daniel Ricardo Teran, Naomi Cleary, Stacy Snyder, and Ursula Hargans. (Click here for the full show)

Themed shows like this are great to show the breadth of work that is being produced by studio ceramicists . In every theme show there are a few artists that approached the concept in a unique way. Check out Daniel Ricardo Teran's Plate. Great composition with a fresh sgraffito drawing. Usually a mountaineer pulling a man's eye open with a grappling hook wouldn't fit into the Flora theme but it seems refreshing to me. I really enjoy the scale change and the vibrant color of Ursula Hargans' plate. I feel like those leaves are going to jump off the plate and brush against me.

The show was curated by Kyla Strid and features Linda Arbuckle, Kyle Carpenter, Victoria Christen, Naomi Cleary, Adam Field, Ursula Hargens, Molly Hatch, Richard Hensley, Cathi Jefferson, Forrest Lesch Middleton, Brenda Quinn, Phil Rogers, Stacy Snyder, Kyla Strid, Daniel Ricardo Teran, Ann Tubbs.

Garth Johnson's Extreme Craft & Magic Jing Bling

I just discovered that I never posted these images of the electroplated wonderfulness from Jingdezhen. The image above is one of Garth Johnson's teapots. Although this process is a family secret of one of Jingdezhen's local studios, Garth explained that the process is most likely electroplating of some type. You can take any object that is nonporous and have it covered with a completely even coat of gold or silver. When I saw the shiny pots peaking out from below the cloth I wanted to hold them like Golem holding the ring. Its Jingdezhen's version of bling.

If your not familiar with Garth's work you can check it out here. In Jingdezhen he was using western images to tell Chinese allegories. I enjoyed spending time with he and his wife Claire while they were working in the studio and visiting China. He also writes a fantastic blog called Extreme Craft. Check it out here. Its a must read for any craft fan. He has the best slogan for any website " A compendium of art masquerading as craft, craft masquerading as art & craft extending its middle finger."

Cheng, Gao, and Carter featured in Metro Shanghai: Global Times

The local press have been very friendly in the last few months. Here is an article from the Global Times: Metro Shanghai about my coworkers Gao Yifeng, Caroline Cheng, and myself. Click here to read the full text online.

It was great fun to explain the concepts behind my work to a Chinese reporter. It was a reminder that many art concepts are crafted to have meaning within their own culture. Concepts tend to be a slow accumulation of meaning that is culturally agreed upon over long periods of time. If you switch cultures much is lost in translation between the language barriers and the overall knowledge base of the observers. This can cause generalizations to take the place of subtlety. Ideas are minimized to their bare bones. I don't think this is a bad thing because it can be a great teaching tool. The quotes the reporter chose helped me to see what parts of my work she could relate too most. This is a good barometer for how many of my ideas are making it out of my head, through the pots, and too the viewer.

One of the best moments in the interview came when I was explaining that my pottery is a reaction to the hyper work ethic of American culture. (If you work 60 hrs a week it is good to have a physical reminder, i.e. handmade pottery that references unifying cultural symbols and communal gatherings, that you can still slow down to have a meal with your family.) She listened patiently but gave me this "so what" look. This might be because in Chinese culture the family unit remains closer than in the west. People still work 60 hours a week but when they get off they make it a priority to spend time with family. I was talking to a friend this weekend who explained that many people in her generation see their parents at least once a week, if not more, for a meal. She went on to say that she thought people in the west are independent from their families, where as individuals in the east are interdependent within their family. I think these differences and similarities are a rich area to mine for new ideas about functional pottery. I'll have to think more about how pottery serves people's needs within different cultures.

Nixi Pottery from Yunnan Provence

My recent trip to Jingdezhen coincided with an exhibition of Nixi pottery from the Yunnan Provence (Tibet). There were 10 Tibetan artists who accompanied NYC based ceramicist Kathy Erteman (Click Here for Kathy's site)  to Jingdezhen for a three week residency. She has been working with the group to enrich the production and marketing of the indigenous pottery of Nixi.

While in Jindezhen they used an electric wheel and modern metal trim tools for the first time. I went to visit them in the PWS Two Chimneys education center while they were working. It was funny to see them crowded around the wheels watching each other work. I take for granted that electric wheels are not universal for production potters. They were as excited as children at Christmas as they took turns practicing.
Right now they handbuild their forms and carve the details by hand.

The work on display was a rich black terracotta that was shaped into teapots, jars, and vases. The color comes from the open pit firing they use to finish their work. The forms and surfaces are reminiscent of the Maria Martinez lineage of potters that work in New Mexico. Its amazing that two cultures that had no connection share similar aesthetic preferences.

My favorite pots were the elevated side handle pitcher and lidded teapot. These two-part pieces include a container for holding hot coals and a suspended pouring vessel used to serve butter tea. The pouring vessels rest on three arms that rise above the rim of the larger pot. They are a nice mix of  negative and positive space. Some of the pots had pieces of white ceramics inlaid into their surfaces. These patterns of inlay created a sharp contrast to the pitch black clay body. The first two pictures above are these forms.

A quick internet search finds more information on this style of pottery. Click here to see a slide show.