Little 'uns

I just thought I'd let you know I have a show of tiny new works opening next week at Pomme Gallery on the Mornington Peninsula on the 4th of April. There are espresso cups, blossom vases, forest fungi pieces all in a tiny, collectable, delectable size!

Also part of this show are fellow Queenslanders (and wonderful ceramicists) Kenji Uranshi and Mel Robson.

Breaking out

If there are any "Strange Fragments" readers out there who are parents of young children (or old children), who have busy and often boring commitments to others, who find themselves walking through a myriad of day to day tasks in a dream with their brains frantically thinking "I must get down to the studio." Carole Epp's inspiring story of how she created her latest work for exhibition is for you.

Carole was invited to be part of a group exhibition and started trying to break out of her usual modes of three-dimensional expression, she took inspiration from the works of the other artists involved in the show. Carole says the resulting works are "more a beginning than any attempt at an end" and that her practice has been "shaken up". I admire this so much. Working and living is time-consuming mind-consuming stuff. Creatively it is very difficult and scary breaking out of your patterns and making really new, innovative work.

Carole's exciting new work

Our own lives

My Poppy jug and beakers at Cairns Regional Gallery

I love doing this blog but it is time-consuming (sometimes thinking of something intelligent to say is a real effort!) I do it for a couple of reasons, the first is that I really believe that artists and ceramicists in particular don't tell the wider world clearly enough what we really do. I want people to have a greater insight into the artistic process, most particularly how entwined the process of inspiration and making is in everyday life. Also I think many people in Australia think of art as a "hobby". Through this blog I want to illuminate the work of an artist, the day to day organization and show that thinking of wonderful ideas is just the tip of the iceberg.

The other main reason I write the blog is for our obscure little corner of the art world. I think if you can speak you should. Being and artist is a lonely profession, especially if you live in the country. We need to talk more amongst ourselves. Question each other, examine each other's work. I find there is often a reluctance to engage in discussion about the arts bureaucracy, competitions, others people's work, govt funding etc and really believe that a lively community full of discussion and disagreement makes us all stronger. Many potters feel that if they "criticize" something they are damaging our chances as a community of getting more funding or, being negative. I think the insidious pressure not to speak about our own art, our own jobs and our own lives is way more damaging.

Ceramics Review Blog

Teabowl by Emmanuel Cooper
I've just discovered a fantastic new blog. It is written by Emmanuel Cooper and associated with the covetable British magazine Ceramic Review. Full of great observations about ceramics in the world of modern art, with a couple of recipes thrown into the mix this will become a regular on my reading list.

PS.I just thought I'd mention for readers new to the blog scene..... when you see text in a different colour on a blog this is actually a link through to the subject the author is writing about. So if you click on the word "blog" in the first line of this entry you'll get whisked through to the Ceramic Review blog.

essential and inspirational

Forest Fungi- little pots 7 cm high 3 cm wide.

This week I'll be back in the the new deluxe studio....... I can't wait. The importance of making pots to me is hard to describe. I wouldn't be so melodramatic as to claim it is My Life but...it's more like walking, cooking, gardening, looking out the window. A necessary quiet, everyday thing, essential and inspirational.


Nests series 2

gardening, cooking, growing old, collecting, making, ceramics, clouds, weather and art

New nests just out of the kiln at "Planet" in Sydney

"The most powerful leaders are those who have nothing to gain. That is, what they are doing is not for self-interest, but for principle. The most powerful artists, I suspect, are those who simply must live that life where art is the purpose of life and life is the purpose of art because there is no separation or distinction between their art and life."pp.8
Richard Jacobs from "Searching for Beauty- letters from a collector to a studio potter"

This quote is from an extraordinary book that came into my hands a couple of months ago. It is a series of letters written by academic, art lover and collector of ceramics Richard Jacobs to contemporary American potter Christa Assad.


Jug byChrista Assad

What Richard is doing with these letters is addressing a sweep of themes across collecting and making art using the abstract device of sending letters to a real potter. Christa did receive these letters but, in fact, never replied to them. Here is what Richard writes about this:
"But the letters were written for the generic reader who might be interested in the arts; the questions posed to Christa were questions that I hoped would be valuable for any reader to consider. I sent the letters to many potters and friends and they were circulated and passed on to many interested people."

These questions are interesting, not just as a maker but also as a valuable insight into the dedicated collector. The concerns that collectors have differ from the concerns of a maker. We exist in symbiosis but rarely cross paths and it is rarer still for the collector and the artist to engage in intellectual discussion of motivations, process and shared passions. This fascinating book encompasses gardening, cooking, growing old, collecting, making, ceramics, clouds, weather and art.


Jugs by Christa Assad

It is exciting that such an esoteric, personal reflection on the nature of our business should be published.