Matthias Ostermann -1951-2009

Matthias Ostermann ceramcist, teacher and author died last week. Matthias Ostermann's contribution and to contemporary ceramic practice and philosophy was enormous. His books "The Ceramic Surface", "The New Maiolica: Contemporary Approaches to Color and Technique" and "The Ceramic Narrative" have introduced many artists to decorated ceramics. This is a field that is often seen as the superficial side of contemporary ceramics. Matthias Ostermann was committed to sharing and collating decorative approaches internationally. His other great publishing achievement was to publish "The Ceramic Narrative" (2006). This is a fascinating journey through contemporary approaches to storytelling using the ceramic medium.
Ostermann's final exhibition was held this year at Prime Gallery in Ontario. These beautiful sculptures continue Ostermann's explorations into in mythology and ceramic narrative and serve as a poignant reminder of what the ceramics community has lost.

Marek Cecula

I have started a blog for the Australian Ceramics Triennale so sometimes for the next couple of months the entries might crossover. Marek Cecula is a keynote speaker. His diverse output ranges from playful post-modern comment on the nature of contemporary ceramics and our interaction with objects through to amazing industrial design.

"ZIG ZAG TEAPOT 1
Extreme teapot where spout and handle make the most of the form and linear decor, stretching the limits of conventional tea serving. This strongly decorative design with links to art deco and modernistic architecture will guide you in creating a stylish environment."(from Marek Cecula's website)

One thing that is consistent over Marek Cecula's oeuvre is his irreverent approach to ceramics as a material.


These works entitled In Dust Real (2004)
"Select(ed) forms from various porcelain manufactures (which) were “burned again” in high temperature in traditional anagama wood fire kilns to achieve totally opposite condition from conventional industrial standards.
Destruction of classic pose and twist in appearance, breaks down established values and standards of a mass-product, as we know it, long hours of wood fire leaves marks of ash and fire on the industrial forms, transforming the classic porcelain into new original artwork." (from Marek Cecula's website)



This is my sort of post-modernism, the concepts are funny and have a slight edge of the absurd while the product is beautiful. Often with post-modern work the physical object is not well enough crafted to carry the idea. Although Marek Cecula's pieces play with (and take a totally irreverent approach to) ceramic materials I feel his connection to ceramics and enjoyment of surface comes through.

Marek Cecula will present a keynote address at 9 o'clock on Friday the 17th of July

strength to body and soul alike

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,


places to play and pray in,



where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.


John Muir, Our National Parks, 1901

day to day

In the new studio I think of being alone.....


The hours I used to spend alone, I don't know why but I felt really busy.

The building of the cheeserie/bathroom continues I can't wait until we are back in boring quiet rythms ,nothing new happening, getting, having tea, breakfast, the kids jumping on the trampoline, going to daycare and school and.......blissfully alone in the studio. Quiet grey walls looking out into the yard, a view broken only by the chickens wandering back and forth.

And pots appearing in that amazing process where apart from a pleasant muscle ache letting you know it was all hard work you'd swear they just arrived smelling of wet earth on the potting board, cool to touch and waiting.



COMPETITION!!!!!!!!
This wonderful animal has been wrongly named Madame Pompadour. Anyone who replies to this post with the title "I want a transvestite rooster" can win this useful prize!

Australian Ceramics Triennale

The First Australian Ceramics Triennale, is to be held in Sydney from 17-20 July 2009.

This exciting event attracts speakers and guests from arouind the world. The keynote presenters include American, Virgina Scotchie,


Japanese born artist working in the UK & China, Takeshi Yasuda,


Polish artist and designer Marek Cecula.

Kim Dickey from the US,


Akito Morino from Japan, Kim, Won Seok and Hae Sin Ro from Korea and Roger Law from the UK.

The Australian presenters include Tania Rollond,


Dr Damon Moon

and....myself!

I've been to a couple of these conferences before and they are really worth while. For four whole days it is nothing but ceramics, wonderful exhibitions, exciting presentations and on the more practical side, some very intriguing demonstrations of techniques.

There are still 2 weeks to go for the cheaper earlybird registration.

Individual $420
Full-time Students $240
Maybe I'll see you there.....

around in a circle

"The dawn is steel grey as I wake, the sun a pale smudge behind the clouds. Somehow the wind finds its way through every crack in this old house. I get up and light the wood stoves in the kitchen and studio. It will take a while for the house to warm up, so I let Mika and the children sleep on for a little while. Down in the studio I open the sliding door to the damp room and check the pots which I threw yesterday. Row upon row of bowls fill the shelves, the regular pattern of circle and curve, light and shadow beautiful in the diffused morning light. I touch their surface, applying gentle pressure to check how firm the clay has become overnight. Despite my efforts to seal this room from drafts in an attempt to control the drying of my work, this wind has nonetheless breached my defenses. The bowls I made yesterday morning are drying very fast. They are perfect for trimming now, the rest will be ideal by this afternoon. I cover the pots with sheets of plastic before I go to prepare breakfast."



These evocative words are from Australian born Japanese based potter Euan Craig. Euan has been deeply involved with creating pots for Japanese food and for the last few years has been working in collaboration with Japanese chef Touru Hashimoto from Toyoda in Nihombashi. Together they have created these beautiful dishes where the food and pots are in harmony , each enhancing the other. Euan has a great blog and a beautiful website (you'll have to get to it through Google I can't get the link to work. Sorry!) which includes some of his other essays, they are insightful and interesting. What I love most about Euan's style of writing (and the insight he gives into his domestic and creative life) is the link between being creative and having a family and all the love, eating, making, potting, firing, friends, eating, love, potting going around and around in a circle. It is a real privilege to be given such an eloquent insight into the intimate, creative process.

Wonder and Discovery

These mysterious objects are the sculptures of Avital Sheffer.

These vessels put me in mind of the sense of wonder and discovery you get from traveling to a new city and looking at the old buildings out of the bus window. Once you let your mind free on Avital's forms the layers of meaning keep revealing themselves in a process akin to archeaology, what at first seem like an contemporary anthropological vessels, shifts to reveal a sarcophagus, which in turn becomes an ancient religous artifact. I am not a fan of clever post-modernism but these forms utilize the playful aspects of the movement, overlaying meaning between the form and the surface in a beautiful, poetic way.



Avital has combined many references in these forms, their meaning constantly shifts from being a form about the body with delicate henna tattoo script, to invoking the ancient monuments of Avital's Middle- Eastern heritage. The "writing" adds another layer of mystery to the vessels as the intricate delicacy of the surface and grounded strength of the form play against each other. The use of the printing process is very interesting with it's associations of archaic texts, forgotten and dusty, newly uncovered from an ancient tomb.

Avital has a new website.