Invitations.........

This necklace is from "Revisiting the Australian Landscape - interpreting the landscape on an intimate scale"
Redland Art Gallery, Cleveland
Sunday 18 July – Sunday 15 August 2010
Opening Event 11am Sunday 18 July 2010

As you can see the fabulous Rebecca Ward is the feature artist on the invitation with one of the pieces she has developed for the Swamp Cartography project that we have been working on.

Here is another invitation........ I am in the "Teawares" show at the Jamfactory in Adelaide opening this Friday evening.

"Teawares
Selected Australian ceramic, metal and furniture designers
With a rich history of travel through trade, links to British imperialism, strong cultural significance through tea ceremonies and countless personal memories of grandmother’s scones and tea service, the enduring properties or tea have ensured its place as an important beverage within daily life. Tea is a fertile subject for investigation by writers and artists alike. Drawing on the real and the mythic, this stunning exhibition combines compelling contemporary tea wares in ceramic and metal in a setting of finely crafted furniture."
This should be a really interesting show as it includes metalwork and furniture.
Spoons by Anna Varendorf
Teaset by Kenji Uranishi

Seconds

The thought-provoking response to the previous post has led me once again to the difficult subject of "seconds". (Thanks Gerry and Sophie)

Tadashi NishibataTeabowl

I have read a variety of views on the subject of what to do with seconds, pieces that, for some reason, don't reach your standard. Brother Thomas Benzanson says that he has smashed 1000's of pots over the years, but in the same essay he emphasizes the importance of not smashing anything as soon as you open the kiln, but leave it to marinate for at least six months. Brother Thomas observes the curious phenomenon of the work that initially caused that sickening plunge of the heart when the kiln was opened becoming, gradually respected for it's own properties and not the imagined picture in the artist's head.

Kazu Yamada Black Seto

My partner, Trevor Hart played jazz trumpet in pubs and bars for years and when fans used to come up after the gig and compliment him he would scowl and point out where the music didn't meet his expectations. One night as he observed the fan's face fall and the enjoyment drain away and he realized that his expectations shouldn't affect others enjoyment of what they could hear. The music Trevor thought he should be playing shouldn't intrude upon the experience of the audience.

I struggle with seconds. So often someone has come to the studio and rummaged around at the back of the cupboard and come up triumphantly holding some old thing that I've been hanging on to because it was still functional and I couldn't bear the waste of throwing it away. That person has gone home with the pot as happy as a clam and I've often visited these people years later and seen the pot in use. Should I have smashed this pot? Just because I didn't like the look of it? What if it is still perfectly functional? The person who took it away loves it and uses it.

The accepted attitude is to be a "master craftsman" and smash all things that are not perfect. I wonder if this is a bizarre Western idea linked to the notions of masterpieces and genius. The very word masterpiece implies that there will be many, many other pieces in an ouevre that are not "master" pieces. I feel it is wasteful to throw away a finished pot, the product of numerous raw materials and a couple of firings, all non-renewable natural resources, because it is not perfect. In my experience perfection occurs rarely, skill and care with materials can produce perfectly beautiful pots that enhance the lives of those who use them.

Warped

I know I've mentioned this funny thing I'm on called "The Australian Ceramics Discussion List" before, and I know I've mentioned very funny, very wise potter Owen Rye before, but I can't help it. I live in the country and don't get out much, comments from the aforementioned sometimes make my day.

Recent discussions included a query about how to stop clay from warping. This is something that occurs quite a bit in my own work. Porcelain as an excellent "memory" and when thrown thinly and fired at high temperatures finds it's most comfortable position, often far from a perfect circle. I love this quality. When working on the wheel there is a tendency to arrogance, an uptight attitude regarding the amount of control you have over your materials. It's a funny thing that the wheel, this ancient, simple tool should encourage the modern potter to become obsessed with the aesthetics of industrialisation.
The obvious signs of the vagaries of making each piece individually, by hand are a natural part of handmade ware. The perfect circles and absolute uniformity of industrially produced wares are usually the effect of slip-cast ceramics made in a mold. To try and emulate this in the studio with the wheel is hubris and folly.

Here is what Owen Rye has to say about it.........
"I cannot say what causes clay memory - but my way of thinking is that most 'technical' questions are in reality questions about aesthetics - what is desirable and what is not. If imperfection is your aim, as it is mine, then 'memory' providing some distortion must be a good thing, regardless of how it happens. If white knuckle control (to quote Jack Troy) is your aim - then maybe you need to find materials that suit that. I prefer to find what the material wants and let it do that.
Sorry about the digression, no help in explaining clay memory - but a way around it. "

The wallum is wild and secretive

The process of making new art takes almost as long as the process of growing a flower. This is the second generation of the leptopspermums. The surface is very intriguing as the scratchy drawing is inlaid into the surface of the form and the veil of shiny glaze raindrops overlays the form. I'm playing with the idea of the surface of a ceramic piece being so absolute. The glaze drops reflect the light drawing the surrounding environment into the form and the most satisfying interaction of all is picking up these vessels the smoothroughshinysmoothscratchy-ness.

The wallum is a wild, secretive environment, full of detail and wonder I think pieces of work that capture the wallum should try to capture this.

Tips for fungi hunting.........

I have a new camera and it is perfect for my new hobby....fungi hunting! Here are some tips.
Start in Autumn, after rain

Keep your knees bent and centre of gravity low (this is also a good tip for hip-hop dancing should you ever want to rap about fungi with the guys in da 'hood)
Get your "fungi eyes" on. Once you start seeing them you'll see them everywhere.
Look around the roots of trees, on rotting stumps and under ferns..fungi pop up in the strangest places.
Expect weird and unusual shapes and beautiful colours.
These fungi are all from Stradbroke Island and the process of fungi hunting became totally addictive, the variety of these wonderful organisms is fascinating. The fungi we see aboveground is often only 10% of the entire organism. Fungi have no chlorophyll and feed by producing enzymes underground that break down complex molecules found in organic matter. As they exhaust the food supply the underground mycelium move further out. The actual fungi is the fruiting body of the organism known as the sporocarp, it's purpose is to disperse the microscopic spores which get carried by the wind far and wide to produce a new web of mycelium that will erupt with a sporocarp when the conditions are right. There are so many interesting fungi facts for instance :"All fungi need existing organic matter for their food. A fungus that feeds on dead organic matter is called a saprotroph and one that feeds on living organisms is a parasite. While there are species that are always parasitic and others that are always saprotrophic there are also those which may feed on either live or dead organic matter and so change from parasitic to saprotrophic behaviour (or vice versa), depending on what food sources are available. " Read more about fungi here.