NEW CERAMICS
NEW CERAMICS T h e E u rop e a n C e ra m i c s M a g a z i ne
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Galerie Marianne Heller presents Animal sculptures by Susan O´Byrne
“Five Sisters & a Family Tree”
12.Juli 13. September bis bis 1. 16.August 2009 2009 thNovember Eröffnung : Sonntag, Sonntag, 13. September, 12.Juli 11.30 Uhr11.30 - 18 Uhr
6th december 2015 – 17 january 2016 Opening hours: Tue - Fr 11.00 - 13.00 & 14.30 - 18.00 Sat 11.00 - 18.00
Galerie Marianne Heller Tel.: + 49 (0) 6221-6190 90 2 www.galerie-heller.de Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 2 www.galerie-heller.de Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage Stadtgarten
[email protected] Stadtgarten
[email protected] AmAm Heidelberg D-69117 Heidelberg Tel: + 49 (0) 6221-6190 90D-69117
NEW CERAMICS NEW CERAMICS
CONTENTS
1 / 2016
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NEWS
PROFILES
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Stephanie Marie Roos Daphne Corregan Angelika Lill-Pirrung Anima Roos Sandy Lockwood Walter A. Heufelder Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein / Hanna Charag-Zuntz
International
FORUM / EDUCATION 34 Laws of Change in Creativity Gustav Weiß EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS 36 Frechen Ceramics Award 2015 – Frechen 39 “Welcome to Japan – Stefan Jakob San” – Sasama 42 Kap-Sun Hwang and his students – Munich 43 Ken Mihara – Heidelberg / Tokio 44 CERAMIX – Maastricht 48 ”Stepping Up” – Ceramics Triennale – Canberra 52 International CHAWAN Expo – Hemiksem 54 LUAL Project – Manila 56 Flora & Fauna – Big Horn, Wyoming
“Wolf Child” 2014 53 x 24 x 29 cm p. 8 ff photo – Fotostudio Baumann1
Germany Japan Germany / Korea Germany / Japan Netherlands Australia Belgium Philippines USA
CERAMICS & TRAVEL Travelling in India – Rajasthan
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BOOKS
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IN STUDIO Ester Beck – Evelyne Schoenmann
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DATES / Exhibitions / Galleries / Museums Exhibition diary
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COURSES / SEMINARS / MARKETS International ADVERTISEMENTS International PREVIEW Information
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Art Philosophy
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COVER Stephanie Marie Roos
Germany France Germany Belgium Australia Germany Israel
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India
New Books
Interview / Developing Skills
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International
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“CERAMIX” at the BONNEFANTEN MUSEUM, MAASTRICHT
1/2016
EDITOR’S NOTES
Dear Readers of NEW CERAMICS
This issue was ready for dispatch by the middle of December. We set ourselves a tight deadline – and we have kept it. If you have received the magazine before the festive season, the entire staff of NEW CERAMICS would like to take this opportunity to wish you a merry and peaceful Christmas. We hope that all over Europe our readers will have this issue in their hands before the New Year. Our international readers may have to wait a little longer. But we wish all ceramists and everyone associated with this profession a happy, successful and creative 2016. In 2015, we were able to look back on 70 years of peace in Europe. Let us hope that this era of reason can continue unhindered, even if for the first time in our hemisphere the words war and participation in a war are currently circulating. Creative artists rarely have anything in common with such enterprises, which mainly have to do with domination over others, or again, with the removal of such domination through others, and in our times at least, with natural resources and political or, regrettably, religious phantasms of power. People involved in the arts are generally interested in working across national, cultural and ethnic borders. This is the objective of NEW CERAMICS – our independent international coverage follows this approach. This year, in 2016, the 47th conference of the IAC, the International Academy of Ceramics, takes place in Barcelona in September. In ceramic terms, it is the name and person of Antoni Gaudi which takes centre stage in Barcelona, and following on from this, the motto for this conference was chosen by the Spanish section of the IAC: Ceramics in Architecture and Public Space (cf. the NEWS section and page 68). I am convinced that this will be an outstanding and enthralling conference, and I would like to emphasise that it is not necessary to be a member of the IAC/AIC to participate in it. Usually, there is only one meeting strictly for members at these conferences, the general meeting, where internal matters are discussed. All the talks and other events are public and everyone can attend. If you have no concrete holiday plans as yet, why not drop by in Barcelona in September 2016. For a few days, you would become part of an international ceramics scene, with interesting talks and ceramically creative people from all corners of the worlds. Continuing with the promotion of these “widened horizons”, I would also like to mention the international symposia and workshops with multinational participation as well as the calls for entries to competitions, which should be as internationally orientated as possible. Events of these kinds can on the one hand be unifying and on the other informative, thus benefitting everyone concerned. At the beginning of the year, this is also true of the upcoming international competitions that we have covered in this issue. I recommend you to take part in competitions like this! It is always worth taking a critical look at one’s own work that is suitable, not to mention the chance of receiving a commendation or even a prize. In doing so, you are promoting your region, contributing to an international exchange and furthering your own international reputation. Currently there are calls for entries and workshops in China, Croatia, Germany and Latvia. Take a look at p. 4, CERAMICS MULTIPLEX 2016, or p. 7, FOKUS GEFÄSS / FOCUS VESSEL, and on p. 68 the International Editors of Ceramics Magazines Association, or p. 5, Dialog 2016 in Latvia. This recommendation also applies to all the other national and international competitions that we publish. It doesn’t matter if you are mainly locally orientated or if you want to enter an international competition – they are not mutually exclusive! I wish you good luck and every success in the New Year! In the coming year, we will once again do our utmost to keep you abreast of all the events and informations in the international ceramics world. Very best wishes, Yours, Bernd Pfannkuche
Stoking Nikolaus Steindlmüller’s converted anagama in Priem am Chiemsee
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DIE NEWS
INFORMATION / EXHIBITIONS / PRIZES
EUROPEAN PRIZE FOR APPLIED ARTS
Monika PATUZSINSKA, the Polish artist, is the winner of The Master Prize, the prize of the Federation Wallonia Brussels. This visually chaotic work belies a carefully conceived and premeditated approach to making. This contradiction speaks of the skill, ingenuity and mastery of an accomplished and disciplined craftsperson. The title of her work (photo left) is TransForms Plus (Bastards series), 2013. Porcelain, slip cast from a modified plaster mould, Parian ware. 30 x 30 x 35 cm. Photo : Monika Patuszynska And Patricia DOMINGUES, a Portuguese artist, is the winner of The Young Talent Prize, the prize of WCC-Europe, with her work Many & Deliberated, 2014. Necuron, steel. Each piece has been fragmented in small pieces, and put back again. EXHIBITION OPEN until 10 January 2016, from Tuesday to Sunday: 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. On 24 and 31 December: 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. SITE DES ANCIENS ABATTOIRS, 17/02, rue de la Trouille, B-7000 Mons (Belgium) Tel.: +32-(0)65 84 64 67, fax : +32-(0)65 84 31 22,
[email protected] I www.wcc-bf.org
47th Congress and General Assembly of the International Academy of Ceramics Barcelona – September 12 – 16, 2016 “Ceramics in Architecture and Public Space”
The 47th Congress of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC), which will be held in Barcelona in mid-September 2016, is conceived as a meeting place for discussion and study for about 300 participants from around the world, an event that will be complemented by visits to the ceramic heritage of the city and Catalonia, as well as cultural and entertainment events coinciding with the celebration of the General Assembly of the Academy. A pre-congress tour will consist of visits to cities in the regions of Aragon and Valencia with interesting ceramic traditions. A post-congress tour is proposed, with visits to Madrid, Talavera de la Reina and Andalusia (Seville, Cordoba and Granada), all with marvellous ceramic places of interest. The central theme of the Congress Barcelona 2016 will be Ceramics in Architecture and Public Space, a topic of great relevance that remains relatively unstudied and discussed. More information at: www.aic-iac.org/wp-content/uploads/Fulleto-AIC-Barcelona2016-ENG.pdf
The Magic of the Rankweil Ceramics Fair
The Schlosserhus adult education centre in Rankweil, Vorarlberg (Austria) invited participants to attend the 10th Ceramics Fair. From 8 – 16 August 2015, national and international ceramic artists came to accompany approx. 40 participants. On offer was everything from classic portraits to caricatures and from sculpture to tableware. Plant structures were studied and their construction principles interpreted in clay. During this period, a ceramics exhibition was also on show in the centre building. More than 20 ceramic artists exhibited their most recent work. The attendance was overwhelming. The rich crop of work from the workshop was exhibited in the Schlosserhus at the end of the course. A large number of staff members from other adult education institutions in Vorarlberg as well as guests from near and far celebrated with those actively involved until deep in the night by the light of the burning coke kilns. To keep memories alive, all of those involed received a DVD with films and images from the workshops and the exhibition at the centre building. Organisers: Schlosserhus-Volkshochschule Rankweil, Austria. Tel. +43-(0)5522-46562;
[email protected] I www.schlosserhus.at
CERAMICA MULTIPLEX 2016
The fifth International Festival of Postmodern Ceramics 2015/2016 and its main exhibition CERAMICA MULTIPLEX 2016 is a traditional international manifestation and exhibition of ceramics held in Varazdin under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Varazdin Government. The main exhibition entitled CERAMICA MULTIPLEX 2016 will be held from 20 August to 30 October 2016 at the exhibition spaces in Varazdin. The exhibition theme is UNDER THE SURFACE. The organizers want original and authentic artistic work as an individual expression of the artist's personality. Works already displayed or awarded at other international exhibitions will not be accepted. THE CITY OF VARAŽDIN AWARD will be awarded for the best work. Further awards are: KERAMEIKON GOLD-, SILVER- and BRONZE-MEDAL. The GENERATIONS TO COME Award for artists under 30 years of age. Other awards and honourable mentions will be awarded as well. This exhibition is open to all individual artists and groups of artists from all over the world, providing they meet the criteria set by the organisers. There is an application fee in the amount of 35 EURO net. For details about bank payment please write to:
[email protected]. Every applicant may participate with up to two works and must submit: 1. A completed application form, 2. CD-ROM or USB flash drive containing photographs of works in the quality, that makes publishing in JPG or TIF format possible. Each work must be photographed from different angles – in two positions. 3. A small photograph (portrait) of the artist. 5. A short biography of the artist. 6. The artist’s statement on the guiding principle in the making of the work. 7. The proof of payment. Please find the detailed information under: www.kerameikon.com - or contact:
[email protected]. Application deadline: 30 March 2016 (postmark). Application by email is not recommended.
Contemporary Ceramics from Fontana to Uecker
… on show at the Hetjens Museum of Ceramics in Düsseldorf until 21 February 2016. The 80 objects are purchases from 2010 – 2015 funded by the Dr Günter Lontzen Foundation. Dentist Günter Lontzen from Hilden left his entire cash and securities assets to the museum on his death in 2009 on condition that the holdings of the museum be complemented with contemporary international ceramic works and that ceramic art and research be sponsored. One such project was the huge fire sculpture by Nina Hole on the banks of Rhine in Düsseldorf for the Quadriennale in 2014. The new purchases being presented now are from established artists and from young talents, interacting with the permanent collection, which reveals completely different aspects and forces visitors to relate to the entire museum and thus to ceramics from 8,000 years. The exhibits on show come from Germany, Japan, Korea, the UK, Denmark, Italy, Hungary, Spain, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA and Mexico. A free brochure for the exhibition has been published. –so www.duesseldorf.de/hetjens I www.facebook.com/hetjensmuseum photo left: - Rainer Kurka: Kleine Zwiesprache, 2014
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EXHIBTIONS / EVENTS / PRIZES / OBITUARY
EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS / PRIZES
DIE NEWS
A great loss for the world of ceramics – Theresia Hebenstreit has passed away
At the very latest, everyone knew Theresia Hebenstreit for her wonderful project 1001 nackt (“1001 times naked”) with its humorous, irreverent, cheerful armada of female figures, with which she caused a sensation in exhibitions all over the world as well as on the internet. She was a truly innovative ceramic artist. Born in Wiesbaden in 1950, she studied ceramic design at the technical college there, going on to study cultural anthropology, art history and ethnology in Mainz. Her life was always centred in Wiesbaden, where she lived with her daughter and her husband Holger Hebenstreit, artistic director of the Thalhaus arts centre; as a sculptor she was in constant dialogue with the arts scene in the town. She chaired the crafts association in her home state, Kunsthandwerk Hessen, was the German delegate to the World Crafts Council and was also the acting director of the Institute of Ceramics and Glass Arts in Höhr-Grenzhausen. These are dry words to describe such a charming, alert and inquisitive person: Theresia was always there when the topic was ceramics, her work on public display was always simply aesthetically irresistible and was much-noticed, such as her workshop exhibition at the Keramikmuseum Westerwald or the outstanding installation 1001 nackt in Villach at the Freihausgalerie. I knew Theresia Hebenstreit (foreground) with Prof. Judith Schwarz Theresia long before I had become truly involved with ceramics myself – the (New York) during the judging for the NASPA Talent Award, FIGUsmall art gallery in Yorkstraße, Wiesbaden, with Hans Hollinger, Markus van RATIV 2014 den Broek and others was a popular meeting place for the ceramics scene. She bought one of my first thrown, thick-walled vases, and together, we admired the young cat that had jumped from the third floor and survived unscathed. At times, our contact was loose, but it never broke off – the last time we worked together was as judges for FIGURATIV, the 7th Naspa Talent Award – how strong and brave she was and how clear was her judgement… Life is finite, as we all know, but some go, have to go, much too soon… During the night of Tuesday, 20 October 2015, the ceramist, sculptor and painter Theresia Hebenstreit passed away. We mourn with her small family and wish Holger and Nadjeschda great strength in this difficult time. Monika Gass
Paul Scerri – Running with Scissors –
Paul Scerri seeks to capture his audience through his intrigue and distinctive artistic expression. His work is inspired by different depictions of stereotypical behaviours and mannerisms of personalities he may have encountered through the years, whilst discreetly integrating notions of injustice and narcissism. He successfully illustrates different characters whose sexual orientation is unclear, adopting a somewhat comical yet quirky pose or wearing an empty and lost expression. The audience is invited to question who and what traits these characters might represent and try to fathom the significance of such aspects and characteristics. Paul’s exhibition, which was held at The Splendid in Valletta, on Malta, is entitled Running With Scissors. Paul wanted to create something unconventional using the concept of scissors as well as keys. These tools are normally used to pave the way to freedom, yet at the same time are able to lock, therefore, creating a notion of present, past and future. Each sculpture is a three-dimensional charm, fitted onto a pedestal, asserting its own self-importance. Through the interesting way of addressing pressing social issues, Paul instigates the audience to fill in the gaps by using their imagination.
DIALOG 2016
The Latvian Academy of Art in Riga has invited applications to participate in a symposium in Latvia in 2016. Between 19 June and 1 July, professors, lecturers and professional artists will meet to discuss syllabi and teaching methods under the heading of Dialog 2016 at the centre of the Latvian artists’ association in Zvartava Castle. The number of participants is limited to 25 with 13 from the Baltic states and the remainder from other countires. The fee is EUR 390. Closing date for applications is 15 March 2016. Conference language is English. Details on www.together.do.am www.zvartavaspils.lv or
[email protected] to reach organiser, assistant professor Eugenia Loginova. -so
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NEW CERAMICS
Gerald Weigel at 90
At the end of November 2015, Gerald Weigel celebrated his 90th birthday. He is one of the German ceramists who have most deeply influenced the ceramics scene since the mid-20th century. Th stone and winged forms continually developed and varied by Gerald Weigel over the many decades of his career are an important and impressive part of numerous private and public collections in Germany and other countries. The stone, cube, slab and winged forms by Gerald Weigel speak a clear and powerful language, impressing with their sensitive surface structure and colour. Gerald Weigel uses stoneware for all his work, which he fires in reduction to 1340°C. His Large Winged Form, 2010, stoneware, reduction firing work has been distinguished with many major prizes. Ceramics is his purpose in life, and in November 2015, he was still in his studio in Gabsheim Rhine Hesse as usual, Bernd Roeter tirelessly creating new work. Happy birthday!
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DIE NEWS
EVENTS / EXHIBITIONS / PRIZES
GRASSIMESSE LEIPZIG 2015 –
Approximately 10,000 visitors from Germany and beyond perused the offerings at the international fair for applied art and design at the Grassimuseum in Leipzig. This year’s Design Festival Leipzig by Grassimesse and Designers’ Open attracted a total of 26,400 guests. Visitors to the Grassimesse took the opportunity to catch up on the latest creative trends, to converse with the international exhibitors and to do plenty of shopping. After an intense study of the work of all 100 exhibiting artists, designers, craftspeople and training colleges, the panel of expert judges selected the following prizewinners: • The EUR 3,000 Grassi Prize of the Carl and Anneliese Goerdeler Foundation went to ceramist Elke Sada from Leipzig. • The EUR 2,000 Grassipreis of the Sparkasse Leipzig went to jewellery designer Christine Matthias from Halle an der Saale. • The EUR 2,000 Apolline Prize went to Kiho Kang (Korea) for his ceramic vessels. • The Grassi Prize of the Slavik Gallery, Vienna, also worth EUR 2,000, went to jewellery designer Sophie Baumgärtner from Halle an der Saale. • The Grassi emerging artist award sponsored by culturtraeger went to Robert Hahn for his furniture project, Connect. The next GRASSIMESSE takes place from 21 – 23 October 2016. GRASSI Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Johannisplatz 5-11, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
[email protected] I www.grassimesse.de
VIECHEREIEN
photo Nicole Thoss
Animals in Applied Art. An entertaining Christmas exhibition is guaranteed at the Handwerksmuseum (Crafts Museum) in Deggendorf: animals in wood, ceramics, glass and textiles. Cat and mouse, hare and fox meet here on a friendly footing, whether predators or domestic animals, livestock or pests – the museum invites its visitors to go on a very special safari. Exotic animals like the rhinoceros or the tiger stand side by side with native ones like the goat or the chicken. Of course, man’s best friend, the dog, will also be there. The spectrum covers classic toys, home accessories, wall decorations and sculptures of animals. The work of the six ceramic artists is particularly impressive in this area: Anna Ebenbeck, Julia Tittmann, Thomas Hinder, Martina Lipowsky, Ross de Wayne, Christine Bachmeier and Brigitte Kunz. The exhibition opens on Sunday, 22 November 2015 at 3 p.m. and runs until 26 February 2016. Handwerksmuseum / Maria-Ward-Platz 1/94469 Deggendorf / Germany www.handwerksmuseum–deggendorf.de Opening hours: Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Siegburg Ceramics Market, 10 July 2016
The recent ceramics market and the Siegburg ceramics prize, awarded in 2015 for the first time, were a complete success. Much has already changed in Siegburg in only two years, and work is still going on so that ceramics can once again be accorded greater importance in Siegburg. Step by step, visitors are being introduced to ceramists of quality and their products. Once again, in 2016 on 10 July from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., seventy professional ceramists will be the guests on the Marktplatz. To guarantee a continuing high standard, only trained ceramists will be eligible to take part: master ceramists, trained ceramists and designers, graduate ceramists, university graduates, professional potteries and art studios. Resellers and hobby ceramists are strictly excluded. The participants at the market will be selected by a panel of judges. The fees (no increase this year) for market stands will be used exclusively for marketing. With immediate effect, the Keramikmarkt will be advertised on www.siegburg.de. Additionally, all municipal mail will have a special advertising postmark. The social media, Facebook and Twitter, will also be involved to reach further target groups. Furthermore, a selection from the exhibition Europäische Keramik (Ceramics of Europe) will go on show from the day of the market at the Stadtmuseum in Siegburg. Parallel to the ceramics market, we are thus offering a symbiotic accompanying programme, thereby attracting further visitors interested in ceramics and the museum to the Siegburg Keramikmarkt. Closing date for entries: 12 February 2016
Cluj International Ceramics Biennale October 8-30 2015, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
The second edition of Cluj International Ceramics Biennale was a synergic series of cultural events which, besides their artistic component, was aiming for an extensive intercultural dialogue as well as creating educational awareness in visual arts by introducing the Romanian viewer to contemporary ceramic artists and contemporary practice in the field. The biennale also induced national and international institutions to work together with the aim of creating an environment for ceramics in the city of Cluj. A real festival of ceramics, the 2015 edition featured six main ceramic art exhibitions, a traditional pottery fair, documentary film projections, workshops, conferences, public round tables and other events, all accompanying the main event, the international competition for which a renowned jury selected over 100 artists from 37 countries. This year there were three Awards of Excellence: for Alicja Butawka-Fankidejska (Poland), Bahar Ari Dellenbach (Turkey), Valerie Zimay (USA); one Young Artist Award for Andrei Alupoaieand (Romania) and eight Honourable Mentions: for Agnes Husz (Hungary), Enver Güner (Turkey), Andrei Florian (Romania), Irina Razumovskaya (Russia), Simcha Even-Chen (Israel), Omur Tokgoz (Turkey), Ihor Kovalevych (Ukraine) and Brian Kakas (USA). The main exhibition was opened on October 9 at the Cluj Art Museum. www.ceramicsbiennale.com
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COMPETITIONS / EVENTS / OBITUARY
DIE NEWS
Obituary: Professor Günter Praschak
They could fill a lake, the salty tears, if there were not the returning sun. Günter – letting go, accepting, understanding, realising that suddenly you are no longer there. The question of why, the cause, the point in time is meaningless. For the pain that those close to you have suffered now, you are blameless. The conversations in recent weeks remain in the memory. Frank, intelligent, entertaining, – alert in life and serene through experience. As if you had known what was to come. Your Reclining Figure in terra cotta from 1985, in the exhibition at the artP.kunstverein in a series by 24 members, seems to be a messenger in her attitude of turning away in repose and in her position. She has found her way back to herself. Like you have. Great artistic ability and comprehensive craftsmanship in the wide field of ceramics in fine and applied art give evidence of your influence on the students as a teacher at the Kunsthochschule in Linz. Your extensive œuvre was displayed in major exhibitions in many countries. Günter, the planned exhibition, with two others, at the artP.kunstverein in 2016 will have the title Gegengewicht (“Counterweight”), as we had decided. I knew from the very beginning that you were a “big gun” as an artist, all of your things are still there and we will carry on. We remember the slurry! You were in your studio. You have left a lot behind. You were loved. We will be thinking of you. Thank you Günter Praschak! Perchtoldsdorf, 13.11.2015 - Brigitte Lang – artP.kunstverein Günter Praschak died unexpectedly on 12 November 2015. .
Call for entries: FOKUS GEFÄSS / FOCUS VESSEL
25th Anniversary of the Nassauische Sparkasse Talent Award - Theme of the 8th Talent Award: Vessel in Ceramics and Porcelain For this international competition, vessels, vessel sculptures or representations of vessels in clay or porcelain or other ceramic materials are requested. The focus is placed explicitly on the vessel in classic or contemporary interpretation. Applications with no more than two pieces or a group of vessels may be accepted. The prerequisite for acceptance to the competition and the exhibition is an interpretation of the theme which is convincing to the judges, artistically interesting and aesthetically appealing. An international panel of expert judges appointed by the Nassauische Sparkasse decides on the allocation of the prizes and admission to the exhibition in a two-stage, anonymous judging procedure. Four prizes to the value of EUR 5,000 each will be awarded. Two of these prizes will go to applicants up to 35 years of age, one of which is to be used for further training, an artist-in-residence programme or similar. Closing date for entry: midnight on Sunday, 14 February 2016. In February / March 2016 the judges will make the first selection from among the submitted works. On invitation by the judges, the selected works are to be shipped to the Keramikmuseum Westerwald in Höhr-Grenzhausen. The judges are planned to meet to select the prizewinners in Höhr-Grenzhausen in May / June 2016. Opening of the Exhibition and Award Ceremony: planned for 23. September 2016, Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen. Complete details of the competition and online application forms for the 8th Nassauische Sparkasse Talent Award are available on: www.keramikmuseum.de
Call for exhibition entries
Christmas Edition 2016 – Top class, high end, pre-
cious, flamboyant or innovative – that is what the Chamber of Skilled Trades in Hanover is looking for in the exhibits to be shown in the Christmas Edition 2016. Masterly design in unique pieces or ambitious small editions are to be displayed to the visitors. Applied artists and designers from all fields are invited to apply for the Christmas Edition 2016. Closing date for entries: 31 March 2016. Professionally trained applied artists and designers (master craftspeople, degree, etc.) are eligible to take part. In exceptional cases, self-taught, professional applicants with several years’ professional experience will be considered. Applications from fine artists will not be accepted. Application forms and full details are available for download on: www.hwk-hannover.de/christmasedition2016
Keramikpanorama Murten –
Ceramists can apply to take part in the third Keramikpanorama Murten until 31 March 2016. The Keramikpanorama takes place on 3 and 4 September 2016 in Murten. Applications can be submitted from mid-December direct via the website, www.kermaikpanorama.ch under “Aussteller” (exhibitors). The intention this year is once again to provide as wide and attractive a panorama as possible of the potential of ceramics. The ceramists who are selected will be informed direct. Full details are available on our website www.keramikpanorama.ch and on www.facebook.com/keramikpanorama Verein Keramikpanorama Route du Petit-Ependes 3 - 1731 Ependes/FR. Peter Fink, president, Tel. +41 (0)26 413 44 42,
[email protected] Patricia Portmann, business manager, Tel. 031 755 54 90,
[email protected]
OLDENBURG INTERNATIONAL CERAMICS FAIR - 7 – 8 August 2016
Around 120 stands are available for this top quality market for all areas of art and craft ceramics, which is open to the whole of Europe. With the open air gallery situated around the former ducal palace, the ceramics fair, unique in its kind, attracts 60,000 visitors every year. The market is embedded in a distinguished four-day programme with exhibitions, award ceremonies and the Ceramist’s Portrait, which presents famous ceramics stars from all over the world to the general public in seminars and workshops. For the market participants, there is an opportunity to take part in a special exhibition showing their best work in Oldenburg Castle, home of the Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kultur, for which three prizes will be awarded by the judges with a further cash prize decided by the visitors’ votes. For the 8th time, the NEW CERAMICS Prize will be awarded for outstanding achievements in the field of ceramic art. And for the third time, the competition for an annual mug is being sponsored by the Oldenburg Tourismus und Marketing GmbH, where all the participants at the market can take part. The attractive prize is a commission to produce 100 mugs. Closing date for entries is 15 January 2016. The market and competitions are open to all professional ceramists; details and application forms on www.keramiktage.com Werkschule e.V., Rosenstraße 41, 26122 Oldenburg, Germany;
[email protected] Tel.: 0441–999 0840.
Karima Duchamp
- Studioausstellung Keramikmuseum Staufen – Her passion is drawing and painting on the brittle material, clay. By going over her work several times, the artist develops images with shadowy figures in hazy space. They appear as dreamlike images from the past or the future, related to science fiction and fantasy, comics and mangas. These depictions are combined to form boxes and architectural pieces. Keramikmuseum Staufen,
Wettelbrunner Straße 3, 79219 Staufen, Germany.
Tel. +49 (0)7633/6721. Exhibition from 19 February – 27 March 2016 Atelier Karima Duchamp -
[email protected] I www.karimaduchamp.net
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PROFILE
STEPHANIE ROOS
C
raft and art were a part of my life even as a child because my mother was an arts and crafts teacher, she worked in ceramics herself and was in touch with a ceramic artist in my home town. I was particularly fascinated by three-dimensionality and I made ceramic figures from an early age. The pathway to what I do today led via studying to become an art teacher, a detour into being a commercial artist and the everyday working life of a teacher. Parallel to this, I attended life and portrait classes. Apart from attending courses in ceramics and concrete sculpture, I set up a metalworking shop for myself, tried out printing techniques in my studio and kept coming back to ceramics. However, with family and professional commitments, I was not working systematically in this time frame. I have been working as a freelance artist since 2011, concentrating on sculptural work in clay.
I work on the figure People often make a deep impression on me – their facial expression, the clothing that they have chosen, the way they move – almost materially palpable, sculpturally rememberable. Although my figures are based on the real world in the way they are presented, I am not interested in a representation of reality. The figures embody the way I reflect reality, they are a kaleidoscope for observations and associations, compositions derived from themes of a personal or political nature. They are created by experimenting with themes and images, from observation and self-observation. The working process itself for me is my own way of gaining insights about what it means to be a human being, which verbal reflection cannot offer and for which there is no substitute.
top - “Karla with Fan”, 6 views, right, 44 cm left - “Girl with Mirror”, 22 x 30 cm
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STEPHANIE ROOS
PROFILE
“Europa and the Bull”, 22 x 30 cm
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PROFILE
The inner images from which I create my figures, coalesce after a long process. Current events, stories, photos and memories may be the starting point for my works. The scenes are composed from various times or impressions, like slides that I superimpose on top of each other: a photo, a colour that oppresses me, a physical expression that I want to capture, a body feeling, playing with an object… They are invented, associated images, with quotations, symbols and portraits, but never simply representations or illustrations of an idea. First I put my ideas in a sketch book. If an image becomes more concrete before my inner eye, sketches or clay maquettes follow, to capture an attitude, or I stage or research photos. The process of I transferring a photo into a ceramic object is often surprising. Firstly, transferring into the permanent, fired ceramic material robs the original image of its ephemerality. The hardening and firing process makes them into magical objects that seem to be thousands of years old or could survive as long. Secondly, the kind of photo influences the character of the figure. Unsharpness in the image creates unsharpness in the same places. In a way, the characteristic element of the photograph becomes visible in the figure. Of course a perfectly lit photograph is better for capturing a three-dimensional object, but using a lack of sharpness and the effect of the light in a three-dimensional and painterly way is a special challenge.
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The colour of the sculptures is important to me so that they convey a temperature, a lighting situation. The accessories of the figures should not be understood as the attributes like images of saints to identify them by, even if they do get something like points of reference for a story through clothing, animal companions etc. To me, the accessories are interesting as points of reference for the figure. I find it especially exciting if no proper relationship emerges between the figure and its “accompaniments”, unfamiliarity or dissonance. A figure often only develops a background through an alliance with a thing or through an absurd alliance (a dissonance), against which it takes on an outline. The theme of clothing is thus always present: What we clothe ourselves in, or what others clothe us in has its own magic. Clothing influences our identity, transforming not only how we look to others but it also works inwards. But the clothing often does not go with what is going on inside. To me, this discrepancy between what is being worn and the wearer is what the piece is really about. Clothing is like a background for our personality, and what is immutable, the human element is defined especially clearly along side fashionable accessories and the overall outfit. My research for the subject of 300 Years of Karlsruhe for the Majolika Manufaktur in that town led me to women’s clothes in the Baroque era.
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STEPHANIE ROOS
PROFILE
“Games without Frontiers”, 22 x 30 x 300 cm
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PROFILE
“Puppeteer”, 22 x 30 cm
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STEPHANIE ROOS On the one hand, with these figures I tried to trace what it felt like to live in the Baroque age, the aesthetic of the period with all its splendour opulence, and at the same time its severity, which are reflected in fashion and urban architecture; on the other hand, items of Baroque clothing get my imagination going about how a body must have felt in an outfit like that… The hooped skirt, a petticoat spread by rings of wood, whalebone or even spring steel, the laced corset, hairstyles piled up over two feet high on wire frames were typical objects with which you could show success and status within Baroque society. And thematically, this brings us back to “dissonance” – which links my various figures to each other: the dissonance between a figure and an object (e.g. clothing), between figure and figure, between a figure and its role… This is also a leitmotif in the mother and child series of figures, which was inspired by a visit to the Bodemuseum in Berlin and studying the Madonnas there. What happens if children are not cute and mothers are not motherly, if they reject their role? What does that do to others, if figures do not do what we expect of them? People love to belong to groups and cultivate the roles they play with suitable behaviour and the matching attributes. I am interested in figures that are between worlds, that don’t fill their role, that are at odds with it, are flawed, refuse to identify with the attributes by bearing them in a way that is not convincing. I want the fragility of the role to be palpable. The group “Games without Frontiers” also has this sense of “not following the rules of the game and not respecting boundaries” as its main theme; it studies the choreography of human behaviour if rules are not clear or are intentionally violated, ending peaceful coexistence. In this figure-object relationship, I try not to make it look staged. People often show this expression if they are busy with something, are involved with something, are looking at something or are touching it. The expression that people have when they think they are not being watched, perhaps do not look their best according to common ideals of beauty is what I find worth depicting. People who have not been beautified or made to appear cute, not posing, they are beautiful and full of dignity, and if they are not drawing attention to themselves especially so. In my representations of women, my work is an examination of one’s own body image. Women’s bodies are always under observation and are rarely viewed without a judgement of their sexuality. The body is a projection screen and an optimizable decorative object. In one’s body image, these ideas are stored in the form of judgements, feedback and standards from other people. A sense of not being at home in one’s own body arises – dissonance. Clay is the ideal medium for me with its plasticity, its various states of hardness and its illusionary power. What interests me in ceramics is the point where the disciplines of sculpture, drawing and painting merge. The figure is created in several layers of construction and painting, and the consistency of the material at various stages plays a part in how it looks. I love this material that can be worked in such different ways in its various states: building hollow forms, applying it with a spatula, carving, painting, drawing. When seeking a convincing solution for the illusion, it is sometimes the three dimensional form, sometimes the colour version, sometimes a drawn line or the structure that takes centre stage.
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PROFILE
STEPHANIE MARIE ROOS Bühlackerstraße 20a 77855 Achern, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)7841 679 386
[email protected] www.stephanie-roos.de
Stephanie Marie Roos was born in Albstadt (Baden-Württemberg) in 1971. After training to become an art teacher at the teacher training college in Weingarten and computer design course in Munich, she continued her artistic development parallel to working as a teacher and a graphic designer, alone and at the Kunstschule Offenburg and the Akademie Bad Rotenfels, specialising in sculpture. Ceramics has been the focal point of her work since 2011. She has been a member of the artists’ association BBK and of the Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe since 2012. Through various competitions, Stephanie Roos has taken part in a number of exhibitions in Germany and abroad, including the Naspa Talent Award 2013 and the Westerwald Prize 2014 in Höhr-Grenzhausen, last year at the Keramiek Triennale NVK at Coda Museum Apeldoorn, NL, at the 59° Faenza Prize and at the IIIrd International Triennal of Ceramics UNICUM 2015 in Ljubljana (Slovenia), where she received the Honorary Award UNICUM 2015 for her piece “Games without Frontiers”. Her work is currently on show at the Faenza Ceramics Museum (exhibition of entries for the 59° Faenza Prize until 26 January 2016), at the Stadtmuseum Siegen (D) (exhibition in January 2016), at Galerie Bollhorst in Freiburg as well as at the sales gallery of the Majolika Manufaktur in Karlsruhe. Stephanie Roos lives with her family in Achern and has her studio there.
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PROFILE
DAPHNE CORREGAN New Works and Overlaps W
hen I started working in clay, one of the ceramists that interested me was Daphne Corregan. Her work was very different than what one saw at galleries, in books and magazines. Her shapes were unknown and new for me. Her forms fitted her surfaces very well. These were intriguing shapes with subtle, soft and earthy skins. The iron red, ochre yellow and metallic black of Alexandre Calder was on her pieces! I read that she raku-fired her work. I was also doing raku, and
Nesrin During
very many ceramic makers shifted to raku at that time. Though the raku work of Daphne was not shiny glazed, or crackled. They were mostly dark skinned matt, with some bands of dark iron reds, and yellow ochres blended in a soft metallic body. These pieces had both organic visual references as well as modern presence. There was a strength and monumentality to her work, yet one could detect a jug or a vessel form. There were and are perforations on the forms, which connect inside and outside of the pieces, which also make the work seem lighter in spirit, less sober, and engravings of lines and decorative brush lines that somehow humanize her objects, reminding one of ritual body paintings from primitive cultures. Indeed Daphne has travelled many times to Africa, and has been captivated by their decorative expressions. From her stay in
top -
Daphne in her studio
left -
2 hands “Dipped in Whiteness“ 2014 69 - 32 - 27 cm, smoked clay and porcelain
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DAPHNE CORREGAN
PORTRAIT PROFILE
souffle_ porcelain + wood, 98 x 48 x 179 cm
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coloured heads
peony decorated work
China, she brought back with her the Song dynasty peony paintings on her work. Daphne is open and receptive to other cultures and knows how to create a new vocabulary out of these observations, and how to integrate it in her own work. Decorative techniques from elsewhere become contemporary expressions in her work. She admires the artistic vocabulary of Eduardo Chillida and Lucio Fontana. Much of Daphne’s work is composed of several parts, often two entities, some joined like twins, some as pairs that communicate, conversing with each other, complimenting one another. Lately she also has started showing white clay and porcelain pieces. Her big Cloud pieces and Souffle are left white. Daphne’s work has a very big variety of shapes. She has vessel oriented pieces, unusual organic suggestive shapes, then oversized human heads, hands, feet, life size dresses, or an installation full of recognizable utilitarian shapes that are not actually for use, and architectural installations as Homes and Sheltered Spaces. At the time of my visit to her studio, she was making flower bunches for an upcoming exhibition . The variety is enormous, and she likes the challenge. While working she skips from one piece to another. Her subjects are in continual dialogue with one another; they’re knitted into her work; often overlapping. The strength of her work is in this easy manner of changing, body part becoming monumental, or a vessel an architectural presence. Her recent exhibition at the Musée Jean Cocteau in Menton is called “Overlaps”. What unifies in all this very varied formal language is her very personal expression of this interchange, and also her surfaces. The lustre-like shiny skins she created, and still does with raku work, is now also achieved in her higher fired new pieces by use of engobes with small additions of a thinned out bronze glaze. Depending on the surface required, she builds with white or red clay; she also uses porcelain and paper porcelain. She builds with thick coils, “African“ coils as she calls it. She sketches her work, but
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DAPHNE BERNDCORREGAN FISCHER
PORTRAIT PROFILE
"shades of black"
once started, she builds freely on intuition. They are bisque fired to 1050°C. For smoke fired work, she has a big purpose-built kiln of about 400 litres in her garden. This looks like a cement cube; it is actually built of refractory cement. She places her pieces in there, fires with gas and after reaching the desired temperature she cools it to 860°C, then she feeds pieces of inner tube into the kiln for reduction, closes the kiln entirely and the work stays within. This way she achieves the metallic blacks. She does not remove the works from the kiln till they are cooled; like this she doesn’t even produce smoke outside the kiln! Her second kiln in the studio is a down draft built by her partner Gilles Suffren. With the Olympic games in Greece, Daphne was chosen to represent France and make work for the games. With the money she received, Gilles built this very big kiln of wire mesh, iron frame and ceramic blanket, with 8 small burners. The kiln has a base where the work is placed, then the rest of the box of the kiln is lowered with a pulley. This kiln she fires to 1160 degrees. Here she fires her porcelain, stoneware and peony decorated surfaces; work that she wants to reach a higher temperature. Daphne is also concerned about how her work is presented. She likes to survey the space and show her work to its best advantage. Some pieces like the heads are lifted high on simple wooden tables of their own. From the exhibition of “Overlaps”, at Musée Cocteau, what most
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touched me are the hands. They are two oversized hands, palms up open, with perforations, inviting, hollow, ready to receive. They are smoke raku fired with a black sheen. The four middle fingers of each hand are covered with a white cloud, made of porcelain. The tips of the fingers are not visible. The piece is called “Dipped in Whiteness.” Has Daphne caught the clouds on the finger tips, or are the fingers caught in the clouds ? Nesrin During is a ceramist, and beside her practical and educational work, she writes for KLEI (NL), Ceramic Review (GB) and NEW CERAMICS (D). Daphne Corregan was born in Pittsburg, USA in 1954. 1970 she settled in France. She has studied at the Fine Arts faculty of Toulon, Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. Since 1989, she has taught at Ecole Superieure d'Arts Plastiques in Monaco. She has distinctions from MIC, Faenza, IT, Biennale Céramique de Chateauroux in FR. Mérite Culturel from Monaco. She is member of ICCA. DAPHNE CORREGAN 2839 av. De Grasse 83700 Draguignan - France www.daphnecorreganorange.com
[email protected]
Daphne’s work can be seen at: www.daphnecorregan.com She will be exhibiting at: Espace Gainville, Aulnay sous bois - 17 march 2016 CCCLB LaBorne (Fr) - 11 June -19 July 2016
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PROFILE
Angelika Lill-Pirrung
Ceramics and the Form of Time
Angelika Brunke
“52 W”, Clay, various materials, d. approx. 10 cm each; various heights
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t first sight, it is nothing more than a simple white ceramic bowl, unglazed, fragile. Angelika Lill-Pirrung lifts it from a large cardboard box and hands it to me. We are sitting in her studio in Erligheim, a village near the former ducal seat of Ludwigsburg in Württemberg, southwestern Germany. The garden is filled with the scent of lavender in the summer heat. In the historic farmhouse that she and her husband converted into a home and a studio some years ago, it is pleasantly cool. The wrapping paper rustles. Lill-Pirrung unpacks one bowl after another. There are 52 of them, each weighing exactly 250 gr. They were all made in 2005 – but each one in a different week. This is what the title refers to: “52 W”, with the “W” standing for “Wochen” in German – weeks. Most of the bowls contain a small personal memento: a wisp of sheep’s wool, an acupuncture needle, a flower – bowl after bowl a diary in fired clay. What I first noticed was the small deviations in form, the differences in height or the breadth of the mouth, the surface that is now smoother, now rougher. The surprise comes when I hold two bowls at once. “They seem to be different weights, don’t they?” remarks the artist. They really do. Time seems to have deposited some of its weight in these vessels. You cannot explain it – or perhaps you can: time cannot be seen, but it can be felt. Time and memory play an important part in many of Lill-Pirrung’s works. Intuitively, the artist repeatedly chooses forms that are historically linked with these themes. One of these forms is the stele or stela, a memorial column. As far back as in ancient Greece, free-standing, slender forms were
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used to commemorate outstanding individuals or events. Angelika Lill-Pirrung does this too, but in a playful, humorous fashion by topping off ceramic columns with found objects. These found objects are usually old, weathered tools made of wood or metal. She found some at flea markets. "It is not the object in itself, it is the signs of usage that make these things interesting. They tell us of the people who handled them,” explains the artist. One of the pieces where this awareness of the past plays an important part is Spindeldürr (literally “thin as a spindle”, “spindly”). Lill-Pirrung mounted old wooden spindles on slender columns of white clay. She has wound white or black wool over the immaculate white ceramic surface, a reference to the original function of the spindle. But also, something completely new is created by the combination of materials and forms: the spindles on their columns wrapped in wool are transformed into a delegation of flamboyant, “spindly” beings. Playing affectionately with meaning, transforming once-upon-a-time into now, the almost imperceptible transition from seriousness to humour is characteristic of Lill-Pirrung’s sculptural work. It can be found in numerous pieces such as the “Spiny Beings”, the “Spiral Beings” and the “Winged Beings”. There is no fixed meaning. Lill-Pirrung works intui-
“Spiny Beings”, Paperclay, old spindles, wool, metal stands each approx. 70 cm
ANGELIKA LILL-PIRRUNG tively in her art. She loves listening to the observers’ interpretations. The theme if time puts in an appearance in her work not only with reference to memory and transience. The other side of the coin is also present: the elemental, the eternal. This can be sensed for example in the clay stelae of between 20 and 50 cm called Little Stonehenge that Lill-Pirrung has been making for many years in a series of variations. They are all raku fired. In this technique, which was developed in Japan, the piece is drawn from the kiln with tongs at approx 1,000°C and placed in containers of sawdust or other combustible material. Through the reducing atmosphere and the oxides applied before the firing, astonishing colours appear, shimmering metallic surfaces. The ceramic as an earthy element goes through fire, water and air. This fascinates the artist. “I am always surprised when I take the fired objects out of the container. The result can only be partially influenced. It is the elements that leave their marks on the stelae,” she remarks. After the firing, the surface has changed completely. Not only the colour but also the smell is intense. This is what meteoric rock must be like. Strange and enigmatic. But the ceramic form remains earthy and tied to the earth. “12M” is the last piece that I look at that afternoon in the studio, and it is the piece that affects me most deeply. Again, Lill-Pirrung has juxtaposed ceramic as her starting material with a material that in a way also has elemental character: beeswax. This series follows on thematically from 52 W with “M” standing for months. Instead of bowls, the artist has used ceramic forms with a human outline. It is certainly no coincidence that they are reminiscent of Egyptian sarcophagi. Every month, Lill-Pirrung filled a form with mementos – and then finally plunged them into wax in wooden boxes. The human figure becomes a container for reminiscence. It briefly goes through my mind that mankind itself, in the biblical sense, is formed of clay. In Lill-Pirrung’s piece, the outlines of the ceramic are still discernible. Photos, admission tickets, notes loom beneath the white layer. Other things have sunk in the depths of the bed of wax. The garden still lies in the heat of the sun when we emerge hours later into the open air. The sun has moved on a little in the sky. When I begin my drive home, I feel as if I have been on a journey. Angelika Brunke is an art historian. She wrote her M.A. thesis on Historic Picture Frames. She is a freelance journalist in Stuttgart.
“12 M”, Clay, various materials, wax, wooden boxes, 90 x 60 x 60 cm
PROFILE
Angelika Lill-Pirrung was born in Bexbach in the Saarland in 1955. From 1981-82, she studied interior design in Saarbrücken. In 1987, the family moved to Baden-Württemberg. She has worked intensively with ceramics since 1992 and taken courses with artists in Germany and abroad. From 2001-2004, the family lived in Michigan, USA, where she focused on painting. Her art covers the areas of painting, installations and sculpture. She has exhibited regularly since 2000 and is a member of the artist’s organisation, BBK. ANGELIKA LILL-PIRRUNG Löchgauer Str. 23, 74391 Erligheim, Germany Tel.+49 (0)7143–24658
[email protected] www.angelikalillpirrung.de “Winged Beings”, raku, found old iron objects, wire, palm fronds, h 70 / 60 cm
PROFILE
ANIMA ROOS
Light and Shadows Structure - 2015, stoneware, Ø 20 cm, h 10 cm
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pot, it was a disaster, but still I thought it was a wonder-
ful experience. The teacher laughed sceptically when I said that I would make pottery my profession, but the fascination kept on and I have been working with clay for more than 30 years now. I started studying ceramics at the art academy in Ghent. Carmen Dionyse was teaching there. She was creating impressive ceramic sculptures. Though in that period Bernard Leach and Hamada had taken pottery back to ‘artistic interest’, working on the potter’s wheel remained not done at an academy of “ARTS”. So, to build up my throwing skills, I travelled to the south of France during the summer holidays. There, each village had its potter, and when it was possible I stayed there to be in training for a week. I travelled from village to village, from potter to potter. Practicing was the main issue. Meanwhile, many years have passed and my career has taken its own particular way. I started with my one shop. I did create usable ware. This demands great technical ability. The cups have to be similar, and practical to pile, the glaze must also be strong and smooth, without crackles… In fact, it has thus been the ideal training
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school to master the skill perfectly. After 6 years I thought it was time to use my technique to create one artistic language with more ‘abstract’ form, but still referring to the initial pot form. I quit the shop, and to make a living I started teaching. Because of the interaction with the students, you become increasingly interested in studying new techniques. So I have attended many master classes by internationally renowned ceramists, such as David Leach (porcelain), David Roberts (naked raku), Giovani Chimatti (decalcomania) and Horst Göbbels (porcelain) to name but a few. In the meanwhile, I had developed my own language of forms, had exhibitions and published my first works. I was then working with stoneware and was crafting pot sculptures, build from different thrown and cut segments. That work, as well as the series “With sticks and a bowl”, contained a lot of ethnic references. They are abstract, but the spectator is able to find his own identifying marks. This way, he can add his own story to the specific works. A pure outline, strong structures in the skin of the clay, forms that go to the technical limit and challenging the laws of gravity are all constant features in my work.
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ANIMA ROOS
PROFILE
Structure - 2015, stoneware, Ø 18 cm, h 9 cm
Then health problems came. Back and finger joints caused some problems. I couldn’t work anymore with large weights. My father was a painter and told me a very good lesson long, long ago. From time to time we could come into his studio and make a painting. But he never let us work before giving a restriction, e.g. “You paint anything you like but all the paper must be covered.” Or “Make red the dominant colour.” Much later I understood that a restriction pushes you forward and helps you to direct your thoughts and creativity. So I used my physical restrictions to open a new road and creative process. The last ten years I have only worked with porcelain. This ethereal and very demanding material is a challenge for every ceramist. The pieces are thrown on the wheel. The throwing must be very clear and done without hesitation. Corrections are not possible because porcelain has a “memory”: when you have disposed of an error, it will return after firing. When almost dry the throwing rings are polished away on the wheel with a metal rib. Once completely dry, the relief and exterior design
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is made. In case of a coloured pattern the complete object is painted with the coloured porcelain slip (black or blue). On the dry skin I paint a pattern (geometric or referring to nature) with shellac. When this varnish is dry, I sponge the porcelain with water. Where there is varnish, the collar and the thickness remains. The other parts get white again, and the more I wash, the thinner it gets. This is the most difficult part: if I use too much pressure, or too much water, the pot (thin and raw) breaks. Then there is the biscuit-firing, the glazing, and the glaze-firing at 1270°C in a gas kiln. I make a slight reduction at the end of the firing, to obtain a better blue-whiteness. Then I put on the fishes with decalcomania. The transfers are made by silk-screen-printing with on glaze-pigments. It is very important that no air remains between the plastic layer and the pot to avoid faults in the design. Then the pot is fired for the third time, depending of the colour at 780°C (red) to 1270°C (black/green). Next to my work on the wheel I make structures in paper porcelain. To prepare the paper porcelain I use my “throwing waste porcelain”. I add cellulose powder (5%) to the porcelain slip and let it
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PORTRAIT PROFILE
Structure - 2015, stoneware, Ø 26 cm, h 13 cm
soak at least one week before I use it. If I want a coloured bowl I add some red iron oxide (brown/black), other oxides only give dull colours, or a body stain (8%) to the slip. The paper porcelain-slip may not be too liquid so, when I draw with it, it does not flow. To draw, I use a slip trailer and work in a plaster mould. Sometimes I do use different colours, 4 layers brown, 4 layers white. The liquidity of the slip has a big influence on the character of the lines. When everything is dry I scratch the outside lines to make them rounder. Also the top-drops are polished. For the “bowl-structures”, I draw lines around a paper or styrofoam bowl. One line in every direction. When it’s half-dry, the second line and so on. When I ‘ve got the right thickness (6/8 lines) I let them dry completely. I make a “magic slip” by adding one teaspoon of sodium silicate to 250 cc of my paper porcelain slip. I join the bowls together in a round mould, using that magic-slip as a glue, carefully not wasting any magic-slip, or the form will stick on the mould. When everything is dry, and I have used the Styrofoam, I drop a little bit of acetone on the Styrofoam bowls and they disappear. After biscuit firing, I have to remove carefully all residue of the paper or Styrofoam before firing to high temperature, because that residue forms an ash glaze and makes
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the structure stick on the mould or the kiln batt. Then I fire the form to 1270°C in the stoneware mould , which I covered with batt wash to avoid sticking. In my work, I think the communicative aspect is very important. Pots and dishes are familiar daily objects. By placing them in a new context, by stripping them from their functionality and by adding alien elements (in texture, colour as well as form), a dualistic feeling arises within the spectator: recognition – alienation. By changing the evidence of the form, the spectator can give a new interpretation, by using the associations which the object evokes. (From nature, other cultures, memories…). The interaction between what I meant to make, and what others see in it is seldom a contradiction, but usually an enrichment. By this interaction, my work gets, next to the aesthetic character (which I find very important), an abstract dimension, a second level to look at it, to enjoy it… During the making, the game between light and dark, movement and rest, openness and closedness, and the dialogue between the “inside” and the “outside” is very important. Also the decoration and the confusing use of the material porcelain adds to this: Is it glass or paper? Always trying to push to the limits of the thickness of the sides, and challenging the laws of gravity.
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ANIMA ROOS BERND FISCHER
Structure - 2015, stoneware, Ø 35 cm, h 17 cm
Playing with traditional forms and actual techniques, I am searching for a balance, playing with light and shadow. Lines, forms and ideas, preferably in movement… it all remains a tightrope walk. All the pieces are in porcelain fired in a gas kiln at 1265°C with a reduction firing at the end. After obtaining my Master’s degree in 1981 I first had a shop for 6 years. From 1985 I had a few group exhibitions but some nice solos in Gallery L’Evènement in Vallauris (F) 2001, and then when Carla Koch asked me for a solo in her wonderful gallery in Amsterdam I was very happy and my self-confidence grew a lot. Since then I did work in many European countries and have several galleries where my work is shown in permanence, like Carla Koch Amsterdam (NL), Terra Viva St Quentin la Poterie (F), La Célestine Paris (F), etc. Some museums have bought some work, La Piscine in Roubaix in France is a wonderful place and also Le Musée de la Porcelaine in Nyon, Switzerland is very, very nice. By being selected in many competitions my work travels around the world from Taiwan to China, Germany (Westerwald) to Italy (Faenza). To read the whole list of galleries and publications I refer to my web-site www.animaroos.be
ANIMA ROOS Rodonkstraat 23 / B- 9030 Mariakerke / Belgium Tel: 0032 9 2271339 / 0032 499210170 www.animaroos.be I
[email protected]
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PROFILE
SANDY LOCKWOOD
Curiosity – Hand – Fire – Time – Connection
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y relationship to clay is powerful, personal and seldom far from my daily being. Because it has been such a central part of my life over the last thirty five years, I have been driven to understand this phenomenon and where it comes from. This introspective quest has produced some revelations and many questions. I am intensely engaged by weathered surfaces and objects. These may be human made or natural. They provide visual complexity that speaks to something deep within me. Working with the formidable expressive capacity of clay is my way of searching for understanding and it engages my whole being. Fortunately for me this material has the possibility for unimaginable expression and discovery. I am using clay to help me make sense of myself and the world. Part of my journey has been to undertake doctorate research into the made world of Neolithic Britain. Works then and now, widely separated by thousands of years and large distance, can evoke a strong and similar response in the viewer. It appears that this affective response has a role in connecting us here in the present with works of ancient makers. It also has the role in present time of connecting us to current works and makers as well as to the natural world. The metaphorical landscape to be explored in this approach is filled with complex opportunities that arise in the field that contains curiosity, clay, the hand and body, fire, time and emotion. My intent in making is to provoke this profound response
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in myself and others through direct experience of the unique expressive voice of clay. CURIOSITY Curiosity is my central motivation. It lies behind the question, “What happens if?” Discovering an answer necessitates remaining open to things as they evolve. This curiosity guides the energy I put into evolving and developing my work. It informs every step. Curiosity is present in many contexts such as clay formulation, processes used, finishing works, packing and placing in kiln, firing, grouping or pairing or juxtaposing post firing, and deciding how to move on. In a wider context for me, curiosity includes particular parts of the physical world such as old buildings, stone, natural features and weathered materials. I am curious about how they came to look as they do as well as how and why they have an effect on me. Curiosity about ancient makers leads me to imagine their curiosity and their way of being in the world. I sense the way their hands manipulated material. The actions of these makers remain visibly present with us in their artefacts. I make some of the same movements as they did forming objects. We share our actions just as we share our humanity. In Neolithic times people had relationships with others and with materials from other places. There were travellers who brought materials from far away and with these materials came
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SANDY LOCKWOOD
PROFILE
the knowledge of new ways to use them practically and symbolically. It is amazing to think that Neolithic ceramic pots in the Orkney Islands off the North of Scotland have been found to contain pieces of fired pot made from clay only available at the southernmost tip of England. Today makers also use materials that are local and from far away. We also share and trade information about what we have discovered. Just as ancient makers did, combining clays and non-plastic materials such as local rocks in my work allows me to discover new material qualities and allows me to learn how materials behave in my hands and in the kiln. Material qualities are what we experience when we interact directly with materials though the body and simple hand held tools. This approach “makes the world in the world” in comparison to “making the world in the mind.” HAND The prime connection between the maker and clay is often the hand. The hand plays a particularly important role in how we interact with the world. Frequently the hand is only thought of as a “tool” for manipulating the world. This is understandable as the significance of opposable thumbs in enabling us to manipulate our environment cannot be underestimated. However, the hand also has a vital role in our sensing and understanding the world. Hands provide much information about our environment. We feel among other things the texture, temperature, wetness, density, hardness, and shape of things we handle and touch. We use hands to turn objects so we can see the other side. Often we use touch to confirm or check what the eye sees.
linke Seite - Oval Platter - 50.5 x 20 x 3.5 cm - woodfired saltglazed stoneware oben - “Summer Shadow” - teabowl - woodfired saltglazed stoneware - 13 x 6.8 cm Mitte - “Midnight” - teabowl - woodfired saltglazed stoneware - 12.2 x 6.8 cm unten - Buried Axe Series - woodfired saltglazed stoneware - 42 x 8 x 20 cm
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PROFILE
Adze Series IV - woodfired saltglazed porcelain and stoneware - 39 x 5 x 9.5 cm
Hands provide a unique way of knowing the world. In his book The Thinking Hand, Juhani Pallasmaa considers the vitally important role of the hand in both knowing and interacting with our world. He argues that the hand is primary among our ways of interpreting the world. For me, tangible evidence of the role of the hand in making ceramic works is important. In seeing and touching works, and particularly prehistoric works, evidence sensed by my hand leads me to imagine the maker’s hand and its actions. I feel these echo in my body. The hand now is the same as the hand then. My hand is the same hand of another contemporary maker. This link is very strong. FIRE Fire has an even longer thread of relationship to humanity than does clay. Today fire contains a strong symbolic meaning in our and many other cultures. It is argued that fire enabled modern humans to come into being.
Metamorphosis Series - 44 x 6 x 10 cm - woodfired saltglazed porcelain
Fire is a powerful element that can change things. Apart from providing warmth, cooked food and social connection around a hearth, it can burn vegetation and houses. In Australia fire is necessary for germination of many native plants. It can be productive and destructive. For the last 35 years I have been transfixed by the way fire can magically transform clay. TIME We have been makers as long as we have been human. Making defines us biologically and socially. There is a shared and inherently human thread in the activity of making objects from clay and firing them. Archaeological literature identifies that Neolithic British artefacts have particular material qualities that arise from chosen materials and how they were made. These prehistoric objects and their materials tell much of their birth. Reaching across time, a finger print or finger nail mark on a pot or the way a stone tool sits comfortably in a human hand all lead to imagin-
SANDY LOCKWOOD ing a hand then and a hand now. The process of making implies adding something of the self to the object. This is seen when making goes beyond mere function. Neolithic makers created objects which were also striking. They added decoration to clay objects with their fingers and shells and rope. They made personal markings that intimately transmit through time much about the humanness behind the process of using materials. They made objects for use, for symbol and for ceremony. Like us they used texture, pattern, colour, and placement as elements to make their world. Such artefacts can produce a strong imaginative and affective response in the contemporary viewer. I can see, feel, and experience their humanity through their artefacts. They were the same as us in many ways. Our imagination evaporates the intervening years so we can envisage their life. Through the effects of time some Neolithic objects are worn, broken, pitted and cracked from use and from being buried. This metamorphosis produces aesthetic characteristics that are powerfully engaging. The result is a characteristic look and feel that is strongly evocative. My work embodies deliberate choices of material and methods in an endeavour to produce objects that have some of these qualities and bring forth an affective response. CONNECTION The affective response arises in the primitive parts of the brain. It is triggered by seeing, touching, hearing, feeling, tasting. The affective response is produced first by quick acting circuits that take the world in holistically from sensory stimulus. From this response come feelings and emotions. After this come logical and language based responses and analysis. Whilst hard wired into our biology, this affective response is not commonly considered in current thinking about objects and making. This response arises not only from ancient artefacts. I am also affectively engaged by such things as natural rock, worked stone, weathered buildings, weathered structures and wood. I respond strongly to patination, rich texture and visual complexity. This response is deep and intuitive. It is archetypally human. It is very interesting to realise that this affective response can be evoked by both contemporary and ancient objects and thus link them together. An affective connection with both our immediate world and with ancient artefacts can emphasise our humanity. It provides us with and emotional reminder of the similarities and connections between Neolithic makers and ourselves, and between all of us today. It is this primal emotional and metaphorical response that I seek to provoke in the works I make. This response has the potential to take us beyond the mundane. I hope it can contribute to us relating to and caring for our world and each other.
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PROFILE
ARTIST’S STATEMENT During the thirty five years of woodfiring and saltglazing my primary focus has always been on making work that expresses the character of clay. I have come to call this, “Allowing the clay to speak.” I am curious to explore the materials and processes I use. I am also curious about my own response to what I make as well as to the visual world about me. I find rich textures and visual complexity arising from the forces of nature and weathering to be extremely engaging. This can be seen in Neolithic artefacts that show the action of nature over thousands of years. It can be seen in ancient domestic and monumental structures as well as in more recent human made weathered stone and wooden constructions. Natural features such as weathered coastal cliffs or mountains also have a visual richness that I find inspiring. My doctoral research has included investigating the biological and affective foundations of these responses. This has been undertaken to help me better understand my relationship to my practice, to my medium and to my world. This generous visual world inspires and nurtures me. I am connected to it in many complex ways. The thread that binds me, my making and my world is the feeling of connection to these various visual experiences. In the act of making I am striving to respond to my curiosity and to make a connection with others using the language of clay. Sandy Lockwood was born in London and lives in Australia. She has been working with clay, woodfiring, saltglazing and teaching since 1980. Her ceramic works have been widely exhibited and are represented in public and private collections in Australia, UK, USA, Europe, Korea, China and Japan. Her work has been published in journals and books and her status as a maker has seen her as a presenter on wood-firing and saltglazing in Australia, UK, USA, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan and France. Sandy’s writing has been published in a number of ceramics journals. Sandy holds a Master of Visual Arts degree and has taught at a number of tertiary institutions. She teaches part time at the National Art School, Sydney and runs workshops both at her studio and overseas. She is currently undertaking a Doctorate of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. SANDY LOCKWOOD 9 William Street / Balmoral Village NSW 2571 / Australia Tel: 02 48 898 388 I
[email protected] I www.sandylockwood.com.au
PROFILE
photos - Jochen Heufelder
Still active at 90
WALTER A. HEUFELDER
W
hat has been preserved from ancient peoples is their ceramics and their writing systems. Walter A. Heufelder has been making ceramics all his life and he has been studying writing systems for a quarter of a century. He has now merged the two, writing and ceramics, in a way that respects the value of both. All older forms of decoration now belong to the past, what remains are stoneware and earthenware on which he applies Passepa and Linear B script, stone mason’s signs, and Brahmi, Vinca, Phoenician or ancient Greek characters. He has chosen the ceramic forms of the bowl, the stela, the scroll and also slabs, which he displays in groups. The basic forms are thrown,
handbuilt, rolled out, rolled up, textured, stamped, scored, sprigged and slip painted. The late work of Walter A. Heufelder, 90 in January 2016, is unparalleled. Like his father and his grandfather before him, he started a potter’s apprenticeship at 14, which he had to interrupt when he was drafted in 1943. He qualified as a potter in 1946, became a master craftsman in 1951. In 2001, the Chamber of Skilled Trades in Cologne awarded him a golden Master’s certificate for fifty years’ service. Even now, command of his craft is the indispensable precondition for his art, a credo that he passed on to all his students, whether at the Werkschule in Cologne up to 1975 or the College of Ceramics in Landshut where he worked until
Antje Soléau
1988. Heufelder always saw his teaching as his mission and as a challenge. He now enjoys all the more working only for himself and living out his artistic ideas. One of the consequences of his teaching has been that his overall achievement reveals a diversity of scope second to none. He has consciously and systematically worked on new forms, colours, glazes and materials in order to be able pass on his knowledge to his students with the requisite credibility. The proof of how successful his teaching was can be seen not least in the fact that none of his students could be said to work like Heufelder, or even worse, that they were a scaled down version of Heufelder. They have all found their individual expressive
above Group of characters in relief, Leaps in Time - (5 pieces) earthenware, 6 x 20 x 20 cm and 3.5 x 15 x 20 cm, slip, textured, inlays of written characters - Vinca, Sumerian, Roman, German, typeball font element. 2015, Japanese workshop seal left - Scroll, earthenware, ø 9 cm, l 38.5 cm, rolled, scrolled, stamped, Phoenician characters stamped on, slip coated, 2014
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HEUFELDER style, their highly personal language. They merely have a sound grounding in craft in common upon which everything else is based. In retrospect, in spite of all the diversity it has produced over the years, Walter A. Heufelder’s life’s work represents a coherent unit. The necessary national and international recognition followed as a consequence: in 1965, he was awarded the Northrhine-Westphalian State Prize for Craft in the field of Ceramics, in 1976 he was inducted into the Académie Internationale de la Céramique in Geneva and also became a founding member of Gruppe 83, in 1987, he received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1996, he won the Eastern Bavarian Culture Prize in Regensburg. In the 1970s, he also received diplomas at the competitions in Faenza and The Westerwald. The laconic severity of Walter A. Heufelder’s work, about which Hans-Peter Jakobson wrote in the catalogue for the 20th anniversary of Gruppe 83, as well as the reduction to elementary forms and decor lend even the smallest formats among Heufelder’s works a sense of monumentality that ultimately captivates everyone. Antje Soléau lives in Cologne. She is a freelance journalist who writes for German and international arts and crafts magazines.
PROFILE
Walter A. Heufelder was born in Höhr-Grenzhausen in 1926. Between 1940 and 1943, he did a potter’s apprenticeship and attended the College of Ceramics in Höhr-Grenzhausen. He qualified as a potter in 1948 and was awarded the title of master craftsman with distinction in 1951. Parallel to this, he took private tuition with Georg Roth, head of department at the Werkschulen in Cologne as well as under professors A. Wolff, O. H. Gerster and K.H. Modigell, Krefeld. From 1954 to 1057, he taught full time at the Institut für Werkpädagogik in Cologne, from 1967 to 1975, he was head of department and lecturer at the technical college in Cologne. From 1975 to 1988, he was the principal at the ceramics college in Landshut. Since 1988, he has been freelance in Landshut. In 1976, he was inducted into the Académie Internationale de la Céramique, Geneva. Since 1958, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Walter A. Heufelder’s work is represented in all major public and private collections in Europe. WALTER A. HEUFELDER Landshuter Straße 15 84036 Kumhausen-Oberganghofen / Germany left Inscribed Column, stoneware, h 28 cm, thrown and assembled, textured, slip coated, Vinca characters stamped on and inlaid with green, Japanese workshop seal below Inscribed Column, stoneware, h 28 cm, thrown and assembled, textured, slip coated, Vinca characters stamped on and inlaid with green, Japanese workshop seal
HISTORY
Two lives, two different fates Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein and Hanna Charag-Zuntz
photo - Michael Lawrence/ Dr. Ursula Hudson
Antje Soléau
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n her report on the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1964, the great German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote, “It would be of great practical use for Germany, not only for its prestige abroad but also for the recovery of its inner balance, if there were more such tales to tell. The lesson of such stories is simple, everyone can understand it: in political terms, it is that under the conditions of terror, most people acquiesce but some do not.” This time of terror of which Hannah Arendt speaks here led to an outright sell-
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out and a bleeding dry of art, culture and scholarship in Germany. This affected the wide field of ceramics too. In the 1920s, many young women, mainly from wealthy families, were attracted to ceramics. One of the reasons for this was that access to fine art for women was still very difficult at that time. Among these young women were many of the Jewish faith, such as Margarete Heymann and Hanna Zuntz, whose biographies, typical of many others’, are to be traced here. Margarete Heymann was born in Co-
logne in 1899 – her father was a textile manufacturer – and came to ceramics via a detour. After studying at the Kölner Werkschulen and the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, she went to the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1920, where she first attended a preliminary course given by Johannes Itten; later, she worked in the Bauhaus workshops in Dornburg an der Saale. After only one year, she left the Bauhaus for reasons that are unclear today. After a brief interim stay at home in Cologne, she was drawn to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Berlin in 1922, where to-
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opposite page - Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein - mocha set - bowl above - mocha set-Margarete #AEE87D unten - tea set-Margarete #AEE880
gether with her husband Gustav Loebenstein and his brother Daniel, she founded the HaEl Werkstätten in Marwitz. Margarete HeymannLoebenstein became the artisitic director, the brothers took over running the business side. Their products were enthusiastically received, with their factory employing as many as 150 people for a time! Their white earthenware typically had matt or glossy glazes enhanced
by unusual brushwork, in tune with the times. The focus of the factory’s products lay on functional wares with an avant-garde design in the Art Déco style. There were also elegant, classically simple vases, bowls and jars. After both Gustav and Daniel Loebenstein were killed in a car accident in 1928, Margarete took over the running of the company alone, surviving the difficult period of the photos - VG BILD-KUNST, Bonn 2014, and Rheinisches Bildarchiv (MAKK)
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HISTORY left Hanna Zuntz in her studio in Haifa, Israel, in 1970 below and opposite Vases by Hanna Zuntz
photos - Uri and Michal Alon
Great Depression almost unscathed. On 1 July 1933, she was forced to close the company down and in 1934, she sold it for the ridiculously low price of 4,500 Reichsmarks to the General Secretary of the crafts association, the Reichsstand des deutschen Handwerks, Dr Heinrich Schild, who a short time later appointed the later legendary Hedwig Bollhagen as the artistic director. Margarete lived in Berlin for a further two years, looking for a suitable country to emigrate to, including Palestine and the workshop of Eva Samuel, originally from Germany, who was later to write of her, “Suddenly this Frau Loebenstein, who owns the HaEl Werkstätten in Berlin, appeared out of nowhere. She came into the workshop and was pushy, unusually unlikable and heavily made up. She denied outright that she was looking for a business opportunity here, although everyone knew she was, and although she asked a lot of questions about the subject.” The totally secular Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein did not fit in at all with the strongly Zionist-influenced ceramic landscape and the milieu of the German Jews living in Palestine, which was determined by kibbutz life. Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein finally decided to emigrate to England. She married Harold Marcks there in 1938, with whom he set up a small company there, the Greta Pottery. Up to the outbreak of war, a number of her HaEl tableware designs were produced in a ceramics factory in Shelton. In spite of the support of leading English designers, she was never able to follow up her success in Germany there. Her work was seen as “immoderate and wild”. The public in England was not yet ready for Modernism. After the war, now known as Greta Marks, she turned her attention increasingly to painting. She was not discovered as a major exiled artist until after her death in 1990. Most recently, the Jewish Museum and the Bröhan Museum, both in Berlin, put on exhibitions including work by Margarete Heymann-Loebenstein under the titles of Ton in Ton (“Tone in Tone”; Ton in German also means clay, so a play on words is given here) and Avantgarde für den Alltag (“Avant-garde for Every Day”) respectively. In the autumn of 2014, Markanto. a company in Cologne, exhibited selected works by the artist from a private collection. The collector endeavoured to reawaken awareness of the forgotten artist in her home town of Cologne – which he succeeded in doing, as numerous articles in the local press as well as the attendance figures at the exhibition prove. The life of Hanna Zuntz, sixteen years her junior, took an entirely different course. She was born in 1915 in the wealthy Eppendorf district of Hamburg as the daughter of a dental surgeon. This Zionist orientated family decided to emigrate to Palestine at an early stage. But first, the children were to receive a sound education and vocational training in Germany to guarantee a good start in the “promised land”. Hanna started her career in art in the fields of jewellery and textile design. After training as a potter under Siegfried Möller in Kupfermühle and Gudrun Schenk in Stuttgart as well as doing supplementary studies in Florenz and Prague, she finally reached Palestine via England in 1940. One of the things she studied in Florence was archaeological ceramics, which was later to stand her in good stead in Palestine. In 1939, after the invasion by German troops, she left for London on the last train to cross the Continent, on 29 August 1939. In the same train sat publisher and author Max Brod, with the literary estate of Franz Kafka in his suitcase. He too proceeded from
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London to Palestine, a British protectorate at the time. In an interview with the author of this article in 1998, Hanna Charag-Zuntz related that in Palestine in 1940, there was no “ceramics scene” in the European sense: “There were a few factories in Haifa for functional and sanitary wares, but they imported the raw material, that is the clay, from Europe. And there were a few small Arab potteries that made earthenware. Above and beyond that, there were countless archaeological finds that told us the cradle of ceramics was in Palestine and the Middle East. The problem for ceramists like us - Charag-Zuntz, Hedwig Grossmann and Eva Samuel - was mainly to find clays that we could use and the raw materials for our glazes. We built the kilns ourselves.” She continued, “The few ceramist there were in Palestine at that time were like me of German origin and had trained in Germany in the 1920s. This is true of Hedwig Grossmann as well as for Paula Ahronson, who had been able to train in the legendary Marstall Workshop in Dornburg, that is the ceramics workshop of the Bauhaus. Even if we others were not strictly speaking Bauhaus students, in our attitude to ceramics we had been strongly influenced by that institution. After all, we had grown up in the artistic atmosphere of the Bauhaus.” Hanna Charag-Zuntz was to become one of the most successful pioneers of ceramics in the young state of Israel. In 1943, she moved to Haifa and set up her own studio on Mount Carmel. She had been accustomed to work with stoneware in Germany, which was not available in Palestine. She tested a range of clays for their suitability to throwing. When the Negev Desert fell to Israel after the ArabIsraeli War of 1948, a friend who had been commissioned by the government to look for mineral deposits brought her a range of soil samples, which she threw to make vessels, with varying degrees of success. Finally the problem of the clay was solved in this manner. What remained was the search for raw materials for glazes. And this was where Hanna’s experience from Florence was of use: in the part of the Mediterranean region where Palestine was situated, terra sigillata had had its origins and had reached its zenith. Through
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an intensive study of the archaeological finds and of the local raw materials, she rediscovered and revived this technique. Subsequently of course, she passed it on successfully to her numerous pupils. Besides research and her own practice, training young people was always in the focus of her work. Some of the most important ones were Jo Blumenthal, Rina Reeg, Varda Yatom and her daughter Michal Alon, as well as Michael Moses, who lives in Germany. In1968, she was to become the first Israeli ceramist to be inducted into the Académie Internationale de la Céramique in Geneva, and in 1979 she was appointed to the chair of fine art in Haifa. Internationally, Hanna Charag-Zuntz stands on a similar footing to Lucie Rie, Ruth Duckworth and Ingeborg and Bruno Asshoff. Her last exhibition in Germany was at the Hetjens Museum in Düsseldorf on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. Hanna Charag-Zuntz, who died in 2007, remained consciously obliged to the German pottery tradition for her whole life in ceramics. Her work is characterised above all by immaculate craftsmanship
combined with unconditional faithfulness to the work and a powerful presence. All of this was true in spite of the at times severe mental difficulties she had in expressing herself in German, which is related without any doubt to her family history and her personal memories. She gave her last and only interview in German to this author in 1998. Two lives, two very different fates, which could not be more symptomatic of the period of Nazi tyranny in Germany. Antje Soléau lives in Cologne. She writes freelance for German and international arts and crafts magazines. Bibliography: Ulrike Müller: Bauhaus-Frauen. Meisterinnen in Kunst, Handwerk und Design. Insel Verlag. ISBN 978-3-458-35984-5 Bröhan-Museum, Berlin: Avantgarde für den Alltag. Jüdische Keramikerinnen 1919-1933. ISBN 978-3941588-10-3 Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf: Hanna Charag-Zuntz und Varda Yatom. Gefäße und Skulpturen aus Israel. 1998 Neue Keramik: 1/99, 6/05, 4/07, 6/13 Ceramic Review: Nr. 270, Nov./Dec. 2014 Hannah Ahrendt: Eichmann in Jerusalem. Ein Bericht von der Banalität des Bösen. Piper. ISBN 978-3-492-26478-5
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FORUM
Laws of Change in Creativity Gustav Weiß
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has to do with subjective processes. But it must separate personal from impersonal matters. Of course this is at the heart of any scientific activity, but it is particularly difficult in culture: it is the totality of the typical ways of life in a population including the mental state that supports it, particularly its values (cf. Brockhaus Enzyklopädie). In addition to this vast diversity, there are also the differences between various periods and regions. Even if we believe that everything changes, evolves, develops, it is scarcely imaginable that there are objective laws governing what people have devised, invented or created. We are confronted here with an infinity of possibilities that we do not normally recognise as such. We are familiar with “eternity” as an immobile condition that remains thus for ever. In contrast: the mobile “infinity” of time which has no beginning and no end. Then there is the diversity of appearances and character in living beings – an infinity that is continued with every birth. This has its correspondence in the diversity of cultural creations of humans, who are endowed with intelligence – an infinity that is continued in everything that they create. Let us restrict ourselves to the material culture of the made environment in our Western world. Of the lines describing the laws of the processes of cultural transformation that Koenig defined, one in particular is illuminating for the field of culture that affects us because it reverses the principle of self determination that we lay claim to and says that we live under the dictate of laws – unconsciously and inevitably. Koenig says that when objects lose their function, they make a transition into the field of symbol, decoration, prestige or to impress, and become more variable in material, form Increasing creative freedom and colour. This means that in form and colour the development of such things does not occur after the principle of growing, blossoming, bearing fruit and perishing but that in culture, in place of perishing, life can continue in the sense that it has lost its
Decreasing creative freedom in firing
Fine art
terial and non-material culture”. This bold definition is from the Austrian behavioural scientist, Otto Koenig (1914-1992), who founded this branch of science. He did research on traditional costumes and uniforms and on the ritualisation of the eye motif as a protection from evil. Koenig agreed with his mentor Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) that a comparison of cultures had to be included in the study of vertebrates as humankind had evolved from the animal kingdom. Including vertebrates in a comparison of cultures avoided any risk of “elevating the special case to a law because of the brevity of the base line”. And as to ritualisation, like with animals, it is a particular form of communication. Julian Huxley (1887-1975) had observed that behaviours that were originally for the preservation of the species became symbols that served as communicative signals. He quoted nest building among great crested grebes, which attract females with symbolic signals. He stated that a change of function in the animal kingdom occurred that was analogous to that to be observed in human culture. In human society, ritualisation is a kind of supra-individual social behaviour that in the course of the development of culture had become a traditional habit. The original practical point of the activity became in both cases a continuation of acquired behaviour. The separation of natural science from the human sciences was now obsolete in his opinion. In a different way, culture is more diverse than biology, which studies innate characteristics, whereas in the study of culture, the focus is on acquired ones. Science, which seeks objectively for laws,
Applied art
omparisons between related cultures show that there are parallels between certain creative processes in making things. Cultural research formulates them as laws in the evolutionary development of culture. Evolution, with which we have been familiar since Darwin with reference to the development of living creatures, also applies to knowledge and material cultural assets. Evolution in culture is based on learning processes, i.e. it has to do with the acquisition of skills and knowledge through which the accumulation of technology and knowledge can occur. Culture works with these means in general. With regard to ceramics, however, no such progress can be ascertained. Its high points in the past have always been the high points in craft or applied art and they derived from skill, without progress in the development of general knowledge playing a part in it. It was rather the soul which produced uncontrived works that were in touch with nature. The most famous example were the rice bowls of the Korean peasants in the 16th century, which formed a pinnacle of achievement in craft after Japanese tea masters had elevated them to their model. In the Momoyama Period (1573-1615), they lead to a further flowering in the crafts. There was nothing comparable anywhere else in the world. What was the same everywhere, however, was the decline in the relationship to nature, the chastity and innocence of creation and the rise of artistic ambition. A selection process and a continually increasing striving for social status accompanied this trend. In the mid-20th century, a transformation occurred that had its origins in California: for the first time in its history, ceramics professed to being fine art as a part of the Abstract Expressionist movement. This meant intellectual aspirations that freedom brought with it. The present-day condition can be represented in a simple diagram of creative freedom. Comparative behavioural scientists have discovered that there are laws that govern the development of skilled crafts. This branch of comparative behavioural science is termed cultural ethology. It deals with “all phenomena and processes of ma-
Craft
C
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FORUM original function. Continuing to live in culture, things take on a new function: symbolic, decorative, prestigious, impressive. With new impetus for material, form and colour. This can all be clearly seen in ceramics in its progress from its original purpose towards fine art. In contrast to biology, then, there is no extinction of species but instead a transformation. It is often said that pottery is dying out because industry has conquered the market and is competing for the potter’s livelihood. It is certainly true that working with glazes that the potter has developed himself, particularly with glazes made from ash and rock, has become rare. A hundred years ago, art glazes were the optimistic showpiece of applied art, ignited by Bernard Leach’s Potter’s Book. Open air firings had more friends than they do today. Saltglazing suffered the worst fate. All these cases have gone the same way as the apple. The market has reduced the number of varieties to about half a dozen. Varieties people were particularly fond of and that are no longer commercially available can only be found in private gardens. This is precisely what is going on in ceramics. Not that the potter’s craft is dying out. It must forgo certain types of production. What is still worth doing and still rewarded is targeted at people who can appreciate it. They only appreciate it if it is of superior quality. The American journalist Bill McKibben described “The End of Nature” in 1989. With regard to making, the concept of nature has changed. Its laws are increasingly accepted as something that is simply the way they are. The ceramist is generally no longer permeated by them. They used to be the potter’s personal experience and the basis of his self confidence. When art becomes the ceramist’s priority, his interest is focused on success, no longer on the experience. The public may find throwing, bonfire firing, paper kilns, raku and crystal glazes interesting but all that lies beyond societal importance. The destruction of nature is spreading in modern contemporary society. As McKibben says, “We have finished with what defined nature for us”. We can state for ceramics that the last century raised the ceramist’s consciousness of nature to a relative high point. Relative because it did not go beyond experience. Anything that went further became fine art, and through research, technical ceramics went its own way, which achieved unsuspected importance. It no longer has anything to do
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with aesthetics. In applied art the experiment ended not in research but in an increased creative freedom. In this field, an experiment for the purposes of research is a sampling of experience and does not lead to new territory as true research does. It is rather the freedom of art that beckons with new areas of experiment. I would so like to tarry, But the wagon rolls on... A Berlin pharmacist made this poem from the 1870s popular (“Hoch auf dem gelben Wagen”), a song expressing that you cannot halt the passage of time. Walter Scheel sang it when he was president of West Germany, expressing wisdom appropriate to his high office. Tradition is being at rest. But there is no time for this. There is not even time to finish your sentences. ASAP! There is no longer any time to find the lowest common denominator for the present, and it would anyway be in vain. Church, children, the kitchen (a German expression describing a woman's traditional role), Romanticism and Enlightenment, Baroque and Jugendstil. Something always remains. Everything turns up again in diversity, but above all it is the unexpected and the unprecedented that determines the course. At TEDGlobal conferences, ideas are presented and rewarded with substantial prizes if they are worth disseminating. “TED” has to do with technology and design, but with entertainment too. That is our present day, governed by the internet. The Zeitgeist is hiding behind all the abbreviations and acronyms. That is the difference to the irreversible extinction of species in nature. Culture rejuvenates itself, but it needs death to do so. Like with people, death is genetically programmed: “It is necessary”, as Manfred Eigen says, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, “because regressive developments that may proceed from a mixing of the gene pool must be excluded in evolution.” Art and nature, which seem to flee from each other, are subject to the same laws. The philosopher and culture researcher, Peter Sloterdijk drew lessons from 2,500 years of cultural history and came to the conclusion that in the process of the world, after the hiatus, more energy was released than could be harnessed under forms of civilisation that were capable of being passed down. According to this, the impulse that initiates the hiatus is a law of development in accordance with which culture grows upward “like a continually
growing tree of human consciousness” (Schlegel). To adduce a further example from ceramics: when Chinese porcelain was to be reinvented elsewhere, the natural raw materials were not available in the Middle East, nor were the kilns or the experience with firing. And they certainly were not in the West. The impulse from this hiatus led to Persian potters inventing faience. If the diversity of species in culture now has to accept hiatuses, the spirit of invention is called upon. And not just the imagination, because the present day is not satisfied with merely continuing the past in imaginative variations. The skilled craftsman can no more elude digital, mobile information and knowledge society than the applied or fine artist can because they live in this society, which is subject to fundamental societal transformation. It is not science or psychology that describe humankind in this society, its behaviour and its motivation, its friendship, its loyalty, its love and what it does, but the economy. And that is calculable because everybody only ever thinks of their own advantage. Every single individual is programmed in today’s advanced capitalism by everything being a commodity. It is a question of moving with the times to sell everything as dearly as possible: one’s products, one’s knowledge and skills and oneself. Frank Schirrmacher says that not only crises can thus be calculated in advance but a whole society can be simulated in a computer. www.gustav-weiss.de Bibliography Pierre Bourlieu: “Schriften zur Kultursoziologie”. Vol.4 “Kunst und Kultur”.Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp 2011 and 2013. Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeld: “Grundriss der vergleichenden Verhaltensforschung”. Munich: Piper 2nd ed. 1969. Hans Freyer: “Schwelle der Zeite”. “Beiträge zur Soziologie der Kultur”. Stuttgart: Dt.Verl-Anst. 1965. Bill McKibben: “Das Ende der Natur”. Munich: List, 1990. Otto Koenig: “Kultur und Verhaltensforschung. Einführung in die Kulturethologie”. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1970. Max Liedke (ed.): “Kulturethologie. Über die Grundlagen kultureller Entwicklungen”. Munich: Realis Verlag 1994. Frank Schirrmacher: “Ego. Das Spiel des Lebens”. Munich: Blessing 2013. Peter Sloterdijk: “Die schrecklichen Kinder der Neuzeit”. Über das anti-genealogische Experiment der Moderne. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2014. Alfred Weber: “Kulturgeschichte als Kultursoziologie”. Munich: Piper 1961 and Berlin: RIAS Funkuniversität 1970.
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COMPETITION
FRECHEN
Death, Destruction, Merriment
Olga Moldaver
Frechen Ceramics Award 2015 “
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he heap of shards is not automatically rubbish, but first and foremost it is an offer to re-sort it, just waiting for some adhesive.” This is how Hermann Grüneberg, one of the three winners of the Frechen Ceramics Award, describes his artistic strategy. The child in his prizewinning piece, Child with Hare (2014) may be teetering on legs that are not really the same length, its fingers may be crooked, but nevertheless it is happily stretching to lift a small hare towards the sky. Assembled from ceramic elements and roughly hewn wood, wired together in makeshift fashion, the human archetypes in Grüneberg’s work may seem to be maimed, but they look optimistically and tenderly at each other and into the future. The answer as to what lies behind the fractures, the dysfunctional elements, the lost dreams, cannot be found in Grüneberg’s work alone. It is the leitmotif
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among many of the artists competing for the Frechen Ceramics Award 2015. From a total of fifty applicants, the three preliminary judges – gallerist Jutta Idelmann, artist Doris Kaiser and collector Hannelore Seiffert – invited seventeen participants to present their work from September at the Keramion. The prize of the Frechener Kulturstiftung (Frechen Arts Foundation) for emerging artists has been awarded since 1972, this year for the seventeenth time; is intended for artists up to the age of 35 whose work is centred in Germany. There are three cash prizes each to the amount of EUR 1,500. The panel of judges, enlarged to include Susanne Bucksfeld from the Museum of Art in Ahlen and Dr Olaf Thormann, director of the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig, studied the broad spectrum of submitted work in great depth. Mixed materials, installations, printing and a video projection
are now no longer exceptions in the competition, which was originally launched as a vessel prize. Nevertheless, the theme of the vessel continues to fascinate some artists, for instance Bomi Lee’s vases with their cut, overlapping edges, the mathematical grids of Kyungmin Lee’s cylinders, the distorted coffee pots by Danijela PivaševicTenner, and the wild, colourfully assembled vases by Sarah Pschorn. Interest is especially directed at the cult forms of the Bauhaus. But can they be viewed today without the knowledge of the historical breaking up of the Bauhaus and the biographies of the makers influencing our visual impression? Sarah Bartmann sensitively reflects on this venerating yet melancholy view in her Bauhaus-Kannen (“Bauhaus Coffee Pots”) (2014), which she assembled from the repertoire of forms of Marguerite Friedlaender.
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But Bartmann’s vessels have visible joints, a certain grubby greyness has crept into the brilliant white, and more importantly, none of the lids can be opened so the pots are, in the conventional sense, without function. A panel of judges that has to select the prize-worthy exhibits from among many high quality entries cannot dodge the question of the future development of ceramic art. The judges agreed that the simple, white cylinders by Sangkyoung Lee from South Korea marked one of these future pathways. Lee distorts the slipcast objects so skilfully and cautiously that the viewer feels confronted with a metaphor for time, a delicate of inscribing of the traces of wind and water in nature. This level of simplicity and clarity seemed to the judges to be equally relevant for the fields of fine art or design; Lee, a student in the department of ceramic and glass design at Burg Giebichensten accordingly received the award. A white, crisp pig’s head has to be classified somewhere between art and design – it is a teapot with removable ears for confectionary, and it comes with a cup that turns out to be a pig’s snout when raised to drink from it. Maria Volokhova, born in the Ukraine, makes anatomically precise casts of animals and plastinates for her “Functional Objects”. Her teaset Sus Bonus (2014) is amusing, but it also activates several levels of associations, from historical showpiece dishes to the contemporary utilization of every part of domestic animals. Almost like returning ghosts, her functional items for every day attract but they also disconcert and upset the viewer. Volokhova studied painting and graphic art at Burg Giebichenstein and then went to Tokyo to pursue research into ceramics. Such study trips to Asia or the USA are typical of the artists participating this year. The CVs of most of them include a large number of exhibitions, participation in competitions and ceramics biennials, as well as scholarships, which is reflected in the high standard as well as in the higher age of the participants in comparison to previous years – hardly any of the participants is under 30.
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opposite - View of the exhibition. Foreground: David Rauer, Muffensausen, 2015, installation on a silicone puddle, stoneware, 1250°C, garden hose, adhesive tape, variable dimensions; background: exhibits by Kyungmin Lee - photo: KERAMION above left - Sarah Pschorn, exhibit in the foreground “LOVE TEARS AND DIZZY BIRDS 6” 2014–2015, assembled vessel sculpture, 1260°C, screen printed, fired to 850°C, 41 x 21 x 21 cm photo: Katrin Klink
above right - Lisa Seebach, “Der Köcher” (“The Quiver”), 2014, installation, ceramic, 1080°C, metal, epoxy enamel, 80 x 110 x 96 cm and Terra Incognita" 2014, three ceramic murals, 1080°C, 45 x 34 x 6 cm each - photo: Katrin Klink below - Sarah Bartmann, “Bauhaus-Kannen”, 2014, vessel sculptures, cast, handbuilt, painted, with transparent glaze, stoneware 1260°C, 20 x 13 cm – 26 x 14 cm - photo: Katrin Klink
COMPETITION
FRECHEN
above - Maria Volokhova, "Sus Bonus/Teaset", 2014, functional object, vessel, six-piece taeset, hard paste porcelain, 1400°C, teapot 25 x 40 x 41 cm, tea warmer 26 x 26 x 12 cm, cup 11 x 11 x 17 cm - photo: KERAMION below - Hermann Grüneberg, "Kind mit Hase", 2014, sculpture stoneware, handbuilt, slip painted, glazed, 1260°C, oak, porcelain shards, rope, coloured wax, 178 x 90 x 50 cm -photo: Katrin Klink
David Rauer’s Muffensausen (roughly: “Getting the Wind Up”) from 2015 seems to come from a cartoon laboratory with its idiosyncratic system of colourful objects connected with tubes, which looks as if it could be set in motion at any moment with the appropriate sound effects. The large pool of silicone on which the large-scale installation is spread would then be the “by product” of this humanised, jumpy, anxious piece of equipment. Rauer, master student from the Münster Academy of Art, transformed for his work the formal vocabulary of Tobias Rehberger’s installation "Moon in Alabama", which stands in the city of Münster. A search like this for formal relationships in art, which is always attractive to the expert, is subverted by Randolph Capelle (UK) from the Institute of Ceramics and Glass Arts in Höhr-Grenzhausen. He puts his materials into aggregate states that he can only vaguely control: melting, liquidizing, condensed steam – thus seemingly freeing himself from the human will to form. His piece "Outweigh" – Überwiegen (2014) made of industrially produced kiln batts and sanitary ware, melted into a bloated, blue-brown mass of shale is the result of such firing experiments. Materials that behave according to their own laws suggest a special sense of authenticity. Clouding this claim to truth is the role that Capelle assumes as an artist by mixing in, as he puts it, “failure, absurdity and pathos”. His systematic study of the behaviour of materials and his analysis of artistic strategies convinced the judges that they should also present him with the Frechen Ceramics Award. The works by the artists mentioned in the text as well as those by Isabell Kamp, Anna Dorothea Klug, Sunbin Lim, Nina Viktoria Naußed, Angelika Rauf, Lisa Seebach and Hannes Uhlenhaut are on show until 10 January 2016 at the KERAMION Foundation in Frechen. A catalogue has been published for the exhibition. Further details on www.keramion.de Olga Moldaver MA is an art historian who woks as a freelance art mediator in the Cologne/Düsseldorf region.
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WORKSHOP
Welcome to Japan -
STEFAN JAKOB SAN
Evelyne Schoenmann
his students busy during raku firings. This proves to be pretty difficult when there is only one kiln available. So he thought up a “peoples’” raku kiln. After a lengthy phase of trial and error and continual improvements, he developed the now widely known dustbin raku kiln. This kiln can be built quite simply and cheaply. The parts and the instructions can either be purchased from ceramics suppliers or you can attend one of the numerous workshops run by Stefan Jakob and build your own kiln under his guidance. Stefan has built over 2,000 of these kilns up to now, either to fulfil orders or at workshops. The main body of the kiln, i.e. the dustbin, is made of galvanised sheet metal. A piece of stovepipe is fitted to the lid. There is a small firebox at the bottom of the kiln,
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t is a spectacular sight to see a row of these dustbin kilns lined up side by side, in the red sand of the expanses of Australia, on dollies being pushed to a seminar by instructors or even in a typical Japanese landscape, the home of raku. It all started twenty years ago in the Zurich studio of the well-known ceramist, Stefan Jakob, when he was still an arts and crafts teacher and he kept wondering how it would be possible to keep all
which has a usable firing chamber of approximately 27 cm in height and diameter and is fired with wood. For one firing, about two shoe boxes full of finely split firewood are needed. 1000°C can be reached in half an hour. Stefan Jakob’s latest development is a high temperature wood kiln that can be fired to 1300°C! News of Stefan’s kiln idea, simple but impressive, has spread far and wide, so that well-known Japanese ceramist Shozo Michikawa was one of the people who had heard of it. Shozo organises the highly respected International Ceramics Festival in Sasama, Japan (ICAF) which has taken place every two years since 2011. In 2014, Shozo invited Stefan to demonstrate his special raku kilns in the land of raku. Stefan was happy to take up
The successful Japanese kiln builders
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SYMPOSIUM
The images above show the construction and transport of the kilns opposite page - the kilns in operation and (bottom) on display
the invitation. On 4 November 2014, he flew to Japan to spend a month in the land of the rising sun. The culture shock was not long in coming: not only the insights into the culture and society of the country and the intense experience of living at close quarters with a Japanese family for nearly four weeks, but also the rituals, language and the cuisine took some getting used to, but Japanese friends offered their support and assistance. Right on the day after his arrival, all of the parts and materials to build the kilns had to be sourced and purchased. Together with Watami, the interpreter, and a further helper, Stefan made his way to various “home centers” in Shimada, and to the ones in Seto together with Shozo. It was not easy to find the
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correct materials so that the treasure hunters could often be seen standing helplessly in front of the shelves. However, they finally managed to find everything on their shopping list. That was reason enough for Stefan to take a short trip before the workshop proper began, so he took a train to Fukushima, where he was awaited by Masakazu Kusakabe. Masakazu is a kiln builder and potter whom Stefan had met at a woodfiring conference in Germany. Stefan relates, “Masakazu took me straight on a tour lasting several days, introducing me to his friend Yashitshi Watanabe, a calligrapher who paints his letters exclusively with frogs. On the Tuesday morning, Masakazu could no longer restrain himself; he wanted to build a small wood
photos - Minoru Nyuya and Stefan Jakob
kiln with me made of lightweight insulating bricks based on my high-temperature kiln made from a stainless steel bucket. Of course we went right ahead and fired it too, reaching 1280°C in only three hours.” After spending five days with Masakazu San, he had to take his leave to return in time for the planned workshop in Sasama. Before this, however, a series of workshops at Japanese schools was scheduled. Stefan describes the workshops with Japanese schoolchildren like this: “On two days, Shozo, Masa, Watami and I, with a number of helpers, drove to three schools in the prefecture of Shizuoka. We ran small workshops with a total of six classes. First I gave a brief illustrated presentation about Switzerland
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WORKSHOP and my work with children. After that, each student was able to make a small bowl of their own. We took all the work with us to have it fired in Sasama. I was very excited to gain an insight into the Japanese school system in this way. I was astonished that in a highly technological country like Japan the classrooms were still heated with paraffin”. A report about the workshops for schoolchildren was published the very next day in the Shizuoka News. On 19 November, the participants in Sasama arrived and the workshop could begin in earnest. After a brief introduction, eleven women and five men, including ten professional ceramists, immediately set to work, all working very autonomously. The first pieces were finished on the first day. The following day was reserved for kiln building. With ardour and enthusiasm, drawing, drilling, cutting and joining got under way. By evening, all of the participants could present their finished kilns. For fun, and because it was raining outside, the participants made a weatherproof “rain kiln”. The evening began with a performance, “Dance with flute music and drums, combined with a ceramic demonstration by Shozo”. This was followed by a meal of Japanese delicacies prepared by some of the women from the village, with beer and sake to drink. This is all part of the event, because the participants had to fortify themselves for firing day. This is what Stefan has to say about the unusual firing day: “In the morning, everyone set up their kiln and placed their work in the kiln for the bisque firing. Suddenly we heard a helicopter that was approaching to land right in front of the kilns. It turned out to be the “flying doctor”. The large area where we were getting ready to start firing was a helipad for emergencies in the valley. Only after the helicopter had taken off again could we start the firing. In the afternoon, we did the glaze firing too. By the evening, all the participants were delighted with the workshop, the firing and especially with the new kilns. Parallel to the workshop, Shozo had fired the anagama, and in the evening I had the chance to sit by the kiln and catch up with friends. I should add that our Western style of raku differs vastly from original Japanese raku. It is also called ‘American style raku’ here because it was especially Paul Soldner who invented this style of firing.” After this, Stefan Jakob travelled on to Bizen to meet the so-called Bizen Boys, Taiga, Syo, Toshiaki and Takhiro to run one last dustbin firing. As it was supposed to be in a special location, Tobi Port right by the sea had been chosen. Stefan has been back in Switzerland for some time now, but in quiet moments, he dreams of taking part again in the Sasama Festival in 2017. Stefan Jakob, Switzerland: www.raku.ch Trip to Japan in 2014: www.stefaninjapan.jimdo.com
Evelyne Schoenmann is a ceramist. She lives and works in Basel, Switzerland, and Liguria, Italy. www.schoenmann-ceramics.ch
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EXHIBITION
MUNICH
Kap-Sun Hwang and his students A Korean teaching concept Angela Böck
F
or 30 years, Galerie Handwerk in Munich has opened its annual exhibition programme in January with ceramics. In 2016, it is showing work by the Korean ceramist Kap-Sun Hwang and his students. Kap-Sun Hwang was born in Seoul in 1963 and has lived in Germany since 1990. His decision to continue his studies of ceramics in Germany goes back to 1985, when he saw an exhibition by the legendary German group, Gruppe 83 at the National Museum in Seoul, which fascinated him with its complexity and diversity. In 1991, he began his studies under one of the members, Johannes Gebhardt at the Foto – Deahwan Kim
Muthesius University in Kiel. Gebhardt’s teaching concept was based on the one hand on a complete mastery of ceramic technique and a knowledge of the material, but on the other, it allowed the students maximum freedom. This left a deep impression on Kap-Sun Hwang, which still remains today. Kap-Sun Hwang is a perfectionist. He himself creates simple, pared down vessels. Purist and minimalist yet at the same time artistically skilful, they are technical masterpieces of incredible subtlety. He throws and handbuilds his vessel series – usually cylinders – with subtle, delicate nuances in form and colour. Nevertheless, his works are not cold, but they appeal to the senses. The delicate, soft-looking surfaces tempt us to touch them. In 2003, Kap-Sun Hwang was appointed professor at the College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University. He has subsequently trained seven to nine students each year. None of the students has had prior training or an apprenticeship in ceramics. The works of his students are of unusually high quality and are extremely successful. The outstanding standard is not coincidental. Professor Hwang does not demand a lot of his students – he demands everything. His teaching is intensive, the course runs from 1 January to 31 December every day including Sundays, with the exception of the South Korean National Day, and the students often spend ten, twelve or more hours every day in the classroom. If you are truly inspired by an idea, says Hwang, unconditional commitment is essential. This would be unimaginable in Europe. In return, Professor Hwang gives the students the sum of his own
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experience, from which he has derived and formulated his teaching concept. He is constantly in close dialogue with the students in order to mentor and encourage them to an optimal level. He accompanies the students in his masterclasses as an experienced older colleague in order to advance processes and developments by means of conversations and discussions or simply by listening. The basis of Professor Hwang’s teaching concept is mastering the basic ceramic techniques. Students work on this with great concentration. They begin with throwing vessels and at first concentrate solely on the cylinder with predefined dimensions until he approves it. They then throw simple hemispherical bowls, spherical vases and lidded vessels. During their course, Kap-Sun Hwang prepares his students for industrial production, for in his opinion craft and industry are not mutually exclusive. He is convinced that a ceramist with a command of ceramic techniques who is also open to serial production has a chance of earning a living as a ceramist. Trying to emulate the professor and being inspired by him and his work is quite natural in Korea, and it is very important. In the students, the teacher and master can be recognised, although an individual, personal variation is aimed for. Without this teacher-student relationship, a professional career in Korea is not possible. To motivate his students to undertake the enormous workload, Kap-Sun Hwang arranges workshop exhibitions, where the proceeds fund the entire cost of materials for the class. The young ceramists from Kap-Sun Hwang’s courses have won distinctions and prizes in numerous national and international competitions and have shown their work in exhibitions in Europe and Asia. From 13 January – 13 February 2016, a major exhibition of work by Kap-Sun Hwang and 32 of his students will go on show at Galerie Handwerk in Munich. Dr. Angela Böck isis the deputy head of department for fairs and exhibitions at the Chamber of Skilled Trades for Munich and Upper Bavaria.
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HEIDELBERG
EXHIBITION
KEN MIHARA’s Landscapes Antje Soléau
photo: Friederike Hentschel, Galerie Marianne Heller, Heidelberg
K
en Mihara (born in Izumo, Shimane prefecture in 1958), a Japanese ceramic artist of world renown, works in groups. He has entitled his latest group kei/mindscapes. Heidelberg gallery owner Marianne Heller, who showed these works exclusively in Europe last autumn, paraphrased the title as “imaginary landscapes”. Equally, one might say “landscapes of the soul" or “worlds of the imagination”, for in these objects, Ken Mihara reflects the Japanese world in which he lives and the way he experiences it personally. The landscape in Shimane prefecture, where he lives and works, in the studio, called a “sekki”, is characterised in particular by sea, mountains and lush vegetation. His work is derived from the traditional ceramics of his homeland. Mihara learned his trade from the mingei potter Kenji Funaki, but has since
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developed his own very personal style, which is somewhere between tradition and avant-garde, between vessel and sculpture. The mingei movement aimed to develop an awareness of the beauty of folk art in the first half of the 20th century. Mihara did not follow this vogue, but he still calls his studio “sekki” in reference to the grey, unglazed reduction fired stoneware produced in Japan from the 5th-12th century known as Sue ceramics. Mihara digs his iron-rich stoneware clay on his own premises. The forms, created with great sensitivity – he handbuilds them in the Korean himo-zukurri technique from coils of clay – are coated them with kaolin slip, firing them for forty hours in a gas kiln. After firing, he grinds off this firing crust completely and fires them for forty hours again. The finished objects with their rough,
matt surfaces have a seemingly natural, lichen- like colour, sometimes with crystalline efflorescences, which make the simple, minimalistic forms appear monumental. As the invitation to the exhibition says, these are subtly sinuous and folded, pointed, towering forms combining stasis and movement, thereby becoming symbolic images of ceaselessly revolving thought processes. These pieces must thus be circled contemplatively and calmly by the viewer. In spite of their material heaviness, they seem light, is if they float, like a leaf unfolding. The remind Europeans not only of mountains but also of bishop’s mitres or Baroque folded table napkins. Antje Soléau lives in Cologne. She writes freelance for German and in iternational arts and crafts magazines.
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above Fernand Léger, La Plante Bleu, 1952, faience, 44 X 34 cm left Stairs to the exhibition on the 2nd floor of the Museum below Elsa Sahal, Justine, 2015
“CERAMIX” From Rodin to Schütte Bernd Pfannkuche
he Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Netherlands, situated on the Avenue de Céramique and built by Italian architect Aldo Rossi, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the weekend of 14 + 15 November 2015. The Bonnefantenmuseum is thus a relatively new museum, which presents mediaeval art from the Netherlands as well as 17th century painting and sculpture from the Netherlands, Germany and Italy on one level, with regularly changing exhibitions of contemporary art on the level above it. What is currently likely to be the most interesting ceramics exhibition in Europe runs until 31 January. The two guest curators Camille Morineau and Lucia Pesapane spent five years working with the Bonnefantenmuseum, the Cité de la Céramique (Sèvres, F) and La Maison Rouge (Paris, F) preparing the exhibition, organising and compiling it. CERAMIX displays more than 250 exhibits from international museums and private collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, the Petit Palais in Paris, Marck Larock-Granoff, Isabelle
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photos - Bonnefanten Museum / B.Pfannkuche
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MAASTRICHT
EXHIBITION
Maeght, Alain Tarica and Luciano Benetton, with works bymore than 100 artists such as Matisse, Miro, Rodin, Picasso, Schütte and Ai Weiwei. The exhibition focuses on the relationship between art and ceramics from the early 20th century to the present. The subject has certainly been seen with the experience and knowledge of the two curators and concentrates on work from Europe, but there is a representative selection of pieces from the USA and there is some work from Asia and South America, but fewer than from central and northern Europe. The curators have pointed out that the presentation of important large-scale works has not been possible owing to the space available in the museum as well as the permanent location of architectural ceramics. But nevertheless, the diversity and quality of the exhibits is fascinating, and it is highly interesting to see the ceramic works of major artists and sculptors from the early 20th century, which are rarely seen in one show. The remarks in the 320-page catalogue are certainly helpful here, as it not only shows pictures of the exhibited works but in the texts it goes into the background and development of ceramic sculpture in the 20th century from various points of view.
above Joan Miro, Joan-Tete Rouille, 1944-1946, photo Galerie Maeght, Paris right Carolein Smit, Skeleton with Bird, 2014
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EXHIBITION
View in one of the exhibition rooms with installations by - left Daniel Pontoreau, background Rachel Labastie, at the floor Gabriel Orozzo
The exhibition - foreground: work by Setsuko Nagasawa
The introductory chapter by Morineau and Pesapane also mentions the ceramists and potters who assisted the great masters of fine art in the realisation of their ceramic objects, such as Josep Llorens Artigas in Charenton, who worked for Raoul Dufy, or the Madoura Workshops in Vallauris, especially Suzanne Ramie, who worked for Picasso, to mention only two. It was not until the phase after the 2nd World War that sculpture in ceramics could be said to develop independently, separate from its links with painters and sculptors on the one hand and from traditional pottery on the other. Early examples of this can be found on the West Coast of the USA with the work of the Otis Group, in Japan with the Shikokai and Sodaisha Groups, in Italy with Lucio Fontana and his milieu, as well as the Cobra Group from the Netherlands. These and further developments have clearly been demonstrated by the curators with excellent examples. To this end, the exhibition has been divided up into thematic areas, which in turn fit into the galleries of the Museum. Beginning with the naturalistic sculptures of Paul Gauguin and Auguste Rodin for example, the path leads via masks by André Derain and Thomas Schütte to painted vases by André Derain, Raoul Dufy, Henri Matisse, vase sculptures by Pablo Picasso (who is also represented with a number of plates), sculptures by Joan Miro, Fernand Léger and many others, to the European informel style and the non-functional pieces of the Japanese Sodeisha Group, consisting of Kazuo Yagi, Yamada Hikaru, Osamu Suzuki and the artists Chieko Katsumata,
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MAASTRICHT
Yoshimi Futamura and Setsuko Nagasawa, who now live in Europe. In addition, Funk Art from northern California in the 1960s with work by Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, Marilyn Levine, Kathy Butterly and others is well represented. Further areas arranged by theme and space are: “Drop the vase, break the plate”, “Unleafable books”, “Human compote”, “Hetero is, Erotic is”, “Sacred and profane: revisited traditions”, “Eros and Thanatos”. Further rooms follow with installations and spaces for solo exhibitions of individual artists. Just to mention the artists represented in the exhibition would go too far, but nevertheless: work by Ettore Sottsass, Richard Slee, Betty Woodman, Norbert Prangenberg, Ai Weiwei, Anne Wenzel, Edmund de Waal, Philip Eglin, Carolein Smit, Ljubica Jocic-Knezevic, Piet Stockmans, Daniel Pontoreau, Eduardo Chillida, Antoni Tàpies and Leiko Ikemura (NC 6/15) has to be mentioned too. A total of 106 artists are represented, some with large scale pieces. And even if one has to find that perhaps a few pieces may not come up to the standard of the exhibition as a whole and it is difficult to understand why they are here, and other leading names from the present do not have work in the exhibition, this must be put down to the special perspective of the curators. Even assuming that there is a “blind spot” in some respects, one cannot avoid regarding CERAMIX as the most interesting ceramics exhibition in Europe at the current time. It is an absolute MUST for everyone interested in art ceramics from the past hundred years. If you cannot make it to Maastricht in January 2016, the exhibition moves on to La Maison Rouge, 10, Boulevard de la Bastille, Paris, from 9 March – 8 June 2016 and to the Cité de la Céramique in Sèvres (date to be announced) – www.sevresciteceramique.fr More pictures on page 2, catalogue on page 61.
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EXHIBITION
above Lucio Fontana, Crucifisso, 1955 below l. to r. Charles Vos, Caritas figure with cape (undated) Philip Eglin, Venus and Amor, 1980 Philip Eglin, Mother and Child, 1993 Philip Eglin, Virgin with Dead Christ, 1998
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CONFERENCE
“STEPPING UP”
The Australian Ceramics Triennale 9 – 11 July 2015, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Michaela Kloeckner
left Burley Griffin Lake right Kilns on the Campus of the Australian National University (ANU) below left work by Janet Deboos in the exhibition, A Survey
C
anberra is the capital city of Australia. This spaciously laid-out city is in the interior of the country, surrounded by forest, farmland and nature reserves, which is the source of its nickname, “Bush Capital”. Burley Griffin
Lake lies in the heart of the city and is populated with sailing boats, kayaks and black swans. On the shore lie the massive, ultra-modern Parliament Building and several museums. One of them is the National Gallery, world famous for its collection of Aboriginal Art and the controversial piece by American artist Jackson Pollock, Blue Poles, which was purchased in 1973 amid much protest. Canberra is also home of the Australian National University (ANU), with Greg Daly as director and Janet Deboos as emeritus fellow of the Ceramics Institute. Both are world-renowned, highly regarded Australian ceramists. This was the perfect setting with the perfect hosts for the 2015 Triennale. The three day programme of Stepping Up had as its main aim to evaluate the current state of Australian ceramics and to open up the opportunity for the new generation of Australian ceramists to play a decisive part in it. Sixty ceramics exhibitions had been planned in the city during this period, too many to deal with each one separately.
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The three-day programme was arranged as follows: Talks took place in the morning, up to midday, demonstrations and workshops were planned for the afternoons. Exhibitions were opened every day, either at lunchtime or in the evenings. A three-day master workshop with Janet Deboos preceded the conference. The 400 delegates and the keynote speaker, Dr Tanya Harrod from England, were welcomed by the chair, Janet Deboos, who also opened the conference on Thursday, 9 July at 9.15 a.m. In her talk, The Changing World, Dr Harrod made a detailed comparison between the commercial and technical sides of ceramic production and its cost to the environment with ceramists working by hand in today's world. We are living in a time when we can design an object on the computer that can then be realised with a 3-D printer, even using clay. As ceramists, we bear great responsibility to ensure the survival of craftsmanship, making objects that come from the heart, that have been born and not made by a machine, that
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above - Robert Sanderson, publisher of The Logbook, at the NEW CERAMICS stand above right - Michaela Kloeckner (left) and Meran Esson at the NEW CERAMICS stand below right - Joanne Searle explaining printing techniques
photos - Michaela Kloeckner
have life and warmth and are not purely cold and functional. C. J. Jilek, a ceramist from the USA, works in a community workshop of the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona. Her talk emphasised that training in ceramics had changed dramatically. Community or private ceramics studios would be of great importance in future and would have an important part to play. In Australia, many ceramics courses in adult education had been forced to close because of falling attendances making them unprofitable. The public will have to transfer its allegiance to communal or private workshops for their education and appreciation of ceramic art. After a brief lunch break, it was time to view the demonstrations that were on offer. My personal favourite was Somchai Charoen from Sydney, New South Wales, who was born in Thailand; he demonstrated his unique and innovative slipcasting technique. Instead of using one mould, he takes small plaster segments that he joins together in various ways. This gives him the freedom to create unusual forms. I was also attracted by Joanne Searle, a ceramist also from NSW, with her direct printing techniques on leatherhard clay. Channeling Raptors, a demonstration by Teri Frame, a ceramist and assistant professor of art at Wisconsin University, was simply exciting. Teri had tied on a clay mask, transforming herself into a raptor, adding piece by piece rolls of clay to the mask in almost complete darkness, accompanied by eerie jungle music. The exhibition of the delegates was opened at the ANU School
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CONFERENCE
of Arts with works by the speakers, hosts and demonstrators from Stepping Up, as well as guests and members of the Australian ceramists association. In the evening, Beaver Galleries welcomed the delegates to the exhibitions Choice and Object: Spoon, with 45 artists from 14 countries, curated by Vipoo Srivilasa. The second day began with a keynote speech by Jacques Kaufmann, ceramist and chair of the ceramics department at the Ecolde d’Arts in Vevey, France. Jacques explained that as craftspeople, we should let the material speak for us and our own personal emotions. This is why we can give our creations feeling, heart and soul, i.e. emotional value, as well as our own personal mark. From the first intuition, we find without seeking, and by accepting the unknown we may manage to reach the truth of our intentions. Jacques gave us a fascinating insight into his own practice, from the first discovery of a handmade brick kiln in Rwanda in 1984 down to the development of his architectural pieces of today, including his prototype of the spaghetti brick and the towering “green walls” developed from it. Milykia Carroll, director of Ananguku Arts and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, spoke about and on behalf of the Australian Aborigine Ernabella potters. She told us about the oldest indigenous arts centre, which has been in operation since 1984. Ceramics was never a part of Aborigine culture, only being introduced by white settlers. Milykia emphasised that the way her community lives was not a question of a lifestyle choice but it was simply a way
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of life that had been known in her community since antiquity. “We live according to our laws, our culture and our stories.” Many stories are kept secret and are not shared with the outside world. The form of the pot is not important to the Ernabella potters, it merely serves as a canvas for drawing, carving or narrating their stories. The delicate sgraffito work of the group is reminiscent of their previous batik work. The delegates gave Milykia a standing ovation at the end of her talk when she repeated, “Our way of life is not a question of a chosen lifestyle”. The Yangupala Tjuta Waakarinyi exhibition was presented by Sabia Gallery a the Australian National Botanical Garden. John Tuckwell, a ceramist from NSW, aroused my interest in the afternoon with his delicate interpretations of the landscape and his vessels made of porcelain and paperclay. Janet Deboos’ retrospective, A Survey, opened at the ACT Craft and Design Centre. It was a fascinating and visually impressive exhibition, starting with Janet’s early work, with her pristine white forms down to her highly decorative, colourful new works, including large porcelain tiles from China with matching vessels. Next it was the turn of 38 ceramists from Victoria with their exhibition at Belconnen Arts Centre. In the neighbouring room, the exhibition Two Seasons by artists from Northern Territory was running. On the third day, the necessity that is familiar to ceramists all over the world was discussed: the necessity of earning a living as a ceramist. Not easy with the current
state of the economy! The whole morning was given over to marketing strategies; Mike Goldmark from Goldmark Galleries in England chaired the discussion and was the main speaker. One of his sales strategies is a short film about each of his ceramists, which is shown on his website. In this way, a link between the ceramist and the customer is already established. He also spoke about how important advertising was as well as the production of a high-quality catalogue that the customer could take home. Anna Maas, director of the Skepsi on Swanston Gallery in Victoria, Australia, spoke of awakening the customer’s desire to acquire and own a specific work of art. The social media were also identified as one of the most important marketing opportunities worldwide. Discovering a new audience online and using the social media as a marketing tool seemed to be generally accepted. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest, Etsy, you have to join in in order to show the world what you can do! We no longer live in a vacuum and can not hide ourselves away in a lonely ceramics studio in Australia or where ever. Fred Olsen. USA, a veteran of ceramics and kiln building, spoke from experience when he said how important it was to grasp the initiative and to use and exploit the opportunities that life opens up. As a self-made man, Fred warned listeners never to borrow money – in a word, as ceramists we shape and construct our own future. Pen Quian, a young ceramist from the
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ACT, is already on the point of shaping her future with her own innovative ideas. She uses felt and bamboo skewers dipped in slip to make unusual forms. The story of 40 potters from the Canberra region was displayed at Canberra Museum, including some lovely early work of Greg Daly’s. On Sunday, the whole of Canberra was given a treat in the form of a pottery market at the National Gallery. Ceramists from near and far brought their wares and joined in. A pricey gourmet dinner at the National Museum brought the conference to an end. Three ceramists who had taken part in all 14 conferences were honoured – one of them was Greg Daly, who duly received one of his own commemorative plates. A little bit of harmless fun, at last! Was it the cold weather, or the capital city, or
the fact that we are all getting older, or maybe I just didn’t meet the right people, but I missed the element of fun at this conference – the potters’ Olympics, the slip throwing competition or just meeting in the pub at the end of the day, and definitely the music and dancing at the close. The best thing was meeting old friends again with whom I had worked in a pottery in Queensland thirty years ago, Bill Powell, crystal glaze specialist and Coll Minogue and Robert Sanderson, woodfire enthusiasts and publishers of the magazine, The Logbook. As soon as I get home, I will get in touch with the world and buy a smartphone, go on Instagram and open a Facebook page and an Etsy shop in the hope of refreshing my account, so that in three years’ time I can take part in the next conference in Tasmania.
CONFERENCE
top row left to right - Martin Beaver, director of Beaver Gallery with sculptures by Klaus Gutowsky - Somchai Charoens plaster moulds - Ernabella Arts potter working - Rahel Ungwanaka Kngwarria The Eagle - Hermannsburg potter - Pen Qian with textile forms dipped in slip below left - exhibition Victorians Stepping Up work by Graeme Wilkie below right - John Tuckwell, work in paper porcelain
Michaela Kloeckner is a freelance writer, ceramist and teacher. She lives on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. www.kloeckner.com.au michaelakloeckner_mudmad (instagram)
International CHAWAN Project – Anniversary!
EXPO
PROJECT
Evelyne Schoenmann be a follow-up exhibition. This encouraged him to plan a new exhibition and to alter the concept slightly. Ceramists applied to participate with photos of three chawan. Solely on the basis of these photos, Lou decides whether to accept or reject a piece for the exhibition. He looks for character in the chawan, an individual style and a love of the object. In other words, chawan with a soul. He has also followed up his idea of exhibiting chawan in museums. “In museums? What an unrealistic idea”, many people thought. Just imagine: teabowls made by ceramists who are still alive being exhibited in spaces where usually only the works of very famous, often dead artists are displayed! But once again, the enterprising initiator of the project was assisted by his tenacity. He got in touch with museum directors all over the world in order to present his idea to them. The result once again proved Lou Smedts right: in every Belgian ceramics museum, but also in France, the Netherlands, Croatia, the USA, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, chawan exhibitions have taken place. What precisely is a chawan and what distinguishes it from a normal teacup? Chawan are formed by hand in hours of contemplative work, or perhaps a little more swiftly on the wheel. The clay body, form, width of the upper rim, the weight, etc. must all lie within given limits. The teabowls are glazed by hand, often based on traditional Japanese models. After that they are usu-
A
teabowl, and that is supposed to be art? “Er, no thank you”. Ceramist Lou Smedts, professor of ceramics, heard this response frequently when he started toying with the idea of a Chawan Expo several years ago and tried to encourage other ceramists to take part. Being stubborn, this likeable Belgian did not allow himself to be discouraged by this degree of scepticism. Unswervingly, he got the International Chawan Expo Project up and running. In 2005, the 17th century abbey, Sint Bernaerdts op Scheldt in Hemiksem, Belgium, opened its doors to the first exhibition of the Chawan Project. Sixty-eight
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ceramic artists from 16 countries took part in the exhibition. The response to this exhibition was overwhelming, which was answer enough to the initiator of the project as to whether there was sufficient general interest in an art exhibition with teabowls. Subsequently, both participating artists and people interested in the tea ceremony asked Lou Smedts if there was to
above Preparations for the tea ceremony centre Exhibition space in the abbey right
Exhibition poster
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PROJECT worldwide interest? He says, “More and more people are recognising the value os traditional techniques. Our Chawan Project is intended to be like a stone that is thrown in the water. The waves are to release creativity, make more ceramists produce chawan and study the way of tea. I am convinced that it is a positive process. We need more respect and harmony in the world.” www.ceramicartproject.com Evelyne Schoenmann is a ceramist. She lives and works in Basel, Switzerland, and Liguria, Italy. www.schoenmann-ceramics.ch Alvin Tan Teck Heng speaking about the basics of chawan
ally fired in the raku technique or in a tunnel kiln that is fuelled with wood in a firing lasting several days. So every single chawan is unique. During the tea ceremony, it is of the greatest significance to admire the teabowl at great length, its uniqueness and its beauty, before one drinks from it. This is why, when a chawan is being made, great attention is paid to shaping the lip, the beauty of the glaze and the tactile qualities. Tea culture originated in China. Later it was also introduced to Japan and today it has become a global culture. Chawan are used in the sophisticated, traditional Far Eastern tea ceremony. The rituals of this tea ceremony are hundreds of years old and follow fixed rules. The tea ceremony is a ritual gathering that can last several hours. The principles of harmony, respect, purity and calm are the fundamental values. The tea ceremony is not only maintained as a form of contemplation but it is also an art form, where the irregularity, imperfection but also the entire uniqueness of the individual vessel are important characteristics. “The less perfect it appears, the more honest the object is.” (Arhoj) September 2015: once again, ceramists from all over the world have assembled it the St Bernhard’s Abbey in Hemiksem, Belgium. This time, the tenth anniversary of the Chawan Project is being celebrated. Along side a large number of ceramists and other interested people, the mayor, Luc Bouckaert and the local dignitaries from Hemiksem at-
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tended the opening ceremony. Guest nation at the anniversary exhibition was Taiwan, whose ambassador in Brussels honoured the Chawan Expo with his presence as well as with a speech. The ten days of the exhibition were not only filled with countless visitors but also with excursions and master classes for the 36 chawan ceramists who stayed in Belgium for the duration of the exhibition. The excursions took us to places where Belgium’s rich history in ceramics could be experienced. And there was no shortage ofdelicious food or the famous Belgian beer. The socialising initiated new international friendships and deepened existing ones. In the three master classes, we learned new things about ash glazes (Lou Smedts), oil spot glazes (Kuei-Wei Chang), large-scale vessels and carving (Alvin Tan Teck) and ecological wood firings (Jui-Hua Lin). Yu-Ting Chen and Mei Lan Hsiao also gave us an introduction to the tea ceremony. What started ten years ago and was only realised thanks to Lou Smedts’ stubbornness and perseverance has now become an international success story. Ten years are a long time for an art project. So as it has been proved, it must be good to survive over this period. In total, 18 chawan exhibitions have been organised over the past ten years and there is no shortage of enquiries from interested exhibition makers from all over the world directed to the Chawan Project organisers. How does Lou Smedts explain this great
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Masterclass on throwing large pots with Alvin Tan Teck Heng
Evelyne Schoenmann shows her chawan
Interested visitors at the tea ceremony
PROJECT
LUAL – Project Kiln Firing as Art and Metaphor for Birthing
Rita Gudiño
L
UAL (composite Filipino word: LUAD means clay and LUWAL means to give birth) asserts that by focusing and delving into the details of the firing process, the notion of art in ceramics can expand from the ceramic pieces to the kiln firing itself. This transcendence of the firing process into an art form is framed by concepts of performative art, and relational art which metaphorically reflect the consonances between firing and birthing. What initially sets forth this transformation is the making of LUAL, a monolithic sculpture in the form of a birthing woman. Being a large-scale ceramics, LUAL demanded a number of considerations such as the forming technique to use, structural support systems, methods to expedite drying, forming over an ex-
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tended (or shortened, at ICF) period of time, size and design of kiln needed to fire it in-situ, designing and construction for a specific site, assembling and weatherproofing are some of the things that had to be thought about. On top of these challenges, the primary design problem to hurdle was how to incorporate a kiln structure into this large-scale sculptural volume. LUAL is based on a downdraft kiln structure, wherein the draft flows from an inlet flue located near the crotch door, directing it to the interior curve of the belly and out of the exit flue located at the back of the firing chamber and at the base of the chimney. The height and width of the chimney is based on the dimensions of the firebox where wood was stoked. Since LUAL is made of clay, it has to
be fired as well in order for it to transform into a ceramic form that will function as a kiln during and even after its initial performance firing. The design problem is to develop a removable kiln that will fire LUAL in-situ. It should be designed in such a way that it can be safely and easily be removed during the performance firing to dramatically reveal LUAL while it is glowing hot at over 1100°C. The artist’s solution to the kiln design problem is her DOUBLE-KILN Design Concept, wherein LUAL Kiln is fired within KUMOT (Filipino word for blanket) Kiln, a ceramic fibre kiln with metal frameworks and wheels for ease and safe handling. This core activity of the unveiling and birthing of LUAL implicates the foregrounding of the performativity of the firing process itself, not so unlike the
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performativity of birthing. LUAL followed “a performance art model which involves elaborate spectacles, aural and visual images involving, mixed media, and participatory activities delving into the ideas of ritual and celebratory art” (Carlson:1996). Offerings to God’s spirit in the elements of fire, water, earth and wind was orchestrated, prayers and dedication rites was facilitated and celebratory dance, chanting and music were played before, during and after the climactic events of the performance. LUAL created “a social environment that considered the productive existence of the viewer of art and the space of participation that the art offered” (Bourriaud: 1998). The audience was solicited to throw incense, paper flowers packed with sawdust and salt at the fiery sculpture, which bursts into flames and created thousands of sparks. The sawdust and salt acted as colorants to colour the sculpture. The viewer of art thus participated in completing the work at the same time they became part of the performance. This climactic moment is soon followed by the pulling out of SIBOL (Filipino word for offshoot or sprout), the clay babies inside LUAL’s firing chamber, also glowing hot. They are placed inside tin cradles filled with combustible materials, where they burst into flames and then more combustible materials are placed on top of it before the tin drum is covered with a lid. This created a reduction atmosphere inside the drum, and the fire naturally pulled out carbon from the clay and glazes which then uniquely coloured each piece. One
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The images shows the construction of LUAL as well as the firing process and the treatment of a “kiln Baby”.
baby was specially bathed with a liquid iron colorant and placed on a bed of newspapers, where it instantly combusted and then covered with a wet towel, creating a similar reduction atmosphere. LUAL is a “work that is no longer a noun or an object but a verb and a process” (Kwon: 2002). It creates the conditions for an experience, revealing the metaphorical assertion that the force, power, primacy and anticipatory wonderment of kiln firing is birthing. A Research and Creative work of Professor Rita Gudiño. University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts (UPCFA) BIBLIOGRAPHY Carlson, Marvin. Performance: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge, 1996. Kwon, Miwon. One Place After Another. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002. Bourriaud, Nicolas Relational Aesthetics. France: Les Presses du Reél, 1998
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EXHIBITION
Flora and Fauna
Brinton Museum, Big Horn, Wyoming, USA Nancy M. Servis
T
he exhibition entitled Flora and Fauna was on view recently at the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, USA. This gallery displayed the diverse work of twenty accomplished ceramic artists from throughout the United States. They were: Christopher Adams, Susan Beiner, Joe Bova, Ariel Bowman, Anna Holcombe Calluori, Alanna Derocchi, Kim Dickey, Julia Galloway, Ronnie Gould, Glenn Grishkoff, Martha Grover, Rain Harris, Susan Harris, Jeri Hollister, Jonathan Kaplan, Gail Kendall, Kristen Kieffer, Linda Lighton, Ron Meyers and Linda Michalek. The sculptural, installation and vessel work exemplified ceramic pluralism, featuring
naturalistic themes, some of which depicted geographically appropriate content reflective of the American West. While group exhibitions are common, a show’s inner strength succeeds through informed object selection and perceptive placement. Exhibition curator and resident, Elaine Olafson Henry is a practicing ceramic artist and editor of the international periodical, Ceramics: Art & Perception. Her insight as a maker and experienced art journalist are reflected in her choice of artists and scope of their mature work. In an era when many display venues exist, and where curatorial acumen is not always applied, this was a rewarding exhibition to
view. An informed selection of contentrich work thoughtfully installed provided insight into the nature of contemporary ceramic art in the United States. The broad entrance hall to the exhibit gallery contextualised the show’s breadth by featuring works by Julia Galloway from Montana, Linda Lighton from Missouri and Susan Harris from Utah. This successful introduction featured Lighton’s suspended light installation, Luminous, 2010-2013, that depicts her idea of light from within and bliss before to death. The partially opened illuminated clay fuchsias hung downward with an unfolding elegance creating a glowing oasis. Across from this ethereal piece was Julia Galloway’s vivacious wall installation, Wall of Cups with Songbirds, with select birdcalls triggered by passers-by. The rhythmic vitality of this installation featured 100 of her thrown tumblers sporadically positioned across a wall of arabesques painted in blues and greens. Each cup illustrated an American bird species (referencing the large watercolour bird portraits by the 19th American wildlife artist, John James Audubon) on singular shelves summarily depicting a sensorial and tactile world. Two of Susan Harris’s mysterious vessels echoing ancient oriental and Etruscan bronze ritual pieces completed the introductory scope of the show. This trio prepared viewers to see innovative pottery, utilitarian wares, and poignant abstractions that were re-contextualised into fine artistic statements. The success of this show was the rich dynamic fostered by each artist’s distinctive style. Anna Calluori Holcombe from Florida included "Natura Viva VIII #1-4", 2013. While not the biggest or most featured piece, it succeeds due to her understanding and use of historic and contemporary decals while exploring the interplay between two and three dimensionality. Her informed understanding of 3-D printing and spatiality supports this assured work. While using commercially produced porcelain plates, the quartet achieves balance top Rain Harris, Lush, 2013, porcelain, decals, silk flowers and resin, 35.6 x 43.2 x 28 cm left Glenn Grishkoff, Horse Brush Bouquet, wheel-thrown and coil built clay; raku fired, cone 06; brush handles, course garnet dust, wood fire clay, coarse sand, horse tails, horse mane, moose hair, deer tail hair, 19.1 x 35.6 x 21.6 cm
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EXHIBITION through contemporary design and spatial excellence. Calluori-Holcombe’s work attains effortless object presence through the expert use of materials with modern technology. Glenn Grishkoff's piece, "Horse Brush Bouquet" reflects the spirit with which this Southern California artist pursues his creative work. It is a homage to fauna featuring a rendered horse on a raku bowl. It also presents a bouquet of brushes as a floral offering, adding conceptual nuance to the work. An important component for Grishkoff is his role as brush artist, a practice originating from his student days at Claremont College in Southern California. There he studied with the father of American raku, Paul Solder who advocated making one's tools. Through brush iconography, Grishkoff also honours his Russian-born father who was raised in China. The artist’s childhood experience of watching him grind Sumi ink percolates through his contemporary work. Ceremonial performance combined with creative lineage is a key element to Glenn Grishkoff’s enlivened work. Animated expression is present also in the engaging work of Ron Meyers’ wall-mounted functional-ware piece, "Goat Platter". Informal and painterly, the work by this Georgia artist is unassuming yet unavoidable due to its gestural persona. Common animals are featured on his vessel-ware in a raw, tactile manner that integrates with three-dimensional form. Such works appear at ease but are the result of a lifetime of studio practice, positioning Meyers as one of America's favoured ceramic artists. The work of Rain Harris from Missouri provides an alternative view regarding ceramic use. While some artists refrain from mixed media, Harris savours the opportunity to construct sculptures and installations intermingling ceramics with materials like resin. "Lush", 2013 illustrates her unorthodox direction. Here, the floral arabesque is stated through the form’s shape and the lustre surface designs that are combined with resin-coated silk flowers. The incongruity of materials creates a new hybrid, “pushing,” the artist explains, “a decorative eclecticism to the point of excessive minimalism." Her combination of materials fosters an enticing unease. Flora and Fauna was not a complex topic. It featured, however, many works by mature artists from throughout the United States that pushed its boundaries of expectation beyond simple representation. Together the nearly 45 works in this exhibition, along with a 46-page catalogue with illustrations, provided a satisfying context to explore the show’s theme. If only this show could have travelled to additional venues so as to unveil further the varied interpretations of the naturalistic themes by those with rich artistic capacity.
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Nancy M Servis is an essayist, curator and ceramics historian who resides in Northern California, USA. She was the 2014 Jentel Critic at the Archie Bray Foundation, Montana completing her residency at the Jentel Foundation, Banner, Wyoming. As Research Fellow at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California, Servis is continuing her oral history interviews with ceramics artists and practitioners in preparation for her upcoming book on ceramics in Northern California.
top
Linda Lighton, Luminous, 2010-2013, sizes variable.
middle Anna Calluori Holcombe, Natura Viva VIII #1-4, 2013, commercial porcelain plate, laser decals, sheet colour decals, vintage decals, gold lustre,15 x 15 cm/ea. below Julia Galloway, Wall of Cups with Songbirds,(detail), 100 porcelain wheel-thrown cups, soda fired, on pastel-drawn wall, approx. 61 cm long
CERAMICS & TRAVEL
Travelling in India
T
o me, travel is the best thing in the world – besides ceramics in all its facets. In the autumn of 2009, I travelled to Rajasthan. This Indian state is famed for its maharaja culture and its impressive palaces; a large part of the state is made up of the Desert of Thar. The region is artistically famed for finest stone carving in sandstone andmarble, mainly in temples. When travelling in the state, everywhere one notices unglazed clay water jars with round bottoms, placed on special wire frames, on car tyres, on
Ursula Stüwe
anything that promises a little bit of stability. Some show their age; the bottom of the jars has been stained green with algae! The walls of the chubby pots are thin, some are sparingly decorated. Merchants can rarely be seen in towns; active potters can only be found if you know your way around. Our Indian guide took us to see Yakub Khan, a potter who lives outside Jodhpur in the Desert of Thar. Yakub Khan lives and works on a large plot of land encircled by a sandstone wall together with his large family. He stores
Treating the bite of a viper
Stonework in the Taj Mahal, Agra top l. to r. - Stonework in the Little Taj Mahal, Agra - Stone column in Fort Agra - Stone relief in the Little Taj Mahal, Agra right (2 photos) - Unglazed water jars with round bottoms
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numerous of water jars by the wall; the kiln is located in the centre, buried in the earth to a depth of approx. 1.5 mtr. with about 75 cm protruding above ground level. It was occupied by a bitch who had given birth to five pups a few days before and who was now feeding her young family inside the kiln. A little wood was stacked in the corner of the plot as fuel; it seemed that no firings were imminent. Yakub Khan continues the pottery tradition as he learned it from his father. There are no clay deposits there, he obtains it from 200 km away. With the roads in the state they are in India, that is a considerable distance to overcome. Yakub Khan has a stone wheel in his pottery that he drives by hand. He squats before it with his feet flat on the ground. With a wooden stick, he sets the stone wheel in motion, then the clay is placed on it and centred. The observers felt as if they had been transported back into the Middle Ages, but at the same time they were filled with admiration at how quickly and precisely he was able to work – the wheel spun on and on and on! People came onto the premises. They had been bitten on the toe by sand vipers and the potter’s father is well known for his skill in treating these bites. We were allowed to watch the treatment. The patients had to bring a leaf from a certain tree with them, then a cord was loosely tied around their ankle. Smoke from a few glowing em-
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bers of charcoal was wafted over the injured leg with the leaves the patients had brought. This was said to relieve the pain especially well. During our visit, it was the potter who treated the patients, but under the critical eye of the father, who was clearly training his son in this discipline too. The price of the treatment: 1 kg of raw sugar after the third visit. No money! “Indian Magic” is the souvenir I took home with me: a small pot in which water first disappears but can then be poured out of the spout – as if by magic! One way… Potter: Yakub Khan, Potterman Village Kakani, Dist. Jodhpur Rajasthan, India
Ursula Stüwe is a doctor and a trauma surgeon. Besides her work at the hospital, she takes an active interest in ceramics in her spare time.
above l. to r. - a potter’s tools - a vase being made - water jars for sale right top to bottom - powering the wheel - throwing - “Indian Magic” and other products in the pottery
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BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS Golden Pots Thurnau Earthenware from the Lotte Reimers-Stiftung By Marlene Jochem
The GRASSI Museum of Applied Art in Leipzig has now given a permanent home to an outstanding collection of earthenware pots as an important cultural asset. Without adornment or applications, plates, bowls, jugs and pots radiate through honeyyellow, green or dark brown glazes. These glazes have a lively iridescence which accentuates the objects’ most important attribute: their form. Everyday objects that obtain artistic merit through reduction alone boast an extraordinary assuredness in their design. With this, the bodies of the vessels in the interplay with handles, spouts, knobs and lids as well as the glaze become a compelling unity. That good everyday ceramics occupy a justified and valued place alongside artistic ceramics is advocated with conviction by Lotte Reimers. As a longstanding companion and associate of the ceramic exponent Jakob Wilhelm Hinder, she discovered her passion too for the ‘beauty of simple things’. She has subsequently called for the preservation of unpretentious functional pots as an important cultural asset for the future. One hundred and twenty-four earthenware vessels, which originated in the Renner Pottery in Thurnau in the 1950s and 1960s, form a representative inventory of ‘golden pots’ whose simple beauty still enthrals to this day. EUR 34.80 Euro. 22 x 29 cm. German and English. ARNOLDSCHE Art Publisher. ISBN 978-3-89790-432-3.
Kirk Mangus: Things Love
published by MOCA Cleveland with a design by Ghazaal Vojdani. Kirk Mangus (1952-2013) was an internationally recognized artist, who led the Ceramics Department at Kent State University, Cleveland, Ohio, for almost 30 years. Influencing multiple generations of students, he was a central figure in the revival of wood-firing in America. Kirk Mangus: Things Love is the artist's first retrospective in a museum setting. Included in the accompanying monograph are over 100 pages of full color plates that show the breadth of Mangus's practice, from humble cups to totemic sculpture and drawings and paintings. Also included are essays by Rose Bouthillier and other scholars, an essay by Eva Kwong, ceramic artist and Kirk's wife, and selections from the writings of Mangus himself. MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND 11400 Euclid Avenue Cleveland Ohio 44106 216.421.8671 www.MOCAcleveland.org ISBN: 978-0-9899550-2-7
Paperclay – The Perfect Union By Astrid Sänger and Otakar Sliva
Paperclay and paper porcelain have developed to the most interesting working materials of Postmodernism. You will be very satisfied with this comprehensive, fully illustrated book about different paperclays, which you can easily make in your own studio. The exceptional working methods will surprise you! Competent practical advice, step by step instructions, a chapter about technology and one with inspirations from 29 European ceramic artists make this book useful for potters, artists and hobby potters. Otakar Sliva and Astrid Sänger live and work in Burgenland, Austria, as ceramists and teachers of ceramics. Otakar’s main themes are paperclay and Raku firing. The book was first published in German and sold well, because it supplemented something missing in the range of specialist ceramic books. ISBN: 987-3-200-04166-0, paperback, 184 fully illustrated pages size: 25 x 19 cm ( 10” x 7,5” ) fixed prize: EUR 32.- (GBP 24.- ) orders to: Astrid Sänger
[email protected] or:
[email protected]
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BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS CERAMIX Art and Ceramics from Rodin to Schütte Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht
From 16 October 2015 until 31 Januar inclusive, the Bonnefantenmuseum is showing the exhibition CERAMIX. In cooperation with the Cité de la Céramique (Sèvres, F) and the Maison Rouge (Paris, F) the Bonnefantenmuseum is showing more than 250 top exhibits from international museums and private collections (including the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza, Petit Palais in Paris, Marek Larock-Granoff, Isabelle Maeght, Alain Tarica, Luciano Benetton). In spring 2016, the exhibition travels on to Paris and Sèvres. CERAMIX is the first exhibition which is primarily about the relationaship between art and ceramics from the early 20th century until today. The exhibition was compiled by guest curators Camille Morineau and Lucia Pesapane; previously they cooperated on exhibitions featuring Gerhard Richter, Roy Lichtenstein, Niki de Saint Phalle, and the exhibition elles@centrepompidou. The catalogue shows the works from the exhibition with introductory chapters and biographies of the participating artists as well as a brief chronology of developments between 1878 and 2015. 320 pages. 24 x 28 cm. EUR 39. ISBN 978-94-616112-51-9 published by Uitgeverij Snoeck. Text in English. Available online www.bonnefanten.nl and from the museum shop. Bonnefantenmuseum - Avenue Céramique 250 6221 KX Maastricht - Netherlands
New Directions from spectacle to trace By Jo Dahn
New Directions in Ceramics explores and responds to contemporary ceramists' use of innovative modes of practice, investigating how change is happening, and interpreting key works. Jo Dahn provides an overview of the current ceramics landscape, identifying influential exhibitions, events and publications, to convey a flavour of debates at a time when much about the character of ceramics is in a state of flux. What nontraditional activities does the term ‘ceramics' now encompass? How have these practices developed and how have they been accommodated by institutions in Britain and internationally? Work by a wide range of ceramists, such as Nina Hole, Keith Harrison, Alexandra Engelfriet, Edmund de Waal, Clare Twomey, Phoebe Cummings, Linda Sormin, Walter McConnell and Barnaby Barford is considered. Following an extended introduction on ceramics in critical discourse, chapters on performance, installation, raw clay and figuration each provide an introductory overview to the area under discussion, with a closer examination of selected approaches and illustrations of relevant examples. The interplay of actions and ideas is a central concern: critical and cultural contexts are woven into the account throughout and dialogues with practitioners providing a privileged insight into thought processes as well as studio activities. Size 22 x 28 cm, 160 pages, hardback, $ 60, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA, and 50 Bedford Square, London WC2B 3DP, UK ISBN: 978-1-4725-2671-7
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INTERVIEW
In Studio with Ester
Beck
Watching Ester Beck at work, you get the impression you are watching hard labour. With great physical effort and with the use of a hammer, she creates floating forms from an initially heavy block of clay. In this Interview, I would like to find out how the “Hammer Lady” sees herself. Evelyne Schoenmann
E
ster, when I watch videos of you at work, I am astonished by how you seem to prepare and work on heavy pieces of clay energetically but without any difficulty. What precautions do you take to protect your joints? I find this extreme physical interaction between the massive lumps of clay and myself very exciting. I never worry about whether this great use of physical strength could harm me. At my age, you might call this ill-advised. But as yet, I
and at the same time I was expecting my second daughter, I made the changeover. My attraction to clay and to the wheel as well as the examination I subjected myself to as to whether I could be a good enough ceramist finally led to me giving up my first profession in favour of ceramics
do not have any problems with my back or my joints. Well, OK, sometimes when I am carting heavy lumps of clay back and forth, I may strain a back muscle. That might induce me to get help sometimes.
sculptural impression? Is that a question of conviction for you? Although I developed towards a rather freer, sculptural approach from what was originally work I did exclusively on the wheel, I never go further than to call myself a ceramic artist. I thus maintain the link to craft. That suits me better. It corresponds better to my character.
You haven't always been a ceramist… I began my professional life as a psychotherapist. But at the time I had a dream: I wanted to become a ceramist. First I went to evening classes. But when I reached a crossroads in my working life
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Why do you prefer to call yourself a craftswoman rather than an artist, although your works leave an abstract,
You live near the Negev Desert with its remarkable rock foundations. Do you get
inspiration from hiking in this region? Do you even approach your work spiritually? That is true. I like the Negev Desert very much. And my objects really have had a similarity with the geology of this place in recent years. But I never made a conscious decision about it. I work intuitively and generally I am interested in the dynamic of becoming, and I happily devote myself to a study of forms and colour contrasts.
Your hammer technique has become famous and it has earned you the nickname of “The Hammer Lady”. Could you explain your working method please? After I had worked at the wheel for over fifteen years, I felt I needed a challenge. I wanted to continue developing my objects, to break them up. I experimented with clay blocks of various sizes on the wheel. I was fascinated by the results I got in this way, by the distortion. I started scoring the objects on the outside
NEW CERAMICS
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INTERVIEW
and then pressed from the inside outwards to get stretch marks. And then after a time I realised I had to abandon the wheel and work more freely. Another reason was that the large quantities of clay I was working on threatened to damage my wrists. Working freely means using other tools: this was the moment when the hammer made its appearance. A wonderful tool to open and stretch the block of clay in a direct and dynamic way and create organic, offbeat forms. I used rubber hammers and wooden mallets of various sizes. But first of all I prepare the clay block I want to work on with the hammer. The bodies I use have to be plastic enough to tolerate the stretching forces I subject them to. On the other hand, they have to have enough grog to prevent them from collapsing at the same time. In the past few years, I have mixed several coloured bodies. Since the BLACK AND BEYOND exhibition in Tel Aviv in 2014, I have concentrated on fewer colours. The basic body is a black, Spanish stoneware (SIO-2 PRNF*E with 0-0.5 grog). I mix in porcelain (Tom Coleman), terracotta and grey
which can weight up to 60 kg, by the way. The coloured clays embedded in the black clay become visible. Then I throw one half on top of the other. I repeat this until I am satisfied with the lines that appear on the exterior surfaces. The next step is to create the deep, irregular grooves on the outside of the clay block with a spatula or a twisted wire. To open up the clay block and make a vessel out of it, I work with a hammer. This gives me the opportunity to work the walls in various ways, to stretch and thin them. It is important that I am in harmony with my hammering movements and that I always take the time to step back and observe the piece critically to decide where to apply the next blow. Alternatively I use my fists and my fingers, throwing ribs and sponges to obtain the desired effect. The shaping has to flow to be able to give the object character. When the desired result has been achieved, I let the object dry a little before I finish the piece with a turning tool, which I use to emphasise the lines of different coloured clay. I also only decide now, when I have the object in front of me, what the base
intentionally or unintentionally, and the piece splits while I am working on it. I integrate these splits into a new overall whole. I must say, I enjoy going beyond my limits and allowing unplanned and spontaneous things to enter into my work as a liberating element. In a preliminary conversation before this interview, you mentioned a completely new project. Can you tell us something about that? In the summer of 2016, the next ceramics biennale takes place in Israel. I plan to make a video in which I maximise the hammer method. Using my body and large Japanese hammers, a shovel, an axe, a saw and sticks, I want to make a huge block of clay. As a culmination, my ultimate dialogue with clay. And after that? Are you going to hang up your hammer in the foreseeable future? I will only do that when I feel that working with a hammer has become a meaningless gesture, an empty routine.
photos – Ran Erde
and yellow stoneware. In the final object, I would like to achieve a sort of calligraphy, meandering lines. The mixture of the clays is thus very delicate. I start working with a block of black clay that I repeatedly throw on the table so that it takes on a square shape. Then, depending on my idea of where I would like to position the lines, I put slices of the coloured clays, or perhaps just porcelain alone, on this cube. Then a block of black clay comes on top of this. I then halve this large new block
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or foot should look like. After the definitive drying period, I fire my object in an electric kiln to 1220°C. Is it difficult to stop working at the right moment? There is always a danger of beating and scraping, scratching, stretching and smoothing too long… and then everything collapses. Various finishes give different, always very interesting results. It depends what I am looking for. Sometimes I go too far,
Ester Beck, Israel
[email protected] www.esterbeckceramics.com
Evelyne Schoenmann’s next interview will be with
Antoinette Badenhorst, USA Evelyne Schoenmann ist a ceramist. She lives and works in Basel, Switzerland, and in Liguria, Italy. www.schoenmann-ceramics.ch
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DATES
: special exhibition
| V: vernissage | Fi: finissage | end of the exhibition
Copy date for entries: 01 February 2016 Amsterdam
NL-1017 KH Gallery Carla Koch Veemkade 500. Detroit Building, 6th floor T: +31-20-67 37 310 www.carlakoch.nl
[email protected] O: Tue - Sat 12-18h, 1 Sun in the month 14-18h by appointment *A
Berlin
D-10585 Keramik-Museum Berlin Schustehrusstraße 13, O: Fri - Mon 13 - 17h www.keramik-museum-berlin.de : Sobibor-Projekt - Yael Atzmony/Israel - 25.01.2016 : Waltraud Eich - Keramik der 50er Jahre - 25.01.2016 D-13187 Zentrum für Keramik - Berlin Pestalozzistraße 18 T: +49-(0)30-499 02 591 O: Tue - Fri 14 - 17h *A www.ceramics-berlin.de D-10117 Galerie Arcanum - Charlottenstraße 34 T: +49-(0)30-20 45 81 66 F: +49-(0)30-20 45 81 67
[email protected] D-13187 Galerie Forum Amalienpark - Berlin-Pankow Breite Straße 2a T: +49-(0)30-33 02 80 95 O: Tue - Fri 14 - 17h www.amalienpark.de
[email protected]
Bonstetten
CH-8906 GG - GALERIE FÜR GEGENWARTSKUNST Elfi Bohrer. Im Dorfzentrum Burgwies 2 T: +41-(0)1-7003210. F: -7011027
[email protected] www.ggbohrer.ch O: Tue - Fri 14 - 18, Sat + Sun 13 - 17h *A
Bozen
I-39100 TonHaus Rauschertorgasse 28 T+F: +39-(0)471-976681 O: Mon - Fri 9 - 12.30, 15 - 18, Sat 9 - 12.30h
[email protected] www.tonhaus.it Ständige Präsentation von Keramik aus verschiedenen Werkstätten
Bremen D-28203
JO GROSS Galerie
Kohlhökerstraße 17 T: +49 (0)421-23 26 44 00 www.focke-museum.de
Brüssel
B-1050 Puls Contemporary Ceramics Edelknaapstraat 19 rue du Page (Châtelain) T: +32-26 40 26 55 www.pulsceramics.com
[email protected] O: Wed-Sat 13 - 18h : The Beautiful Object - AD Gallery & Consultancy, Antwerpen 27.03.
Bürgel
D-07616 Keramik-Museum Bürgel Am Kirchplatz 2 T: +49-(0)36692-37333. F: -37334
[email protected] www.keramik-museum-buergel.de
Bukarest
RO 010094 Galerie GALATEEA Ceramic • Contemporary Art Calea Victoriei 132 T: +40 (0)21 - 317 38 14.
[email protected] http://galeriagalateea.blogspot.com/ O: Tue - Fri 12 - 20h, Sat 11 - 19h Permanent Exhibition : Lucian Taran - "The Park" - 03.02. : "Conection" - 06.01. - 03.02.
Deidesheim 67146 Archiv-Atelier-Ausstellung
Stadtmauergasse 17 T: +49 (0)6326-1222 www.lottereimers.de O: daily 14 - 18h
: : : : :
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Keramiks, Foto: Petra Weifenbach
Schulstrasse 4 T: +49-(0)211-8994210 O: Tue - Sun 11-17, Wed 11 - 21h www.duesseldorf.de/hetjens : Der Drache tanzt! Kangxi (1662-1722) - 17.01.2016 : Zeitgenössische Keramik von Fontana bis Uecker - Neuerwerbungen der Stiftung Lontzen - 21.02.2016
Frechen
D-31089 Töpfermuseum Duingen Töpferstraße 8 T: +49-(0)170-7069219 O: Wed 15 17h, Sun 14-18h www.toepfermuseum-duingen.de : Guido Sengle - 10.01.
Eckernförde
D-24340 Museum Eckernförde Rathausmarkt 8 T: +49-(0)4351-712547 O: Tue - Sat 14.30 - 17h, Sun 11 - 17h On holidays 14.30 - 17h www.eckernfoerde.net
[email protected]
Frankfurt/Main
D-60594 Museum für Angewandte Kunst www.museumangewandtekunst.de O: Tue + Thu to Sun 10 - 18h, Wed 10 - 20h
Frechen D-50226 Stiftung Keramion - Zentrum für moderne + historische Keramik
Düsseldorf D-40213 Hetjens-Museum
D-50226 Stiftung KERAMION Zentrum für moderne+historische Keramik Bonnstr.12 T: +49-(0)2234-69 76 9-0 F: - 20. O: Di-Fr+So 10-17, Sa 14-17h
[email protected] www.keramion.de
Duingen
Ausstellung: Petra Weifenbach - „Keramiks“ 22.1. – 8.5.2016 Ausstellung: „Kunst + Handwerk“ 23.2. – 28.8.2016 Teilnahme an den Kölner Passagen 18. – 24.1.2016 Klassisches Konzert um 19 Uhr 23 Workshop zur Ausstellung Keramiks 11 – 16 Uhr am 31.1.2016.1.2016
Bonnstraße 12. T: +49 (0)2234-6976-90, F: -920. O: Tue - Fri 10 - 17, Sa 14 - 17 h
: Petra Weifenbach - Keramiks - 22.01. - 28.08. : Teilnahme an den Kölner Passagen - 18. - 24.01. : Klassisches Konzert - 23.01., 19h : Workshop zur Ausstellung Keramiks, 11 - 16h am 31.01.
zum hundertsten Keramik-Museum Bürgel: 7. 11. 2015 bis 13. 03. 2016 Rokoko-Schloss Dornburg: 28. 03. bis 29. 05. 2016
www.keramik-museum-buergel.de NEW CERAMICS
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O: opening time | T: Telephone | F: Fax | *A and by appointment
THEEMAAS THEE
KOFFIE
GALERIE
DATES
EXHIBITIONS / GALLERIES / MUSEUMS Hannover
D-30175 Handwerksform Hannover Berliner Allee 17 T: +49-(0)511-34859 F: -88 www.hwk-hannover.de O: Tue - Fri 11 - 18, Sat 11 - 14h
Heidelberg D-69117 Galerie Marianne Heller Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 2 Am Stadtgarten T: +49-(0)6221-619090
[email protected] www.galerie-heller.de O: Tue - Fri 11 - 13 a. 14 - 18h, Sat 11 - 18h : Fabelhaftes“ - Tierplastiken der schottischen Künstlerin Susan O`Bryne Mitte Januar 2016
Herbertingen-Marbach D-88518 moosgrün - raum für zeitgenössische Keramik - Moosheimerstraße 11/1 T: +49-(0)7586-5378
[email protected] O: Tue - Fri 16 - 19h, Sat 10 - 16h
Hirschburg
D-18311 Black Box Galerie Zum Wallbach 15 T: +49 (0)1623 3766 757, O: Tue - Sat 11-17h www.kunsthof-hirschburg.de
Hohenberg
a.d.Eger D-95691 Porzellanikon - Staatliches Museum für Porzellan Hohenberg a.d. Eger/Selb Schirndinger Straße 48. T: +49 (0)9233 772211, O: Tue - Sun 10-17h www.porzellanikon.org
[email protected]
KERAMIEK VAN JOOP COCK VAN 10 JANUARI TOT 20 FEBRUARI 2016 010 - 411 12 13
KAREL DOORMANSTRAAT 469
Keramikmuseum Westerwald Lindenstraße 13 T: +49-(0)2624-9460-10 F: -120 O: Tue - Sun 10 - 17h *A www.keramikmuseum.de
[email protected] : „Das Dorf“ - Installation von Thomas Weber - 31.01.2016 : „Keramische Vielfalt im Kleinformat“ - aus der Sammlung W.+G. Bickel 10.01.2016 : Gastdozent am IKKG - Ingo Gerken, Glas - HANDLE WITH CARE - 17.01. - 09.02.
ROTTERDAM
Freiburg D-79098 GALERIE FREDERIK BOLLHORST
Oberlinden 25 T: +49-(0)151-15776033 O: Mon - Fri 10.30 - 13h, 14.30 - 18.30h Sa 10.30 - 16h www.galerie-bollhorst.de
[email protected]
Freiburg D-79098
Höhr-Grenzhausen D-56203
www.freiburg.de/museen
Augustinermuseum - Augustinerplatz
MODERN CLASSICS FOKUS GEFÄß / FOCUS VESSEL Gefäß in Keramik und Porzellan / vessel in ceramics and porcelain
Gelsenkirchen D-45894 Galerie Jutta Idelmann - Cranger Straße 36 T: +49-(0)209-595905 www.idelmann.eu
[email protected] O: Do + Fr 16 - 19 u. Sa 14 - 16h *A
Genf CH-1202
Deirdre McLaughlin
Musée Ariana - Musée suisse de la céramique et du verre Avenue de la Paix 10 T: +41-(0)2241854-55 F: - 51 O: Tue - Sun 10 -18h www.ville-ge.ch/ariana;
[email protected] : CALLIOPE - Jürgen Partenheimer - 20.03. : My Blue China - 28.02. : Nicolas Lieber - CLAY CRONICLES - 12.02. - 22.01.2017
Gmunden A-4810 Galerie im K.-Hof, Kammerhof Museum Gmunden O: Wed- Sun 10 - 17h first Wed. in the month 10 - 21h
Göttingen D-37075 Galerie Rosenhauer Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 34 T: +49-(0)551-2052100 F: 0551-25421 www.galerie-rosenhauer.de O: (during exhibitions) Wed, Fri, Sat 15.30 - 18.30 Sun 11.30 - 13 + 15 - 18h
8.Förderpreis Keramik 2016 der Nassauischen Sparkasse Wiesbaden Bewerbung bis Sonntag, 14. Februar 2016 Bewerbungsunterlagen unter:
www.keramikmuseum.de
Hameln D-31785 Keramikgalerie Faita Alte Marktstraße 45 T: +49-(0)5151-959133 F: -821294 www.keramik-galerie-faita.de
[email protected] O: Mon - Fri 10 - 13 u. 15 - 18, Sat 10 - 16h *A
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
NEW CERAMICS
Keramikmuseum Westerwald - Lindenstraße 13 D-56203 Höhr-Grenzhausen T: +49-(0)2624-9460-10
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EXHIBITIONS / GALLERIES / MUSEUMS
DATES
À Table !
autrement
du 6 décembre au 11 février 2016 Une exposition festive pour vous souhaiter une merveilleuse année 2016 !
: special exhibition
| V: vernissage | Fi: finissage | end of the exhibition
Köln D-50667
Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln An der Rechtschule T: +49-(0)221-221 23860 O: Tue - Sun 11 - 17h, 1. Thu in the month 11 - 22h
[email protected] www.makk.de
Kopenhagen
DK-2000 Fredericsberg
COPENHAGEN CERAMICS - Smallegade 48
Langerwehe D-52379
Töpfereimuseum Langerwehe Pastoratsweg 1 T: +49-(0)2423–44 46 F: -59 90. O: Fri 10 - 13 u. 14 - 18h, Sat 12 - 17h, Sun + holidays 11 - 18h www.toepfereimuseum.de
[email protected] : „Auf dem Wege“- Grenzgänge der Kunst. Künstlerinnen der GEDOK Bonn. Zu Gast: Ekaterina Ominina, Keramikerin aus St.Petersburg - 13.03.2016 : Tag der offenen Töpferei im Töpfereimuseum - 12. + 13.03., 10 - 18h : Osterferienprogramm in der Kreativwerkstatt - 23.03. - 31.03. : „Unterwasserwelten" - Schülerinnen und Schüler der Europaschule Langerwehe stellen aus - 22.05. - 28.08.
Le Don du Fel
F-12140 GALERIE DU DON - 12140 Le Fel T: +33 05 65 54 15 15 www.ledondufel.com : „À TABLE!“ - Andrea Baumann, Christine Carotenuto, Mandy Cheng, Jo Davies, Akiko Hirai, Sophie MacCarthy, Camille Schpilberg, Willy Van Bussel & Christine Zablocki/ Sébastien Lopes - 11.02. 2016
Leipzig
D-04103 Grassimuseum Museum für Angewandte Kunst Johannisplatz 5-11 T: +49-(0)341-22 29 100 www.grassimuseum.de O: Tue - Sun 10 - 18, Wed + Thu 10 - 20h : ART DÈCO - Elegant - kostbar - sinnlich 03.04. : KONSTANTIN GRCIC „Panorama“ - (Vitra Design Museum Weil a.Rh.) 24.04. 2016
GALERIE DU DON CÉRAMIQUE
GALERIE DU DON, 12140 LE FEL, FRANCE www.ledondufel.com
D-56203
Höhr-Grenzhausen
KASINO – KERAMIKKULTUR Galerie – Laden – Werkstatt – Café Werkstatt + Ausstellung Sandra Nitz - Nicole Thoss Kasinostrasse 7 T: +49 2624 94 16 99 0 O: Tue - Fri 14 – 18h Sat 10 - 18h Sun 11 - 18h www.kultur-kasino.de Gäste-Galerie: Vladimir Groh & Yasuyo Nishida (Porzellan), Milan Pekar (Kristallglasur), Nela Trésková (Porzellan), Markéta Drzmisková (Porzellan), Lenka Sérová Maliská (Porzellan), Anna Polanská (Glas), Lada Semecká (Glas) Gäste-Laden: Juliane Herden, Judith Radl, Nika Stupica, Martin Möhwald, Elke Sada, Cornelius Reer, Susanne Petzold, Jutta Becker, Clarissa Capelle, Uta Minnich, Frank Schillo, Sophia Binney : GEDRUCKT UND GEDREHT - Keramisches aus der Kasino-Werrkstatt 20.03. 2016
Johannesberg D-63867
GALERIE
Galerie Metzger Hauptstraße 18 T: +49-(0)6021-460224 O: Wed 15 - 19, Sat 15 - 17 Sun 11 - 17h open only during exhibitions *A
[email protected] www.galerie-metzger.de
METZGER
Karlsruhe D-76131 Staatliche Majolika Manufaktur Karlsruhe GmbH Ahaweg 6-8 T: +49-(0)721-91 237 70 O: Mon - Fri 8 - 16h
Kellinghusen
D-25548
Museum Kellinghusen - Hauptstraße 18 T: +49-(0)4822-3762-10 F: -15 O: Thu - Sun 14 - 17h *A
[email protected]
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Keramikgalerie terra rossa Roßplatz 12 T/F: +49-(0)341-9904399 O: Mon - Fri 10 - 18, Sat 11 - 15h
[email protected] www.terra-rossa-leipzig.de : „Nur für Dich“ Aussteller: Die Mitglieder der terra rossa Galerie 05.01. 2016 : GÖTTER.GEISTER.AHNEN - Kunstprojekt der Nachbarschaftsschule Leipzig 14.01. - 28.02. : Kunst aus Heimaterde 2 - Dirk Richter, Rosi Steinbach, Sylvia Bohlen, Thomas Weber, Viktoria Scholz, Gabi Francik, Frank Brinkmann 09.02. - 17.03. - V: 09.02., 18h D-04103
CONTEMPORAINE
Margraten NL-6269 VE F: -4583029
Galerie & Atelier - Groot Welsden 48 T: +31-43-4582751 O: Wed, Sat + Sun 13 - 17h *A www.keramiek-grootwelsden.nl
München
D-80333 Galerie für Angewandte Kunst Pacellistraße 6-8 T: +49-(0)89-290147-0 www.kunsthandwerk-bkv.de O: Mon - Sat 10 - 18h
Galerie Handwerk Max-Joseph-Straße 4 T: +49-(0)89-5119296 O: Tue, Wed, Fri 10 - 18h, Thu 10 - 20h, Sat 10 - 13h closed at holidays www.hwk-muenchen.fr/galerie : Kap-Sun Hwang und seine Schüler - 13.01. - 13.02. D-80333
Münster
D-48163 Kunsthaus Kannen Alexianerweg 9 T: +49-(0)2501-966 20 560 www.kunsthaus-kannen.de
[email protected] O: Tue - Sun 13 - 17h
Paris
F-75005 Centre Culturel Irlandais 5, Rue des Irlandais T: +33-1-58 52 10 30 O: Mon - Sat 14 - 18h
Raeren
B-4730 Töpfereimuseum Raeren Bergstraße 103 T: +32-(0)87-850 903 O: Tue - Sun 10 - 17h www.toepfereimuseum.org - Exhibition in Haus Zahlepohl opposite the castle
Römhild D-98631 Schloss Glücksburg
Griebelstraße 28 T: +49-(0)36948-80140 F: -88122 O: Tue - Fri 10 - 12 + 13 - 16h, Sat + Sun 13 - 17h
[email protected]
NEW CERAMICS
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
O: opening time | T: Telephone | F: Fax | *A and by appointment
DATES
EXHIBITIONS / GALLERIES / MUSEUMS Schleswig
D-74837 Schloss Gottorf - Schlossinsel 1 T: +49-(0)4621-813222
[email protected] www.schloss-gottorf.de : „form . frei“ - Folgeausstellung Keramik Europas - 13. Westerwaldpreis 2014 14.02. 2016
Stuttgart
D-70176 Kunst im Hinterhaus Breitscheidstraße 131 A www.kunst-im-hinterhaus.de T: +49-(0)711 - 695649
St. Wendel
66606 Galerie-Atelier No4 Nik. Obertreis Straße 4 T/F: +49 (0)49151-414 083 83 O: Tue - Sat 14 - 19h www.barbaraluetjens.de : -flockenzart und eisenhart- Porzellan von Karin Bablock und Heide Nonnenmacher auf Metallmöbeln von Horst Erlenbach, Metallwandobjekte von Horst Erlenbach - 13.02. - 11.03. Visitenkarte_BL_A_No4_RZSonderfarbe.indd 1
05 | 02 01 | 05
16
Solothurn
Zeitgenössische Keramik in der Bliesmühle Helene Kirchmair | Ulla Litzinger | Ursula Madré Nathalie Pampuch | Julia Saffer | Grit Uhlemann www.sarreguemines-museum.com
Rostock D-18055 Galerie Klosterformat Klosterhof 5 T: +49-(0)381-5108577 F: -510 85 90 OO: Tue - Sat 11 - 18 h
[email protected] www.klosterformat.de
: „schmuck - gäste XIII“ - Gast: Karin Wurlitzer - Malerei/Grafik und Arbeiten von ständigen Gästen der Angewandten + Bildenden Kunst - Januar 2016
: „BESTAND(s)-Ausgabe XIII" - Verkäufe aus Kommissionsbeständen der Galerie: Grafik/Glas/Holz/Keramik/Malerei/Plastik/Schmuck - Januar - 16.04.
: Neue Glasarbeiten von Holger Schultze - vom 15.03. an : „persönliche Welten" - Renée Reichenbach, Keramik, und Regine Tarara, Malerei 19.04. - 18.06.
KERAMIK HAUS RHEINSBERG Rhinstraße 1 T: +49 (0)33931-34156, O: daily 10 - 18 h, also sun- and holydays
Rödental
D-18055 Europäisches Museum für Modernes Glas Schloss Roseau O: daily 9:30 - 13h and 13:30 - 17h
Sarreguemines
CH-4500 Galerie Christoph Abbühl und Kunstforum Solothurn Schaalgasse 9 T/F: +41-(0)32 621 38 58 O: Thu + Fri 15 - 19h, Sat 14 - 17h *A : Harald Kröner - "snow" - in der Galerie Christoph Abbühl und Klaus Lehmann - "Serendipity 2 - Arbeiten 1976-2015" in der Galerie Kunstforum Solothurn - 30.01. (bis - 12.01. sind die Galerien geschlossen) NL-5932 AG Keramikcentrum Tiendschuur Tegelen Pottenbakkersmuseum. Kasteellaan 8 T: +31-(0)77-3260213 F: -3260214 O: Tue - Sun 14 - 17h www.tiendschuur.net
[email protected] : "Tea is hot! - Trendy und klassische Teeschalen" aus Korea. Ausstellung in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Keramikmuseum Westerwald - 15.01. - 22.05 Visitenkarte_BL_A_No4_RZSonderfarbe.indd 1
18.07.14 19:51
Tegelen
Thurnau
D-95349 Töpfermuseum Thurnau Kirchplatz 12 www.toepfermuseum-thurnau.de
[email protected] O: April-Sept.: Tue - Fri 14 - 17h, Sat, Sun and holidays 11-17h, October - 6.January and March: Sat 13 - 16h, Sun and holidays 11-18h
Trebsen
Rheinsberg D-16831
F-57200
Musée de la Faience 15/17 rue Poincaré F-57200 Bliesmühle - Museum für Keramiktechniken und Garten der "Fayenciers" 125 Avenue de la Blies www.sarregemuemines-museum.com : "Zeitgenössische Keramik in der Bliesmühle - Helene Kirchmair, Ulla Litzinger, Ursula Mandré, Nathalie Pampuch, Julia Saffer 05.02. - 01.05., V: 05.02., 18h
Selb D-95100 Porzellanikon Selb -
Staatliches Museum für Porzellan Hohenberg a.d. Eger/Selb Werner-Schürer-Platz 1 T: +49-(0)9287-9180-00 F: -30
[email protected] www.porzellanikon.org O: Di - So 10 - 17h : Auf der Pirsch - Jagdbare Tiere in Porzellan - 03. April 2016
Staufen D-79219 Keramikmuseum Staufen Wettelbrunnerstraße 3 O: Wed - Sat 14 - 17h, Sun 11 - 13 and 14 - 17h and 14 - 17h and 14 - 17h www.keramikmuseum-staufen.de
GALERIE KLOSTERFORMAT J.Lamberz, Klosterhof 5, 18055 Rostock (0049)381 5108577 /
[email protected]
www.klosterformat.de
„BESTAND(s)-Ausgabe XIII" - Verkäufe aus Kommissionsbeständen der Galerie
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
18.07.14 19:51
NEW CERAMICS
D-04687 Galerie Schloß Altenhain Neuweißenborner Straße 20 www.schloss-altenhain.de/galerie
Velten
D-16727 Ofen- und Keramikmuseum Velten Wilhelmstraße 32 T: +49-(0)3304-31760 F: -505887 O: Tue - Fri 11 - 17, Sat + Sun 13 - 17h www.ofenmuseum-velten.de
[email protected]
Weiden/Oberpf.
D-92637 Internationales Keramik-Museum Zweigmuseum der Neuen Sammlung München, Luitpoldstraße 25 T: +49 (0)961-32020 O: Tue - Sun 10 - 12.30 + 14 - 16,30 *A closed on Holidys www.die-neue-sammlung.de
[email protected] : "Aus Pharaos Werkstatt - Handwerk und Malerei im Alten Ägypten" aus dem Museum Ägyptischer Kunst München - 10.04. - Fi: 10.04.,11h : "25+ Highlights aus der Neuen Sammlung München“. 25 Jahre Internationales Keramikmuseum - 10.04. - Fi: 10.04.,11h : "Meisterwerke griechischer Vasenmalerei Aus der Antikensammlung München" - bis Ende 2016
Westerstede D-26655 Galerie Belinda Berger Mühlenbrink 17 T: +49-(0)4488-525391 F: -525392 www.belindaberger.de O: Sat + Sun 16 - 18h *A Ständige Ausstellung der Künstler der Galerie
Winterthur
CH-8400 Atelier-Galerie raku-art Evi Kienast Tösstalstraße 14 O: Thu - Fri 14 - 18h, Sat 11 - 15h Kontakt und Infos: www.raku-art.ch
Winzer/Flintsbach D-94577 Ziegel + Kalk Museum Museumstraße 2 12. T: +49 (0)9901-9357-0, O: 1st + 2nd Saturday in month & Sunand Holidays 13 - 17 h
Further events see page 68
[email protected]
67
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47th Congress and general assembly of the International Academy of Ceramics
Central theme Ceramics in Architecture and Public Space
/ Debates and lectures on main theme / Guided visits to buildings and places of ceramic interest / Special ceramic exhibitions / Ceramic evenings / Catalan route of ceramics / Pre-tour (Aragon and Valence) / Post-tour (Seville, Cordoba and Grenade) / Ceramic circuit in art galleries
associació ceramistes de catalunya
B Barcelona (Spain) Spain) September 12-16 12-1 2016 Complete program and registration: www.aic-iac.org E-mail:
[email protected] Local organizer: Associació de Ceramistes de Catalunya
The fifth International Festival of Postmodern Ceramics 2015/ 2016 and exhibition CERAMICA MULTIPLEX 2016 is a traditional international manifestation and exhibition of ceramics held in Varazdin under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia and the City of Varazdin Government. The period of application: from 30 March to 15 April 2016 Details see: www.keramikon.com
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NEW CERAMICS
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
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International Ceramic Magazine Editors Association (ICMEA) The 5th ICMEA Symposium, 2016 October 26 - November 02, 2016 Fuping/Beijing, China Theme: 15 Years In: Diversity in Ceramics in the 21st Century and Related Ceramic Matters of Higher Education of China and the World 主题：15年后面对21世纪的陶艺多元化暨中国及世界陶艺高等教育的相关问题
I. Call for Speakers: * Subjects of Speeches: critical writing, marketing, education, gallery/museum/Residency Policy and other theme related topics. * Speech length 20 minutes * No speaker fees and conference fees * Free accommodation and meals for speakers * Deadline: June 30, 2016 For application: write to
[email protected]
II. Call for Emerging Ceramic Artist Competition: Qualications:
Ceramics Artists who have not been practicing for more than eight years since completing their training/studies and have never won major competitions
First Round Judging: * E-mail art work images and CV to ICMEA * Entry to the competition is free. Entry form under request * Deadline for application: June 30, 2016 * Selection announced on website: July 31, 2016
Final Jurying:
* Selected art works should be sent to ICMEA: Deadline: October 15, 2016. * Final jurying by all editors at October 25 evening, announced October 26, 2016
Awards:
* Ten winners receive one month free residencies at Fuping Pottery Art Village in 2016-17 * Three cash prizes for three top winners: RMB15000 (Gold), RMB10000 (Silver), RMB5000 (Bronze). * Selected artists are invited to the conference, but need to apply. For application or write to:
[email protected]
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
NEW CERAMICS
69
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International Summer Academy
Bild-Werk Frauenau Ceramics Glass
Sculpture Painting Printmaking
Bild-Werk Frauenau Moosaustr. 18a D - 94258 Frauenau Phone: +49 (0) 9926 / 180 895
[email protected]
www.bild-werk-frauenau.de
Here I find everything!
Open House (Diepersdorf) 12.-14.11.2015
with Botz, Duncan, Peter Pugger, Rohde & Witgert
Theme Tucholsky. Porcelain „A picturebook for lovers.”
Our congratulations to Anett Lücke for winning the 1st award at Rheinsberger Pottery Show with value of 500 EUR. Supported by KERAMIK-KRAFT
You can demand new catalogue at:
KERAMIK-KRAFT (DE) • Industriestr. 28 • 91227 Diepersdorf • Tel. +49-(0)9120-18460 Fax.-1846-22 •
[email protected] KERAMIK-KRAFT (AT) • Energiestr. 10 • 2540 Bad Vöslau • Tel. +43-(0)2252-251557 Fax. -251934 •
[email protected] KERAMIK-KRAFT (FR) • 67170 Brumath • Tel. +33-(0)-7 82 07 74 47 •
[email protected]
70
NEW CERAMICS
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
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PROVIDING QUALITY AND VALUE SINCE 1946 ✪ Top loading kilns ✪ Front loading kilns ✪ Controllers ✪ Machinery ✪ Bisque ✪ Colour ✪ Tools ✪ Clays ✪ Replacement elements ✪ Spares and repairs ✪ Kiln maintenance ✪ Training ✪ Excellent technical support PRODUCTS ON DISPLAY IN OUR SHOWROOM OPEN MONDAY – FRIDAY 8.30AM – 4.30PM
Contact us today on 01782 319435 Email:
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Spectrum Glazes Spectrum Glazes introduces our new Shino Glazes. These 12 new colors are all leadfree, dinnerware safe, and fire to 1220ºC. As vibrant and interesting as they are on their own, when layered with other Stoneware glazes the results are stunning. For examples of combinations and the endless possibilities, check out our facebook page. Available in reasonably priced sample packs.
1401 Cherry Salmon
1402 Saffron
1403 Citron
1404 Wasabi
1405 Blue Oyster
1406 Ahi
For a full list of our distributors in Europe: spectrumglazes.com/distributors_eur.html SPECTRUM GLAZES INC. PH: (905) 695-8355 FAX: (905) 695-8354 spectrumglazes.com
[email protected]
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
NEW CERAMICS
1407 Aubergine
1408 Jalapeno
1409 Guacamole
1410 Miso
1411 Nutmeg
1412 Charcoal
71
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Großer Internetkatalog unter: www.muenzer-kunsthandwerk.de
Münzer GROSSHANDEL
Bastel- u. Töpferbedarf Kunsthandwerk Pumpen Schmuckbedarf Silverline Silberwaren Hilgenbrink 9 48282 Emsdetten Tel. 0 2572 - 83671 Fax 5970
[email protected] www.muenzer-kunsthandwerk.de
ünzer MM ünzer G RGROSSHANDEL OSSHANDEL
visit ourInternetkatalog online platform and hobby andu.pottery BastelTöpferarticles bedarf Großer unter: big web shop at arts and crafts muenzer-kunsthandwerk.de
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pumps for water games
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www.muenzer-kunsthandwerk.de We are wholesaler and deliver to
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[email protected]
www.muenzer-kunsthandwerk.de
72
NEW CERAMICS
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
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BRUSH ON GLAZES/BRUSH ON COLOURS
We exhibit:
cerativeworld
www.botz-glasuren.de
Photography: Lisa Nieschlag · Münster
Frankfurt am Main 30.1.– 2.2.2016 Halle 4.1 Stand H67
BOTZ GmbH Keramische Farben Hafenweg 26 a D -48155 Münster Phone +49(0)251 65402
[email protected]
In ceramic craftsmanship and ceramic arts you bring together creativity and technology. Your inspiration and your skill are expressed through your work. The final firing process is crucial to its finish. ROHDE kilns: ensuring that the moment in which you open the kiln and see your work in all its finished glory continues to remain a truly special one. Enjoy the results.
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Helmut ROHDE GmbH Ried 9 83134 Prutting Germany www.rohde-online.net
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
NEW CERAMICS
73
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Der Begriff für Qualitätsrohstoffe in der Keramik. • Zuverlässige und konstante Rohstoffe von höchster Qualität • Breite Produktpalette für kundenspezifische Lösungen
Artist: Ragnvald Leonhardt
• Technische Kompetenz und umfassende Beratung
RAKU:
born in the FIRE Fordern Sie unsere Produktübersicht an: Sibelco Deutschland GmbH - Fuchs Keramische Massen Sälzerstraße 20 D-56235 Ransbach-Baumbach
Goerg & Schneider GmbH u. Co. KG Bahnhofstraße 4 · D-56427 Siershahn
www.keramische-massen.com 74
Telefon: +49 26 23 88 28-0 Fax: +49 26 23 88 28-92 E-Mail:
[email protected] Internet: www.sibelco.de
NEW CERAMICS
FUCHS KERAMISCHE MASSEN
Bodies
„Keramiken von S. Altzweig, M. Debus, A. Hinder, U. Matschke & M. Meyer, F. Roßmann“
Ceramic
FUCHS KERAMISCHE MASSEN
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
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Color explosions with the new Duncan Color Burst Crystal Chips
Look for this spinning rack at your dealer.
Duncan Europa ◊ Industriestr. 28 ◊ 91227 Diepersdorf b. Nürnberg Tel. +49(0)9120-180940 ◊
[email protected] See dealer list and the complete assortment at: www.duncan.de
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2016
NEW CERAMICS
75
A CL G Y U L GN Rafa Perez – Spain
John Neely – USA
Paul Davis – Australia Beth Cavener – USA
Simon Reece – Australia
Keith Brymer-Jones – UK
Alessandro Gallo – Italy/USA
APR 17–23 2016
Akira Satake – Japan/USA
Torbjorn Kvasbo – Norway
Alexandra Engelfriet – Netherlands
Ian Jones – Australia Garth Clark – USA
Mark Del Vecchio – USA
Merran Esson – Australia Peter Callas – USA Jack Troy – USA
MANSFIELD GALLERY YARROBIL MAGAZINE CLAY GULGONG MORNING VIEW
Registration:
[email protected] Event Manager: Siobhan Mansfield Artistic Director: Bernadette Mansfield Event Director: Neil Mansfield
U
U
CONVENTIONAL CLAY: ENGAGED IN CHANGE
THE NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
FEBRUARY 26 – JUNE 12, 2016
Mika Laidlaw
Zemer Peled
Artists Demonstrations, Commercial and Nonprofit Resources, Discussions, Exhibitions, Lectures, Student Led Presentations, K-12 Focus Programming, and much more! visit nceca.com
REGISTER EARLY AND SAVE Early-bird deadline – January 29, 2016
