Of Pinterest

I am a recent Pinterest junkie. 

In a very short space of time I have created a long, and rapidly expanding, image scroll of ceramics I like. The stark difference in aesthetic between these images and my own work has me decidedly intrigued and I have allowed my interest to develop to nigh on obsessional proportions. The more I do the more questions arise about my own practise and what I see and sense when I look at pots.

Tortus Copenhagen Ceramics

I approached it all with an air of suspicion. I am well aware a piece can look better in an image than in real life and not handling the object means only getting half the story. Deciding to overlook these limitations I have been frantically clicking away, scratching the surface of a world of ceramics beyond my immediate reach. 

There is an undeniable promotional advantage to the site in the best possible sense. When an artist's name appears a few times in my pins I look them up to find out more about their work, background and practise and I have also created a pin board for my own work because you never know what might happen if you put it out there. But the main reason I have been using Pinterest is to look at pretty pictures and to keep a record of them for future inspiration. I used to cut and paste, now I pin.

I have stuck to some simple rules - I won't pin if the image is too small or out of focus - but have broken others - namely not pinning if the artist isn't credited. Some pieces I like too much to exclude on this basis.

Susanne Nemeth

It's all very immediate and I have to admit to enjoying the snap judgement. It feels sub conscious, a gut reaction. But every now and then I look back at my image collection and am surprised by the clearly defined aesthetic of my choices. I thought I was more ceramic-ly broad minded! And how odd that when I look at the board of my own work it appears so very different.

Ann Linnemann

What do I look for in a pot?  I like pieces that appear assured and effortless. While admiring technically difficult or conceptually challenging pieces, they are not the ones I chose to pin  in my Ceramic Vessels board. I might pop them in my Inspiring Artworks category but my ceramic vessel board is reserved for pieces with which I would feel at home. Comfortable pieces with proportions that look right, forms resolved.

They are also pieces that encapsulate the making process. There is no denying they are clay, the malleability of the medium is evident, as is the maker's hand. I am drawn to the organic but not at the exclusion of refinement. And while not afraid of colour, the palette I like is gentle, enhancing rather than detracting or interfering with the beauty of the form.

Ashtray and Match Container by Gertrude and Otto Natzler

There is a definite sense of nature in the works I have pinned. Clay is intrinsically of the earth and I like vessels that reflects this, not in an overt, replicating way but in subtle tones, marks and movements that add to the essence of the piece.

Other trends have appeared in my predilections - thick, buttery and textured glazes; rugged, raw clay bodies; soft, painterly slips. The core material often appears present in the finish, be it an exposed foot, a finger mark that has repelled the glaze or a dark clay body escaping the cover of glaze on rims and rises.

Sweet Imperfections by Hanaoka Yutaka

And apparently I am quite fond of faceting and fluting. Who knew?!

There are of course things that I did know that have simply been confirmed in all of this- my love of Lucie Rie's ceramics and Japanese minimalism. My appreciation of timeless, simple, organic shapes and natural colours. And my enjoyment of ceramic sculpture with a sense of humour and whimsy. 

Mathieu Cordeaux

The images in this post are just a few examples of what I have stumbled across in my ad hock journey through Pinterest realms, credited to the best of my abilities.

I don't know how long I will continue to pin or where it will take me. I'm not even sure that it's healthy for my creativity but it really is a whole lot of fun. And in my usual style I have turned it from a spontaneous, impulsive sense of play into an exercise for consideration. That can't be a bad thing... can it? 

Creative paths travelled

I need to get something off my chest and what better forum than my own, neglected blog. I have a two-part tale to tell that might get a little wordy and possibly emotional but here goes...

Since the start of last year I have been developing new work. The time is ripe for a new direction. I have not been in a hurry, exploring ideas and incorporating personal experiences as they arise. Initially my desire was to work with new, braver colours while still using the matt exterior/ gloss interior that I love. I started to colour porcelain and fell in love with the results.

Good.

Needing to make a point of difference with other coloured porcelain wares currently available, I began experimenting with inlay, abstracting my previous urban iconography and enjoying this progression in my work.

Great.

Personal issues are bound to express themselves in creative endeavours and the death of my mother has had a huge impact on this new work. Nostalgia has crept into my form development and, no doubt, into my choice of colours. 

I inherited a collection of beautiful, traditional tea cups and saucers such as the one above and I loved the nod to ceramics of my mother’s era when one blue stain I tested appeared so like Wedgwood Jasper-ware blue. 

Wonderful.

There is still work to be done. The cup above is not particularly great to drink from, for example, so I have plans to resolve the form. But recently I have felt this new work is finally at a point where it is fit for public consumption. It will always be developing but I feel ready to start getting it out there. 

Hooray!

This blog has been so neglected of late as I have been busy taking photos, designing a new wholesale catalogue, putting my mind to pricing and making, making, making. Finally I took a collection of bottles, beakers, carafes and bowls in a range of colours to a store last week.

So here is where the tale takes a turn. 

First some background...

For those that are unaware I am a big fan of potter Lucie Rie. Her work was brought to my attention early in my ceramic career when a friend noticed parallels in our work, dark matt exteriors with scratched lines and minimal, functional forms. I was amazed by some similarity in our pieces, made some fifty years apart - she an Austrian living in London, myself, at the time, inspired by patterns and markings in the Australian landscape. 

Lucie Rie

Sophie Milne

I was aware that I liked her work because it was like my own and conscious, from that point on, of recognising her influence but not wanting to imitate.

Recently a new biography was published, Lucie Rie: ModernistPotter by Emmanuel Cooper, and as soon as I heard about it I ordered a copy and checked the post box daily for its arrival. Last Friday it came. I stowed the package in my pannier, rode straight to my studio, made myself a coffee and undid the cardboard wrapping. Mmmm, the cover image is beautiful, I flipped it over to look at the back and imagine my astonishment when I laid eyes on this image...

Holy Fuck.  

How could I not have known Lucie Rie designed work for Wedgewood? How could this cup and saucer, made in 1963, be so similar to one I just promised a store owner?? How could I have created new work so different from my previous work and still it looks like Lucie Rie’s??? And why oh why did this come to my attention the day after I made my first delivery?!

In the past few days I have gone through a mixture of devastation, feeling my work is unoriginal, self doubt that I hadn’t seen or been aware of this work before (but I honestly don’t think I have), fear that any deliberate changes I now make to my own work will feel contrived and a small, strange element of pride that I design work so like my idol’s. 

I have calmed down a little now and realise that the majority of this new work is not so similar. I am beginning to feel somewhat stoic. I will let go of the Jasperware blue for now, I have many other coIours and forms. I am a creative person, I can roll with the punches, I will continue to develop this work in the personal and honest way I have done to date and it will not be the same as Lucie Rie’s!

Tomorrow ...  the studio.

Today... I just needed to get this off my chest.

Revisiting Crosshatched

Earlier this year I had the good fortune to work with Sandra Bowkett and Ann Ferguson on a Crosshatched project, a collaboration with Rajhastani potters Manahor Lal and Dharmveer. At the time I documented the event on the Pan Gallery blog but more recently an article, written by Sandra, Ann and myself, has been published online by The Australian Ceramics Association. Please click here if you would like to see the article.

One spectacular aspect of this event was the opportunity to visit Sandra's property in Tallarook, where the potters worked side by side, creating and firing the magnificent mudka (traditional water pots) and Tallarook Stacks. Thought this might be a good time to share some photos I took on the day.

Sandra and Ann continue to work with the potters and I believe a project in India is set for early 2012. Keep an eye on Sandra's website to follow the development of this fantastic cross cultural collaboration.

Ever changing urban landscape

City life churns on. Thankfully the sun is putting in a few more appearances, highlighting incidentals in my immediate urban landscape...

A parting gift from a studio artist... 

A watchful paste up on a demolition site...

And constant suggestions on which direction to take...

Hmmm, which direction to take?

Urban inspiration

Please don't ask me why. I think it was a split tennis ball, floating in the gutter mud, but I wasn't too keen to investigate any further than taking the shot. 

A few things on the go

I have recently returned to full time making. Joy! It is an entirely different head space to three days a week and the occasional extra moment. Days are still shortened or interrupted by life's other callings but just knowing I can get to the studio more has unleashed a whole lot of pent up creative notions.

It's entirely possible I am getting a little carried away. I have taken on new retailers, new students and have new work on the go for an upcoming joint exhibition. I plan to submit to a couple of competitions, have a market stall and studio open day dates to work toward and have started a collaboration. Hmmm... I may have gotten a little carried away... but... joy!

It's the collaboration that is on my mind at this moment in time. Starting a creative dialogue with another artist is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while and just as I had hoped, the situation presented itself rather than be hunted down. 

It started in the form of a birthday present, a beautiful print from someone I didn't know drew, and a conversation about the linocut process with it's commonalities to sgraffito.  Well... one thing led to another... and a collaboration has begun.

It is early days and I have no distinct expectations beyond the pleasure of seeing another artist's response to my forms and the opportunity to see my work more intimately through the eyes of another. At the moment we are still learning each others artistic language and keeping verbal (and "txt") communication to a minimum. Just playing really but it is exciting. These images are sneak peaks of the start of something, more on my collaborator soon.

Play should never be underestimated.

Revisiting earlier thoughts

Sometimes I play around with ideas then they get shelved, often quite literally.

Like these bottles for example. 

Little tests in throwing coloured clay and inlay. They weren't particularly successful... over fired for one and elements of cracking in the inlaid slip... but there was something in them that persuaded me to leave them visible on a studio shelf. They've have been there for months, maybe years, and my eyes often come to rest on them when I am pondering something else entirely.

I have some other tests stuck to the window sill.

Colouring clay. 

It's been something I have been meaning to return to for ages. Actually, now that I have looked into it, I see it was Oct 2009 when I mentioned it last on this blog. God, that's frightening. No matter... some things take time to simmer and my small reminders have finally paid their dues. 

I have been having a whole lot of fun mixing stains and clay. I half fill a doubled bag with dry turnings of Southern Ice porcelain and smash it with a rolling pin just like my Mum did with Marie biscuits for her hedgehog recipe. Then I mix measured amounts of clay, stain and water with my trusty (so far) blender.

Once the coloured slip has dried a little on a plaster batt I wedge away and... voila... coloured clay. I imagine the longer the whole process takes the better, allowing the clay to settle and mature at different stages. My impatience to get throwing has been only slightly tempered by the usual time-in-the-studio limitations (ie. eating, sleeping, socialising and.. oh yeah.. raising a child) but I haven't experienced any problems to date as a result of doing things fairly quickly.

And my... it is so much fun the throw with colour...

I shall most certainly return to this topic as things start to emerge from the kiln... oh and I think I have the inlay issues resolved too so more on that soon.

For mum

I love you.

Rest in peace.

Moon from kitchen window

Current outlook, 2011

Perfect Moment

Rode home at dusk 

breaking through 32 degree still city air.

Deep blue velvet sky intercepted by 

occasional pinpoints of starlight 

and low flying bats over Merri Creek.

Crosshatch of gravity-prone power lines 

and incidental houses boasting lurid Christmas lights.

Clack of cutlery and fragments of conversation 

from open doorways.

Feeling spectacularly insignificant, 

no attempt to capture moment with inadequate image.

Suffice to say 

perfect moment 

sometimes I really love this place. 

Something about the light

Perhaps it had something to do with the momentary break from torrential rain but the light today was special. 

I like to think it was because the atmosphere was washed clean, colours seemed brighter, contrasts seemed stronger and different highlights appeared with the passing of the day.

The city's not always a beautiful place but sometimes...

Awesome

Vaguely wandering the internet I came across this on Designboom ...

Awesome.Yes I do recognise that I'm using the adjective of an  8 year old boy but sometimes it's required.  How wonderful to see your own imaginings and flights of fancy  materialised (almost) by the creative genius of others, and on such a grand scale! Love it.

 To quote directly from the Designboom post...

 "American firm choi + shine architects recently received the 2010 boston society of architects award for unbuilt architecture for their project 'the land of giants'. Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed pylon design, the architects created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape.

The pylon-figures can be configured to respond to their environment with appropriate gestures. As the carried electrical lines ascend a hill, the pylon-figures change posture, imitating a climbing person. Over long spans, the pylon-figure stretches to gain increased height, crouches for increased strength or strains under the weight of the wires. The pylon-figures can also be arranged to create a sense of place through deliberate expression. Subtle alterations in the hands and head combined with repositioning of the main body parts in the x, y and z-axis, allow for a rich variety of expressions. The pylon-figures can be placed in pairs, walking in the same direction or opposite directions, glancing at each other as they pass by or kneeling respectively, head bowed at a town.

Despite the large number of possible forms, each pylon-figure is made from the same major assembled parts (torso, fore arm, upper leg, hand etc.) and uses a library of pre-assembled joints between these parts to create the pylon-figures’ appearance. This design allows for many variations in form and height while the pylon-figures’.Ccost is kept low through identical production, simple assembly and construction."

I really do hope it becomes built architecture.

Incidentals

When I pop 'round the corner'

for the luxury of a shop bought coffee

in a take-away cup

(mmm the delicious sin of it)

these are a few of the moments I enjoy

as I sip and stroll

my way back to the studio. 

Verging on sentimental

I may have previously mentioned  my desire to one day work in collaboration with another artist.

Potter or not, I think it would be a fascinating process to work alongside another to produce a body of work that has the potential to capture something greater than the sum of it's parts.

I am not actively seeking a collaborative project, more allowing myself to be open to the idea should an opportunity present itself. (Not lazy just busy!)

Then this -

A day off school with the snuffles, taken to work with Mum, handed an unfired cup and a sgraffito tool to keep him busy and young Finn came up with these little masterpieces.

Yes, possibly I am a tad bias and maternally proud but... well...  look how awsome they are!

Occassionally opportunities present themselves in the most unusual of ways. Pays to recognise them when they happen.