he ha s employed the technique of glaze on glaze application. On a bisqued stoneware body he layers chuns, copper reds or titanium glazes over a ri ch background of mirror black Tenmoku. The overglaze is not applied with controlled brush strokes, rather th e essenti al nature of the glazes themselves appear in the melting and cooling. A natural fluidity is accentuated, a softness of movement reflecting the motion of the sea . The chun over tenmoku brilliantly captures the movement of spraying waves, wh ile directing of fine white rims. These are delightful examples of celadons, pale green mirrors reflecting images of quiet estuaries and gentle, dappled light. They are pieces to hold and drift into. Where the planers and bowls have been treated with the talc glaze the effect is as serene. Far from the coolness of quiet pools, these taIc pieces bring us to the searing heat of the high water mark on th e ocean shore. The subtle use of crazing in this smooth wh ite surface gives the appearance of sun bleached shell, the viewer's eye down Stoneware bowl. Talc glaze. w60cm washed up and left to towards the near-black crack. Dry and brittle as depth of underlying currents. The th ey appear, the re is an glaze appears almost curdled, underlying element of stre ngth. opaque yet translucent, in varying l1lese glazes work well on simple tones of whi te, green and pale forms, where even the slightest lavender to clear blue. nuance in a rim , or the gentle Where the tenmoku buhbles spiral of throwi ng mark on a and melts it's way up through dle platter becomes a fea ture that cracks, it is as if the blackness is would be lost under a husier reaching out to touch. The effect glaze. estled unobtrusively is dramatic, particularly on the amongst the smaller bowls are bowls where the narrow base three masks, each resembling a invites the viewer further into the wise Asian fa ce. With watchful depths, invoking the sensation of eyes and peaceful contentment, entering the darkest fathoms of they appear as ancient sages of the ocean, or perhaps the deepest Zen buddhism. They provide an realms of the unknown, the dark element of ritualism associated pool of the unconscious. Chuang- Stoneware Platter, Titanium with with spiritual practice and are a Tzu (<strong>36</strong>9-283 Be), a Taoist sage, Tenmoku matt. d75cm. direct link into Burton's travels in saw nature as a never ending transformation of Asia. Glazed in celadon that breaks to reveal a clay body appearances. With the ocean as metaphor and inspiration, resembling soft gold, they have a sense of antiqUity that the colour, texture, shape and movement of copper reds harks to the origins of the glazes and forms that were the ancl crusry titanium glazes fuse into rockshelves, cliff-faces initial inspiration for this current body of work. and shipwrecks of rusted iron. . This is an exhibition of sophisticated ceramic an, where Bunon's approach to glaze is that there is no such ease and repose have resulted from the studied discipline thing as a bad glaze, it's what you do with it. Impurities in of good craftmanship. These are works that are felt rather the glazes don't faze him, in fact it is in this purposeful than thought. letting go of control that the natural character of beaury is There is a Zen saying that a journey of a thousand achieved, allowing the full force of nature to miles starts with the first step, and for Bill Bunon this is predominate. The forms are tight and smooth, there is a "... a journey of ongoing discovery. It is by doing tlle work wok-like curve inside and with the sprung tension of an that the direction comes, unfolding it's own meaning and arched fencing sword, the curve seems to sweep into inventing me at the same time". 00 space while the narrow bases lift them as il· floating. This sense of lightness is contin ued with celadons and Megan Kinninmcnt. fishscale glazes that delicately recede to reveal the outline Megan is visual anisl living in onhem NSW. 46 POTTERY IN AUSTRALIA + ISSUE <strong>36</strong>/2 WINTER <strong>1997</strong>
Mask and Platter. Kuan Glaze. h16cm. Stoneware bowl. Tenmoku & Chun glazes. w30cm x d28cm. <strong>36</strong>/2 WINTER <strong>1997</strong> + POTTERY IN AUSTRAUA 47
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