The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 1 April 2014

The Journal of

WALKER 

~ 

Feeneys 

Clay 

Cesca 

Glazes & Colours 

I --...,.-- • ___.. 

. 

I • , 

II __-_ ... -~ 

Rolf Bartz - Imperial Porcelain 4317 Exhibition 2003 

packs of all Walker and Feeneys 

available for purchase. 

will be donated to

Contents 

3 EDITORIAL 

4 CONTRIBUTORS 

TRIBUTE 

5 Marea Gazzard by Damon Moon 

13 AWARDS & GALLERY 

16 SHARDS 

18 CONNECTIONS: AUSTRALIA AND ASIA 

19 Leaning Towards Asia 

Janet DeBoos reflects on the changing nature of Australian/Asian Connedions 

26 Tjungu Warkarintja (working together) in Jingdezhen 

Genevieve O'Ca"aghan on the work of Tjimpuna Williams and Derek Thompson 

32 Migratory Hybridity in the Work of Vipoo Srivilasa by Brett Farmer 

38 Another Country Karen Weiss profiles the work of Kim-Anh Nguyen and Keiko Matsui 

45 A Korean Odyssey Rowley Drysdale shares the story of Kim Se Wan 

51 Ken Mihara: Serenity in Clay A recent exhibition in Sydney 

54 Robin Best on living and working in Jingdezhen, China 

In discussion with Journal editor Vicki Grima 

59 Born in Australia Made in Japan Euan Craig shares his story 

63 THE COURSE OF OBJECTS: THE FINE LINES OF INQUIRY 

The Australian Ceramics Association's Biennial Exhibition 2014 

Vipoo Srivila.a, Thai Na Town - Little Oz, The Country I Miss, (detail), 2012 

The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 N01 April2014 $16 

Cover 

Kim-Anh Nguyen, Sunset at Uluru. detaIl 

2014, co~ured (ooIKE' day on canvas 

complete work. h.45.7cm. w.91.4cm 

Photo. Greg PIper 

Publication dates 

1 Apnl. 17 July. 20 November 

Publisher 

The Australian Ceramics AssociatIOn 

PO Box 274 Waverley NSW 2024 

I 1300 720 124 

F; +61 (0)2 9369 3742 

mail@auslrallanceramics.com 

~. australian(eramics . com 

ABN 14001 535502 

ISSN 1449-275X 

Ednar 

www.VlCk)gnma.com.au 

Marketing and Promotions 

Carof Fraczek 

Design 

Astrid Wehling 

lNII\IW.astndwehling.com.au 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 1

Contents 

REGULARS 

103 VIEW I: Hills Edge Clay 

Phil Hart shares his thoughts on a new gallery space in Adelaide and its first ceramics exhibition 

106 VIEW II: Shed Assemblage: an Anna Rowbury installation 

Review by Varia Karipoff 

109 VIEW III: One Foot on the Black by lucille Nobleza 

110 VIEW IV: Four Hundred Years and Counting 

Cory Taylor shares news of a special 2016 event in Arita, Japan 

113 WEDGE: The Quiet of a Global life by laurens Tan 

114 POCKET PhD: Form and Function - Politics and Porcelain in the 21st Century 

Marianne Huhn sums up the essence of her recent research 

116 POTIERS MARKS 

117 CERAMIC SHOTS: #clayselfie 

120 JOIN THE POTS: Marea Gazzard - from The lAC archives 

122 THE TRUDIE ALFRED BEQUEST CERAMIC 2014 WINNERS 

124 ASSOCIATION: The Trudie Alfred Bequest Follow Up 2013 

129 GATHERINGS TO COME 

On The Edge of the Shelf 2014 & Australian Ceramics Triennale 2015 

133 A USTRALIA WIDE: Reports from around the country 

Vipoo Srivilasa, Thai Na Town - Uttle Oz, The Country I Miss, (detail), 2012 

The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 1 April 2014 516 

Subscriptions Ma nager 

Ashley McHutchrson 

w.w.r.ashleyfiona,com 

Proofreader, content 

Suzanne Dean 

Australia Wide Reports 

ACT: Jennifer Collier 

NSW: (andice Anderson 

OLD: lyn Rogers 

SA: Sophia Phillips 

lAS: Kim foole 

VIC: Robyn Phelan 

WA: Elame Bradley 

Printed by 

Newstyle PrintIng Co Pty l td 

41 Manchester St, Mile End SA; 50 31 certified 

to ASlNZS ISO 1400 1 :2004 Environmental 

Management Systems. Printed on Impress SatlO 

(FSC) stock u.n9 100% vegetable-based 

process ink!; 

2 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014

Editorial 

So many interesting personal stories, stunning studio ceramics and 

possibilities to share in one issue ... if only space could expand to 

fit every story in. That being said, I am proud to share this bumper 

160 page issue with you. Not only do we have our first issue 

focusing on the connections between Australia and Asia, we also 

share two special essays (from curator Susan Ostling and guest 

writer Margaret West) and short statements from each of the 

29 artists exhibiting in the Association's biennial exhibition, the 

course of objects: the fine lines of inquiry to be held at Manly 

Art Gallery & Museum in May 2014. 

The valued connections between people who make objects 

from clay, the ways in which skills and knowledge about ceramics 

have been (and still are) shared between people, communities and 

countries, and how the objects themselves connect us to each 

other through use, appreciation and trade, form the basis of many 

of the stories on these pages. The opportunities for travel are 

more available now than ever before so this exchange is sure to 

continue. 

We also pay tribute to Marea Gazzard, a sculptor and 

c1ayworker and a leader and advocate for the visual arts and the 

craft sector. Damon Moon brings together her large life in his 

tribute on pages 5-12. 

And to finish I say a HUGE thank you to my offsider in TACA's 

office for close to 6 years - Ashley McHutchison. She is leaving 

us to dedicate more time to her studio practice. She has brought 

much to the Association and the Journal: consistent dedication to 

members and subscribers and an eagerness to take on the varied 

tasks which arise in our busy office on a daily basis. We've had 

fun! 

Hope to see you at Manly in May, 

~. 

NEXT ISSUE: 

In our upcoming July issue we will pay tribute to Bob Connery 

from Stokers Siding Pottery who died in December 2013. As 

we farewell this master potter, we will also welcome those new 

to ceramics in our special EMERGING issue. It promises to be 

an exciting edition with potters and ceramicists, writers and 

photographers, and even an emerging editor, all keen to show 

us what's happening in their corner of our diverse and changing 

Australian ceramics community. 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2014 3

Contributors 

Brett Farmer is Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, Varia Karipoff is an emerging arts writer from 

Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He is the I Melbourne who has written for RealTime 

author of numerous publications in the fields of Arts, Broadsheet and other publications. Her 

film, media and Thai cultural studies. His current I poetry and short stories have been published 

research work focuses on Thai media arts and I in journals and blogs in Australia, New Zealand 

global modernity; E: brett.f@chula.ac.th. 

and the UK. When she isn't building websites, 

managing social media for small businesses and 

artists, writing, or looking after her two young 

I daughters, she is either out or asleep. 

www.variakaripoff.com 

Genevieve O'Caliaghan is a writer and 

editor based in Sydney. She is Associate Editor 

at ARTAND Australia magazine, and has 

worked with artists from the APY Lands for the 

past five years; www.artaustralia.com. 

I 

I 

I 

I 

I 

Laurens Tan was born in 1950 in The Hague, 

Holland of Chinese parents. He works in 

sculpture, architectural and animated space, 

music and video, graphics and industrial design 

and currently has an exhibition touring Canada 

and a forthcoming solo exhibition at the 

University of Chicago's Center in Beijing from 

July 2104; WWW.octomat.com. 

4 THE IOURNAl OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2014

Marea Gazzard, Paddington, Sydney 1963 (printed 2000) by David Moore, gelatin silver photograph, National 

Portrait Gallery, Canberra. The series David M oore: From Face to Face was acquired by gift of the artist and 

finanCial assistance from Timothy Fairfax AM and L Gordon Darling AC CMG 2001 . 

Marea Gazzard 1928-2013 

A tribute by Damon Moon 

It must have only been a day or so before Marea Gazzard passed away that I was looking at one of 

her works in the Art Gallery of South Australia. It was included in a small display gathered together by 

the gallery's Assistant Curator of Australian Paintings and Sculpture, Elle Freak, under the title of The 


Marea Gazzard, Torso I , c.1967, part of a collection of work displayed in The Mind's Eye, 2013 at the Art Galle.y of 

South Australia; photo: courtesy Damon Moon 

Mind's Eye , Paintings by Tony Tuckson, Fred Williams and John Olsen rubbed shoulders with more 

contemporary work, and there were some ceramics as well - bowls by Harry Marchant and Lucy Beck, a 

Tom Sanders jug and a big Alex Leckie vase from the late 1950s. 

Marea Gazzard was represented by her 1967 ceramic sculpture Torso I , a fairly typical piece and 

instantly recognisable as belonging to a series of works she made in the 1960s which were often known 

by the collective title Dials. I have a very similar piece in my own collection and its simple, slightly 

anthropomorphic form sits with quiet assurance on a little table near a window, where the light just 

catches the soft edge of unglazed clay. While the piece is typically Gazzard it also brings to mind Nolan's 

ground-breaking icon of Australian modernism, Boy and the Moon (Moonboy) c.1939--40, as well as 

any number of Hans Coper vessels, both in form and in their dry, modelled texture, It is recognisable in 

any of these guises as a head and a neck, abstracted but nonetheless evocative. 

The curatorial premise given for this grouping of work asserted that "The artists .. . have each 

developed a unique visual language influenced by aspects of International Abstract Expressionism (the 

curator's term, not mine) Chinese and Japanese calligraphy and Australian Aboriginal Art", but I don't 

equate Gazzard 's work with any of these movements; nor, I think, did she. 

When Marea Gazzard left Australia for Europe in 1955 with her husband Don Gazzard, a leading 

young modernist architect, she was already well-schooled in international modernist trends in art, design 

and architecture. The Gazzards moved with a pretty sophisticated set in Sydney, forming friendships 

6 THE 10URNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014

Tribute: Marea Gazza rd 

Marea Gazzard, Hungry Horse Gallery; photo: David Moore; Pottery in Australia , Vol 3 No 1, May 1964 

with, amongst others, the archited Harry Seidler who had studied at Harvard under Walter Gropius and 

w ith Joseph Albers at Black Mountain College. 

Marea Gazzard had studied ceramics at East Sydney Technical College (now National Art School), 

thereby gaining a valuable introdudion to craft skills, and this initial contad with clay, combined with 

her exposure to international design trends through publications such as Domus magazine, laid the 

groundwork for what was to come . 

After touring through Europe, the Gazzards, like so many young Australians, ended up in London. 

Don Gazzard soon began working as an architect and Marea made contact with artists like Lucie Rie 

and Hans Coper, w hose work she knew and admired greatly. She decided to attend the London Central 

School of Arts and Crafts, gaining entry to the full-time course in 1956. It was an excellent training 

ground, providing a mix of craft skills and exposure to avant-garde principles through a cohort of visiting 

ledurers. 

Fellow students also provided inspiration, and Gazzard first became interested in handbuilding 

through con tad with Ruth Duckworth, who had originally trained as a sculptor. Combine all this with 

the extensive contads gained through Don Gazzard's work as an archited and the easy access to British 

and European collections, and it is obvious that she was gaining a very rounded and sophisticated 

education in all facets of art and design. 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAM1CS APR il 2014 7

Marea Gazzard c. 1985 by Lewis Morley, type C photograph, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; gift of the artist 2003 

Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program 

Marea Gazzard 'inhabited' the great museums and galleries of London and in the holidays she would 

travel to Europe where she found a quite different approach to ceramics than that espoused by Bernard 

Leach and the majority of British craft potters. Even more profoundly, she saw Etruscan and Greek 

sculpture in-situ, with the archaic Cycladic sculpture and Minoan pottery of the Mediterranean striking 

a powerful chord. There was also a moment of reconnection with her own Greek heritage, where the 

continuing craft skills practised at the village level made a deep impression. 

Leaving Europe, the Gazzards travelled to North America. Based in Montreal they participated in 

a surprisingly active Canadian arts scene as well as being close to New York with its great museums, 

including the newly opened Guggenheim designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1960 they returned to 

Australia, but the sense of internationalism would remain . 

Although Sydney could not compare with New York or London, it was a relatively large city which, 

by the 1960s, was beginning to come of age. Maraea Gazzard continued her studies, this time with 

Lydon Dadswell who ran a highly regarded scu lpture course at the National Art School, and she began 

to exhibit her work. Importantly, she also became active in societies and committees, including the New 

South Wales Potters' Society and a group that was fighting for the preservation of the inner-city Sydney 

suburb of Paddington where she lived, She attended meetings of the Contemporary Arts Society and 

was a member of the steering committee for the inaugural issue of Pottery in Australia. 

An important commission dating from this period resulted in a series of ceramics for the Hilton Hotel 

in Hong Kong, where she managed to lift a prosaic brief by designing and making wall-mounted pieces 


Tribute: Marea Gazza rd 

which, while still having strong echoes of the work of Hans Caper, were very different to the prevailing 

trends in Australian ceramics. 

It should not be surprising that her willingness to extend her own ceramics practice also translated 

into an ambition for ceramics and 'the crafts' in general to become more fully engaged with the wider 

fields of art and design. She had obseNed first-hand the activities of the American Craftsmen's Council 

and groundbreaking publications like Craft Horizons and she was keenly aware of the need for an 

Australian organization of this kind, one which could unite the crafts and help them rise above a largely 

amateur approach. 

in 1963 Marea Gazzard helped found the New South Wales Branch of the Craft Association of 

Australia, which signalled the beginning of the era of professionalism, with its attendant boards, grants 

and, dare I say it, politics, in the Australian Crafts. She also began to exhibit more regularly, and highly 

placed critics such as Elwyn Lynn, Robert Hughes and Donald Brook recognised in Gazzard a singular 

and sophisticated artist who, despite her ongoing involvement with the evolving crafts movement, rose 

above the prevailing dross and clutter with work of monumental simplicity. 

In 1968 she travelled to Peru as Australia's representative to a World Crafts Council Conference, 

where she proposed that Australia should be part of the Asia region for the purposes of the council 

and its activities, a move that gave Australia a stronger voice within its own region and signalled an 

acceptance of the importance of the evolving crafts movement outside Europe and America. By 1970 

Marea Gazzard had become a Director of the World Crafts Council, thus cementing her position as a 

player on the international stage, at a time when the crafts were gaining credibility within the wider 

field of the arts. 

Her own work, too, gained in strength, which in Gazzard's oeuvre was signalled by subtle and 

incremental change and a refinement of technique - no sudden shifts in direction, just doing what she 

did and doing it ever better. In a move that presaged much contemporary practice, by the mid-1970s 

she began making large installations, sometimes working with other craftspeople such as the weaver 

Mona Hessing in their highly influential Clay and Fibre exhibition. 

Marea Galzard, White Bindu. 1995-2002. clay, 19 pieces, h.55.5-68cm, photo: courtesy Utopia Art Sydney 

THE /OURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 9

Tribute: Marea Gazzard 

It's interesting to note that almost all of Marea Gazzard's work up to this point had, in reality, been 

more about the sculptural representation (in clay) of objects that recalled the vessel, or, more often, 

were simply symmetrical forms with no opening or suggestion of use. This work had been met with 

some acclaim, yet the creation of more free-form objeds that did not enclose a volume, and moreover 

were combined with fibre in the context of an installation, became very contentious indeed. 

Donald Brook, a critic who adively supported the most experimental of contemporary art practice, 

thought that Gazzard's work had crossed a line. Other equally influential critics and museum 

professionals held quite opposite views, designating Gazzard and Hessing as 'the superstars of Australian 

craft' . The point is that. unlike theorists like Brook, who were driven by a complex set of academic 

arguments which designated that certain things (objeds, adions, intentions) were art and others were 

not, Gazzard, with a sophisticated background in design and craft and architedure, made objects whose 

success or failure were judged in and by their presence - their finesse, their restraint and their objecthood. 

The early seventies also saw Marea Gazzard eleded as the inaugural Chair of the Crafts Board 

of the Australia Council and World Crafts Council Vice-President for Asia. As well as being a highly 

accomplished maker, Marea Gazzard was the most powerful and influential figure in the Australian 

crafts and a significant player on the international stage. 

Through the 1970s, she continued her demanding schedule of administrative work while continuing 

to refine her own practice, exhibiting and leduring both in Australia and overseas. In 1980, Marea 

Gazzard became the first eleded President of the World Crafts Council. She travelled between Sydney 

and New York where the secretariat was based, and worked on strengthening the ties between 

the WCC and UNESCO. Gazzard was subsequently appointed a member of the Australian National 

Commission of UNESCO and was a delegate to the conference on World Cultural Policies where she 

argued for the identification, preservation and development of the crafts. 

It is a significant and impressive record of achievement, at least in terms of a career, but. with the 

benefit of hindsight, one has to question just what the results adually were of all of this adivity. 

Marea Gazzard played a pivotal role in lobbying governments on behalf of the crafts, yet much of the 

craft's infrastructure - the boards, magazines, courses, and organisations - that resulted from all this 

adivity have now gone. Bod ies like the World Crafts Council are shadows of their former selves, hardly 

rating a mention in contemporary Australian craft and design circles. Meanwhile, the contemporary art 

movement, which had been an almost underground adivity during the halcyon days of the Australian 

crafts, is now the most powerful, prestigious and amply funded arts lobby in the country. Which just 

goes to show that all the good intentions in the world, even when combined with the creative genius of 

a talented maker and a formidable political awareness, can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. The truth 

was that the quality of a great deal of the work made under the rubric of 'the Crafts' simply couldn't 

live up to the quality of the strudures that people like Marea Gazzard had created. and the house 

began to crumble. 

In 1984, having reSigned from her position on the World Crafts Council, Gazzard was approached by 

the architedural firm which had been commissioned to build the new Parliament House in Canberra. 

She was asked to submit a proposal for a large work to be installed in the Executive Court, adjacent 

to the Prime Ministerial suite. She produced a maquette based on a series of rounded forms, which 

10 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 201.

--- ---- ------------ 

Tribute: Marea Gazzard 

Above: Marea Gazzard Milos IV, 1990, clay, h.66cm w.59cm, d.23cm 

Below: Marea Gazzard Han;a V, 2005, clay h.66.Scm; collection National Gallery 

of Australia, donated by John Eager; photos: courtesy Utopia Art Sydney 


Marea Gazzard and 'l.1. P. , 2006, bronze; photo: courtesy Utopia Art Sydney 

would not be made in clay but instead cast in bronze. The works were cast at the Meridean foundry in 

Melbourne, and in March 1988 Mingarri: The Little Gigas was installed in Parliament House. Marea 

Gazzard, the doyen of the Australian Crafts movement, had become a sculptor. 

From this time on, Gazzard's career left the orbit of the crafts, as much by her own resolve as through 

the dictates of materials. It's all a bit silly anyway, these delineations, because compared to much 

contemporary sculpture (if indeed that term even is applicable anymore) she remained an object-maker 

who crafted her work up until its final incarnation in bronze, and then further worked on patina and 

polish with as much attention as was given to considerations of siting, size and form . Her work didn't 

seek to confront, shock or challenge, screaming for attention like a three year old in the lolly aisle at the 

supermarket. She didn't exhibit her unmade bed in cutting edge biennales or cry in her beer because an 

tenured art theorist didn't celebrate her work in an obscurantist tract for Parkett magazine. 

She was the model of professionalism in everything she did and she remained true to her vision 

throughout her life. She made assured, beautiful, restrained and very grown-up things, and she will be 

sorely missed. 

Damon Moon is a well-known maker, writer and commentator on ceramics and the new 

Creative Director of the Ceramics Studio, Jam Factory, Adelaide, SA. 

Willunga 2014 

Editor's note: See pages 120-121 for Marea Gazzard'5 Join the Pots feature. 

12 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2014

Shards 

I ART UNLIMITED 2014 

I Dunedoo's annual art competition 

I and exhibition will be held in the 

I NSW Central West town from 23-25 

May 2014. Prize money in excess of 

$11 ,000 is on offer 

I C losing date for entry forms is 

I Thursday 24 April 2014. 

I Ent ry forms can be downloaded 

from www.artunlimitednsw.com.au. 

CORRECTION: 

ELM PLACE STUDIOS 

In the November issue of the 

Journal, 52/3, Danaher Lane Studios 

were mentioned in the Victorian 

report on page 126. These studios 

are now known as Elm Place 

Studios, a name change which 

occurred when David Pottinger 

took over from Gregory Bonasera. 

Head here for an update: 

https://www.facebook.com/ 

elmplacestudios.com.au 

LIKE TO EXHIBIT IN BElGIUM? 

Belgium is hosting an exhibition of 

contemporary ceramics, the Biennale 

de la Ceramique d' Andenne 

2015. Applications close 30 June 

2014. There are no restrictions of 

nationality or age to participate. 

For more information go to 

www.biennaledelaceramique.be 

and click on the English version. 

SHOOT CLAY 

.. and the word is 'clay'l 

I Announcing The Word [CLAY] as an 

I Image Photographic Competition 

I for the photographers amongst us 

... or for a photographer you may 

know. 

Be creative. Make the word [clay] 

from clay, paint the word [clay] 

on a pot, drizzle [clay] slip on a 

surface, paint your body with [clay] 

ochre. . whatever your idea, there 

I must be a ceramic link. Then take 

I a photo of your word [clay] and 

I submit it to the Journal. 

I Go here for more details: 

I http://tinyurl.com/thewordclay 

LISTEN TO THESE TALES 

I Ben Carter, a potter from the US, 

I has now published the 54th episode 

of his podcast, 'Tales of a Red Clay 

Rambler'. He interviews potters, 

ceramicists and culture makers from 

around the world. Australian potters 

I featured include Janet DeBoos, 

Merran Esson and Vipoo Srivilasa. 

Great listening for the studio ' 

www.talesofaredclayramblercom 

CREATIVE SPACES 

www.creativespaces.net.au 

Creative Spaces is a free resource 

to find or list space to rent in 

order to develop, create, exhibit or 

perform creative work. 

THE JAM WELCOMES 

Jam Factory is pleased to 

announce that Dr Damon Moon 

has been appointed as the new 

Creative Director of JamFactory's 

Ceramics Studio. JamFactory 

CEO Brian Parkes says, "Damon 

is one of the few people in 

the country who could equally 

comfortably manage a project 

that involved digging up and 

processing local clay by hand 

and one that required computerdesigned 

graphics being applied 

to refined industrial blanks." 

Moon commenced the position 

in mid-January 2014. 


CREATIVE BUSINESS 

The Creative Innovation Centre 

is here to help you reach your 

2014 creative business goals! The 

CIIC is an Australian Government 

supported initiative helping creatives 

with their businesses, at no cost to 

you. Find out more here: 

www.creativeinnovation .net .au 

GOLD COAST AWARD 

Entries dose 27 June 2014 for the 

Gold Coast International Ceramic 

Art Award; go here for more info: 

www.theartscentregc.com.auigallery 

I 

I 

I 

A~C&t4Ittit.& 

OPEN 

~ 

2014 

16&17 AUGUST 

AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS OPEN STUDIOS 2014 

The event known as the OSCAS in 2013 has been renamed and will now 

be known as Australian Ceramics Open Studios (ACOS). On Saturday 

16 & Sunday 17 August 2014 we will link as many ceramic studios as we 

can muster around the country for ACOS, a national weekend of ceramic 

sampling, sales and mayhem! Go here to submit your Expression of Interest: 

http://tinyurl.comlacos2014; deadline: 16 May 2014. 

bod-F. ra , 

(, 'r rnporary Artists 

BOOKS ON THE SHELF 

Pinch Pottery: Functional, 

Modern Handbuilding by 

Susan Halls; published by Lark 

2014; $34 from 

www.angusrobertson.com.au 

Pit Firing Cera mics Modern 

Methods, Ancient Tra ditions by 

(Australian) Dawn Whitehand; 

published by Schiffer Publishing, 

2013; $38 from 

WW"N'.angusrobertson.com.au 

Wood-fired Ceramics 100 

Contemporary Artists by Amedeo 

Salamoni; foreword by Jack Troy 

Published by Schiffer Publishing 

2013; $68 from 

WINW.angusrobertson .com.au 

I 

SELLING WITH ETSY 

Etsy features many talented 

Australian ceramic artists on their 

website, induding Brianna Peterson 

from Mrs Peterson Pottery. Watch 

the 3:24min video about Brianna 

here: http://www.youtube.coml 

watch ?v=ymYRTYf8esO 

Some Etsy tips for new sellers: 

1. Good product photography is key I 

to your shop's success. 

2. It's important to 'tag' your items 

w ith the right keywords so that your I 

potential customers can find your 

products when searching on Etsy. 

3 . Etsy has a wonderful community 

of sellers. Get involved with an Etsy 

Team for support, knowledge and, 

most importantly, fun l 

4. Don't be afraid to get started. 

Your shop doesn't have to be 

perfect - it's more important to start 

getting your work out there. 

Go to the website for tutorials on all 

of the above: www.etsy.comlau 

Get your first 20 products online for 

free. Just click here: 

www.etsy.comlpromotion and enter 

I 

the code CERAMICS. 

Etsy 

lynda Draper 

TALK WITH THE ARTISTS 

Come along to Manly Art Gallery & 

Museum for a special afternoon on 

Sunday 4 May 2014, 2-4 pm. 

Join exhibition curator Susan Ostling 

in discussion with several featured 

artists in an engaging discussion 

about their art practices and 'fine 

lines of inquiry' in their works. 

The exhibition is TACA's biennial 

exhibition, the course of objects: 

the fine lines of inquiry. 

An afternoon not to miss! 


Connections: 

Australia 

and Asia

---------------------------- ----, 

Connections: Australia and As ia 

Leaning Towards Asia 

Janet De800s reflects on the changing nature of Australian/Asian connections 

In October 2012, the Gillard Government released the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper' 

in w hich the 'Executive Summary' stated that, 

Asia s rise is changing the world. This is a definingfealllre of Ihe 2 J 51 century - the Asian century ... 

Within only ale", y ears, Asia will not only be the worlds largest producer 0/ goods and services, it will also be the 

world's largest consumer of them. 11 is already the most populous region in the world. I lT lhe Ill/ure, il will also be 

home 10 the majority of the worlds middle cJl.Jss. 

The Asian century is an Australian opportun i ~y. As the global cen/re of graVity shifts (a our reg ion, the tyranny of 

dis tance is being rep/aced by the prospects afproximity. 

Australia is located in the righl place of the right time - in the Asian region in the Asian century.] 

This economic imperative is a far cry from the genteel and romantic leaning towards the Orient that 

was present in Bernard Leach's philosophising and influential A Potter's Book'. Although Leach spent 

most of his time in Japan, early on mixing with a privileged coterie of writers and artisVcraftsmen, 

uncertain still what path to follow, he also travelled to China and worked for two years with Dr Alfred 

Westharp - a man who was on a mission, ... " to 'save' China from the West's turmoil, ... " .' 

It is ironic that back in the early 20th century it was Westharp's mission to "save China from the 

West", w hilst today in the early 21 st century w e frequently encounter the reverse - a fear of the effed 

on us of China (and other Asian countries) and a desire to minimise their role in our future. Coming to 

"know thine enemy" is exemplified in one of our elder statesmen of ceramics, Peter Rushforth. 

Rushforth, a prisoner of war of the Japanese in Burma and Changi, came to embrace Japanese culture 

both during and post war, via reading the writings of Leach's friend, Dr Soetsu Yanagi, as well as Leach's 

own A Potter's Book' Earlier, when studying pottery at Melbourne Tech nical College (now RMID, like 

fellow Victorians Allan Lowe and Harold Hughan, Rushforth found inspiration in the Chinese pots in the 

H. W. Kent Collection of Oriental Ceramics at the National Gallery of Vidoria. It was here that he started 

a life-long relationsh ip w ith chun and celadon glazes that was to find expression as 'Australian ' through 

Opposite page: Robin Best, The Pepper Pot - The Legacy of Coenraad Temminck, 2013 

http://pandora.nla .gov_au/parv'133850/201309 1401221asiancentury.dpmc.gov.aulindex. html 

20 12 Asia Century WhIte Paper pl 

1940: A Potter's Book. london: Faber & Faber; New ed.; with introductions by Soyetsu Yanagl and Michael Cardew. 

London : faber & Faber. 1976; ISBN 978''{)-571-10973-9 

4 WNVV.vads.ac.uk/learning!learndex.php?themej d=CSCU7&theme_fe

Connections: Australia and Asia 

use of local materials. This kind of 'Iocalising hybridisation' has been characteristic of much Australian 

ceramics since and has been the outcome of many engagements with Asia. 

In the earlier years, the' Asia leaning' was almost exclusively towards Japan due to the broad influence 

of Leach's book and t hose who taught according to its principles. Colleagues and peers of Rushforth, 

such as Col Levy, Mollie Douglas, Ivan McMeekin, Ivan Englund and more, all looked to Japan. Many, 

such as Les Blakebrough, made what amounted to pilgrimages to Mashiko (home of a community of 

Japanese and international potters working within the Mingei (folk) aesthetic) and Kyoto where other 

potters such as Doug Lawrie and Fred Olsen from the USA, had settled. Through connections made in 

Japan, these potters made visits to Australia, thus reinforcing the Japan/ceramics connection. There were 

also Japanese ceramics artists who migrated to Australia and settled here - Shiga Shigeo, Hiroe Swen, 

Mitsuo Shoji and Heja Chong (Korean of Japanese birth)· 

Looking at early editions of Pottery in Australia (now The Journal of Australian Ceramics) there is 

a clear reflection of the dominant Anglo-Oriental outlook that characterised studio ceramics through the 

1960s and 1970s. ' There is also evident a somewhat 'anthropologicaVcultural studies' way of looking 

at t ravel experiences in Asia . In the seventies and eighties, there were also reciprocal visits by Japanese 

masters, Fujiwara Yu and Shimoaka TatsuZQ, following Hamada Shoji who visited in the mid-sixties . 

Whilst most of the writing is about t raditional or historical ceramics from this part of the world, 

there are references to avant-garde Japanese ceramics (Sodeisha 1948-1998 and Shikokai 1947-1958). 

An important travelling exhibition of the work of the Sodeisha movement was acquired early by the 

Newcastle City Art Gallery, forming the core of a world-class collection of Japanese ceramics. 

The Asian stone garden from the Suzhou Museum (next door to the Humble Administrator's Garden); designed by I.M,Pei 

20 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014


As well as the drift to experience Japan, during this time there were potters travelling to other places, 

most notably south-east Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and, after the end of 

the war, Vietnam. Many were students on exchange studies w ith art institutions in Asia during a period 

when there was an explosion of agreements between schools. Kyoto-Seika University in Japan, Hongik 

University in Korea, Silpakorn in Thailand and La Salle in Singapore, amongst many others, had students 

travelling both to and from Australia. But although Australia had established diplomatic relations with 

China in 1972 8 , travel to China remained difficult and only a few intrepid Sinophiles visited the Middle 

Kingdom. 

However, ASia-literacy was increasing in Australia, and although there remained a consistent interest 

in Japanese ceramics, the gaze shifted west' and diversified. 

Throughout the eighties there was a move away from 'studio pottery' towards 'design'. With a fast 

disappearing ceramics industry in Australia, ceram ics artist/designers started to look further afield. The 

general retail market was filled w ith ceramic product made in Asia, usually Ch ina, but also Bangladesh, 

India and Thailand. The opportunity to design for mass production in manageably small batches, in 

factories where there was still a lot of hand finishing, was seductive and sensible. 

An early adopter of these opportunities (around 2000) was Rod Bamford, who had spent t ime in India 

immediately after graduation from East Sydney Technical College (now National Art School), and worked 

w ith Royal Thai Porcelain and subsequently Monno factory in Bangladesh, realising designs for Sydney 

restaurateur Stefano Manfredi's 'cup suite'.'o 

Other ceramics artists engaged with industry throughout this period, including me, with limited 

editions of a collaborative tea set made with respected Chinese designer Prof. Zhang Shouzhi from 

Beijing. This teaset was exhibited in Smartworks" at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, as was Rod 

Bamford's Manfredi Suite, and both are now held in the permanent collection of that institution. 

After initially meeting Prof. Zhang Shouzhi when he was here as a speaker at the 1996 Nat ional 

Ceramics Conference International Connections held in Canberra, I got to know him in Yixing later 

in 1996 when I was invited to participate in the First Symposium for Western Potters. Relationships 

established during that time have persisted through to today, and have led to many more projects 

6 ThiS migration of Asi .. m ceramic artists continues to this day, wIth some particularly \lisible practitioners being Somchal (haroen and Vipoo 

Srivilasa from ThaIland. Somchai was Head of Ceramics at Sitpakorn UniverSity when he migrated to Australia in 2002 . He trained as an 

Industry mouldmaker, and because of his exceptional skills in this area (not something commonty taught in Australian ceramics courses) he 

has been able to establish a company offering that service to Australian makers, Vipoo Srrvilasa arrived from Thailand in 1997 and has 

become known for his community engagement projects.. 

1963, Pottery in Austraha, Vol 2 No 2, 'Onda Potters' Village', pp11 - 14, (a subject which reappears in the early 70s) is typical of the 

time, and is one of well over a hundred artICles appearing before 1990 that directly Of indirectly have things Japanese as their subjects. 

On the topic of Blzen (place and kiln type) there are 14+ references. 

8 The Whitlam Government established a diplomatic relationship WIth China in 1972 when Australia ceased to recognise the legitimacy of 

Chiang Kal·shek, with formal ties established a few years later in 1975. 

9 as far west as the sub


Porcelain carving class at the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China; photo: courtesy Janet OeBoos 

involving students and colleagues working in fadory and studio environments in Ch ina. It has been 

a two way street with students and their teachers coming to Australia. This sort of relationship is 

invaluable as it is for the long term, not just a single event, and it is the nature of fruitful, nonexploitative 

working relationships in China. 

Just before this 'leaning towards China' took root for Australian ceramicists, two particularly 

important events occurred not just for ceramics, but also for the whole Australian art world. One was 

the mounting of the first Asia Pacific Triennale (APD" in Brisbane in 1993 and almost synchronously, 

there was the establishment of Asialink 13 , a joint initiative of the University of Melbourne and the 

philanthropic Myer Foundation. 

Whilst the APT (every three years) continues to provide a window into contemporary Asian art, 

Asialink has, through its residency programs, enabled artists in many media and disciplines - including 

ceramics - to develop an understanding of our neighbours through extended periods of creative work 

in the host countries. This is perhaps one of the best examples of established programs for developing 

Asia-literacy. There is a holistic approach that is not fearful of change, and a board of management that 

is willing to take risks. 

22 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRAlJAN CERAMJCS APRil 2014

--------- ------------------------------------------------------ --------------- 


To return to the White Paper, the submission from Asiali nk stated, 

Increasingly, in pulicy discussiom aboUl best-practice in/erna/ional cultural policy, exchange, collaboration wId 

partnership opportunities are identified as key strategies to bUilding stronger; deeper and broader cultural links 

be/ween 110l;ons. This responds to Asialink Arts experience that reciprocity and partnerships are lire masl effective 

means of developing mUlual knowledge, understanding and respect within Ihe Asian region. 

The Paper talks also of the 'multiplier effect' of residency programs, and the power of person-toperson 

networks, before going on to talk about a somewhat different model from the usual 'residency 

plus exhibit ion ' one that ceramics has tended to follow. 

Arts residencies are hands-on, immersive experienct:s that nurture strong people-la-people networks thai are 

sustained long term through the development of ongoing projects and collaborations. Technology, increased travel 

and communication options, and shifts in the nature of art production and the art market have all provided challenges 

/0 the 'traditional' concepl of cultural exchange. Increasing/y, residences are 'mobile' or 'virtual' rather (han stalic. 

Increasingly, Asialink Arts programs operale as a 'laboratory' to develop, explore and lest some 0/ these innovaJive 

models. U fing a research-based network model, rather Ihan an outcomelKPI model, highly successful projects have 

been achieved that have ongoing and developing outcomes. This model is increasingly being seen (IS 'best-practice ' 

cultural engagement and if adaptable to many countries in Asia. 

In the submission there are two case studies cited, that could well become models for future ceramics 

residencies. 14 

The first of these is the education/cultural tourism venture - something that has been commonplace 

for some time now. Since the late 1990s, Australian National University has run, as part of its graduate 

coursework program, a Chinese Intensive. This course con sists of a three-week immersion in the 

study of traditional porcelain techniques and is conducted at a private studio in Jingdezhen, the selfstyled 

porcelain capital of China. The Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, is the last of a series of studios" 

developed by Caroli ne Cheng, a US-trained ceramics artist from Hong Kong. 

The Pottery Workshop is what I would term a 'soft landing in China' for new travellers there. 

Although travel has become spectacularly easy in China w ith high speed trains everywhere, the lack 

of fluency in Mandarin can be daunting, and there is the additional attraction of specialist shopping 

for ceramics tools, equ ipment, materials, transfers of all kinds and skills. One can pay the clay man 

12 htlps:llwww qagoma.qld .gov.aulexhlbitionslapt 

13 http://asial!nk.unlmelb.edu.aul 

14 hnp1lcms.unimelb.edu.aulasialinklpublkatlooslwhitepaper 

15 The first studIO is in Hong Kong, and runs classes for both ex pats and Chinese nationals who could be descnbed as 'the commined amateur'. 

Cheng also invites international artists to exhibit and deliver workshops and lectures. The second studio i5 in Shanghai, and offers oil Similar 

mix of faCIlities and classes. Her employees are mainly young graduates from US and Chinese institutions. The latest venlure (except for a shop 

and gallery that was opened more recently In Beijing) has been to open and develop a complex in the Old $culpturefactory in Jmgdezhen 

providing studios, wortshops, seminars and access (for paying international and Chinese residents) to skilled ceramics artisans of all 

persuaSIOns. ANU was the first Australian school (in fact the first school) to have a live-m, intensive program of demonstratIOns of traditional 

porcelain techniques provided for a large group. Since that first session, there has been much more development, a youth hostel built to hou~ 

the overflow of (mainly) young ceramics graduates, and an education centre mfinitely more generous In space that the previous studio (which 

in turn is now a library/gallery extension 10 the coffee shop). 

THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 23


to bring the clay to your studio in a cart, pay the glaze man to spray it after you have made it, the 

kiln man to fire it, and the decal specialist to decorate it ... you can then get the box man to make a 

custom packing/presentation box, and the carry man to take it to the post office .. consequently, this 

has become a major destination for ceramics makers and designers who want to produce relatively 

small runs of domestic ware and decorative items. Sculptors such as Julie Bartholomew'· and Michael 

Keighery have both had work made in Jingdezhen; and, in addition, Julie has learnt traditional skills 

in flower making, sh ipping back to Australia multiples of porcelain flora. Carol ine Cheng herself has 

designed a range of 'wearable art' - kimono-type garments hanging from thick, curtain-rail-like rods, 

and covered with hundreds and hundreds of butterflies made, of course, by 'the butterfly lady'. These 

have been extremely well received and now hang in the British Museum and other venerable collecting 

institutions. 17 

This is not the only residency in Jingdezhen. Just outside the town proper, in romantic San Bao Village, 

an earlier residency studio was established by ceram icist JiangSheng Li. This is smaller, more intimate, 

and well suited to a more reflective residency. It also has an unusual feature on the property - 'Korea 

House' - funded by a group of Korean professors and business people, and available for Korean artists 

to stay and work. The increasingly 'mixed' Asian experience is the future, as more and more Asian artists 

become mobile and connected and wealthier (and so able to move internationally with greater ease) . 

Another well established Chinese venture that has seen many Australians (and other international 

artists) travel to the small town of Fuping, near Xi'an, is FLlCAM. 18 It has played host to many major 

ceramics events, including the General Assembly of the International Academy of Ceramics. The visit 

by a group of Australian and New Zealand artists to Fuping in 2006-7 spawned a series of ongoing 

exhibitions and events, the most recent being Sharing the Experience." 

And so it has tended to be on individual initiatives that strong, ongoing relationships with Asia have 

been established. These relationships last when they have flexibility, generosity and good outcomes for 

all parties. There needs to be an equality in what is on offer and what is taken. There continues to be 

interchanges, collaborations and cultural visits by Australian ceramics artists and potters to many Asian 

countries. Bruce McWhinney, recently Head Teacher of Ceramics at Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE 

(Brookvale), leads group travel to Japan. as well as Indonesia (Bal i), managing projects too many to 

mention here." Bruce typifies the response of these 'long term Asia tragics' when asked whether most 

of his engagement was personal or institutional. He sa id, " ... personal, although my position as Head of 

Ceramics certainly opened doors." And so it is in the balance between the personal and the institutional 

that the most effective forays can be made - 'the personal' because that promotes ethical engagement, 

and 'the institutional' because it opens doors for others. 

As clayworkers looking to the future, we might well take to heart Gillard's foreword to the White 

Paper where she stated that we had the following choice - "to drift into our future or to actively 

shape it" . 



left to right: Mr Chiu, Michelle Lim, Paul Mathieu, Janet DeBoos. He Van at Huaguang, Zibo, China 

Photo: courtesy Janet DeBoos 

In the world of Australian ceramics, we have had almost half a century of drifting towards Asia. Now 

is the time to more actively engage in the creation of both personal and institutional exchange pathways 

and creative partnerships that will allow us to become an influential player in the region . 

Janet De800s is Emeritus Fellow at the Australian National University, and was Head of ANU 

Ceramics Workshop f rom 1998 to February 2013. 

16 http://australianceramics.com/homelimages/sloriesiSl_2JwarburtoJ'Vbartho!omewlJulie-BARTHOlOMEW.JP9 

17 www.sothebys.comlenlduCtlOnsl2013/pvt-setiing-caroline-cheng-hkOS02.htmIH&i=O 

18 Fule International Ceramic Art Museums (FUCAM), an extraordinary proiect, built on the jomt VISion of Hsu khi and Xu DuFeng, where a 

seri6 of large brick ceramics muc;.eums have been built holding the works of artists from various countries who have undertaken 

residenCIes there. 

19 WIIVW.5turt nsw. edu.aulbl~he-fuping·group-sharing-the-e)(perjence 

20 A first time Asia visitor in t983 to India, Bruce led tours to China in 2003, to Japan from 2005 to 2011 until Fukushima intervened, and Ball 

SUKe 2009. He also works with the leam at Gaya Ceramic Art Centre in Ubud as well as developing Ubud Aft Villa; WYvW.ubudartvilla.com 



Tjungu Warkarintja (working 

together) in Jingdezhen 

Genevieve O'Callaghan on the work ofTjimpuna Williams and Derek Thompson 

The city of Jingdezhen revolves around porcelain. On China's mainland, it is a truly global city, with 

people from around the world visiting to study at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and work in the 

many special ist studios. Porcelain has been produced there for over a thousand years, and it is so woven 

into the city's fabric that even the walls of San Bao village are bricked with it, from big blue and white 

pots to earthenware vessels. This is the Millennium Wall, at once relic and unfolding project, built by the 

San Bao Ceramic Art Institute about ten years ago and added to by constant donations. 

At Ernabella Arts, in Pukatja community on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in 

South Australia, art is also literally written on the walls. Celebrated for its batiks, paintings on canvas, 

and now its ceramics, the art centre proudly and publicly displays its seven decades of history with walka 

(design) painted on the outside walls, the black background popping with desert reds and blues and 

greens. At the front gate, sealed into concrete, are ceramic plates and tiles, from the Ernabella Arts' 

Ceramics Studio, now known as Pukatja Pottery, which has been making work for the last 15 years. 

In the early years, Ernabella Arts worked together with Adelaide's JamFactory, with artist exchanges 

and the Jam providing blank bisqued forms to the community, which when decorated and glazed would 

then be sent back to Adelaide for firing. The work was celebrated in a Jam Factory exh ibition titled 

Tjungu Warkarintja: Working Together in 1998. Things have since grown w ith the 2003 conversion 

of the screen-printing room into a ceramics studio; the running of workshops by ceramicists like Robin 

Best, Geoff Crispin, Janet De Boos and Ben Carter; the development of men's workshops where Derek 

Thompson and Ngunytjima Carroll have trained; the establishment of the Remote Communities Ceramic 

Network that sees artist exchanges between Ernabella Arts, Munupi Arts and Crafts on Melville Islands, 

and the Hermannsburg Potters in the Northern Territory; the Australian National University, Canberra, 

residencies; and the many Pukatja Pottery exhibition highlights including numerous commercial gallery 

exhibitions and last year's Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award at the Museum 

and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin. In 2014 Tjungu Warkarintja: Fifteen Years at 

Sabbia Gallery, Sydney, returns Pukatja Pottery to the theme of 'working together', what Milyika Carroll 

calls the process of generous people "helping us make our ideas work in clay'" 

Opposite page: Tjimpuna WiWams working in the Big Pot Factory 

Jlngdezhen. China; photo: courtesy Ernabella Arts 

1 MtlYIk:a Carroll, Tjungu warkarinrja: working together, Desert Mob Symposium, 6 September 2013. 


Connections: Aust ra lia and Asia 

It was with this approach in mind that in 2013 Tjimpuna Williams and Derek Thompson from 

Ernabella Arts went to the Big Pot Factory near San Bao, Jingdezhen, to experiment with scale. The 

aim of the residency was not to achieve a kind of fusion of styles and subject matter;' it was to give 

Tjimpuna and Derek the biggest possible canvas to work with. They would use the same sgraffito 

technique as back home, but would see what they could do when challenged with form, in a place with 

"facilities and kilns unlike anything in Australia" .' 

Above: Ernabella Ans ceramics studio shelves: photo: Julian Green 

Opposite page: various images taken whilst Tjimpuna Williams and Derek Thompson worked in Jingdezhen, China 

1 underglaze tests 2 San Bao wall 3 Ding and Tjimpuna Williams 4 Ding and Derek Thompson 5 Tjimpuna decorating work 

in the Big Pot Fadory, Jingdezhen 6 Chinese glaze materials; photos: courtesy Ernabel la Arts 

When Tjimpuna and Derek arrived in Jingdezhen the difference in their technique became clear: 

"Our way was very different from the Chinese way, which was nearly all blue and white, done with fine 

brushes" .4 The Ernabella way employs sgraffito as it relates to the cultural tradition of milpatjunanyi, or 

stories told in the sand ' The artists of the Big Pot Factory had also never seen such liberal use of colour; 

they came to watch, and join in. Tjimpuna recalls: " One of the young painters came and decorated a 

plate using our colours and sgraffito technique. People working at the factory would come in to look at 

our pots, and we would take breaks and watch what they were doing" 6 Despite the differences, both 

Tjimpuna and Derek found things they appreciated about the Chinese style, with Derek creating a pot 

in blue and white and Tjimpuna likening the Chinese design to Ernabella walka - the water pattern 

As explained to the author in an intelView with Tjimpuna Williams, Janet DeBoos and Ruth McMillan, 13 February 2014 . 

Tjimpuna Williams in Tjungu Warkatintja; Fifteen Years, Sabbia Gallery, Sydney. exhibition catalogue. 2014. 

4 Ibid. 

S A Pitjamjatjara term 'mllpatjunanyl' stili e)(ists across the APr Lands. 

6 Unless otherwise IndICated, all Tjimpuna Williams quotes are taken from a statement, 10 February 2014. 

28 THE IOURNAl OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2014


- -------- 

Opposite page. top: Tjimpuna Williams at Ernabella 

Opposite page. below: Tjimpuna Williams. Carlene Thompson and 

Janet DeBoos at work in the ErnabeUa Arts ceram ics studio. 20 14 

Photos: Julian Green 

resembling the Anangu pattern for tali (sand hills). the feather pattern like tjanpi (Spinifex grass). and 

concentric circles like kapi tjukula (waterholes). 

All around Jingdezhen there is a constant flow of production: from extrusions of wet clay to orderly 

lines of raw pots, from the constant firing of the village's many kilns to the pushing of wooden carts 

laden with glazes, the city is constantly ticking. People work in specific roles - throwing, glazing, 

carving, brush painting and firing the kiln - so that all processes are regularly in motion. During 

Tjimpuna and Derek's three-week visit, fireworks sang in the sky most nights to celebrate weddings and 

birthdays; the next day a reminder lay in the red confetti that peppered the streets. But amid the pace is 

peace - " a beautiful place with punu tjuta (lots of trees) but not lots of people", Tjimpuna remembers 

of San Bao. 

in this rich environment so far from home, both Tjimpuna and Derek could concentrate fully on their 

practice, and this meant solving problems, from the colour going on - a problem resolved with the help 

of Janet DeBoos - to the pots they'd come to conquer. Tjimpuna explains: "When we got there, twelve 

pots were waiting for us in our studio at the Big Pot Factory. It made us both a bit worried - the biggest 

were taller than us, and we did not know how we would reach the top." Both artists started with the 

small pots, thinking all the time about the big ones. With a little help lifting the enormous forms, it was 

the stories they were putting down on the big pots, how they enjoyed drawing that deep, long line' , 

that got them through. 

" it was the Year of the Snake, which is something we were told after we had done the first works, " 

Tjimpuna recalls. "My story is Piltati - it is about two water snakes. One of Derek 's stories is Wanampi - 

a different water snake story. We both liked how the Chinese artists put down dragons and water. " For 

both Tjimpuna and Derek, the time in Jingdezhen brought on the realisation of similarity amid difference 

that comes with stepping outside your usual context. "Looking at the big Chinese pots every day, Derek 

and I began to see that while our pots and the Chinese pots look very different, they are also painting 

their country and their stories, but in their way." Tjimpuna didn't paint in blue and white, but she could 

appreciate the Chinese artists' visions of country, and although the residency was not expressly aimed 

at experimentation in style, it was in this supported creative space that Derek could try his hand at blue 

and white, casting his views of his Pitjantjatjara country through a different lens. 

in Jingdezhen, both Tjimpuna and Derek pushed their mark-making to a brave new size that relates 

not only to their country but also to their grand plans for Ernabella Arts' future. in connecting Pukatja 

Pottery across continents, Tjimpuna Williams and Derek Thompson have taken tjungu warkarintja 

(working together) worldwide. 

Tjungu Warkarintja: Fifteen Years was held at Sabbia Gallery. Sydney. in March 2014. 

7 See Derek. Thompson. statement,S February 2014 

30 THE IOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014


Migratory Hybridity in the 

Work ofVipoo Srivilasa 

by Brett Farmer 

Edward Said famously argues that the migrant or exile 

possesses a 'double vision' that is formed in the tension of the 

twin cultural spheres - old world/new world, natal culture/ 

adopted culture - that frame the unique experiences of 

transnational migration. Where most people, he writes, "are 

principally aware of one culture, one setting, one home", 

migrants" are aware of at least two, and this plurality of 

vision gives rise to an awareness of simultaneous dimensions, 

an awareness that - to borrow a phrase from music - is 

'contrapuntal"'. (Said, 2000: 186) Though he is cautious to 

avoid essential ising or romanticising the pluralised vision of 

migration as some sort of aesthetic privilege, he does argue 

that it frequently acts as a spur to artistic expression and 

imbues the work of migrant artists with a distinctive hybrid 

edge. The contradictory impulses of migration - belonging 

and otherness, gain and loss - enable different perspectives, 

different visions and different orders of creativity to emerge. 

As a nation built out of migration, the contrapuntal double vision of migrancy has a central, if not 

always formally legitimated, presence in Australian arts and culture. From the long, traumatic history 

of displacement and enforced migration of indigenous Australians, through the alienated nostalgia of 

European settler cultures, to the intensified multiculturalism of the post-war era of mass migration, 

Australian art has been a major forum for imagining, articulating and processing the nation's multiple 

histories of diasporic passage and expatriation. A recent con tribution to this rich tradition of migrant 

visions can be found in the dynamic work of Thai-Australian ceramicist Vipoo Srivilasa. 

Relative to other countries, Thailand has not been a major source culture of Australian migration 

but the two countries have a surprisingly long history of fruitful exchange across many levels including 

government, trade, tourism and education. Indeed, it was in the context of the latter that Vipoo, like 

many young Thais before and since, first came to Australia in 1997 to undertake postgraduate studies in 

fine art. Following his decision soon thereafter to take up permanent residency, Vipoo has emerged as 

a singular talent of note on the local arts scene, prized by critics and collectors for his idiosyncratic but 

meticulously crafted works of ceramic art. 

Above: Vipoo Srivilasa, Best Friend. Hot line Series, 2012, porcelain, cobalt pigment, h.2Scm, w.2Scm, d.2cm 

Opposite page: Thai Na Town - Little Oz, The Country I Miss, installation B detail. small sculptures created by 

participants using air·dry clay in Thailand. November 2012; photos: Korakij Chaisirisopon 


Vipoo Srivilasa, Thai Na Town - Little Oz, 20 t 2, Thailand: photo: Korakij Chaisirisopon 

With their characteristic blend of classical decorative and modernist conceptual traditions, Vipoo's 

quirky ceramic pieces are marked by a strong, even constitutive, logic of hybridity that speaks directly 

to his own personal experiences of transcultural migration. Indeed, Vipoo openly declares that the 

biculturalism of his Thai-Australian identity has been a singular influence on his work. He proudly claims 

the liminal figure of the mermaid, for example, as a symbolic alter ego, featuring her as a reiterative 

motif across a good deal of his oeuvre. A hybrid chimera par excellence, the mermaid is a stock creature 

of mythological traditions worldwide and Vipoo recalls being entranced by Thai variants of mermaid 

legends as a child. Appropriating the figure in his adult artwork, Vipoo marshals the mermaid as a 

talismanic manifestation of his own 'life between two worlds' as well as a lure to the fanciful creation of 

new forms and possibility of being enabled by the contrapuntal 'in-between-ness' of the migrant artist's 

'double vision'. 

Beyond the mermaid, Vipoo's work is characterised more generally by persistent maritime metaphorics 

with fish, shells and other aquatic motifs in abundance. His 2009 exhibition, Indigo Kingdom, for 

example, used coral and other forms of sea flora as a figural entr~e into a complex aesthetic meditation 

on his own biography and the floating life of the transnational migrant, as well as a thoughtful critique 

of the impact of human activity on marine ecosystems, arguably another form of trans-spheric contact 

and exchange. A longstanding metonymic symbol of travel and migration, the sea is also a site of 

enduring liminality, a world of borderless liquidity where the finite boundaries of terra firma dissolve 

into mercurial flows. The original primal home of life on earth, the sea remains, however, an alien 



Vipoo Srivilasa, Thai Na Town - Little Oz. installation A detail, 201 2; photo: Korakij Chaisirisopon 

environment and a space that discomfits easy ideas about identity and belonging. Small wonder that the 

sea and its extraordinary life forms, at once familiar and bizarre, should prove such a rich repository for 

Vipoo's evocative explorations of migratory hybridity. 

In this context, it's also possibly no accident that Vipoo should have concentrated his visual art 

practice on the medium of ceramics as, of all the arts, it has the closest and most enduring association 

with histories of t ranscultural contact and exchange. Whether as utilitarian objects of daily use, vessels 

for storage, or valuable commodities of commerce in their own right, ceramics have been an integral 

element of the grand histories of human migration and trade. It's a set of historical narratives that Vipoo 

indexes knowingly w it h, for example, his emphatic use of classical blue and white colour schemes. While 

his early work experimented with a polychromatic aesthetic, Vipoo has increasingly come to privilege a 

duochromatic blue and white palette as his preferred trademark colour scheme. On the one hand, an 

obvious homage to the classical aesthetics of Asian ceramics - including those of his native Thailand 

where Sino-Thai blue and white ware emerged as an important strand of Thai ceramics from as early 

as the Ayutthaya period (Robinson, 1985); on the other, Vipoo's marked, almost obsessive, use of a 

blue and white aesthetic is also a clear nod toward the great history of Chinese export porcelain and 

its pivotal role in t he establishment of East-West trade routes. Found today in almost every corner of 

the globe, Chinese blue and white porcelain is a microcosmic distillate of vast centuries of transnational 

commerce and thus another potent symbol of the processes of migratory hybridity with which Vipoo's 

work is centrally engaged. 

THE IOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 35

Thai Na Town - Little Oz, The Country ' Miss, installation B detail, collaboration with Chinese and Thai 

volunteers in Thailand, November 2012; porcelain, plasticine, melamine; photo: Korakij Chaisirisopon 

In a recent 2010 residency program at the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China, Vipoo took 

this reflexive engagement with the grand transcultural history of export porcelain to even further, 

poignant extremes. His tenure in China coincided with another especially violent episode in the ongoing 

colour-coded street demonstrations that have polarised Thai politics for the better part of a decade. 

Marshalling scores of local volunteers as assistants, he invited them to paint portraits on a series of 

125 Chinese-style ceramic soupspoons, the kind of utilitarian object churned out in the millions by 

the ceramic export industries of China, and then randomly write 'red' and 'yellow' on the reverse as 

symbolic avatars for the casualties of the latest round of civic unrest in his homeland. Later in Thailand, 

he invited a corresponding group of local Thai volunteers to make a small stand for each of the spoons 

in the shape of a lotus, the Buddhist symbol of the search for enlightenment and the impermanence of 

life. Titled The Country I Miss, the resultant installation operated as at once a memorial to loss, each 

spoon poised upright in a cluster of impassive faces akin to a sea of headstones, as well as an objectmediated, 

art-based practice of interpersonal transcultural communication. Ceramic objects literally 

bear the imprint of the person or persons whose hands have crafted them but, for the most part, these 

remain tacit and unknown. The spoons in The Country I Miss give voice to this silent transindividual 

dialogue, explicating the presence of the people across whose hands the spoons journey and, by so 

doing, blurring interpersonal boundaries between self and other, living and dead, past and present, red 

and yellow, Chinese and Thai, creator and user. 

I had the pleasure of participating in another communal style art project organised by Vipoo as 

part of his Thai Na Town - Little Oz exhibition in 2012/13. Part of official, government-sponsored 

celebrations to mark the 60th Anniversary of Australian-Thai Bilateral Relations, this exhibition was held 

six months apart in Sydney and Bangkok. Alongside its showcase of representative examples of Vipoo's 

work - with his characteristically ludic figurines and elaborately-patterned ceramic pieces blending a 

host of local, regional and global influences - the exhibition also featured a selection of amateur pieces 


Connections: Australia and Asi a 

Thai Na Town - Little Oz opening in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2012; left to right: Nino Sarabutra, Vipoo Srivilasa, 

Alvin Tan Teek Heng, Amornthep Mahamart and Krisaya Luenganantakul: photo: Toomraya Mangklabruks (Vipoo's mum) 

made by volunteer ex-pats at brief workshops run by Vipoo. These ex-pats - Thais residing in Sydney, 

or, in the case of Bangkok, Australians residing in Thailand andlor other Thais who were past residents 

of Australia - were invited to craft small clay symbols of things they missed or remembered most fondly 

from their 'other' home. At once a typically generous gesture of participatory communitarianism on 

Vipoo's part, the incorporation of these multiple expressions of transcultural memory and longing served 

as a powerful complement to Vipoo's signature themes of migration and the doubled perspectives of 

transnational identity. Surveying the scores of tiny, handmade objects, many of them almost childlike in 

their unprofessional crudeness, one was instantly drawn into the private worlds and biographies of these 

unnamed artists. Many of the objects were patterned on instantly recognisable cultural symbols - iconic 

landmarks, foodstuffs, symbolic flora and fauna - but many others were almost entirely idiosyncratic, 

drawn from the inner memory worlds of the individuals concerned, and opaque in their significance 

to the outside observer other than as poignant expressions of affective desire and dialogue across the 

competing spheres of here and there and then and now that typify the double vision of the transcultural 

migrant. It is a vision given rich and evocative voice in the evolving ceramic art practice of Vipoo 

Srivilasa. 

Works cited: 

Robinson. Natalie V. · Sino-Thai Ceramics." Journal of the Siam Society. 

Vol. 73. no. 1-2 (1985): 113-131. 

Said. Edward. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. 

Harvard. MA. Harvard University Press. 2000, 

http://vipoo.com 

Brett Farmer is Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts. Chulalongkorn University. Bangkok. 



Another Country 

Karen Weiss profiles the work of Kim-Anh Nguyen and Keiko Matsui 

The past is a foreign country; Ihey do Ihings differently Ihere. 

L. P Hartley. The Go-Between 

People leave their home land because they have to. Sometimes it is under duress, fearfully, silently, at 

night. Sometimes they are irresistibly drawn by a vision of a different, better life which their place of 

birth is unable to offer them. 

It is never an easy process, a new language, different values; like standing on slippery ice, never 

certain whether the next step will lead to a tumble. But there can be a point where an accommodation 

is reached, a point of transformation when the strange becomes the familiar. 

Kim-Anh Nguyen left her birthplace, Vietnam, crammed into a small fishing boat with forty others, 

not knowing where they were heading. She was eight years old. It was 1976. The Saigon in which she 

had grown up had been renamed Ho Ch i Minh City by the victorious Communists in the previous year. 

Her father's connection with the fallen government of South Vietnam had made him and his family 

a target for reprisals. They ran out of food and fuel. There was a constant fear of pirates. Drifting, 

they encountered a ship which provided them with food and enough petrol to reach the shores of 

Malaysia. Here her family spent a year in a camp before being taken in as refugees by the New Zealand 

Government. 

Kim-Anh loved drawing, entering and winning several competitions, and she continued with art 

to Year 10. Academic success in other areas prompted her to enrol in a Bachelor of Science course. 

Kim-Anh remarks, "I was young and you do have that mind set, art won't lead you to a career." While 

working on her degree, Kim-Anh met and married her husband, a dentist, also Vietnamese, who had 

been adopted and raised in New Zealand. The following year the couple migrated to Sydney, Australia. 

"That first year was difficult for me," she says. " I left my family, got married, different name, different 

uni ... I'd heard so many horrible things about Australia, the heat, the snakes, the spiders." Australia's 

multi-culturalism came as a shock. "[In New Zealand] you're unique because you're one of the few 

Asians. It feels good." She adds, "Eventually you adapt." 

OppOSite page: Kim-Anh Nguyen, Spinifex. 2009 

coloured Southern Ice paperclay, h.3&m, w.23cm 

Photo: Greg Piper 


Connections: Au stra lia and Asia 

Above: Road Len Travelled, 2014, Cool Ice, coloured slips, tallest, h.l Ocm, w.8cm, d.7cm; above right: Kim-Anh Nguyen 

Opposite page: Boat People's Hor;zon, 2011, coloured porcelain, wall piece h.5Ocm, w.l OOcm 

All work by Kim-Anh Nguyen; photos: Greg Piper 

On graduating she worked in a pathology laboratory and spent a year doing a Certificate 3 parttime 

in Design at TAFE. " I always had that desire .. to do something with your hands, draw, design." 

The ceramics stalls at Penrith market inspired her to do an evening college pottery course where she 

intended to make her own cups and bowls. Then she heard about the Inner City Clayworkers Teapot 

Show, a visit that was to change her life. She overheard someone talking about courses at TAFE, 

"not just one or two days, a real course. I was so excited"! But by then she had two small children. 

She discussed it with her husband who told her, "You should do it. The housework can wait." Kim 

Anh ended up spending five years at TAFE, graduating in 2006 with a Diploma in Ceramics and was 

accepted by Inner City Clayworkers as a graduate. She worked with them for one year, using her 

laundry as her studio. 

Kim-Anh has a connedion with indigenous people. Her husband is probably Montagnard, indigenous 

Vietnamese. She admires and colleds Aboriginal art and has travelled to Far North Queensland, Central 

Australia, Broome and the Bungle Bungles to experience first hand the land and the people. In her 

work, Kim-Anh brings together her Vietnamese heritage and her life in New Zealand and Austral ia. Her 

striking hand built, multi-layered carved slip Road Less Travelled series is inspired by a length of striped 

Vietnamese Montagnard cloth her father-in-law gave her and the colours and rugged textures of the 

Northern Territory and Western Australia . In Ethereal, a Stanthorpe Prize winner, she uses concentric 

ci rcles and the strong use of repetition of simple small elements to create the movement and dynamism 

that can be seen in some Aboriginal art, but which is also reminiscent of Van Gogh's swirling skies. 

Her Spinifex series of vessels, made with thousands of tiny coloured coils, draw on a basketry 

workshop she attended at Sturt, weaving together pine needles. The pots spiral up, like the Maori koru, 

the symbol of new life. Kim-Anh says, "I came across the Spinifex people who were displaced like me. 

[Spinifex] is a very hardy resilient grass and that's the resilience you find in people who are displaced." 

One of her major works is Boat People's Horizon, a group of boats made using this method, each 

representing a boat that has been significant in Australian history, from the First Fleet to the SIEVs laden 

with asylum seekers, as well as her own small fishing boat. 

40 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAM ICS APRIL 2014


Kim-Anh describes her work as " Personal. Places and history where I came from, a bit here, a bit 

there. I don't plan work, it just seeps through" . She adds with a smile, "I'm constantly migrating. I don't 

know where's next!" 

Keiko Matsui has a very different story. She arrived in Australia from Japan in 1999 on a working 

holiday, because the warmest place she could get on a working visa was Australia. Employed by a 

Japanese company in Sydney, she found herself in the same restrictive workplace as in Japan and she 

began to question whether this life was what she really wanted. "Japan is very competitive. [Your! 

parents believe you finish uni, you go to work with company, you get married w ith someone nice, you 

have kids, happy ever after." 

Wh ile working as a secretary in Australia, she joined a pottery class at the Bondi Pavilion. She had 

attended an evening pottery class in Japan and had done a one day workshop at Shigaraki, but it was 

in Australia that she saw the possibility of another life - as a ceramic artist. Working at seven casual 

jobs she pulled together enough money to undertake a BA in Fine Arts (Honours) at National Art School 

(NAS), graduating in 2006. At last, she was doing work she loved, working for herself. As she says, 

"I may not become rich being a potter, but I want to live with my passion until I die. I wouldn't nor 

couldn't choose this occupation if I were living in Japan. Australia is the place that gave me freedom and 

opportunity to find what I really love. I am so thankful to Australia." 

At NAS she made bowls and vases, experimenting with form but designing work that was functional 

as well as sculptural, following the Japanese tradition of making artworks that are meant to be used. 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 4'


Above: Keiko Matsui in her studio; above right: Keiko Matsui, Stitched Bow', detail, 2013, porcelain, wheelthrown 

stitched with thread. clear glaze, h.13cm. w.28cm; photo: courtesy artist 

Opposite page: Koiko Matsui, Mother and Child, 2012, porcelain, wheelthrown, altered, white matt glaze 

tallest, h.37cm, d.14cm; photo: Steve Cummings 

The Western way of making something that is both beautiful and functional but not using it presents a 

philosophical challenge to her, as do the high prices they command. 

She explored this in her Honours year with a wall piece, Seven Souls, seven simple white porcelain 

bowls placed on a stepped stand. She asks, "Is this fine art or craft?" Her work continues to mirror this 

conundrum. Keiko describes it as "not fully Western, not fully Eastern" . She moves between functional 

work and scul ptural. Her functional pieces are mainly exquisite white porcelain bowls and vases, 

sometimes with line drawings in cobalt, or thrown and altered with the cicatrice of a join or the gentle 

reshaping of a rim as decoration. She says, "Making a simple beautiful bowl is one of the hardest things 

for a potter." 

Her sculptural work may be inspired by occurrences in her life. Her grouping Still Life - Torn , a 2011 

John Fries Prize finalist, came about as an emotional response to her after-birth complication during 

which she lost a lot of blood. It was a cathartic process, throwing cylinders, crying, hitting and tearing 

the pots while still weak from the physical trauma. By contrast, as a new mother and living on the 

NSW Central Coast, Mother and Child and similar groupings made the following year are delicate and 

expressive studies in curved volumes occupying space. Now living with a toddler, her recent works are 

vessels stitched with red, yellow and orange thread and brightly coloured cheerful brushwork poppy 

designs. 

Keiko's ultimate ambition is to exhibit in Japan. While remaining true to her own vision, she regards it 

as "a good test for me how Japanese regard my work" . 

42 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 20t4

---~~--~-----------------------

Keiko Matsui, Towards, 2012, porcelain, wheelthrown, altered, clear and white matt glaze. tallest. h.26cm, d.17cm 

Photo: Steve Cummings 

There are bonds with one's place of origin that are never severed . The strong bonds of family, the 

smell and taste of food shared at home, or the unique music of one's mother tongue. In a new land, 

they linger. like the aftertaste of wine. These artists have taken the old and the new. and through their 

art expressed this duality. bringing the two together. giving it as a gift to their other home. Australia. 

Nguyen, Kim-Anh, Interview with K.Weiss 27.11 .2013 

www.kanmadeceramics.com 

Matsui, Keiko. Interview w ith K.Weiss 11 .12.2013 

http://keikomatsui.com.au 

L.P.Hartley, The Go-Between 

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/ L._P._Hartley 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Saigon 

© K.Weiss 2014 

Kim-Anh Nguyen's next exhibition will be held at mu ceramics studio gallery in Sydney 

from 26 April to 17 May 2014; http://studiomu.com.au 



A Korean Odyssey 

Rowley Drysdale shares the story of Kim Se Wan 

Nobody knows exactly how much rain fell in the hour or two preceding the landslide which devastated 

Kim Se Wan's studio in the early morning of 24 June 2013 . 

Measuring rain after such calamitous events inevitably becomes more subjective than scientific, but 

the general consensus is that on the heels of three weeks of soaking rain, 30 to 35 cm (12 to 14 inches) 

bucketed down in 120 minutes. The steep hillside behind what remains of Se Wan's studio has a good 

cover of mature pine and a healthy understorey of scrub, but it was not enough to hold together the 

sodden country, and ultimately at the height of the flood the trees themselves became battering rams. 

Mercifully, nobody was in the studio at the time. 

Se Wan watched the events unfold from his nearby rented house. One can only imagine the spew 

of material that swept out of his large studio: tons of clay, minerals, pots and equipment joined the 

swirling waters destined for the Han River, which flows through Seoul and eventually into the South 

China Sea. 

A few days later, Se Wan, known to many as Wany, rang me in Australia. With typical candour and 

rancour, he told me in an expletive-laden few sentences what had happened . He confessed he was 

"mental down" [depressed] and stated that if anybody doubted "human [global] warming " they were 

" f .... cking dumb brother". 

Kim Se Wan's studio after the landslide, 25 June 20 13


I agreed, and, with little to say, incidentally 

reported that we in Australia were about to elect a 

prime minister who was just that - a climate change 

sceptic. 

Daesin is a small town one and a half hours drive 

south-west of Seoul, population 5000 Nearby are 

three of Korea's major ceramic centres: Yeojhu, Inchon and Gwang Ju. During the 2013 floods, ten 

villagers were drowned. In Inchon two ceramic artists lost their lives in the floodwaters. After the water 

receded, the painstaking job of putting back together people's emotional and material lives was assisted 

by strong community and logistical help from the army. 

On 25 June, the very next day, a small army of potters, farmers, friends and a platoon of servicemen 

from a nearby military base, descended on the battered studio and started work. An excavator reshaped 

the landslide site, benching it. When they left, a few bolts jutting from a cement slab footing was all 

that remained of one half of the studio - a salient reminder of the velocity of the avalanche. In that 

particular part of the studio, Se Wan had stored some 2000 pieces of work destined for the Yeojhu 

Ceramic Expo trade show. 

For local potters this month-long event is a vital capital-raising opportunity. There are over 100 stores. 

Tens of thousands of visitors from all over Korea make the annual pilgrimage, and many purchase their 

day-to-day tableware from potters like Kim Se Wan, deliberately eschewing cheaper Chinese imports. 

There's a sense of 'Korean-ness' in this act, which aligns with a certain cultural psyche described as 

'Han', a concept nobody, academics included, seems to be able to succinctly summarise. But lurking in 

the ingredients is a sense of exasperation with history, politics and natural catastrophe.


Opposite: Yeojhu Ceramic Expo 

Photo: Andrew Bryant 

Opposite below: Kim Se Wan 

Ida Bowl, 2013 

Photo: Stephen Roberts 

Right: Kim 5e Wan 

Photo: Andrew Bryant 

Despite this, Kim Se Wan, like many of his potter friends, has a deep appreciation for historical Korean 

ceramics. As a consequence, the Ida tea bowl is at the forefront of much of their practice. Many are 

made, usually in a wood kiln, and many are trashed alarmingly soon after firing. Alongside the sixchambered 

Inchon kiln is an enormous boulder standing in a sea of shards. It is engraved with the 

pictograph, Ceramic Tomb . In December 2012, I watched two potters smash dozens of bowls on this 

lump of granite mainly because they had emerged from the long firing a little too shiny. To the western 

eye, or at least to mine, Ido tea bowls seem desperately beige on first sighting. In fact they are the 

confluence of a complex interplay of material, technique, history and aesthetic. 

During the autumn of 2013, with a colleague I visited Se Wan's reformatted studio. Refreshingly, it 

was in full production with Se Wan making voluminous amounts of work aided by two assistants, Ko 

Dae Kyoung and Ju Suk Joong. Both have university degrees, have served two years in the Korean Army, 

and now work for low wages happy in the knowledge they are gaining valuable experience. Ko Dae 

Kyoung, nicknamed (perhaps reluctantly), Johnny Depp, says his dream is to own his own studio. There 

can be no doubt there is a sense of personal pride in their decision to buck the corporate world option. 

Over the many years I have known Wany he has often reiterated that he is proud to be a potter, 

clearly making the distinction between 'potter' and 'ceramic artist'. His sale source of income is from 

the sale of work, mainly gas fired tableware. Consequently, the studio is seldom idle. It is quite common 

for Se Wan to begin throwing a run of say, two dozen plates, at 10 or 11 pm. Meals are often eaten at 

midnight, spread out across newspaper hurriedly laid down on tables used for waxing, brushing slip and 

glazing, 

Other potters from around Daesin call in with little or no notice anytime between 6pm and 6am. 

Animated conversations ensue, usually concerning clay bodies, glazes, firing schedules, and other 

potters. Often enough one will help the other with a task such as attaching handles or brushing slip 

onto green ware. A TV mutters away on the wall and the air is foggy with cigarette smoke. Most of 


Con nections: Australia and Asia 

the time heat radiates from one or other of the 

twelve-burner gas kilns. 

Se Wan makes most of his own clay bodies, 

which arrive in their raw state by the ton, won 

from nearby hills. He takes particular care in 

blending small amounts of the Ido tea bowl clay, 

which looks the crudest but actually takes most 

time and a considerable amount of experience to 

prepare. 

Top: Kim Se Wan studio scene; Rowley Orysdale 

second from right; photo: Andrew Bryant 

Above: Kim Se Wan, Shino Bowl, 2013 

Photo: Stephen Roberts 

The better versions of these bowls retail for 

anywhere between $300 and $3000 and there 

seems to be a healthy enough demand, both 

in Korea and Japan. A nearby potter has only 

recently finished building a three-chambered kiln 

designed specifically to make Ido tea bowls. It 

cost him $20,000 to construct. 

During my fourth trip to Korea in October 

2013, Wany was driving Singapore potter 

Steven Lowe, Andrew Bryant from Australia 

and me through the countryside behind Inchon. 

Rounding a bend I noticed and pointed to a 



Above: Kim Se Wan. Oribe Bowl. 2013 

Below: Kim Se Wan. Woodfired Bowl. 2013 

Photos: Stephen Roberts 


The images above show the lee 30-metre-long Onggi jar anagama k.iln which has been designated an Important Cultural 

Object; photos: Andrew Bryant 

thick pall of smoke billowing from what had to be a kiln. Wany stopped and we urged him to introduce 

us to what was obviously a very surprised bunch of potters on the fourth day of a long firing. Three 

generations of Lee family potters were present. The kiln, a 30-metre-long Onggi jar anagama kiln was 

some three metres wide, with a cavernous firebox mouth into which whole logs were being hurled. It 

has been designated an Important Cultural Object, and has been fired regularly for 140 years. Sitting 

in the middle of the group, with the straightest of spines, was an older man, a declared Living National 

Treasure. The kiln was estimated to be at about 1200°(, There was no sign of either a cone or a spy 

hole. 

When we walked back to the main road I noticed there was not one sign indicating what went on up 

that short driveway. What was going on was a rare, deep glimpse into the far past. 

Not long after, I sat on a chair outside Kim Se Wan's studio, making notes. From inside I could hear 

the clink of ware being unloaded from a kiln. Commentary flowed, none of which I could understand. 

Dragonflies and other insects buzzed around. It made for a peaceful scenario given the catastrophic 

nature of recent events. The sky was cloudless but occasionally I could hear ominous rumblings of what 

could have been a storm brewing. In fact it was military tanks firing at a not-too-distant artillery range. 

Welcome to a Korean potter's typical day. 

SO THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 204


Ken Mihara: Serenity in Clay 

A recent exhibition in Sydney 

Liverpool Street Gallery in East Sydney was pleased to host an exhibition of renowned Japanese 

ceramicist Ken Mihara, comprising 15 new ceramic vessels, in November 2013. 

James Erskine, Director of liverpool Street Gallery said, "I first saw Ken Mihara's work when 1 visited 

Galerie Besson in London some ten years ago. 1 was immediately taken by his work and bought a piece 

a little later. As fate would have it, about three years ago I took over Galerie Besson on Anita Besson's 

retirement, with Matthew Hall and David Coe (Erskine, Hall & Coe), and we had a marvelous exhibition 

of Ken's work. I then decided that we should show the work in Sydney and so liverpool Street Gallery 

did last November to great acclaim. Ken 's forms are very exciting and tactile. The different patinas 

remind one of the four seasons and all the different climates. Ken's work is instant ly recognisable; there 

is a sense of grandeur about the work that is greater than the actual size. In my humble view, he is one 

of the world's foremost ceramicists." 

Ken Mihara, Kigen (Genesis) #1, multi-fired stoneware, h.44cm, w.74.Scm, d.20.Scm; photo: Tsunehiro Kobayashi


Ken Mihara shared these few words about the work displayed in Sydney - "As this show marked my 

debut in Australia, I chose to exhibit not only a style of work from my latest series Kei (MindscapeJ, but 

also forms associated with my previous series Ko doh (Pulse) and Kigen (Genesis) . Such an assortment" 

of styles will not be seen elsewhere. Kei (MindscapeJ is my latest body of work and I believe it captures 

greater movement and sculptural f luidity than my previous works. As I change with the passing of time, 

so must my work. " 

Shimane Prefecture, Japan, 2014 

Wahei Aoyama, owner of Yufuku Gallery in Tokyo, explained about M ihara's technique. 

"Ken Mihara works in unglazed. high-jircd sioneware and uses clay taken/rom the hills a/his home in Izumo. His 

ceramics are formed through clay coiling and fiJrlher shaped and sharpened with his hands. After drying, the works 

are fired in a difficult 3-slep process that seeks to 'unlock Ihe memories of clay' that lie inherem within any kind of 

common clay. After bisque firin& Mihara applies silica slip 10 the surface of his works, Qnd fires the piece for 40 

hours in a gas kiln at a temperature of 1280(}C. After this first main firing, Ihe silica slip is shorn off, and the piece 

is fired once again in a second main firing/or 40 hours at ] 280°C. With each firing, the c.% urs trapped within the 

mineral content of the clay is released and revealed upon his surfaces, ranging from bright oranges to dark. blue hues. 

With works in nearly 30 public collections throughoUi the world, including the Metropolitan and the Victoria & Albert 

Museums, il can be said that Ken Mihara is now one ofthelrontrwmers of contemporary Japanese ceramics. ,. 

Photos: courtesy Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney and Yufuku Gallery, Japan 

www.liverpoolstgallery.com.au 

Below: Ken Mihara, Kodoh (Pulse) #3, multi-fired stoneware, h.32.5cm, w.40.5cm, d.29cm 

Opposite: Ken Mihara, Kei (Minsdscape) #2, multi-fired stoneware, h.39cm, w.34cm, d.29cm 

Photos: Tsunehiro Kobayashi 

52 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APR IL 2014 

J


Robin Best on living and 

working in Jingdezhen, China 

Journal editor Vicki Grima recently asked Robin a few questions 

about her last three and a half years in the 'Porcelain Capital', 

AbOliJ .fingdezhen: The county of JingdezIJen is in nOr/heastern }iangxi province in China. It is known as Ihe 

Porcelain Capital because it has been producing quality pOllery for / 700 years with a well-documented history 

r/tal stretches back more than 2000 years. }ingdezhen was named one oj the lOp 24 national historical and cultural 

cities o/the People's Republic o/China on 28 February 1982. In 2004, Jingdezhen celebrated the millennium o/it'· 

becoming the porcelain capilal and assuming its present name. 

hllp://en. wikipedia.org 

Vicki Grima: Are you still living in Jingdezhen and why? 

Robin Best: In the past year Jingdezhen streets have become choked with traffic and China's building 

program of new apartment blocks fills the air with dust and dirt and noise abounds. After living in 

Jingdezhen for 3.5 years I am taking a break to return to Adelaide for a quiet time and take in some 

fresh air. 

VG: How long have you been in China? 

RB: This year I will be in Jingdezhen for three months in autumn to work with the porcelain maker. He 

is a master turner and he hires a porcelain thrower to make the basic shapes of the vases. The vases are 

thrown in three pieces (body, neck and base), turned and joined when they are dry, then glazed and 

once fired .. . all this on vases 2-3 mm thick. 

Ever since arriving in Jingdezhen I have worked successfully with two sisters - first Snow Yu and now 

Ping Yu - who have been my translators for three years helping me with every conceivable problem 

associated with living in China. I can't begin to tell how much I have valued their help and friendship - I 

landed on my feet meeting those two. And of course I can help them with the strange ways of 'the 

foreigners' . And I was able to write the English abstract for Ping Yu's very interesting research paper for 

her Master's Degree on how porcelain came to be made in Jingdezhen over 1000 years ago. 

VG: Why do you live where you do? 

RB: I live in a high-rise building with a view of the mountains of San Bao - it is breathtaking in autumn 

when the weather is at its most dramatic. It is incredibly different from the dry plains of Adelaide. 

Jingdezhen is sub-tropical so the rainfall is very high and the rivers swell and flood in the wet season. 



Robin Best, The British East India Company - Trade and War, 2013, cast translucent Jingdezhen porcelain with Xin Cai 

onglaze painting. silver fo il on lids, made and painted by the artist in Jingdezhen, Chi na; installation, h.31 .Scm. w. 11 Oem 

Photos: Kevin Young 

Jingdezhen itself is often flooded. Jiangxi province and adjacent An Wei Province are where you find the 

beautiful mountains - Huang Shan, San Qing Shan and Lu Shan - that were popular with the foreign 

population in summer, and where there are still many magnificent residences. There are many original 

Ming towns including Yowli, the original porcelain port of Jingdezhen. 

VG: Do you work wit h the local artists and crafts people and is there an exchange of skills? 

RB: Well yes there is an exchange. Many of the local potters attend The Pottery Workshop Friday night 

talks and will pick up on contemporary trends. Many visiting artists, including me, give classes at the 

famous Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute where students can plug new ideas of working. 



Below and oPP"'ite: Robin Best. The Pepper Pot - The Legacy of Coenraad Temminck, 2013, handthrown translucent 

Jingdezhen porcelain, glazed, Xin Cai cnglaze painting. painted by the artist in Jingdezhen. China. h.S9cm, w.32cm 

Photos: Kevin Young 





VG: What keeps you there? 

RB: Well I am not really 'there' anymore ... I visit to work with the porcelain makers on some thrown 

vessels and some mouldmaking and slipcasting for new work. 

VG: What do you enjoy about the Ch inese culture? 

RB: Many years ago, in the early seventies, I studied ceramics at the South Australian School of Art with 

Milton Moon who was a devotee of the Japanese school, but I had wanted to know about Chinese 

porcelain and particularly contemporary Chinese porcelain. So I subscribed to two communist magazines 

China Pictorial and China Reconstructs. This was my introduction to contemporary Chinese porcelain 

that consisted of revolutionary image-making for posters and porcelain. Since that time I have broadened 

my interest in Cathay (the old word for China) into researching its famous visitors including Marco Polo, 

Frau Ricci and the German Jesuits who taught the Chinese how to make glass. More recently I have 

been looking at 19th century French Chinoiserie in Rococo France, but the other great Rococo porcelain 

country is Germany and this is the place where I would like to live next and work for a while. 

VG : What are some of the differences between working in China and in Australia? 

RB: I had always made my own porcelain but to make very large porcelain vases was not possible 

in Australia so I moved to China to see if I could manage it from there. The ability to order large 

translucent fine porcelain to be delivered to my apartment, ready to paint in on-glaze colours ... it was 

a revelation. Although Chinese Xin Cai (oil colour) on porcelain is very fine, the oils and solvents they 

use are not pleasant to use, so I took myself off to Germany (the rediscoverers of porcelain in the 18th 

century) for two weeks to learn another method of painting. I returned with the best German Meissen 

colours and quill brushes and fat oil (reduced pure gum turps) to render my stories of trade, exploration, 

natural history, exoticism and cu lture. Now of course I have all of my brushes made in Jingdezhen by the 

master brush maker here. 

Before I went to China I was running the JamFactory Ceramics Studio - a very interesting but difficult 

job. I had little time for my work and also found it difficult to increase the scale of my porcelain work. 

As you can imagine the skill level is very high in China and the cost of production very low. Many artists 

and designers go there to make their work. It is quite an eye opener to be around watching the highend 

porcelain that is produced. Ai Weiwei made his famous sunflower seeds there for his Tate Modern 

exhibition and Ah Xian makes his beautiful busts in Jingdezhen. 

VG: What plans, if any, do you have for the future? 

RB: Germany. 


Connections: Australia an d Asia 

Born in Australia 

Made in Japan 

Euan Craig shares his story 

On 21 January 1990, I did not, in fact, come to Japan. I came to Mashiko. It just happened to be in 

Japan. I came in search of the 'Mingei' ideal, the beauty of function, which turned everyday life into art. 

You see, from a young age I had questioned the values of the disposable society in which I found 

myself: where convenience took precedence over beauty; where beauty was an esoteric mystery existing 

somewhere in the realm of 'Art'; where Art was sociopolitical comment hung in a gallery somewhere 

that you visited on a school excursion once a year ... maybe. Making a good living was more important 

than living a good life. I was small and weak and the world around me was a fearful place, full of anger 

and violence, sickness and pain, death and wasted lives. I knew that there must be more to life than 

that, and, powerless though I felt, I dreamed of a better world. 

Then I discovered pottery. The pottery studio in the old stables at the high school was a sanctuary. 

I was not particularly talented, but I was dedicated. and learned to make beauty from base earth, 

to express myself through this amorphous clay. More than this, it was a blend of art and science, 



philosophy and physical labour, humanity and nature. When I chose to become a potter, it was not 

about what I wanted to do, but about who I wanted to be. Here was beauty which could enrich 

people's lives, every day of their lives, and give them solace, peace and, perhaps, even hope. I learned 

about Mingei; about leach, Yanagi and Hamada and their stance in defence of a healthy, humanistic 

and accessible art based on the functional beauty of traditional societies. 

After four years at university studying ceramics and another four honing my skills and eking out 

a living as a functional potter, as opposed to a dysfunctional one I suppose, I came to Mashiko. This 

is where Shoji Hamada, National living Treasure, had built his pottery and lived his life of peace and 

beauty - Mashiko, with its 400 potteries and history of pottery going back 10,000 years. I was accepted 

as a "deshi", a disciple, by Tatsulo Shimaoka, who was the leading deshi of Shoji Hamada and became 

a National living Treasure in his own right. In his earthen-floored studio, with its thatched roof and 

paper windows, I learned to make his beautiful vessels on a traditional wooden kick wheel and fire them 

in the noborigama wood kiln. I learned that the healthier and more beautiful the process of making the 

vessel is, the more healthy and beautiful the finished vessel will be. 

I stayed in Mashiko after graduating from Shimaoka's, finding my own voice in clay, striving towards 

the Mingei ideal. A wife, four children and a wood kiln later, I was calmly happily ever-aftering. Then, 

one afternoon, as I was finishing some tea bowls and vases, the world changed. The Great East Japan 

Below: A view of the studio from the stables; throwing deck is visible on the right of the photo 

Opposite: 1 Chattering on pots drying in the studio 2 Euan firing 3 Euan in the studio on the throwing deck 

Photos: Euan Craig 



Connections : Australia and As ia 

Earthquake, and the nuclear disaster that followed, forced us to leave our home in Mashiko . We 

sought refuge in my wife's home town of Minakami, in the mountains 200 km west of Mashiko. After 

almost a year as refugees, we moved into this 140-year-old farm house and with the help of friends 

and strangers, locally and internationally, we are rebuilding our lives. Shoji Hamada's grandson, Tomoo, 

gave me one of the old wooden kick wheels from the original Hamada Pottery to help me start my new 

studio. My studio has an earth floor; I draw water from the well, prepare my clay by hand and make 

my work on the Hamada wheel. I work by natural light and fire in a wood kiln - as potters have for 

thousands of years, in rhythm with the seasons, in harmony with nature. 

Euangama in the snow, from kiln shed on far left to sign on far right, including the mulberry orchard, but not induding the 

neighbour 'S house on the right; photo: Euan Craig 

The world has changed and needs to find a way forward. Perhaps the path lies in understanding that 

we are part of nature, sharing a common understanding of beauty. Art is the beauty, joy and peace of 

living every day, powerless no more, still dreaming of a better world. 

http://euancraig.blogspot.com ,au 

Editor's note: I highly recommend subscribing to Euan's blog, and scrolling back t hrough 

previous posts. There is lots of good reading. 


•

ThiS latest bIennial exhibition the course of objects: the fine lines of inquIry emerges through the 

longstanding partnership of The Australian Ceramics Association and Manly Art Gallery & Museum, 

The appreciation of ceramics as 0 creative discipline, and an interest in its changing nuances, has 0 

particularly receptive bose here. This has been fostered by the Gallery's expanding ceramics coUection 

- established originally over 50 years ago, and through the dose working relationships between the 

stoff of the Gallery, the Association, and ceramics artists. 

Manly Art Gallery & Museum is a place where there is a lively interest in what ceramic objects can do 

or soy or mean, and what these objects in turn can teU us about ourselves, our social histories and 

conventions, our attitudes and taste. 

This project is supported by Arts NSW's Curatorial Support initiative grant. a devolved funding program 

administered by Museums & Galleries of NSW on behalf of the NSW Government. 

Mollie Bosworth 

Amanda Bromfield 

Kirsten Coelho 

Greg Daly 

John Dermer 

Kate Dorrough 

lynda Draper 

Merron Esson 

Fiona FeU 

Cathy Franzi 

Simone Fraser 

Neville French 

Susan Frost 

Shannon Garson 

Steve Harrison 

Fiona Hiscock 

Janetta Kerr-Grant 

Diamando KoutseLUs 

KyUe Rose Mclean 

Sarah Ormonde 

Vicki Passtow 

Dianne Peach 

Julie Pennington 

Robyn Phelan 

Ben Richardson 

Tanio Rolland 

liz Stops 

Prue Venables 

Toni Warburton 

.. 

AUSTRAlIAN 

CEIAMICS 

-- 

Mu_ms 

A Galleries 

ofNSW 

Investment 

- I 

Trade & 

~ ArtsNSW 

~~ 

~ffi'!

the course of objects: 

the fine lines of inquiry 

the course of objects: the fine lines of inquiry is an exhibition without a specific theme. 

Rather. the intention is to provide a wav to map. gather. a

\\~dc specfnlm of experience and yeaming. Julie l'ennillb'1:0n for in~tance says the way she 

works is like doodling or scribbling -with a pen in haner building strucrurcs like labyrinrhs 

and mazcs, whcre a sense of play is always doubled with its own shadow. Diamando 

KoursclJis' out of control extnlsions of clay suggest the state of only just-balancing rapid 

flows of idea~ or words or expectations. Lynda Draper uses the memory of vintage 

"kniekknack~" as a m("

to open up conH!rsations 

Perhaps this seems like a curiou~ line of inquiry. 1100\"(:\,er the;,e objcctli I ~uggC;;[ 5(:em [0 

re""al something with in [hemscIH,oo; that enables further dialogue. or rather. insists on 

opening up the conversation. Take for instance Susan Frost's clusters of II hcel thrown 

plates. bowls. dishes and ja~. In their ~ingulaJity . the function of coach of the objc'Cts is 

foremost. and yet their form and size and c'Olour draws them hack 'l, an integral part of a 

paJticular group. 'lllis is the eOl1l'er..ation - hetwc'Cn the ten,ion of usc and pIaL'Cmcnt. 

singuhrit) and cluster. Intercstingly. Kate Dorrough identifies erc"ating col1l'ersation a

fingerprint 

I t's been on my desk for forry years, moving with me from house ro house, holding pens and 

pencils, occasionally a flower. Souvenir gift of a fricnd on her return from London, the smaIl 

Stoneware borrle would have been made ro contain ink or blacking - one of many that were 

made around the ,8sos. I rs precisely resolved form atteSts to irs functional nature; the marks 

of throwing and tool-finishing arc obvious, and it rears a few nicks and lumps. Quite an 

ordinary little thing. Except for the fingerprint. About haInvay up the side, it's surprisingly 

small, faint and slightly smudged, but undeniable. Objcr:tively, not a surprise. Hands touch 

clay. Clay ac'Cepts impressions. Firing confimls them. 'evertheless, the poignancy of that 

tiny print is profound. 

Every object Starts with a Story. Each thing that arises as a result of human endeavour - 

through need or aspiration - carries with it the narrative of irs inception and manufacture. 

It project5 this narrative upon those who experience it; in tum, we furnish it with manifold 

ways of being. Its manifestations are never sill/,'lilar; irs multiplicities enrich our lives as our 

lives enrich it, in a c-ycle which is both cumulative and reflexive. When the light falls upon an 

artifacrual object we, tOO, arc illumined. When the light falls upon an object that has been 

made with passion and intent, our humanity is mirrored back to us. Our physieal being and 

our psyche are enhanced by this meeting with another thing in the world that has an 

aeSthetic and human dimension - an expericnce which is rapidly tx.'COming displaced by 

glossy images of a virrual world filled with chimeric objects. 

We live our lives through objecrs; without thcm we are as naked apes. Otherspeck. •.., use bits 

and pieces from their habitat ro as.siSt them in their inStinct for sUf\~val- lIsually to acquire 

food or build neSts; however, as far as we know, they neither conceive and make nor at'quire, 

covet and fetishise objects as we do - as we have been doing for millennia. Objects have 

become our gods, whether in the likeness of gods or not. 

Objects made from clay have a particular place in this pantheon. They are among the firSt to 

be made by humans and, unlike the majority of our objcc'ts, they are made directly from the 

base raw matter of our planet. Furthermore, of all the materials from which we make 

objects, for whatever purpose - whether art or artefact, functional, symbolic, or expressive 

- clay is moSt uniquely responsive to the touch of the human hand - coaxing, mercive or 

collusive. Amenable to manipulation - in every sense of the word - the variety of fOlms clay 

ean assume is prodigal, limited only by the imagination.ltwilJinglyacceprs an inexhaustible 

rangcof patterns, an infinite range oftexrurcs; with the use of glaze - whether adjunctive or 

apparently innate - ceramic forms can demonStrate sumptuous gloss and gloriolls colour or 

the moSt subtle nuances of tone and surface. Together with the ,vide range of effe

it may exist discreetly as a potential metaphor for thc human body, or Haunt it as a tropc; 

in an evocation of landscape and landform it may invokc the land from which the clay was 

e:\tracred; it may exist as an abstract example of pure form with no intcnded referent. 

Whatever form the ceramic work rakes, and whatever its context, ifwc give it the opportunity 

- the time and attention in a world that so clamours for those precious qualities - it may 

lead us, in the integration of our physical being and our imaginative lives, to become more 

richly human. 

Of all the Objects we make and use and dre-am on, those made from clay most directly 

transfer the touch of the maker to the hand of the user. In them we may discern the finger 

marks of the maker - the unimpeded correspondence between imagination and action - the 

shape of the maker"s intent and hanel. With the malleable congeniality of clay, no form is 

predetermined, nothing is preordained. Somewhere between the paste and mud·slime slop 

of slip and slurry and the taut reverberative drum of leather-hardness awaiting calving, 

sha\~ng or incising is the malleable seduction of this earthly matter awaiting the hands 

of the potter - the pleasure of the potter - and, ultimately, the delight of the viewer, 

lL

InstlU 5 - As I grow Into my skin, 2012 

Woodflred stoneware using Tasmanian 

cloys with glaze of local sandstone, 

dolerite and ochre. 

Torso foliage vase: h21cm: d.13cm 

Boulder foliage vase: h.12.Scm: d.12.5cm 

Photo: Jonathon Wherrett 

BEN RI C H A RD S O N 

I have sought to reflect place and e).'Plore 

purpose in contemporary eulUire through the 

usc oflocal raw matetials. My making responses 

develop from the revealed potential of the fired 

materials, not in manipulation of them to satisty 

preconceived olltcomes - this continues as a 

persistent and suStaining line ofinquiry.

Fluidity 2014 

Hondbuilt. mld·fjre 

h.27cm; w.4Ocm; d.21cm 

Photo: Olornando Koutsellls 

DIAMANDO KOUTSELLIS 

My practice is intuitive and alchemical, sensitive to the 

limits and possibilities of materials and glazes. T he 

exploration of conceptual ideas within the parameters 

afforded by the materials, leads me to discoveries.

Slow Silence 11 2013 

Porcelain, matt/sheen white/ pole 

grey glaze with banded iron oxide. 

Oil Con: h.28.5cm; d.9cm 

Cannister: h.16cm; d.12.Scm 

Cup: h.10em: d.8cm 

Funnel: h.16 em; d.lOcm 

Photo: Greg Hancock 

Kirsten Coelho is represented by 

H elen Gory Galorle, Melbourne 

Utilising domeStic forms and 

I am always attempti ng to 

convergence between materiality

A Sentence of Teapots 2014 

Porcelain slip cast assembly 

In stallation: h.21.5cm; w.140cm: d.17cm 

Photo: Richard Stringer 

DI ANNE P EAC H 

I n the carly 1980s I set myself the 

a teapot in the manner of a cubiSt: pai 

curves and sharpening edges. This jou 

from the conSl:raints offunctionality into 

expectations can be continuaUy r p rlph n p(

River bank 2012 

Stoneware with loyers of glaze 

h,S3cm; w,36cm: d.31cm 

Photo: Jennl Corter 

River country 2014 

Stoneware with layers of gloze 

h,SScm; w.35cm: d.23cm 

Photo: Jennl Carter 

KATE DORRO UGH 

My fine line of inquiry is the interplay and tension 

between the geStural painterly mark and the hand built 

three-dimensional form, a conversation between paint 

and clay. 

Kate Dorrough Is represented 

by Art House Gallery, Sydney

Flemington Lemon Handled Vessel, 2011 

Handbullt stoneware with porcelalne sUp 

and stains and oxides 

h.44cm; w.2Scm; d.23cm 

Fiona Hiscock is represented by Beaver 

Galleries. Canberra and Mossgreen 

Gallery, Melbourne 

FIONA HISCOCK 

Utilising the ceramic vessel as a vehicle for painting 

and narrative has been my abiding intereSt. Recent 

imagery has concentrated on plants found in remnant 

early colonial gardens - plants early colonis1s deemed 

necessary for survival.

Changing Sky 2014 

Thrown earthenware. lustre glozes 

h.17cm; d,18cm 

Late Afternoon Light 2014 

Thrown earthenware. lustre glozes 

h.31cm; d.32cm 

GREG DALY 

The relationship between lustre and light has inspired 

me to capture impressions of the fleeting moments of 

changing light through e1ouds, rain , dust and heat.

Carranballa Rd, Skipton 2013 

Pair of hcndbuilt porcelain and 

stoneware vessels 

h,30cm; w.30cm; d.21.Scm 

h.28cm; w.31cm; d.22,Scm 

Photo; Jeremy Dillon 

:;cv,!;:ral years my practice has been 

ldscape: eA'}Jloring notions of space, 

light. The silhouetted imagery on these 

works reference the tall and ancient pine windbreaks 

that Une the paddocks in the sheep and cattle (:ountry 

of Skipton, WeStern Victoria. The dark shadows of 

the windbreaks create a sombre, beautiful patteming 

against the horiwll. My aim is to capture that sense 

of space, exposure and sparseness.

Untltl8cl12013 

Hondbuill porcelain 

h.14cm; w.26cm; d.16cm 

Photo; Julie Pennington

Contolned Impressions senes 2014 

Call, thrown and altered, terrocotta 

slip, dry glaze, mldfire 

h.46cm: w.24cm; d.24cm 

Photo: Greg Piper 

Simone Fraser Is represented by 

Sabblo Gallery. Sydney 

SIMON E F RAS E R 

My inquiry involves looking from the macro oflandscape to 

the minutiae of surface. ExplOling creativity in process, I see 

my work as a selies of communications about the senses, 

te;\'ture and beauty.

and fornl are used to stimulate 

environment; and as well, to e)..'press a 

deeoIv internalised and ethereal sense of place.

Copper lode 2014 

Soluble metal salts on polished porcelain 

h.14cm; d.12cm 

Photo: Mollie Bosworth 

MOLLIE BOSWORTH 

,\ I) protracted line of enquiry is cxamining the elusi\'c 

effeets ofsolublc mctal salts on porcelain. Utilising 

minimal torms and asimplc direct mcthod of 

pattcrnmaking, my concern is about the relationship 

bctwccn inside and outside sUlfaees, evidenced through 

the migration of colour and pattcrn.

Oval bowl and sieve 2013 

Jingdezhen porcelain. cost, pierced; 

handle fIred separately suspended In 

kiln, joined after firing 

Bowl: h.8.Scm: w.l1.Scrn: d.8cm 

Sieve: h.9.Scm: w.7S; d 16cm 

Photo: Terence Bogue 

Prue Venables is represented by 

Olsenlrwln, Sydney and Beaver 

Galleries. Canberra 

PRUE VENABLES 

;\ly experimcnts have led to ne\\' lines of inquiry inll1y 

\\'ork - the exploration of ncw matcrials, new teehniqucs, 

and radical advcntures into a range of unusual and 

cxperimental objects. I continue to extend this practiec to 

incolvorate the lise of materials other than eb~, and 

making separate components to bcjoincd after firing.

(From left to right) Early Morning, Midday 

Journey, last Corner 2014 

Hlgh ~flred terracotta and porcelain body, 

Iron-oxlde Inloy, Layered slips and dry gLoze 

h.19cm; w.33cm: d.28cm 

h.19cm; w.33cm; d.33cm 

h.1S.Scm: w.27: d.25cm 

Photo: Ion Hilt 

SARAH ORMONDE 

Finding a true and sensitive understanding of material is 

central to m) praetirms all my inquiry.

littoral Drift 20M 

thrown altered porcelain, scrofflto. 

brushwork. photographic decals, 

Variable Dimensions. 

Smallest piece: h.1cm; w.4cm: d.4cm 

flot bowl\h,&c;m; w.15cm; d.15cm 

toll Jug~h'lcm; w.7cm; d.7cm 

SHANNON GARSON 

I glean, picking up small things overlooked and discarded 

as I comb the littoral zone inspiring a range objects floating 

between the land and the sea. Hours collecting, observing, 

listening and smelling become marks, drawings, areas of terra 

sigi.1lata pooling over the rims and into the belly of the bowl. 

Drawing into the porcelain, pulling marks and lines out 

through the layers of tetTa. sigillata to the surface of the vessel.

Romancing the Stone 2014 

Pegmatite rock dust, boi-tunze 

porceleln stone. arkose send, keolin. 

ground steatite, pine tree wood aSh. 

Acacia wood ash, calcined pet cow 

bones. eucalypt sow dust. 

h.9cm; w.13.2cm; d.12.2cm 

Photo: Steve Harrison 

Steve Harrison Is represented by 

Watters Gallery. Sydney 

STEVE HARRISON 

I have always had an interest in the natural world, 

particularly in growing plants, as well as attcmpting to live a 

gentle, crcativc life with a small. light footprint. l\'ly research 

into and usc ofloealmaterials has been the central mandala 

in I11V ceramics. My recent work ha.

Textured plat •• 2014 

Porcelain. wheel thrown. incised lines 

h.2cm: d.20cm 

Photo: Michael Haines 

SUSAN FROST 

~I)' line ofinquil) focu.~:s ,gnc91our.Jor!Jl"lll1dfunction, ] 

look at the relationships 1:x:t\v.een.object!3~ ~~ting pieces 

that have a purpose on their t)~'nb\\r ~ fot.moail integral 

part of a group, I use colour. shape, partern -an

The Sanctuary, detail 2014 

Porcelain, engobe, and sgraffito, roku 

clay, stob·bultt. engobe & oxide wash 

h.32cm; w.SScm; d.42cm 

Photo: Art Atelier: Andrew SIkorski 

CATHY FR ANZ I 

I am following in the fOo~

Once Upon A Time My Fath~r went to 

Hanging Rock, (detail), 2014, 

Hand-pinched Southern Ice Porceloln 

& Keones 33, stoneware gloze, stains 

& oxides 

installation: h.19cm; w.120cm; d.24cm 

photo: Christopher Sanders 

ROBYN PHELAN 

My line of inquiry is 

tangible records infol111ed bv 

recorded hi ~torics and feelings

If artworks are simultaneously the elements in an exhibition's 

conStruction of meaning while being, dialectically, subjected to its 

Staging, they can also at moments articulate aeSthetic and intellectual 

positions or define modes of engagement that transcend or even defY 

their thematic or Structural exhibition frames. T he artwork can, in 

short, resiSt the very exhibition that purports to hold it neatly in place. 

Elena FIUpovic (2013) 'What Is an exhibition?' In Jens Hoffmann (ed.), 

ren Fundamental Questions of Curating. Mousse Publishing. Milan. 

the course of objects: the fine lines of inquiry 

2 Moy - 8 June 2014 

Manly Art Gallery & Museum 

West Esplanode Reserve, Manly NSW 2095 

T: + 61 2 9976 1421 

E: artgollery@monly.nsw.gov.au 

www.manly.nsw.gav.au/attroctions/gallery 

10am· 5pm Tuesdoy-Sunday 

Free entry 

Front and Back Covers Greg Daly Changing Sky 2014 detoil 

graphic design Inkahoots

View I 

Maria Parmenter, Treescapes I, 2013, stoneware, handbuilt, slip. tallest, h.12cm, w.&m; photo: Michael Haines 

Opposite page: Honor Freeman. Wa tertigh t, 2013. porcelain, slipcast; photo: courtesy artist 

Hills Edge Clay 

Phil Hart shares his thoughts on a new gallery space in Adelaide 

and its fi rst ceramics exhibition 

I don't buy this 'pop up' thing. I think exhibition spaces are meant to be serious, professional, well 

established cornerstones of the creative industry. Places to present work to an educated and enthusiastic 

audience sourced from an extensive and strategic mailing list built up over time by said establishment's 

dynamic director/curator. It appears to me that commercial galleries are disappearing, downsizing or 

perhaps diversifying what they do and hats-off to anybody that can sustain a lasting enterprise in this 

era of commercial throwaway consumerism. Here in South Australia many interesting new visual art 

spaces have established themselves in inner city laneways, but the recent closure of Greenhill Galleries, 

an Adelaide arts icon for some 40 years, is perhaps an example of business responding to market trends; 

like the local car industry, another important institution has ceased to exist. Although many commercial 

galleries will show ceramics from time-to-time, apart from the JamFactory there are few venues left to 

present ceramics, particularly pots, in a substantial, recogn ised manner. 

An exciting initiative of one local council has seen the creation of a purpose-built gallery to perhaps 

assuage some of the exhibition needs of South Australian-based craftists. 

Gallery 1855 is situated on the suburban fringe of Adelaide, an area where concrete, bitumen 

and brick melt away into the leafy eucalyptus-lined creeks and rolling grazing land eyed by property 

developers. The listed building, which was historically the Tea Tree Gully council chambers, was 

refurbished in 2013 with a modern extension . Couched in such a lovely space, the recent exhibition 


View I 

Opposite page: 

1 Susan Frost, Nested Dishes, 2013, porcelain, wheelthrown, largest. h.6cm, diam.21 cm; photo: Michael Haines 

2 Philip Hart, Knit One, 2013, Cool Ice, wheelthrown. inlaid decoration, h.18cm, w.20cm, d.20cm; photo: Michael Kluvanek 

3 Gerry Wedd, Gum Coo/amon, thrown and altered, coloured slip with sgraffito, h.28cm, w.2Scm, d.l .5cm 

4 Lesa Farrant, Flotsam and Jetsam. 2013, porcelain, slipcast, h.SOcm 

of ceramics entitled Hills Edge Clay provided an engaging and impressive collation, almost survey, of 

Adelaide's ceramics practitioners. With the absence of some of the more well-known or perhaps senior 

artists, the works demonstrated a diverse and skilled approach to the making of forms and surface 

treatment. 

Thoughtfully curated and beautifully presented by the Council Arts and Cultural Officer Niki 

Vouis, the exhibition firstly set out to introduce the local community to the material, technical and 

conceptual strength that is South Australian ceramic art. Secondly, Gallery 1855 is very much a 

fledgling establishment that is bu ilding an identity and relationship with the immediate community 

and concurrently with the wider arts community. Its growth, development and support of creative 

practitioners, whether locally based or further afield, involves a delicate but determined balancing act. 

There's also an historical connection. Hills Edge Clay is Gallery 1855's first ceramics exhibition 

and they hope to make it an annual event. To a point it echoes the City of Tea Tree Gully's 3D-year 

connection with emerging ceramicists from around South Australia through its former annual Painting 

and Ceramics Exhibition. 

This alternative exhibition, along w ith associated socially-based workshops and studio tours facilitated 

by South Australian ceramicists, will build upon the historical connection by offering ceramicists paid 

opportunities to work with the local community and also the opportunity to present their work annually 

in a professional and supportive environment. 

The work in the exhibition was of outstanding quality - Lesa Farrant's slipcast assemblages of 

beachcombed detritus displayed a clever interpretation of the recycled plastic debris made organic; Helen 

Fuller's fine, coilbuilt, terra cotta vessels were patterned with a painters approach to surface treatment 

demonstrating a much sort after marriage of line and form; and Leo Neuhofer's unctuous explorations 

of the viscera are sidestepped here for something more about mark making and abstraction. Honor 

Freeman continued to focus our attention on the mundane domestic object, in this case oozing bath 

plugs and wall mounted funnels weeping drippy puddles over the plinth. Merrilyn Stock confirmed that 

woodfired ceramics could be made in a state denuded of trees whilst also contributing to the diversity 

of methodology and aesthetic intent with a finely made group of wheelthrown and handbuilt vessels 

and lidded boxes. The other artists in the inaugural exhibition were Alison Arnold, Maria Chatzinikolaki, 

Gus Clutterbuck, Lesa Farrant, John Ferguson, Honor Freeman, Susan Frost, Helen Fuller, Phil Hart, Peter 

Johnson, Marie Littlewood, Wayne Meara, Leo Neuhofer, Maria Parmenter, Silvia Stansfield, Merrilyn 

Stock, Ulrica Trulsson, Mark Valenzuela, Angela Walford, Caroline Walker-Grime and Gerry Wedd. 

Gallery 1855 and the recently opened Jam Factory at Seppeltsfield gallery/shop in the 8arossa Valley, 

hold exciting prospects for potters, ceramicists, makers and artists of all disciplines. The challenge is to 

sustain and develop the interest and enthusiasm of the buying public whilst delivering an exhibition 

program of attentively curated, clever and creative exhibitions. 

www.teatreegully.sa.gov.au/gallery1855 

10 4 THE IOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014

View I 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2014 

lOS

View II 

Shed Assemblage: 

an Anna Rowbury installation 

l 

Review by Varia Karipoff 

We enter the dimly lit gallery space; the light has the effect of inviting quiet reverence, akin to being in a 

room housing light-sensitive antiquities, or perhaps, a place of worship. Black netting suggests walls and 

a roof, and encloses a space which we gradually recognise as a shed by the objects assembled within it. 

The netting acts like a fragile, shifting, impermanent membrane - this is the physically recreated memory 

of the artist's experience of rural sheds. The tools, hooks, gates, buckets and small creatures among dry 

leaves could be the refuse in any half-forgotten work space, but here they are deliberately cast together, 

constructed from ceramics or selected found objects. 

Emerging artist Anna Rowbury has previously dealt in what could be considered 19th century 

concerns. Chief among these are rural life and pastoral themes, more associated with our colonial past 

than with contemporary art (Cow's Eye View and Sorrow to the Shepherds, Woe unto the Birds). 

Rowbury recasts these long celebrated, traditional themes - ceramic cow busts appear as white-washed 

bone with the pink tinge of a newborn; they are death and life at once. They express an uncomfortable 

reality for urban dwellers - the harshness of rural life, but also our tendency to idealise nature. As such, 

Rowbury's works tend to ambiguously recall both nostalgia and softness and death and decay. Her 

experience of the western Victorian coast, where she formerly lived, is a fertile ground for her forays 

into memory and imagination. 

Coming from a background in painting, Rowbury (who went on to study Fine Arts (Ceramics) at RMID 

approaches her installations with the eye of a painter. Indeed, paintings have accompanied her ceramic 

works and she has collaborated with her mother, painter Josephine Rowbury. Anna Rowbury is above 

all, "interested in the processes of 'making''' . Using paperclay, raku and porcelain, she constructs objects 

or creatures as solid forms before cutting them through and hollowing them out. Rowbury employs a 

multi-layered approach to achieving the desired surface look in her clay works. "I colour the clay with 

stains. I love slip decoration and the layering of engobes." In some cases she will do multiple firings to 

bring out decorative layers, including using final touches of lustre and oxides. Whilst there is a focus on 

the craftsmanship of an object that she creates, more broadly Rowbury interrogates the spaces where 

making takes place. Her installation, Just Like Home (2012), a series of ceramic moths stitched into 

breezy muslin, evoked the mood in these spaces of making. These spaces are an intermediary "between 

'outside' and the house proper", and a place where unfinished projects rest (or gather dust) and where 

insects find shelter and are trapped. In Shed Assemblage, a ceramic moth rests atop discarded fur. its 

fat little body painted in the hue of human skin, and the rough work surface of the table adding further 

contrast to the textures. Rowbury emphasises the importance of this surface patina and the colour of 

the objects, to evoke a shred of memory or perhaps a more visceral response. "I display the forms off 

the usual plinth. I like to see my work in relationship to other elements that have their own story - 

surface patina, colour, sympathetic shape - and they talk to my piece." 


View II 

Anna Rowbury, Shed Assemblage. installation. 2013. aluminium strudure, netting. ceramic, found objects, sound loop 

h.300

View II 

Moths, crafted from various clays, are a recurring image in Rowbury's work; they are emblematic of 

her themes and a source of reference for her colour palette. Their subtle, dusty colouring (the nudes, 

pinks, browns that Rowbury draws from) is at odds with their gaudy, flitty daytime cousins. It is their 

association with decay and transformation that speak volumes in Rowbury's work. Moths are shrouded 

creatures of night; it is only on closer inspection that their wings reveal patterns or, indeed, a quiet kind 

of beauty. The artist asks that we reconsider the notion that moths destroy an object by consuming 

fabric; she suggests that they instead alter it, imbuing it with age and use. Similarly, Rowbury creates 

spaces and environments where a shifting mood prevails as though the internal climate of her work 

is overcast with breaks of sun. Though enigmatic about her work, one gets the sense that the art of 

making is both as accidental as the leaves that blow into a shed, and deliberate as a painstakingly 

sculpted trowel or moth. 

Anna Rowbury's Shed Assemblage project has been assisted by the Australian Government, through 

the Australia Council for the Arts. its Funding and Advisory Body. Anna Rowbury was the recipient of an 

Australia Council ArtStart Grant in 2013-2014. 

www.annarowbury.com 

http://vimeo.com/70008444 

Craft. Flinders Lane. Melbourne 

20 June - 27 July 2013 

Australian Government 

4 

_Ia CouncIl 

for the Arts 


View III 

Left to right: Geoff Thomas 

Gail Nichols and Susie 

McMeekin in Gulgong 

Photo: Lucille Nobleza 

One Foot on the Black 

by Lucille Nobleza 

There 's an irony to this story. Whilst it can take years to put together an exhibition of woodfired pots, 

within a week of the NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons opening this exhibition at 

Kerrie Lowe Gallery, these wood firers were once again in the thick of fighting fires. But this time it was 

not firing their pots; rather the fires which devastated many areas in the Blue Mountains and the Southern 

Highlands in October 2013. 

The exhibition title, One Foot on the Black, was inspired by this safety slogan that is used by the Rural 

Fire Service - a firefighter who keeps one foot on the burned terrain will be safer if the flames change 

direction and set fire to unburned terrain. 

Geoff Thomas is the deputy captain of Hillside Brigade near his sheep farm, Rangoon, in Gilgandra, 

whilst Susie McMeekin is crew leader and deputy captain with South Katoomba Brigade, and Gail Nichols 

is crew leader and training officer with Mongarlowe Brigade near Braidwood. 

We are proud to have these wonderful potters as part of our community. 

One Foot on the Black was held from 11 to 29 October 2013 at Kerrie Lowe Gallery 

Newtown NSW; www.kerrielowe.com 


Spaces and Places 

Four Hundred Years 

and Counting 

Cory Taylor shares news of a special 2016 event in Arita, Japan 

Arita, Japan's premier porcelain town, is preparing for big birthday celebrations in 2016 to 

commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of its famous porcelain industry, and a number of 

Australian artists will be there to help. 

Pioneering the Australian involvement in the celebrations is Japanese-Australian artist Shin Koyama. 

Shin was invited to Arita at the beginning of 2013 by the organiser of the 2016 celebrations, Hugh 

Tanaka, after a chance meeting in Jingdezhen. Since then Shin has been spending much of his time 

in Arita assisting with the development of networks between the town and the international ceramics 

community. 

Historically, Arita has never been the focus of international exchange initiatives but, given the scope 

and significance of the 400 Years celebration, this is set to change. Local kilns like Kohrakugama and 

Densakugama are showing a new enthusiasm for reaching out to an international artistic community. 

Underpinning this new mood is a generational shift in a business where kilns are traditionally handed 

down from father to son. At the same time, in the face of competition from (hina, there has been a 

prolonged downturn in industrial scale production and consumption of Japanese ceramics,. This has 

generated a hunger for new collaborations between artists, designers and local artisans to produce 

internationally recognised work of the highest possible quality. 

The irony of Arita's isolationist mood of late is not lost on this new breed of kiln owners. After all, 

the global reputation of Arita porcelain was built on the international export trade to Europe, which 

began in the late 1700s under the patronage of the Dutch East India (ompany. This proud tradition of 

exporting high quality porcelain around the world created enormous wealth for. Arita over a long period 

of time, and this is still evident when one walks down the main street past heritage-listed showrooms 

and kilns dating back to the Edo Period. 

One of Shin's aims in Arita is to introduce international ceramic artists to the rich heritage of the town 

- its human expertise in porcelain making and its beauty. To get to Arita you take a Kyushu Rail train 

from Fukuoka. heading for Nagasaki. The intervening countryside is flat farmland cultivated with rice 

and vegetable crops, until you leave the hot springs town of Takeo and start climbing into the hills. Ten 

minutes from Takeo you enter a narrow, wooded valley and spot your first red brick chimney sticking up 

from among the pines - then you know you're in porcelain country. 

In its heyday Arita boasted upwards of a thousand kilns, all concentrated in a long winding valley 

guarded at either end by a samurai sentry. Now there remain approximately two hundred working kilns, 

dotted in amongst stately porcelain showrooms, Shinto shrines, Zen temples, and a beautifully clear 

stream that once powered some four hundred crushing mills. Also winding through the town are the 

famous tombei, or head-high walls, built out of the glazed bricks from dismantled kilns. 



1 lucille Nobleza standing under the largest ceramic torii gate in Japan 

2 The Gen·emon kiln during a reduction firing 

3 Shin hand finish ing a piece at the Happy Lucky Site-Arita 

Beyond this valley lies West Arita from which some of Saga Prefecture's best produce comes - 

green tea, rice and sake. Food is a passion shared by all Japanese wherever they live, so inevitably the 

conjunction of food with porcelain will be a major focus of the 400 Years celebration. As a way of 

initiating foreign artists into the food culture of Arita, Shin is in discussions with a local consortium 

of architects, kiln owners and food enthusiasts to convert an abandoned worker's cottage behind the 

main street of Arita into an izakaya, or pub, where visiting artists can mix with the locals and share 

information about their work. He has also renovated a hundred year old cottage into a guesthouse for 

invited artists. 

In July 2013 Shin invited Brazilian artist and teacher Sebastiao Pi menta to come to Arita for a threemonth 

residency at Happy Lucky Site-Arita. The purpose of Pimenta's residency was to further the 



--- ------- --- -- -- -- -- -- 

Shin (holding work. at fight) in the studio with a colleague producing new work. (known as Shining China) for the 

Densakugama kiln. It is brightly coloured with designs inspired by early 20th century kimono fabrics. 

Photos: courtesy Shin Koyama 

efforts of the town to reach out to foreign artists. As a fluent Japanese/English/Portuguese speaker with 

rich experience in both Japanese and Chinese artist residencies, Pimenta has become a key person in the 

spread of information and the management of the fledgling residency program at Happy Lucky Site. He 

is also keen to extend the reach of information about Arita to South America in the future. Pimenta will 

return to Arita in April 2014 for a six-month residency at Happy Lucky during which he will be engaged 

by the 2016 organising committee to liaise with international artists. 

Shin also invited Melbourne-based artist Vipoo Srivilasa and Brisbane-based artist Kenji Uranishi to visit 

Arita in late 2013 to research possibilities for future collaborations. Both artists have a deep knowledge 

of porcelain and therefore bring enormous enthusiasm for the idea of building an ongoing relationship 

with Arita porcelain producers with the view to benefitting other artists from around the world. In June 

2014, Adelaide-based artist Kirsten Coelho will commence a two-week residency at Happy Lucky Site 

Arita based at the Kohrakugama factory. 

This is all excellent news for Arita, and for the Australian ceramic community, for as beautiful as Arita 

is, it remains in decline and is relatively isolated from the international conversation around trends in 

porcelain. For Australian artists the 2016 celebrations represent an opportunity to connect with some 

of the world's most revered porcelain producers, where they live. At least four National Living Treasures 

maintain their kilns and continue to work in Arita. Anyone who has the chance to come to Arita, even 

as a visitor, will leave with a new respect for the importance of place in the evolution of porcelain. At 

least this is the hope of the organisers of the big 2016 bash. They also anticipate that the party will 

attract a whole new set of international friends, with enough energy and enthusiasm to set up the town 

for the next four hundred years. 

https:l /www.facebook.com/pages/Happy-Lucky-Site-Arita/132233913614626 

Cory Taylor is a novelist and essayist and a regular contributor to Griffith Review, 


The Quiet of a Global Life 

by Lau rens Tan 

Ceramics was my major at the South Australian School of Art, and marked the beginning 

of a visual exploration of how I might reconnect with my origins. Thirty years later I 

find myself in China on an Australia China Council residency in Red Gate's Tuanjiehu 

apartment in Beijing. A lifelong sense of displacement as a universal foreigner was 

challenged in a strange yet hospitable milieu. 

Not long before the Beijing Olympics, I was at an exhibition opening at AnniArt in the 

798 art district, where I encountered an elegant senior Beijinger who showed me some 

painted dynamic geometries on postcards that he'd made. A retired architect who still has 

his practice in Houston, he now resides in his hometown, Beijing, only occasionally on call 

in Houston. The flamboyant 74-year old also holidays in his beach shack in Bali in a 3-way 

annual sojourn. He seemed neither overwhelmed nor anxious about what most of us 

would see as an impractical arrangement. 

Since July 2012 I have been a seasonal resident in Las Vegas. A 'cultural' pilgrim from 

1995 to 2005, I frequented this desert jewel for material for my thesis, The Architecture 

of Risk, developing projects in animation, interactive games, industrial design, 

architectural and graphic design and historical research (Vegascana ). I had been seriously 

looking at making my base there. Helping a friend buy a house in 2011 catalysed me to 

finally bite the bullet. At that time my exhibitions schedule was focused on the American 

continent, so it offered solutions - storage and fewer flight miles. Initially I found the quiet 

emptiness of the desert unsettling, but I now see this as the desired attributes you would 

expect from a reading room. 

My 1970s house is in Paradise, 15 minutes drive east of Downtown and the Strip. This 

week, Boz Scaggs performed at the Eastside Cannery, a relatively new suburban casino 

around the corner from the house on Boulder Highway. Bob Marley's Wailers and Kenny 

Rogers are coming to play there in May. There has been a serious influx of Asian eateries, 

mostly around Chinatown; the quality and range is quite a change from how it was five 

years ago. I rarely venture into the Strip, but relish it when friends come to visit. 

Moving to a familiar Las Vegas was the stimulus and stark contrast I needed after living 

in Beijing for more than six years. The Beijing experience itself was a first for me, as I had 

to fend for myself without a full time academic salary. I had a new infrastructure and an 

independent studio and my work flourished. It has become clear that I can't do without 

my studio in Beijing and I would also be at a loss without regularly touching base at home 

in the IIlawarra in NSW. 

As I rummage around the US west coast for new inspiration, the continuum of my 

Beijing series of works may have been disrupted, so my nomadic existence will be further 

put to the test this coming year. I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop.

Pocket PhD 

Form and Function - 

Politics and Porcelain in 

the 21st Century 

Marianne Huhn sums up the essence of her recent research 

There is a scrap of paper that floats from sketchbook to sketchbook and each time I begin a new book 

it gets re-pasted into the front page. It reads, 'material objects are not divorced from social relations'. 

Where or how do social relations fit into the shape or space of objects? 

Functional ceramics are objects that involve the viewer like no other art form can . "The vessel 

makes his messages immediately accessible because the form is a familiar one." 1 Ceramic objects are 

experienced through our thoughts and our senses. What we see and what we touch engages w ith 

our lives and herein lies the opportunity for functional ceramics to hold a message. The words 'social 

relations' can be interpreted as the relationship or workings between people, between two or more 

parties. 

Return ing to the piece of paper, what a group of objects can reveal is something about who we are 

and where we are today. Interacting with one another can also happen through storytelling. I use visual 

narration around the shapes I make to reflect the conversation that happens between shapes, people 

and ideas. From one shape or line to the next, a story is revealed and the connection between you and 

the form is completed. Representations that I draw are imaginative but open to interpretation. How 

can I communicate through visual images a message of our political time, our society, onto functional 

familiar forms? The early 20th century holds some clues ... 

The history of Russia and the formation (realisation) of the Soviet Union is generally understood, 

however there is a small period within this environment that reflected the changes and transformation 

of its culture that is hardly known. In St Petersburg there was a ceramics factory called the Lomonosov 

Porcelain Factory. As the Bolsheviks (later to be the Communist party), took over the governing of the 

people of Russia in 1917, they used this factory to produce propaganda porcelain. The blanks, or empty, 

undecorated slipcast forms, were mainly plates, and the Bolshevik party encouraged artists of the time 

to portray the political and social changes to the community in a positive and invigorating way. For a 

short period, avant-garde artists in Russia experienced a creative freedom that was unparalleled: painters 

were sculpting; stage deSigners were creating monumental sculptures, and ceramics factories were 

producing effectively three-dimensional 'posters'. 

"4 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014

Marianne Huhn, Vulnerable Vessel, 2012, Limoges porcelain, coloured oxides, wheelthrown, reduction·fired 

approx. h.22cm; photo; Christopher Sanders 

What this pocket of time reveals is a connection to my favourite re-pasted piece of paper, that 

objects are never divorced from social relations. At this point in history, ceramics reflected back to 

the community the changes and influences in their lives. The communities were engaged with the 

production of the work, the display and the read ing of this work. Ceramics played an important role in 

the politics of the day. 

Can politics and porcelain be united today? I wonder ... can one influence the other? 

How can one inform the other and can a space exist where the boundaries are blurred? 

1 Rawson .P 1984. Ceramics. UOIversity of Pennsylvania Press. 

www.mariannehuhn.com 

THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 

liS

Potters Marks 

1 Robin Best 

2 Euan Craig 

3 & 4 Kim-Anh Nguyen 

5 Vivian Thompson, Ernabella Arts 

6 Various artists from Ernabella Arts 

7 Keiko Matsui 


~~~ ~- - ~~~- - 

---- 

Ceramic Shots 

WINNER 

Photographer: IIkay Canakkalelioglu Dere, Perth WA, January 2013 

The cha llenge was to " snap a selfie with one of your ceramic works, 

post it to instagram tagged #clayselfie, then email it to the Journal" . 

Thank you to the judges of our competition - seven of our valued Journal stockists and advertisers. 


1 Photographer: Demet tper Dide. Turkey. January 2014 

2 Photographer: Kathleen Walek 

Marie E.v.B. Gibbons, Denver USA 

March 2013 

6 

3 Photographer: Aleta Bates. Lyn Bates. OLD 

february 2014 

4 Photographer : Emy Christianson, Adriana 

Christianson , VIC , February 2014 

5 Photographe,: John Daly. Lake George NSW 

february 201 4 

6 Photographer: Carol Forster. OLD. february 2014 

7 Photographer: Ben Mullins, Annemieke Mulders (with 

the heJp of Gandalf the duckling). WA. february 201 4 

8 Photographer: Kara Pryor. NSW, January 2014 

9 Photographer: Metin Erturk, Turkey, December 2013 

118 THE JOU RNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRI L 20'4

10 Photographer: Claire Heathcock, Cairns OLD, January 2014 

11 Photographer: Creina Moore, Stradbroke Island OLD, february 2014 

12 Photographer: Helen Hay, Kanimbla Valley NSW, f ebruary 2014 

13 Photographer: Desiree Kenafake, Southport OLD, february 2014 

14 Photographer: Miss Annabel Dee, Essex England, January 2014 

15 Photographer: Ruby Pilven, Ballarat VIC, December 2013 

16 Photographer: Karin Dovel. Balmain NSW, February 201 4 

17 Photographer: Julia Phelps, Kensington NSW, February 2014 

18 Photographer: Sheri Bird, Tighes Hill NSW, January 2014 

19 Photographer: Rosalie Duligal, Gymea Bay NSW, february 2014 

Like to take part in our next CERAMIC SHOTS photographic competition7 

See page 16 for details about The Word {CLAY] as an Image. 

THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMI CS APRIL 2014 119

Join the Pots 

Marea Gazzard 

From the archives of Pottery in Australia (PIA) 

and The Journal of Australian Ceramics (JAC) 

1959 

Two Containers 1959 

Photo: Don Gazzard 

The lAC, Vol 49 No 3 

November 2010 

Earthenware pot 

17" high; white 

opaque glaze 

inside, glaze inlay 

decoration outside 

with oxides rubbed 

into the body 

Purchased by the 

Commonwealth 

Art Advisory Board 

Photo: Les 

Blakebrough 

PIA, Vol 1 No 2 


Man~a Gazzard; 

photo: David Moore 

PIA, Vol 3 No 3, 


Coiled Dials, h.24" cone 4 

firing, black pigment, shown 

at Gallery A, Sydney 1966 

Photo: Harry Snowden 

PIA, Vol 6 No 2 Summer 1967 

Marea Gazzard's comment after attending the World Crafts Conference in Peru, September 1968: 

I think that potters gain much from looking at other crafts-seeing objects in 

metal and fibre in these museums was an enriching experience. After a very busy 

Conference, the opportunity of seeing the wonders of the world of craft made me 

doubly sure that the effort of ~oin~ to the Lima Conference was worthwhile. 

Stoneware, approx. h.24" 

Richey Prize 1969; Coach 

House Gallery, Melbourne 

PIA. Vol 8 No 2, Spring 1969 

1970 

Coiled stoneware, Shield, 

grey·green feldspathic 

glaze with added oxides 

and red low-fire enamel, 

22" x 22" x 8"; Gallery A 

exhibition; photo: Geoff 

Hawkshaw; PIA, Vol 9 

No 1. Autumn 1970 

...... 

120 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRil 2014

Join the Pots 

POTTERY 

IN AUSTRAUA 

1973 

Mallia I. II. III 

stone\Nare clay 

white opaque 

glaze 

h .4~51cm 

exhibition at 

National Gallery 

of Vi doria 

PIA. Vol 12 No 2 

Spring 1973 

front cover 

1973 

Marea Gazzard 

Photo: Leslie Gerry 

PIA. Vol 12 No 2. 1973 

In London. I became interested in nonfuncllonal 

objects. We were all getting Into 

coiling wIth all sorts 01 approaches. There was 

a Jamaican girl who dId it her way, and 

somebody from Egypt doing If his way - and 

we all JUS! starfed 10 work In our vanous 

directions. 

Anyway, (wouldn', call my work pottery. Potlery 

I think IS delined as an object for use. I buy my 

useful objects from other people who make 

them lar better than I do. and I rather like 

having their work around. But then, I don't think 

I'm making say sculpture either - I'm just 

makIng objects I dOn ', think AS up to me 10 

classify what I'm creating. I( somebody with a 

discerning eye feels It's arl. tnat's great. 

The Inspiration for my wOrk comes from 

everywhere. In my recent exhibitIon. 101 

example. the human body. garments. armour. 

From nature-rocks - II'S really all your liIe. that 

you bflng together. 

I also lend 10 work around an Idea, a concept 

which just happens, II rather possesses your 

visual thinking and you just can't do anything 

else but thai, you Just work it through 10 its 

limit Until suddenly you can' l do It any more 

and you realise it's flmshed - II'S out 01 your 

mind, 

For eJlample, the pieces thaI I exhibited in 1973 

were very Iragl1e forms I then started thinking 

about other things 1 became more interested in 

the shouk:ters of pots, when I was makll"lQ pot 

Shapes, and thiS led me on to the Idea of 

shoulders of other things and so on, until finally 

the sirong shoulder·llke form of the Uluru series 

evolved And now, there's no way that I could do 

any more of Ihal kmd 01 work. 

Sometimes I do sense ttloUgh, that there is 

conhnUlty - you probably keep dOing the same 

thing all your hfe, With certain forms I feel 

constantly 'I've done this before', 

1979 

M ingar,; IV 

1979 

PIA. Vol 28 

No 1 

February 1989 

Marea Gazzard - 

an interview 


May-June 1980 

Marea Gazzard: Photographs 

by John Delacour. courtesy of 

the Resource Centre from their 

slide kit on Marea Gazzard 


May-June 1980 

1973 

Coiled white stoneware. glazed 

and unglazed, fired in an electric 

kiln to 1260"(; round pots 

approx. h.66cm; Bonython Art 

Gallery. Sydney NSW 

Photo: Don Gazzard 

PIA. Vol 12. No 1. Autumn 1973 


THE TRUDIE ALFRED BEQUEST 

CERAMIC 

SCHOLARSHIPS 

Congratulations to the winners of The Trudie Alfred Bequest Ceramic Scholarships 2014: 

Sharyn Dingeldei (VIC), Ebony Heidenreich (SA), Kylie Rose Mclean (NSW), Adriana Prasnicki 

(NSW) and Inga Svensden (NSW). Each of the winners received $4000 to assist them with their 

ceramics studies at a tertiary institution in 2014. Many thanks to the judges - Kirsten Coelho (SA), 

Neville French (VIC), Shannon Garson (QLD) and Vicki Grima (NSW). 

A call for Round 4 applications (for study in 2015) will be announced in The Journal of Australian 

Ceramics, Issue 53/2 . The deadline is mid-September 2014. 

About the 2014 winners 

Sharyn Dingeldei is enrolled at RMIT in 

Melbourne, in the Bachelor of Fine Arts, Object 

Based Practice. "As one of the recipients of the 

2014 Trudie Alfred Bequest Ceramic Scholarships, 

being financially assisted enables me to venture 

outside my comfort zone. This is both frightening 

and exciting at the same time, and I am looking 

forward to being challenged through serious 

artistic exploration at a higher level to further my 

ceramic arts practice"; www.sharamics.com.au 

Ebony Heidenreich is studying a Bachelor of 

Visual Arts (Honours) at the University of South 

Australia. "In the year ahead I intend to build 

on my techn ical ability, try new processes, and 

refine and polish my craft. I also think it's really 

important at this stage to discover who I am as 

an artist and focus on developing an individual 

style." 

Photo: Katelin Delhanty 


Kylie Rose McLean is studying her Advanced 

Diploma in Visual Arts (Ceramics) at The Northern 

Sydney Institute, Hornsby Campus in Sydney, 

NSW. She is looking forward to focusing on her 

Advanced Diploma body of work and having the 

opportunity and time to explore and develop 

some new ideas; www.loopyrose.com 

Adriana Prasnicki is studying a Bachelor of 

Design majoring in Ceramics at College of 

Fine Arts, University of NSW. "I'm currently 

undertaking a six month internship with Van 

Eijk & Van Der Lubbe (www.vevdl.com) in The 

Netherlands. I will be looking after their craft· 

based products with a particular emphasis on 

ceramics. When I return home I start with my 

graduation major work. This image shows me 

setting up a window display for the release of 

a line of ceramics by Van Eijk & Van Der Lubbe, 

part of a collaboration with Dutch company 

Imperied Design; http://be.netlaprasnicki 

Inga Svendsen is studying a Bachelor of Visual 

Arts at Sydney College of the Arts, University of 

Sydney. Over the next couple of years she plans 

to continue her experimentation with coloured 

porcelain techniques and the development of 

new forms. On the theoretical side, she will 

be investigating life, memory and everyday 

experience and its incorporation into ceramic art. 

http://ingasvendsen.blogspot.com.au 

201 5 A P P L I CAT ION SOP ENS 0 0 N~ __ 

A call for Round 4 applications (for study in 2015) will be announced in the next 

issue of The Journal of Australian Ceramics, Vol 53 No 2, July 2014, and on our 

website, www.australianceramics.com. The deadline is mid-September 2014. 


Association 

The Trudie Alfred 

Bequest Follow Up 2013 

Verney Burness 

Bachelor of Visual Arts (Ceramics Major) at ANU, Canberra 

My final undergraduate year was a sustained engagement w ith the materiality of clay: the inherent 

relationship between clay, geological forms and natural forces. I spent 2013 creating forms inspired by 

rocks, mountains and their detritus; invoking ideas of fragmentation, breakage, and sedimentation, and 

encouraging the viewer to contemplate and reflect upon their relationship to nature as creative and 

destructive agents. 

I used processes of freezing, superheating, reforming and breaking many different clay types 

using the natural forces that form the continually changing landscape. I also experimented with 

unconventional processes such as raw firing, exploding works in the kiln and layering glaze within the 

clay body before breaking and firing. Many of these techniques were developed on a rewarding trip 

to Jingdezhen (China) in April with the Australian National University Ceramics Workshop, where I was 

able to spend time within a vibrant ceramics culture as well as expand my international network. These 

experimentations invited the integration of the moving image to document 'smashing events'. I was an 

unknowing performer within the work but also an agent within its processes of change. I also began to 

use photography, light and glass in the installation space, experimenting in an exhibition context. 

The Trudie Alfred 

Bequest Ceramic 

Scholarship was vital to my 

achievements during 2013. 

Funding of this nature 

allows students to grow 

and develop with pride and 

independence. My thanks 

go to The Australian 

Ceramics Association and 

to Trudie Alfred. 

Verney Burness 

Sky Crevasse, 2013 

Porcelain on glass 

Various dimensions 

Photo: James Allen 

124 THE JOURNAL Of AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014

Association 

Alice Couttoupes 

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), COFA 

Alice (outtoupes, Eponymic Emperialisms, 2013 

Left: Untitled #2, 20 13, ink on velin, h.80cm, w.SOcm 

Right: Untitled #3, ink on velin, h.80cm, w.8Ocm 

2013 was a challenging year - the most productive, frustrating, satisfying, demanding, all-absorbing and 

onerous year of tertiary study so far. I wanted to create a body of work that was substantial, original, 

professional and beautiful, that pushed (my own) boundaries, and was something I was truly proud of. 

Receiving the scholarship allowed me to achieve this as the financial support helped cover the costs of 

materials while I experimented with developing ideas. It also enabled me to execute my body of work in 

a professional manner - to have assistance from a professional photographer and cover the presentation 

costs of printing, framing, and the design and construction of stands. 

My research led to me incorporating photography as a means of presenting my work. I created 

sculptural porcelain pieces of various types of the Australian banksia flower which were then worn in 

a series of staged photographic portraits. Expanding my ceramics practice, as well as relying on other 

forms of media, allowed me to broaden the scope of critical cultural and social commentary I wished 

to achieve through my art practice. I wouldn't have been able to push and develop my practice in this 

direction had it not been for the generous scholarship funds, so thank you! 

THE IOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014 125

Association 

Anne-Marie Jackson 

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at National Art School, Sydney 

In 2013 I was awarded the Trudie Alfred Bequest Ceramic Scholarship which allowed me to spend one 

more valuable year at the National Art School to complete Honours. My Honours project focused on 

the relationship between objects and their context. I made wheelthrown vessels which I pushed into 

different spaces while still wet, thereby altering the forms. I am particularly interested in the contrast 

between soft, round, clay objects and the typically hard. rectilinear environments in which they sit. 

As my work focused on form, I used unglazed surfaces which made the quality of the clay an 

important aspect of the work. The scholarship funds allowed me to experiment with different clays, 

which I tested for colour. throwing strength, plasticity and finish. 

The scholarship also allowed me to attend Clay Push Gulgong where I was exposed to the variety of 

ceramic practice taking place in Australia and internationally, and this has helped me to clarify my own 

direction. 

At the end of the year I was fortunate to win the N.E. Pethebridge Award and the Sabbia Gallery 

Exhibition Award. I have now set up my own studio at home and am working towards creating a body 

of work for my show at Sabbia in September 2015. 

I am grateful to Trudie Alfred for leaving such a generous bequest and would like to thank The 

Australian Ceramics Association for selecting me to receive this scholarship. 

www.amcjackson.com 

Anne-Marie Jackson, Altered series, 2013. MFQ and Cool lee, various dimensions; photo: courtesy artist 


Associati on 

Kate Jones 

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Object Based Practice, RMIT, Melbourne 

My year began with the award of the Trudie Alfred Bequest and finished with an inspirational trip to 

New York . I completed my BFA at RMIT, creating both course work and personal work which I found 

challenging and gratifying. During the year I was involved in four exhibitions. 

2014 promises to be just as busy as I am returning to RMIT to complete an Honours year. I will also 

be participating in the Fresh! graduate exhibition at Craft Victoria in April, Back to the Table at Sturt 

Gallery, my own exhibition at Craft Victoria later in the year, and the RMIT graduate show, all of which 

will provide stimulating opportunities for me to explore various aspects of my work. 

The Trudie Alfred Bequest has been useful to me because of the financial support it has provided, and 

also, importantly, the recognition of my work from the wider ceramics community, giving me confidence 

to experiment and pursue my own ideas. The study structure at RMIT has allowed my work to evolve by 

providing facilities that enable me to create larger pieces in an environment where the emphasis is not 

solely on commercial via bility. The support that this affords has resulted in a shift in my practice towards 

more sculptural and abstract expression, a place that I look forward to exploring in greater depth in the 

year to come. 

http://katejj.tumblr.com 

Work by Kate Jones. 2013 

Left: Make big shadow>, h.l00cm 

Below: And the nights are not full enough, h.50cm 

Terracotta, handbuilt; photos: Jeremy Dillon 


Association 

Antonia Throsby, Pendant Lights, 2013, PayDirt Eatery Braidwood, earthenware. wheelthrown, various dimensions 

Photo: Kelly Sturgis 

Antonia Throsby 

Graduate Certificate In Visua l Arts - Studio Practice 

After receiving the Trudie Alfred Bequest Ceramic Scholarship I enrolled at ANU to continue studying 

ceramics through the Graduate Certificate In Visual Arts - Studio Practice. This allowed me to do a lot of 

the practical work from my home studio, whilst having excellent guidance along the way. 

In July I travelled to Jingdezhen in China, an amazing experience in itself. I made ten or so forms 

on the wheel from which I then had moulds made. I am using these moulds and exploring exciting, 

dynamic, ways of slipcasting. After extensive testing I developed my own porcelain casting slips. My 

aim is to create a series of contemporary light shades drawing upon the Australian landscape for 

inspiration. I have concentrated on shape and various surface treatments whilst also experimenting with 

translucency and colour. 

The extra funds also made it possible for me to buy a larger kiln in which to fire my work. My website 

is almost complete and will be up and running soon, which is exciting. The Bequest has enabled me to 

carry on my love and interest within the world of ceramics and I feel very privileged to have had this 

opportunity. 

www.antoniathrosby.com 


Participating 

Artists 

Asia 

jean Moon Hwan KOREA 

jean Sung Cheal KOREA 

Masaho Ono JAPAN 

Mallito Kudo JAPAN 

USA 

Tara Wilson 

judith Duff 

Scot Parody 

james Kasper 

josh Copus 

South America 

Marcelo Tokai 

EU 

Pascal Geoffroy 

Nicholas Rousseau 

jean Francois Bourlard 

1-18 May 2014 

Mystery Bay 

NSW Australia 

22 artists from Asia, USA, Europe, UK, South 

America, New Zealand and Australia 

This ceramics woodfire festival will bring together lovers of woodfire 

providing an exciting exchange of ideas and techniques in May 2014. The 

invited artists will produce a body of work, build a kiln then complete a long 

woodfiring. 

The idyllic location is a 40·acre private property, Corunna Farm, situated 

near Mystery Bay NSW, surrounded by national park, where Corunna inlet 

enters the sea. Invited artists will also give slide talks on their practices and 

techniques. Participants will have the opportunity to mingle, view, talk and 

interaa with the invited potters. Entertainment in the evenings will also be 

provided. 

There will be a series of exhibitions at the Bega Regional Gallery as well as 

Narek Gallery, Ivy Hill and Spiral Gallery. 

The festival is for everyone - ceramics enthusiasts, wood firers, potters, 

students, teachers and anyone else with an interest in pottery and 

ceramics. Registrations are now open. 

UK 

Matthew Blakely 

Africa 

Grace Oriaku Oji 

Ogbonna Dennis 

1-7 May 

9-13 May 

14-18 May 

building a small anagama kiln, master demos and talks 

exhibition opening 

BO-hour woodfiring, master demos and talks 

exhibition opening 

master demos and talks, exhibition opening, films 

market and pot swap 

Australia 

Chester Nealie 

Sandy Lockwood 

Su Hanna 

Ray Cavill 

Robert Barron 

New Zealand 

MichaelO'Donnell 

ArtistS will be demonstrating throughout the festival, with most artist's talks 

happening twice over the 3-week period. There are exhibition openings at 

local galleries each weekend and wonderful local entertainers performing 

for your relaxation and pleasure throughout the 3-week period. 

www.on-the-edge-of-the-shelf.com 

Covenor: Daniel Lafferty 

T: 02 6493 6724; 0428478719; E: bandicootpottery@gmail.com

Gatherings to come 

---- 

International Guest 

Mahito Kudo 

Japanese pottery originated from earthenware cooking tools made and fired by the ancient inhabitants 

living on the far east island of Asia . It might be said that they were pioneers of wood fire pottery. Since 

the invention of earthenware, they improved their diets and survival rate and found a rich community 

with the cultures of animism and shamanism. The religious viewpoint of Japanese people has long been 

linked with that of the ancient times. 

During the early centuries, Chinese and Korean culture was brought into Japan, and our ancestors 

absorbed this to enrich our civilization, enabling us to progress and refine. By the end of the Middle 

Ages our own Japanese culture had blossomed - the tea ceremony, flower arranging, bonsai and 

pottery. Until the present time the Japanese aesthetic sense has remained deeply connected but, due to 

rapid worldwide development of scientific and industrial techniques (which gives us a higher standard of 

living), the forests are now ruined and our seawater is polluted. Even when a state becomes prosperous, 

we can see the traditional community culture breaking down. Development through destruction might 

be the human fate, but I feel it's very sad . 

Although I don't aim to be a traditional craftsman, I am trying my best to create original fresh pieces 

in the way our prehistoric woodfire potters made their tools of living, and to worship the spirit of 

nature, hoping my pieces will be of some use and joy to the people. 

As a potter, I heartily wish to learn, with respect, many things from our frontiers' creative intelligence, 

and go on to develop it. 

I'm looking forward to seeing you at Mystery Bay in May 2014. 


Gatherings to come 

International 

Guest 

Masaho Ono 

In his book Road to Art German art historian, Heinrich Lutzeler, says, 

Art is what continues to exist and art continues to exist under these conditions: 

There is no art without skill 

There is no an without purity 

There is '10 arl without fruth 

I keep these words in my heart. 

Among the pottery existing in Japan today, I am strongly moved by giant jars made in Tokoname 

during the 12th century, the Yama-chawan tea bowls made in the Seto region during the 12th century 

and the Ido-chawan tea bowls descended from Korea in the 16th century. My pot making has received 

great revelations from this pottery, as these pots are made using produdion methods, which are simple, 

mindless and artistically primitive. The creator's feelings are transmitted diredly into the pottery. I can 

feel the creator's large-hearted spirit as the swollen giant jar appears about to burst from the inside out. 

The bodies of the Yama-chawan and the Ido-chawan stretch out with a speed as though it is bursting 

from the bottom out towards the edge. The insides of the bowls are deep and wide. From them I feel 

the creator's incredible skill and strong willpower; they radiate purity and truth. Today they are behind 

glass cases in museums as examples of pottery which continues to exist as art. 

I live in the pottery town of Mashiko. I use local materials. I throw on a kick wheel which enables me 

to transfer my strong wish to the clay. I fire in a climbing kiln which gives me much more exciting results 

than I expect, though not always. I enjoy conversing with potters from the past through my daily work 

- it connects me with them. I hear them telling me, "Your skill still has a way to go". I reply to them, 

"Maybe so, but I am the same as you in my spirit - assimilated with clay and kiln at all times." All that 

remains for me is just to keep kicking the wheel everyday. 

Road to Art finishes with this note, " In the end, the road to art is the road to humanity". On 11 

March 2011, most of the woodfiring kilns in Mashiko distrid were destroyed by a huge earthquake. 

Immediately after the news spread we received many encouraging messages and financial support from 

potters all over the world. Such support gave us a big push to rebuild our woodfiring kilns. What a 

wonderful world of pottery making! We always appreciate this warm support. 

Let's enjoy sedately with clay and with kiln! 


SlEPP' INGuP THE AUSTRALIAN 

. CERAMICS 

TRIENNALE 

9-11 JULY 2015 CANBERRA, AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 

We are calling for Expressions of Interest for speakers and demonstrators as part of the 2015 

Australian Ceramics Triennale. Take this op portunity to push the boundaries an d su bmit to be 

part of the program or nominate someone who inspires you to step up and get involved. 

Make this program yours and be part of the biggest event in the Australian ceramics calendar! 

Visit the Stepping Up website for further details 

on the themes and the Expression of Interest 

package www.australianceramicstriennale.com 

Expressions of Interest close: COB Friday 22 August 2014 

Contact: Project Manager. Mel George. Craft ACT: Craft and 

Design Centre projectlOcraftact.org.au Ph 02 62629333 

Stepping Up partne rs: Craft ACT: Craft and Design Centre . 

The Australian Na tional Univers ity, Canberra Potters' Society. 

Strathnairn Arts Association. The Australi an Cera mics Association 

TIIEMES FOR TIlE CONFtRENCE ARE: 

.: Stepping Up: The Changing World 

Stepping Up: Your Role In the Future 

Stepping Up: Making Money 

CONFERENCE · MASTER-CLASSES . EXHIBITIONS . MARKET . TRADE FAIR ' TOURS ' SOCIAL EVENTS

Claybodies 

Claybodies is a newly formed Canberra group of professional practising ceramic artists. It has grown 

from initially six members in 2013 to around twenty-five in early 2014. Most members have a 

connection to ANU School of Art Ceramics Workshop. The aim of the group is to offer a continuing 

forum to share ideas, information and technical knowledge that supports the development of 

professional artistic pathways. This is achieved with monthly meetings, critique sessions, workshops, 

shared expertise and group exhibitions. Claybodies seeks to create a visible presence in Canberra and 

beyond by showcasing ceramics to the community. The intent is to celebrate the diversity of clay whilst 

encouraging innovation amongst members to enhance their varied practices. 

Claybodies held its inaugural group exhibition 'ceraMIX' at Form Studio and Gallery in February 2014, 

opened by Canberra ceramic artist Bev Hogg. This exhibition featured 12 artists - Jenny Harris, Melinda 

Brouwer, Jo Victoria, Anne Masters, Fran Romano, Anne Langridge, Tania Tuominen, Zhou Xuan, Erin 

Kocaj, Judy Greenfield, Pam Crossley and Agnieszka Berger. 

Other members have an exhibition planned for 13- 29 June 2013 at Strathnairn Gallery in Canberra. 

For more details go to, wvvw.strathnairn .com.au/exhibitions. 

A report by Sue Hewat 

1 Zhou Xuan 2 Pam Crossley 3 Anne Masters 


Forest Memories: Maryke Henderson 

Currently on display at Tamworth Regional 

Gallery is Forest Memories, an exhibition of 

work by New England artist Maryke Henderson. 

The exhibition features soda vapour-fired works 

that represent the marks left on a forest by 

natural and human intervention as Henderson's 

artist statement explains: 

As the flame transporting the soda vapours passes over 

the clay, if leaves a mark like a memory of its passing. 

This is what happens in nature when the passage oj 

fire, storms, insects, animals and man passes tlllvugh 

Ihe/oresf. 

Soda glazing has become a focus for the 

artist as it allows her to explore its layering and 

ageing effects on the surface of the clay. She also 

hand mixes her clay from various materials to 

encourage certain colour responses. 

Maryke Henderson, Forest 2013 

Soda vapour-glazed stoneware; tallest 84cm 

Photo: Stuart Hay, ANU Photography 

"Her main interest appears to be in creating 

surface effects through an unpredictable firing 

process that cannot be repeated, " says Tamworth 

Regional Gallery's Exhibitions and Collections 

Officer, Pam Brown. "The process allows Maryke 

to look at ageing on things like weathered lichens and walls that peel away. Her finishes represent a 

layering of the past, present and future," she says. 

For Henderson, the somewhat random results of soda firing contrast with the deliberateness of 

making to achieve meaning in the work. "The unpredictable painting with fire on the clay over the 

controlled mark-making and construction develops a dimension of tension between the organic and the 

contrived, of nature and man," she says. 

Maryke Henderson has featured in more than thirty exhibitions since 1988 in Sydney, Canberra, 

Brisbane, Perth and regional centres. 

Forest Memories is on display at Tamworth Regional Gallery until 3 May 2014. 

For more information. phone 02 6767 5248 or visit www.tamworthregionalgallery.com.au. 

A report by Candice Anderson 


Activities on the Coast 

The Gold Coast Potters' Association is planning several workshops this year. In May. Anne Mossman will 

be showing us how to use coloured porcelain clay, followed by Claire Locker in July, showing techniques 

with decorated soft slabs. Our next big event is the Art & Crafters' Market on Sunday 4 May. 

The 2013 Members' Exhibition was a huge success, with Journal editor Vicki Grima as our esteemed 

judge. The overall winner was Megan Puis with Habitat (detail image below). Images of the w inning 

entries can be viewed at www.goldcoastpotters. com. Our members also enjoyed the pinch pot 

worKshop that Vicki conducted. 

Johanna DeMaine was the winner of the Three Dimensional Prize (Gladstone Ports Corporation 

Award) at the prestigious Martin Hanson Memorial Art Awards in Gladstone in November 2013. Art on 

Cairncross gallery will be holding an exhibition of Johanna's new works, Landscapes of the Mind. in 

July 2014. 

Beatrice Prost won the Space section of the Bribie Island Potters Clay Creations Exhibition in 

November 2013 with her installation Earth in a Cube and Ellen Appleby won the Sculpture section with 

her decorated porcelain workActivities The Fish Rule, Okay. 

Kari and Stephen Roberts will be running workshops at their Piccabeen Pottery, Palmwoods 

throughout 2014. Contact Stephen on sr@stephenrobertsceramics.com.au for more information. 

A report by lyn Rogers 


Mark Valenzuela 

Mother Figurine. 2013 

handbuilt white stoneware 

blacK glaze pencil. h.69cm 

Photo: Art Informal 

Sophia Phillips introduces Mark Valenzuela 

Mark Valenzuela is a relatively new addition to Adelaide's ceramics community. After deciding to move 

to Australia from the Philippines with his partner two years ago, Valenzuela quickly established a 

reputation as a conceptually driven artist with considerable technical knowledge and skill. At the heart 

of Valenzuela's practice is an exploration of the individual within society. Internal and external conflict, 

anxiety and repetition are residing themes that Valenzuela uses to reveal the ways that an individual 

adjusts, conforms and rebels against his/herself and the society in which they live. 

I asked Valenzuela to tell us a bit about his experience with ceramics in the Philippines: 

There is a strong focus on wood firing, so there is an aesthetic preference for rGlv, earthy works thaI comes from thar. 

There ;s also a strong Japanese influence among some ceramic artists in the Philippines. For ceramic ar/iSIS based 

in (he provinces (outSide Manila), we have lillie access /0 ceramic supplies and facilities, so we dig and process our 

own clay and use makeshift kilns, or do open firing. 1 have had so many different makeshift kilns; e.g. in myoid house 

in Dumaguete I would sometimes constmct the kiln around a single work and then fire at night hoping my landlord 

wouldn 1 notice! 

Over the past decade Valenzuela has exhibited widely in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, China, 

USA and Australia, with work held in collections in the Philippines, China and Australia. He is currently a 

studio tenant at the JamFactory Ceramics Studio in Adelaide. 

www.artinformal.com/artists/view/56/ 

A report by Sophia Phillips 


Figuratively Speaking @ The Lady Franklin Gallery 

Recently, The Lady Franklin Gallery - a charming Greek edifice in Lenah Valley - was the venue for 

an inspiring exhibition exploring ways in which artists portrayed the figure in their work. Coordinator 

Dawn Oakford set up a dialogue bringing together Tasman ian artists working in both two and three 

dimensions with the resulting exhibition, Figura tively Speaking, an exciting mix of art forms and 

individual interpretations of the figure. Kate Piekutowski's skilfully layered prints, vibrant paintings by 

Vicki Chapman, Robin-Mary Calvert, and Kit Hiller, and fluid drawings by Russell Joyce and Birgitta 

Magnusson-Reid adorned the walls, providing a stimulating context for the ceramic work displayed 

below. 

Many of the sculptural works portrayed the female figure. The swelling contours of Sally Curry's 

figures exploited the tactility of clay in her endeavour to portray the curves of the female form in 

a manner reminiscent of Picasso. Susie McMahon's mixed media doll forms were quiet meditations 

on transience, life and loss. Other works recalled life experiences of women - Melissa MacCrum's 

stylised ceramic figures, mothers from different eras, represented family connections and memories; 

Carolyn Audet's tall handbuilt vessels, decorated with symbols of the human figure, also referred 

to fami ly, focusing on the all-seeing mother who watches over her progeny; and Dawn Oakford's 

doll-like statues, assembled from slipcast components, were decorated with snippets from her 

life, suggestive of broader narratives. Janet Walmsley recalled childhood memories of life in Kenya 

through her abstract slipcast ceramic figures. 

All these artists share a love of the medium with which they work. There was a freshness and 

immediacy about Figuratively Speaking, enhanced by the connections that the works suggested 

when displayed together. 

A report by Llewellyn Negrin and Dawn Oakford 

Sally Curry, The Muses, 2013; photo: Robin Roberts 


Ceramics at Melbourne Now 

The catch phrase of 'Melbourne Now' brags: " More than 

300 artists, 8000 m' of exhibition space. Free Entry" . The 

exhibition that spread across both The Ian Potter Centre: 

NGV Australia and NGV International had Victoria abuzz. 

Exemplifying Melbourne's ceramics community were 

Stephen Benwell and Prue Venables. Benwell's series of 

sensual male sculptures continued his fascination for Greco 

Roman statuary, and Venables' strainers appeared as precious 

and magical reliquaries arranged w ithin a velvet-covered 

niche . 

Janet Beckhouse's large sculptural grotesques stood in 

public sentinel and Penny Bryne's hundreds of refashioned 

figurines sprayed across the wall like a chanted protest 

bubble. Brendan Huntley's raw, whimsical totems and Ricado 

Idagi's self-portraits had a strong, expressive presence. Painter and stunning colourist Angela Brennan 

journeyed into glaze and earthenware w ith her naYvely made ceramics based on vessels from antiquity, 

and Alan Constable'S robustly built cameras delighted as always. I also really enjoyed the haunting 

beauty of Michelle Ussher's large porcelain work. Raymond Young 's spiritedly made shields were inspired 

by a clan elder's drawings and he was assisted by ceramicists Gretchen Hillhouse and Tony Stone as part 

of a statewide Indigenous Arts Officer in Prisons program. 

Much of the excitement was about the sheer number and breadth of artists, activities and events 

aligned to Melbourne Now. NGV Director Tony Ellwood has certainly lifted the calibre of public 

engagement, in particular the quality and inventiveness of the childrens programming. 

In Vipoo Srivilasa's two-hour Bleach workshop, small 'coral' sculptures created from recycled blue 

and white coloured rubbish were made as part of the Melbourne Now Community Hall. This was a 

disappOintingly minor event given Srivilasa's recent local and international projects that bring alive the 

place where clay, cultural and social etiquette, and values meet - Home at the Gyeonggi International 

Ceramic Biennale, Korea (httpJ/Vimeo.comlB5312114) and Thai Na Town Little Oz (http://Vimeo. 

coml57977259) are two engaging examples. 

The event closed on 23 March; www.ngv.vic.gov.au/melbournenow. 

For more, go to Robyn Phelan's blog, http://iookingwithsofteyes.blogspot,com.au 

A report by Robyn Phelan 

Above: Michelle Ussher, Amarouts M irror, 2012, porcelain, glazed, painted. powder-coated 

steel, milliput, h.6Scm, w.4Sem; purchased Victorian Foundation for living Australian Artists 2012 

Photo: courtesy National Gallery of Vidoria; e Michelle Ussher 


Born among the Eucalypts: Melanie Sharpham 

Melanie Sharpham once described to me her fondness for the silver gums in her Kensington garden. 

They inspired her business, Eucalypt Homewares. 

In her garden boutique studio, Mel designs slipcast porcelain tableware. Pivotal to her development 

was seledion by FORM in 2004 to attend the Designing Futures program for emerging artists. "I started 

small at one trade fair; six months later I'd moved to tableware. I had a young family, was pregnant, 

I produced a range and with no grants, took it to a trade fair over East" An entrepreneur was born. 

Selling at Perth Upmarket and Fremantle Art Centre's Bazaar allowed key customer feedback which she 

then aded on. Two years ago, five big orders arrived convincing her to quit her teaching job and" go 

for it". 

Starting with slipcast vessels in tinted porcelain, she was casting, decorating and finishing - tasks 

she'd disliked at Perth TAFE. She began applying Chinese tissue designs. Interiors are glazed, ware oncefired, 

then exteriors polished. Despite time and space limits, efficiency evolved. Recently Mel introduced 

her own print patterns. Contrasting her macro/micro patterns she notes which work best, explaining, "I 

always wanted to do my designs; 1 never liked putting someone else's designs on my work. It took years 

to identify a transfer maker and be in a position to pay for large batches made to order". 

With attentive styling and great photography on her website, her vessels appear contemporary 

and unprecious. Colours and imagery stem from native flora around the studio. Mel is emphatic that 

affordability, usefulness and beauty go hand-in-hand. Her work is for use, not destined for the china 

cabinet 

Now supported by her mum for administration and with two studio assistants, her Eucalypt 

Homewares are found in outlets across Australia. "There's hard work and risk," she says. "I never 

considered clay a hobby; 1 always felt it 

would become my career" ... and it is, 

a blossoming one! 

www.eucalypthomewares.com.au 

Left: Work by Melanie Sharp ham 

Photo: Claire McFerran 

A report by Elaine Bradley 


Stockists 

ACT 

canberra potters society 

1 aspinal st watson 

national gallery of australia 

books hop parkes pi canberra 

walker ceramics 

289 canberra ave fyshwick 

NSW 

art gallery of nsw 

art gallery rd the domain 

sydney 

bathurst regional art gallery 

70-78 keppel st bathurst 

bellingen newsagency 

83 hyde st bellingen 

blackwattle pottery 

20 stennett rd ingleburn 

broken hill regional art gallery 

404-408 argent st broken hill 

brookvale ceramic studio 

11/9 powells rd brookvale 

chinaclay 

40 burnie st clovelly 

cowra regional art gallery 

77 darling 51 cowra 

essential object 

65 andy poole drY tathra 

gaffa 

281 clarencest sydneycbd 

gleebooks 

131 glebe point rd glebe 

NEW 

goulburn regional art gallery 

cnr church and bourke sis goulburn 

hazelhurst regional gallery 

782 kingsway gymea 

inner city clayworkers gallery 

cnr st johns rd & darghan st glebe 

keane ceramics 

177 debenham rd south somersby 

kerrie lowe gallery 

49-51 king st newtown 

lake macquarie art gallery 

la first 51 booragul 

moochinside 

111 killcare rd hardys bay 

museum of contemporary art 

140 george st sydney 

northern rivers pottery supplies 

S4d terania 5t north lismore 

nsw pottery supplies 

411159 arthur st homebush 

nulladolla potters 

princes hwy milton 

planet 

114 commonwealth st surry hills 

powerhouse museum 

500 harris street ultimo 

sabbia gallery 

120 glen more rd paddington 

sturt craft centre 

range rd mittagong 

NT 

jacksons drawing supplies 

7 parap pi parap 

NEW 

museum and art gallery of the nt 

conacher st fannie bay 

QLD 

artspace mackay 

61 gordon 51 mackay 

cairns regional gallery 

cnr abbott and shields sts cairns 

gallery + cafe f rit 

104 yabba rd imbil 

gold coast city gallery 

135 bundall rd surfers paradise 

pottery supplies 

51 castlemalne st milton 

queensland art gallery 

stanley pi south bank 

the clay shed 

2124 hi-tech dve kunda park 

SA 

art gallery of south australia 

north terrace adelaide 

bamfurlong gallery 

main st hahndorf 

the pug mill 

17a rose Sl mile end 

TAS 

burnie regional art gallery 

77-79wilmolst burnie 

derwent ceramic supplies 

16b sunderland 51 moonah 

NEW 

NEW 

devonport regional gallery NEW 

45-47 stewart st devonport 

VIC 

bendigo art gallery 

42 view st bendigo 

brunswick bound 

361 sydney rd brunswick 

clayworks 

6 johnston crt dandenong 

craft 

31 flinders lane melbourne 

national gallery of victoria 

180 st kilda rd melbourne 

north cote pottery supplies 

142-144 weston st brunswick east 

potier 

29 mills st albert park 

potters equipment 

13/42 new 51 ringwood 

readings books 

3091ygon 51 carlton 

readings books 

112 aeland 5t st kilda 

shepparton art gallery 

70 welsford Sl shepparton 

the brunswick street bookstore 

305 brunswick st fitzroy 

WA 

fremantle arts centre 

1 finnerly st fremantle 

geraldton regional art gallery 

24 chapman rd geraldton 

graham hay 

robertson park artISts studio 

northbridge 

jacksons ceramics 

shop 4, 30 erindale rd balcatta 

perth institute of contemporary 

art 

perth cultural centre james st 

northbridge 

potters market 

56 stockdale rd o'connor 

NEW ZEALAND 

lopdell house gallery 

418 titirangi rd waitakere city 

south street gallery 

10 nile st west nelson 

140 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRi l 2014

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Become a member 

The 

AUSTRALIAN 

CERAMICS 

Association 

ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF BEING A MEMBER: 

• 1 year (3 issues) subscription to 

The Journal of Australian Ceramics, print + digital 

• 12 months Product, Public and Tenants 

Group Liability Insurance (optional) 

• 6 issues of TACA's bi-monthly enews, 

Australian Ceramics inTOUCH 

• Free artist listing on the online Australian 

Ceramics Oirectory 

• Oiscounts on TACA workshops 

• Opportunities to exhibit in TACA's national exhibitions 

• Opportunities to meet other ceramic artists and collectors 

• Tax-deductible membership fee 

Join now and be part of the peak organisation representing 

Australian Ceramics. 

Annual Fee (Membership is anniversary-based so the date you join becomes your annual renewal date) 

D 

D 

D 

Membership Fee $98' / w ithout insurance - available to groups and individuals 

Membership Fee $210' / with insurance, $1 0 million liability - ava ilable only to individuals* 

Membership Fee $230' / with insurance, $20 million liability - available only to individuals* 

* A Certificate of Currency will be issued to those who take the 'with insurance' option. 

, All prices include gst. 

Name __________________________ __ Address ______________ __ 

Postcode ___ Country _____ Phone ___ _ 

Email _______________________________ __ 

Method of payment: 

Cheque (AUS only) D MasterCard D Visa D 

Card Number DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 

Expiry Date DDDD 

D Direct Deposit' (The Australian Ceramics Association / Westpac / BSB 032298 / Account No. 760550) 

'PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME)N THE DEPOS)T DETAILS 

Signature / Date 

Fax or mail to The Australian Ceramics Association, PO Box 274 Waverley NSW 2024 Australia 

T: 1300720 124 F: +61 (2) 9369 3742 E: mail@australianceramics.com www.australianceramics.com 


On the Shelf 

More books are available on www.australianceramics.com 

4. Grafisk (Graphic) Porcelain 

by Ane-Katrine von Bulow 

1. Stephen Bowers 

Beyond Bravura 

by Damon Moon and 

John Neylon 

This book covers Bowers 

life as an educator, 

studio manager and arts 

administrator as well as 

his oustandlO9 artistic 

career 

AU 549.95 

2. Lustre by Greg Daly 

This handbook aims to 

explain and simplify the 

process of creating various 

types of lustre. The book 

covers recipes fOf lustres and 

techniques for applYing and 

firing, as well as showing 

you the results of the 

author's extensive testing 

AU 539.95 

3. Oeveloping Glazes 

by Greg Daly 

For any potter beginning to 

experiment with fired colour, 

texture and decoration in 

their work:. this book is an 

essential reference with 

practICal advice and step-bystep 

Instructions for testing 

glazes. 

AU 535 

This short film is about Danish 

artist Ane-Katrine von Bulow. 

It shoVolS her process of making 

porcelain forms and applying 

designs to them. She develops 

20 designs which she silkscreen 

prints onto tissue. then 

transfers onto her 3D vessels. 

Duration: 14:25 mins 

AU 530; limited supply 

available 

ORDER FORM 

ITEM 10 20 3D 40 

Name ____________________________ __ 

All prices include GST and postage 

within Australia. 

Addre" ________________ ____ _ 

___________________________ Postcode _______ Country ________ _ 

Phone _______ _________ Email ____ ______________________ _ 

Cheque (AUS only) 0 MalterCard 0 Vila 0 

Card Number DODD DODD DODD DODD 

Exp!IYOat' 0 0 00101.011 __ _ The Australian Ceramics Association 

PO 80x 274 Waverley NSW 2024; T: 1300 720 124 

E: mall@au5lralianceramlCs.com; www.austrahanceramICS.com 

2014 Focus 

& Deadline Dates 

Vol 5] No 2 

Publication: 

17 July 2014 

Emerging artists 

writers and 

photographers 

Deadline for copy: 

5 May 2014 

Vol 5] No 3 

Publication: 

20 November 2014 

Collaborations 

Oeadllne for copy: 

9 September 2014 

2015 Deadlines 

Vol 54 No 1 

Publication: 

1 April 2015 

Focus: to be advised 

Deadline fOf copy: 

2 February 2015

Classifieds 

CERAMIC SUPPLIES 

BLACKWATTLE POTTERY SUPPLIES 

Sydney-based pottery supply outlet selling clays from 

Blackwattle, Clayworks, Feeneys, Keanes, Limoges and 

Walkers with over 50 different clays held in stock. We also 

manufacture earthenware, terracotta. stoneware and 

porcelain casting slips. Blackwattle, Cesco, Deco and Kera 

underglaze colours and glazes. Bulk raw materials. stains. 

oxides, tissue transfers. lustres. wheels, kilns. tools. 

workshops, classes, earthenware and stoneware firing 

service. bisque ware, free advice, low prices and great 

service. Over 30 years potting experience, delivery available 

Australia-wide. Showroom open 6 days; 20 Stennett Rd, 

Ingleburn N5W 2565; T: 02 9829 5555; F: 02 9829 6055; E: 

blackwattlepottery@bigpond .com; www.blackwattle.net.au 

CUSTOM DECALS 

By using state of the art digital printing technology, Decal 

Specialists can produce high quality custom digital ceramic 

decals and custom glass digital decals from original artwork 

(CMYK). The decorative possibilities with Custom Digital 

Decals are only limited by your imagination! Check out our 

website: VVW'IN.decalspecialists.com .au 

T: Australia 1300 132 771 New Zealand: 0800 000 451 

E: enquires@decalspecialjsts.com .au 

KERRIE LOWE GALLERY 

Sydney inner city pottery supplies: Keane's Clay - discount 

on 5 bagYl0+ bags; Southern Ice Porcelain; Museum Gel 

Chinese Decals; wide range of tools, glazes, underglazes. 

Kerrie Lowe Gallery, 49 King 5t, Newtown 2042; T: 02 9550 

4433; W'NW.kerrieJowe.com; Mon to Sat, lOam - 5.30 pm; 

Thurs until 7 pm. 

NORTH COTE POTTERY SUPPLIES 

Northcole Pottery Supplies sells a range of quality pottery 

materials including clay, glaze, tools and equipment for 

the student, hobbyist and professional. We run a range 

of classes and workshops for those interested in further· 

ing their skill and knowledge in ceramics. We offer a firing 

service. studio access and residency program, as well as 

housing SMAllpieces, a space showcasing contemporary 

Australian ceramics. 142~144 Weston Street Brunswick East 

3057; T: 03 9387 3911 ; F: 03 9387 4011 

WININ.northcotepotterysupplies.com.au 

OXYGEN PROBE 

The CP probe is a very simple, low cost oxygen probe with 

an easy-to-read digital meter displaying oxidatiOn/reduction. 

This probe is ideal to control both gas and wood·fired kilns. 

Type CP oxygen probe - the simple, low-cost potters' probe. 

See lNINW.cof.com.auJAOS or call Australian Oxytrol Systems 

on 03 5446 1530. 

POTTERS EQUIPMENT PTY LTD 

Quality supplies and friendly service; A wide range of clays 

and colours, wheels, slab rollers, pugmills. extruders. all sorts 

of accessories, materials, glazes and tools. 

Shop 13/42 New St, Ringwood VIC 3134 

T: 03 9870 7533; F: 03 9847 0793 

VENCO PRODUCTS 

Manufadurers and exporters of high quality pottery 

equipment. Venco manufacture a range of pugmills with 

output capacities, suitable for schools and studios through 

to high capacity industrial units. Venco pottery wheels are 

world regarded for quality and reliability. 

T: +61 (0)8 9399 5265; F: +61 (0)89497 1335 

www.venco.com.au 

WALKER CERAMICS I FEENEYS CLAY I CESCO 

NEWS FLASH: Our NEW webshop will be open soon for 

direct orders & Greg Daly videos are now available as DVDs. 

Our factory outlet is open at 1/21 Research Drive Croydon 

South with ceramic supplies and advice - clays, glazes, 

colours, raw materials, tools, brushes, eqUipment, kilns, 

wheels, books and kiln furniture. Great parcel and pallet 

rates Australia wide. Please see our website for full product 

information including methods of use, application and faults 

and remedies. Download our Pottery & Ceramic Handbook, 

Melbourne & Canberra price lists and Feeneys Clay price list 

at lNWW.walkerceramics.com.au. Our aim is to use, from 

Australian sources, the best quality raw materials to produce 

our own range of Australian-made bodies, glazes and 

colours for all aspects of ceramic production; 2/21 Research 

Drive, Croydon South VIC 3136 T: 03 8761 6322 

F: 03 8761 6344: Toll free : 1800 692 529 or 18000ZCLAY 

E: sales@Walkerceramics.com.au; orders@Walkerceramics. 

com.au or david@Walkerceramics.com.au 

www.walkerceramics.com.au 

FOR SALE 

PROPERTY FOR SALE on the south coast of WA comprising 

40 acres pasture, 60 acres bush, 5 bedroom home complete 

with fully functional pottery on the tourist route. This offers 

a rewarding lifestyle in a beautiful area. Details are available 

from owners; T: 08 98401480; E: uralba@dearmail .com.au 

Price: $900,000 negotiable. 

LOVELY PROPERTY FOR SALE in Gulgong (previously the 

workshop of Ivan McMeekin); includes a three bedroom 

house, double garage and two large sheds, one of which 

has been designed and built as a clay preparation unit 

with studio workshop and oHice area; 14 acres with creek 

frontage; asking $340,000; contact Peter Druitt Real Estate 

Mudgee; wwvv.peterdruittco.com. 

AS NEW 21 CUBIC FT CESCO GAS KILN 

Twin pilot, 4 main burner, multiple shelves and props. digital 

pyrometer, stainless canopy and flu. Paid total of $15,500 

on del Feb 09; fired less than a dozen times. 

As new condition, currently in storage. Moved properties 

and won't fit new studio. A regretful sale, S9750 neg. 

Contad Nadine on 0417 688 642 or email 

nadine.wilson 1@bigpond.com 

KILN FOR SALE 12 cubic foot ceramic fibre-lined LPG kiln 

made by Steve Harrison of Hot & Sticky. Superb stoneware 

reduction kiln with 12 x 1" thick kiln shelves; kiln has done 

46 firings; plus clay and minerals. Price: $2500. 

Contad Greg Hampton, H: 02 42681864; M: 0415 697 

336; W: 02 4221 3446; E: gregh@aanet.com.au. 

'44 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 2014

GROUPS 

CERAMIC STUDY GROUP Inc. Est. 1963 

We are dedicated to supporting ongoing learning for all 

potters through monthly meetings, demonstrations and 

workshops by leaders in our field. CSG membership gives 

you access to our extensive library including up-la-the 

minute books, periodicals and OVOs. 

There is also the opportunity to join the CSG woodflring 

team at our kiln at Oxford Falls. We publish an informative 

monthly newsletter and provide a friendly and welcoming 

forum for everyone interested in continuing their education 

in ceramics; 1: 0404 473 250 or 0243436877. 

E: ceramicstudygroupinc@gmail.com or find U5 on facebook. 

~ 

~ 

PORT HACKING POTTERS GROUP 

We encourage aU with an interest in pottery/ceramic art to 

jOin us on the 1 5t Wednesday of the month for demonstrations 

and informative meetings - 7.30pm upstairs meeting 

room Cronulla School 01 Arts. Surf Road, Cronulla; members' 

kilns. library. workshops and market stalls. 

T: 0407 229 151; PO Box 71 Miranda N5W 1490 

E: pottersgroup@hotmaiLcom 

www.porthackingpotters.blogspot.com 

MOULD/MODEL MAKER 

SPECIALIST IN PROTOTYPE AND MOULD-MAKING for 

ceramic mass production and artworks. Ceramic design 

service also available. Contact Somchai. 1: 02 9703 2557 

M : 0401 359 126; E: eatandclay@gmail.com 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

GREG PIPER IMAGE SOLUTIONS 

Providing ceramic artists with digital and traditional 

photographic imagery. as well as graphic design to print or 

electronic media; an Associate AIPP (Australian Institute of 

Professional Photographers) with over 30 years experience 

in various advertising, corporate and government projects; 

previously (for eleven years) inaugural manager of the photographidmultimedia 

unit at the Powerhouse Museum in 

Sydney; Drummoyne NSW 2047; T: 02 9181 1188 M : 0411 

107744; E: greg@gregpiper.com.auwww.gregpiper.com.au 

PLINTHS 

PLINTHS MADE TO ORDER 

Affordable. designed for structural integrity. lightweight; 

also for hire; flat pack option now available. 

Roger Fenlon, St Ives. Sydney. NSW 

T: 02 9488 8628; F: 02 9440 1212; M: 0417 443 414 

WORKSHOPS / SEMINARS 

SLOW CLAY CENTRE 

Slow Clay Centre oHers an extensive variety of ceramics and 

pottery classes throughout the year - weekly term classes, 

intensive weekends and short courses and a rich variety of 

one~day guest artist workshops and forums. SCC caters for 

children and adults, from beginners to the more skilled. 

13 Keele SI. Collingwood VIC 3066; T: 0418 106 039. 

E: info@siowday.com; \NWW.slowday.com 

AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION DIRECTORY 

CERAMIC DESIGN STUDIO - SYDNEY TAFE 

Sutherland College. Gymea 9 & 18 week short courses plus 

Certificate, Diploma & Advanced Diploma qualifications in 

ceramics - full and part-time attendance; Cor The Kingsway 

and Hotham Road. Gymea NSW; T: 02 9710 5001 

www.sydneytafe.edu.au 

www.facebook.comlceramicdesignstudio 

HOlMESGlEN 

Holmesgien Chadstone Campus: Diploma of Ceramics 

The scope and vision of our DIploma of Ceramics course at 

Hoimesglen is to prepare students for a career in the ceramic 

arts. We provide a professional, well equipped studio 

environment and the staff are recognized, practising artists. 

Our aim is to inspire individual development and encourage 

ongoing levels of inquiry. Kim Martin. Course Coordinator of 

Ceramics and Visual Arts; T: 03 9564 1942; 03 9564 1716 

E: kim.martin@holmesglen.edu.au 

www.holmesglen.edu.au 

AUSTRALIAN GAll ERY DIRECTORY 

CHINACLAY 

Chinaclay, located in Sydney's eastern suburbs. is a space 

dedicated to handmade Australian ceramics. You will find 

work by artist potters from all around Australia including 

some of Australia's best known, along with those in the 

early stages of their career; 40 Burnie St, (lovelly NSW 

2031; T: 0427 904 407; www.chinaclay.com.au. 

GOLD COAST CITY GALLERY 

The GCC Gallery hosts a program of regularly changing 

exhibitions from local, national and international sources. 

The Arts Cenlre Gold Coast. 135 8undall Road. Surfers Paradise, 

OLD 4217; T: 07 55816567; E: gallery@theartscentregc.com.au; 

www.theartscentregc.com.aulgallery 

www.ceramicartaward.com; Mon to Fri, l Oam - Spm 

Sat, Sun & PH. 11am - 5pm. 

KERRIE lOWE GAllERY 

Contemporary Australian ceramics and pottery supplies 

located in inner city Sydne-y. The gallery features fundional 

ware, vessels, sculpture and jewellery by emerging and 

professional ceramic artists; 49~51 King St, NelNtown NSW 

2042; 02 9550 4433; www.kerrielowe.com 

MU CERAMICS STUDIO GAllERY 

Upcoming exhibitions: 27 April-17 May 2014: Now and 

Then - Ceramics by Kim-Anh Nguyen; 14 June - 5 July 

2014: Venus Unearthed - Sculpture by Feyona van Stom. 

The Gardener·s Cottage. Headland Park Artist 

Precinct, BIll OOa Middle Head Rd, Mosman NSW 2088 

1: 02 9960 1777; E: mulan@studiomu.com.au 

lMVW.studiomu.com.au; Tues to Sat lOam - 5pm. 

\uiiw, ...... · 

,; \RTSP,\CE 

WHITEHORSE ARTSPACE 

26 June - 2 Augusl 2014: Still Firing at 45; Since 2004. 

Whitehorse Council has been custodial curator of the 

Ceramics Victoria Inc. Collection. In 2014, this important 

state institution celebrates 45 years of studio ceramics in 

Victoria with a survey of significant works. Artspace, 1022 

Whitehorse Rd. Box Hill, VIC. 

Tues to Fri. l Oam - 4pm, Sat, 12-4pm; T: 03 9262 6250 

W\IIIW.whitehorseartspace.com.au 


CALL TO ARTISTS 

2014 Guest Artist in Residence Program 

Northcote Pottery Supplies would like to invite emerging and 

established ceramic artists to apply for a three month residency in 

2014. Selected artists will be allocated a private studio space, rent 

free, at our Brunswick East location. This is an opportunity for artists to 

develop and produce work, experiment, tackle a new project 

or more ... 

For details visit www.northcotepotterysupplies.com.au 

2014 Dates 

10 June - 29 August 

15 September - 5 December 

Applications due 28 April 2014 

Hands-on 

Masterclass 

Collector's Boxes 

with 

Glenn England 

Saturday 14 June 

100m - 3pm 

$150.00 

Northcote Pottery Supplies 

142-144 Weston St 

Brunswick East, Victoria 3057 

(03) 9387 3911 

www.northcotepotterysupplies.com.au

-~-- -~--------------- ---- - -----., 

COLOURS Rockwood Pigments, Cesco, 

Walker Ceramics, Clayworks , Deco, 

Chrysanthos CLAYS Bendigo, Bennetts, 

Blackwattle, Clayworks, Feeneys, Keanes, 

Northcote, Walkers EQUIPMENT extru 

wheels, slab rollers, 

ACCESSORIES Brushes, corks, 

kiln shelves, etc MATERIALS 25g 

and more GLAZES Powder and liq 

Clay tools, Kemper, Giffin Gri p and 

NEW - Limited supply of Duncan UflJUlJ{;t 


GUEST ARTIST 

WORKSHOPS 

SLOW CLAY CENTRE 

Together with our weekly classes we also have a dynamic range of guest artist workshops: 

IRIANNA PENNY BYRNE LIZ WILLIAMS SUE ROBEY CHRISTOPHER 

KANELLOPOULOU Ceramic Large figurative Constructing SANDERS 

2 part mould- Conservation & & sculptural with Photography for 

making Restoration ceramics Paperclay social media 

6 Wks: Apr 29 - 

16 MARCH Jun 3 13 JULY 10 AUG 5 OCT 

Book o nlin e for workshops: 

www.slowclay.com 

SL O W 

CLAY 

CENTRE 

13 Keele St . Collingwood . Victoria 

Info@slowclay.com 

Studio visits by appointment only 


Port Hacking 

Potters Group 

A Division of Cronulla School of Arts Inc. 

48th National Pottery 

Competition and 

Exhibition 2014 

Hazelhurst Regional Gallery 

and Arts Centre 

GymeaNSW 

20 September to 1 October 

Judged by Patsy Hely 

Port Hacking Potters Group 

PO Box 71 Miranda NSW 1490 

Phone 0407 229 151 

Email pottersgroup@}lotmail.com 

Entry forms due 8 September 2014

The Australian Ceramics 

Association 

Secure and Easy 

online 

shopping 

is now available 

@ www.australianceramics.com 

RENEW· SUBSCRIBE • JOIN· GIVE A GIFT 

The Journal of Australian Ceramics 

The Australian Ceramics Association 

Public and Product Liability Insurance 

Back issues. books and technical guides 

CERAMIC ARTS ASSOCIATION 

OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

POTOBER 2014 

3-5 October 

The Central Institute of Technology. Perth 

A smorgasbord of workshops 

International 

Cathi Jefferson CAN. Jennifer McCurdy USA 

Ruthanne Tudball UK 

AustraHa 

Bela Korai WA. Chesler Nealie NSW 

W.,rrick Palmateer WA. Ted Secombe VI C 

Kenji Urani. hi QLD. Mary Wallace WA 

For registration and more de{ails; 

www.ceramicartswa.asn.au 

T: 0408 904 271 (Cher) 

Payment Options 

Credit Card· Paymate • Direct Deposit 

Gold C~~~t 

International 

CAL L 

Ceramic Art Award 

6 September - 26 October 2014 

FOR E 1RIE 

$1 0,000 FIRST PRIZE (acquisitive) 

Entries close Friday 27 June 2014 

www.ceramicartaward.com 

k 

GOLD 

The Arts Centre Cold Coasl 

COAST 135 Bundal l Rd Surfers Paradise Q 4217 

CITY 07 5581 6567 

galleJyOtheartscentregc.com.au 

GALLERY www.theartsccntregc.com.au 

Image: 

l~isa RUSSEll, 11 Shades of blue 2012, pure silk and porcelain, 

Winner 28th Gold Coast International Ceramic Award 2012 


Every Xiem'M Studio Tool offers a simple 

solution and creative purpose. Beautifully 

designed and manufactured, Xiem Studio 

Tools are the new essentials for clay artists. 

PRO-SPONGES 

An extremely soft, super absorbent and 

long-lasting chamois sponge. Tapered 

edges give fine control for working with 

either Porcelain or Stoneware clay. 

Use the finishing sponge for 

adding final refinements to any 

clay body 

$6.95 each 

SILICONE RIBS 

Choose from 8 handy shapes 

Available in soft or firm. Heat, 

solvent, stain and crack resistant design. 

Great for shaping, smoothing and 

finishing clay in tight areas. 

$8.90 each 

DECORATING RIBS 

Perfect for adding 3-dimensional detail 

to ceramics. Use to texture any malleable 

surface including clay, thick slip, underglaze 

and engobe. Pull straight, wavy, or crisscross 

over surfaces to create beautiful custom 

designs. 6 patterns to choose from. 

$6.30 each

mu ceramics studio gallery 

headland park artist precinct, mosman nsw 

contact mulan gock 0411473072 

studio 02 9960 1777 

studiomu.com.au 

o 

CHINO C LOY 

A retail space for handmade Australian ceramics 

40 Burnie St Clovelly NSW 2 0 3 1 

Thurs - Fri loam - 6pm / Sat- Sun roam - 3pm 

By appointment outside these hours 

042790 440 7 

www.chinaclay.com .au

MKM HANd"Ulll~K'-T' 


AUSTRALIAN 

CERAMICS 

Association 

• OOJ (910) 105-170J tBI mIantooIsJOpnoiI.com 

Wailcato Cel'ilmics (NZ) 

078568890 

I DOI'.."rl'ottery Studio (NZ) 

MI

Art and Ecology Centre 

Maroochy Bushland Botanical Gardens 

September 5th - 13th 

for more information visit our website or 

phone Jackie on 0438 450 349 

proud ly presented by 

Suncoast Clayworkers Association

Still Firing at 45 

Celebrating 45 years of Ceramics Victoria Inc. and their Permanent Collection 

26 June ~ 2 August 2014 

Whitehorse 

fiRTSPACE 

Image: !!any SgIem. J .. 2008 

C TlvlMi~ and eer.mc. v--. Inc. 

Located at 1he Box H* TO'Ml Hall 

1022 Whitehorse Road 

BoxH~ 

Phone 03 9262 6250 

Opening hours 

Tuesday to Fridays lOam4pm 

SatlKdays 12pm4pm 

www.whitehorseartspac.com.au

CLAYWORKS 

COLOURED 

PORCELAIN SLIPS 


([RAmIH AUSTRALIA 

QUALITY WHEELS, MILLS & KILNS 

SHIMPO Precision Pottery Equipment 

To view our full range of equipment please visit our website 

www.shimpo.com.au 

lIDller 

[mIJ 

~. " -"-... .... •• >:... ....."". •• "J,,>,:,.-.:,."'""..... ~ , -~.......';'41' 


We offer a range of specialist ceramic studio courses. 

Qualifications: Diploma, Advanced Diploma & Certificates in Ceramics 

VET FEE Help available for Diploma & Advanced Diploma 

Short Courses: 9 Week Wheel & Handbuilding Classes 

18 Week Advanced Wheel & Mould Making Classes 

Open Studio Access 

Marian.HoweIl2@det.nsw.edu.au 

The Kingsway & Hotham Road 

Gymea NSW 2227 

Tel: (02) 9710 5001 

Photography: Saraid Brock Ceramics: Sarah Collins


AUSTRALIAN 

CERAMICS 

Association 

WORK 

SHOPS 

DEMONSTRATION &: TALK 

The Life of Clay: 

The lessons of 25 years in Japan 

with Euan Craig 

Thursday 29 May 2014; 10am - 1pm 

Ceramics Department @ National Art School 

Forbes St, Darlinghurst Sydney NSW 2010 

http://euancraig.com 

http://euancraig.blogspot.com.au 

Cost: $30 per person 

($25 TACA members) 

WORKSHOP 

ReCLAYm &: UPcycie 

A contemporary ceramic sculpture workshop 

with Aedan Harris 

Saturday 21 & Sunday 22June 2014 

10am - 4pm both days 

Wollongong City Gallery, Cnr Kembla and 

Burelli Streets, Wollongong 2500 

www.aedanharris.com 

Cost: $195 per person 

($175 TACA members) 

For further information: http://australianceramics.wordpress.com/ 

For bookings: The Australian Ceramics Association 

T: 1300720 124 F: 02 9369 3742 E: mail@australianceramics.com 

www.australianceramics.com

AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS 

OPEN STUDIOS 2014 

Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 August 

A~~ 

OPEN 

~ 


16 & 17 AUGUST 

The event known as the OSCAS in 2013 has been 

renamed and will now be known as 

Australian Ceramics Open Studios (ACOS). 

Before we are overrun with spring fairs. we will warm 

our studios (for those down south). open the doors and 

welcome the locals in to see what we make. 

To participate you (or your group) need to be a member 

of The Australian Ceramics Association and have public 

liability insurance cover. There is no fee to participate. 

Deadline for Expression of Interest: 16 May 2014 

For more information on how to participate, 

go here: http://tinyurl,com/acos2014 

or contact The Australian Ceramics Association 

T: 1300 720 124 

E: mail@australianceramics.com 

www.australianceramics.com 

The Australian 

Ceramics Association's 

Biennial Exhibition 2014 


2 May - 8 June 2014 

the course of objects: 

the fine lines of inquiry 

Curator: Susan Ostling 


West Esplanade, Manly NSW 209S 

www.manly.nsw.gov.au 

T: 02 9976 1500 

160 THE JOURNAL OF AUSTRALIAN CERAMICS APRIL 20 14

Clay Extruder 

-all stainless steel 

so no rusting 

-supplied with dies 

-simple bayonet lock 

die holder (no tools reqd.) 

perfect for studio 

or classroom. 

- safe and easy to use 

cP twist-lock die holder 

Direct-drive wheel 

- stainless steel bodyflegs 

- optional tray tables 

- very quiet and smooth 

- high torque 

I rev 

- aux. hand speed control 

- can be used as table-top 

smooth and responsive 

- no belts or drive wheels 

Super-twin Pugmill 

- ultimate versatility 

- reclaim dry/wet scrap, extrude, de-air, blend 

- all stainless steel for zero clay contamination 

- Clip on extruding nozzles 

- tool-free barrel removal 

- twin auger mixing chamber 

- safe, easy feed , hopper 

s~ 

';;;;"M_ system I 

shown extruding a 12.5cm wide tile 

Mk2 Series Pugmills 

- 3 sizes available 

- standard and de-airing 

- the world renown workhorse 

venco 

VV\I\J\N.vencO.COn1 .ilU 

for I7lOl8 deIaiIs 01' your ph (08) 9399 5265 

closest disIributor; fax (08) 9497 1335 

.com.au

The Journal of Australian Ceramics Vol 53 No 1 April 2014

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