Pottery In Australia Vol 38 No 3 September 1999

There are not many places in the world that gay and
lesbian culture could express itself in public freely with
the whole country being so curious and accepting.
Australians are not only able to express themselves freely,
but many seemed to be unstoppable in their celebration.
People from all over the world come to be one with the
carnival. The intensity of the multicultural atmosphere
showed me that in Australia people of different
backgrounds and cultures can come together in peace
and happiness. Coming from the land of smiles, it was
great to experience this here, for every one smiled
"Happy Mardi Gras".
The various extravagantly flamboyant floats and props,
with the dazzling and sparkling costumes of the
participants, provided perfect inspirations to develop a
series of work based on the Sydney Gay and Lesbian
Mardi Gras, but with a Thai perspective.
The forms of fish fins and the female figures are used
on the pieces to symbolise the traditional image of the
mermaids, this is the same for both Thai and Australian
cultures. These elements with the forms and images of the
Mardi Gras' costume combine together in a equilibrium of
design and concept. Dry glazes, which look like moss,
were used to represent the surface of the creature, living
deep in the water. Two parts of Thai traditional costume,
which are the glittering headdress and the pointed epaulet,
were incorporated into the pieces. Gold leaf and little
pieces of mirror were used for finishing the works. At the
Mardi Gras I observed how a number of participants
enhanced their magnificence, by the use of 'high heels',
thus, I created 'high heeled' stands for the pieces in this
series. The stands also reference Thai classical dance ..
I like to think that I use glaze in the same way as
painters would use their colour because I use several glaze
recipes for the pieces. Some of the pieces had more than
five glazes applied and were fired more than four times.
However, I do not want my "painting" to show only
Since Childhood, I have been fascinated with the tales colour, but the detail and the texture as well. To achieve
told to me by my grandmother. One of the this goal, a wide selection of brushes, in a variety of sizes
characters from those tales has stayed with me ever were used. The variations of brush sizes allowed for thick
since. Suvan Madcha (A Mermaid), from one of the and thin applications of glaze at the same time. Some
Ramayana 1 stories, tells of a mermaid caught between the pieces were glazed twice before firing, and some were
forces of good and evil.
fired at high temperature, then glazed again and refired at
Suvan Madcha continues the series of work, I did for my a lower temperature. Applying a second layer of glaze, I
Postgraduate Diploma (Ceramics) Monash University as an intentionally left some surfaces uncovered or wiped the
oversea student from Thailand.
glaze out using a wet sponge so the first layer of glaze
Today, it is my privilege to be able to study in Australia could show through; choosing totally different kinds of
and whilst here I have experienced and seen many new glazes, to be used together, especially in terms of colour
things. I have been very impressed by Australians' free t(J and texture. For example, I applied a thin layer of smooth
expression, multiculturalism and friendliness.
green glaze with an overlapping use of an orange glaze,
One of those occasions that demonstrated these facets of firing once. This combination creates a bright orange
Australian culture was the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi surface with green mossy texture underneath. In addition,
Gras. While at the Mardi Gras I could almost imagine I also used dry glaze over a glossy glaze to obtain unique
myself in one of those Ramayana stories; I observed many colours and textures.
incarnations of Suvan Madcha in the parade.
I also produced a second generation of pieces based on
the
oft
hur
'coi
Th(
the
ere:
exf
apf
cor
my
1 -
and
Yip<
Jam
T: ((
Ema
Wet
Pre
Se,
Wo
Grc
44 POTTERY IN AUSTRALIA + 38/3 SEPTEMBER 1999