Sia.

If this clip doesn't get you motivated nothing will! She is so excited at the end. It's wonderful.

Gaye Lynn and Michael Hodgson.

I had a look at Gaye Lynn and Michael Hodgson' website the other day and found this photo of the most gorgeous kiln. It would have to encourage anyone to make things just to get the smoke and flame roaring through that chimney.

Hodgson and Hodgson Studio: 

Located on the beautiful Dry Cypress Creek in Wimberley (just a little off the beaten path), you’ll find the remarkable Hodgson & Hodgson Studio. Longhorn cattle roam the grounds of this beautiful country space, where an outdoor kiln fires perfect finishes into beautiful handmade pottery. Gaye Lynn and Michael Hodgson have been working with clay since the 1970s, always inspired by the beauty they find in blending function and form. They love the process of making pots and the joy that using handmade pottery brings to their lives. 

“We discovered clay and each other right after graduation from Texas A&M in 1978,” Gaye Lynn and Michael say. “From that moment, our fates were sealed—we left our brand new science degrees behind and pursued the art of pottery-making with a beginner’s zeal, relying on experience as our teacher.” 

Gaye Lynn and Michael built their studio and workshop at 1100 Dry Cypress Ranch Rd. from recycled materials salvaged from old buildings. They combine age-old techniques and modern tools with their sense of design to produce a full line of functional, handmade pottery. Gaye Lynn’s pottery is hand-built, using slab construction, while Michael uses the potter’s wheel primarily in the construction of his pots. All of their work is one-of-a-kind, as well as food, microwave, oven and dishwasher safe. The pots are perfect for use as dinnerware, serving pieces and kitchenware, or for many other uses throughout the home and garden. Call 512-847-7197 for an appointment (and directions) to meet Gaye Lynn and Michael and browse their gallery of fine pottery. You can also find Hodgson & Hodgson pottery at Brieger Pottery in Blanco, All About Image in Wimberley, and Clayways in Austin.

It's Sunday.

Simon Leach.

If only everyone just played with clay...

dymo clay graffiti.

I'm generally anti graffiti, but this is cute!

Like candy.

Big bowl for garden post.

Again, I appologise for the photo (web cam shot) anyone that wants advertising space in the right hand column, only need give me a free Canon or Nikon digital SLR.

I started this yesterday. It's summer again, so almost drying fast enough to go through my next bisque firing; I"ll have to put it into a plastic storage container to slow the drying down.

It's for the garden. I'm going to screw it to the top of a tall post so the magpies can find a drink (free from the worries of stray cats and dogs) through this drought that persists. I hope they can perch on the rim without too much trouble, oh well, they may just enjoy a swim I guess.

Bowl.

Firstly, I apologize for the quality of the photo. I'm using my web cam. as I still have not bought a new camera, and the old Canon is definitely dead(it did find new legs for a while). 

I will replace the bad photos when I get a new camera. 

This was the bowl that grabbed my attention from the last firing, it has rarely left my side for the past two days. It has a slashed indentation down the front, with a raised badge at the top. The brown ring is an iron oxide brush line.  

Inside are a few marks from some small stones left in the clay, they have a blue colour, so figure it's a bit of basalt. This leads me to trying a similar colour as  a brush work to the outside. I will try dulling a cobalt carbonate with some iron oxide. The right mix though? maybe 40/50 Cobalt/iron oxide. Your suggestion?

Looking from above.

africa

australia

north america

Toku art blog.

I've just spent the past half hour or more looking through Toku art's blog site. The articles are written by Mr. Wahei Aoyama. About his travels through Japan, visiting potters of all sorts. Some wonderful works to look at and read about. Highly recommend you take some time and have a look.

Photo is of Sugiura-san and his work.

Twitter.

I've just added "Twitter" to my sidebar. So, lets see what happens.

Add a comment?

Circle/line.

Serviette rings and letter openers.

These serviette rings and letter openers were made by me in the late ‘80s. They've stood the test of time! Made from the width of a eucalyptus branch, the hardest thing was to find a branch with the bark intact.

It’s interesting to re-assess work, and see if you could improve or re-interpret it. Maybe some ceramic version is in order?

Artbank ready to lend a hand.

"The (Australian) government art rental service plans to support a skittish market, writes Ashleigh Wilson | March 10, 2009"

Article from: The Australian.

A favourite bowl, or four.

The Top photo is a stack of bowls that my grandmother brought back from Hong Kong in the early eighties. I have had many a desert from them. 

I attribute them to my sense of value of functional hand made. Everyone should have something like these, not bland perfect Maxwell and Williams white ware.

The bottom photo is my interpretation of them.

Oh, I do wish Gran had brought back more. Eight originally, I think? now just the four.

Logitech web cam shot.

Making Art – Making a Living Workshops.

Arts North West and Northern Inland Regional Development Board are working with the New England Regional Art Museum in Armidale, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Inverell Art Society and Moree Plains Regional Gallery to bring a one-day workshop to each area between 3 - 6 March 2009.  

The workshops are the next stage of the Art as an Industry Symposiums. The program has been devised after consideration of the feedback received from the Visual Arts Survey Report undertaken of the New England North West region of NSW by Isabelle Devos.

The Making Art – Making a Living workshops for artists, art societies and galleries are supported by Museums & Galleries NSW (M&G NSW) and the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) whose representatives, Cath Fogarty and Merrilee Kessler, will be presenters at the workshops.  Other speakers include successful Northern Rivers artists Robyn Sweany and Christine Willcocks who are founding members of c.a.s.e (contemporary art space and education) and the Piece Gallery, Mullumbimby.

 For information contact:

Jack Ritchie, Regional Arts Development Officer/Executive OfficerArts North West Regional Arts Board

P: 0267 324988

E: artsnw@northnet.com.au

w: www.artsnw.com.au

Creative Industries Innovation Centre.

$17M Centre to Boost Creative Industries,

The Creative Industries Innovation Centre (CIIC) has funding of $17 million over four years. The centre was launched on 17 February 2009 by Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, and Arts Minister, Peter Garrett.

Read more here.

2009 Cicely and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award

• 12 March–30 August 2009

  The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
  

 

2009 Cicely and Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award

In March 2009, the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) will present the fifthCicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award.

The Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award is a generous legacy of the late Colin Rigg (1895–1982), a former Secretary of the NGV Felton Bequests' Committee. This ‘Award of Excellence’ focuses on contemporary design practice in the state of Victoria.

This award is arguably the most prestigious offered to a contemporary designer in Australia, with a prize of $30,000. In 2009 the exhibition will be dedicated to contemporary furniture design.

Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director, NGV said: “This award brings together works by fourteen Victorian furniture designers and reflects the NGV’s continuing support for, and commitment to, contemporary design.”

“The Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award is regarded as one of the most prestigious design prizes in Australia and we remain indebted to Cicely and Colin Rigg and to the Rigg Bequest for the vision and foresight that continue to make this important event possible,” said Dr Vaughan.

The participating artists in 2009 are: Adam Cornish, Lambie Chan, Lucas Chirnside, Matthew Harding, Cathy Jankowsky, Joseph Keenan, Simone LeAmon, Jacqueline Ying Jun Lin, Chris Connell, Stuart McFarlane, Ross McLeod, Drew Martin & Dale Rock (Rock Martin), Oliver Field, and Helen Kontouris.

Matthew Martin, co-curator of the exhibition, said the entries in this year’s exhibition were of particularly high quality.

“The 2009 exhibition seeks to familiarise the public with the vitality of the contemporary Victorian furniture design scene. Every work in this exhibition has the potential to become a ‘design classic’ of the future,” said Mr. Martin.

Amy Barclay, co-curator of the exhibition said: “The designers participating in this year’s award are informed by a broad collection of social, environmental, material, and aesthetic concerns. Some entrants have explored environmental and sustainability issues through the use of recycled and natural materials.

“Other designers have produced seats with multiple configurations, reflecting an interest in the way furniture can shape people’s interactions with one another and the spaces they inhabit,” said Ms Barclay.

Each Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award exhibition is devoted to a particular design discipline. Previous recipients of the award are Neville Assad-Sadha (1994) for ceramics, Robert Baines (1997) for metalwork, Louise Weaver (2003) for textiles, Sally Marsland (2006) for jewellery.

The award recipient of the 2009 Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award will be announced on 11 March.

The 2009 Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award will be on display at the Myer Fashion & Textiles Galleries, The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia from 12 March until 30 August 2009. Admission is free.

Principal Sponsor: Myer

The award and exhibition are supported by the Cicely & Colin Rigg Bequest, managed by ANZ Trustees.

The Satirical Eye: comedy and critique from Hogarth to Daumier.

27 February–26 July 2009

NGV International

 

James GILLRAY
English 1756–1815
The plumb-pudding in danger or State epicures taking un petit souper 1805
hand-coloured etching
25.5 x 35.7 cm (image); 26.1 x 36.3 cm (plate); 26.6 x 37.0 cm (sheet)
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1944

A new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, The Satirical Eye: comedy and critique from Hogarth to Daumier will present highlights in satirical art from England, Spain and France, focusing on the period 1730–1870.

The exhibition will feature over one hundred prints and drawings from the NGV Collection. These works have been selected to highlight the role and power of satire in Europe during this period.

The Satirical Eye will feature works ranging from political satires which were aimed directly at prominent public figures, to scenarios that highlight fashions, fads and social manners as subjects of mockery. 

Dr Petra Kayser, Assistant Curator of Prints & Drawings, NGV said: “Satire engages us through humour, and the message raises our critical awareness of current events.

“The works in this exhibition reveal much about human nature, as well as commenting on historically specific situations and individuals,” said Dr Kayser.

The Satirical Eye will include seven works by William Hogarth which depict the chaotic underbelly life in eighteenth century London. Hogarth’s narratives set the stage for the next generation of English satirists – Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray and George Cruikshank.

Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director, NGV said: “This wonderful and engaging exhibition presents some of the greatest satirical prints of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 

“The universal themes they address remain recognisable today: this art form persists in our newspapers, exposing humbug, cynicism and dishonesty, and the best satirical prints and drawings still have the power to provoke laughter and controversy. This exhibition is a ‘must see’ for anyone interested in politics and public life – every politician should see it,” said Dr Vaughan.

This exhibition will also explore satirical art in Spain and France. A highlight of the display will be a selection of prints from Francisco Goya’s series, Los Caprichos. These superb works reveal Goya’s dark vision of late eighteenth-century Spain, a society he saw to be steeped in superstition and prejudice. Los Caprichos was withdrawn from sale two days after publication due to Goya’s fear of retaliation from the Inquisition.

In France, visual satire’s greatest exponent was Honoré Daumier, whose prints were widely circulated and enormously popular in the nineteenth century, exploring the Parisian everyday life with great wit and empathy. A feature of the exhibition will be Daumier’sLe Ventre législatif (The legislative belly), 1834.

The Satirical Eye: comedy and critique from Hogarth to Daumier will be on display at NGV International, St Kilda Road from 27 February to 26 July 2009. NGV International is open 10am–5pm, closed Tuesdays. Admission to this exhibition is free.

For further information visit ngv.vic.gov.au

Save Harrow Ceramics Campaign.

HARROW CERAMICS

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER

"The university has taken the closure decision despite the national and international reputation of the Harrow ceramics course, its first class academic standing and its huge significance for British art, craft and design.   Its remarkable repository of artistry, path breaking research and cutting edge professional expertise includes Professor Christie Brown, Professor Nigel Wood, Professor Edmund de Waal, Kyra Cane, and Clare Twomey.

Far from its standards being questioned, the ceramics course is consistently praised by its students and the rest of the ceramic art world, and it routinely achieves top research assessment ratings.  It is housed in what the University website advertises as ‘new, purpose built’ premises with ‘dedicated facilities and studios’. However, it is said to pose problems because it takes up too much space.  As a senior manager justifying the course closure said:

‘The trouble with clay is you can’t store it on a memory stick’. Is it possible to make a more ignorant statement!!!

‘This is an appalling act of cultural vandalism – it is all about balance sheets, square footage and accountancy, not art. It is a betrayal and a disgrace.

YOU DO NOT ANNOUNCE CLOSURE AND STOP RECRUITMENT OF THE NEW INTAKE OF STUDENTS IF YOU ARE JUST ENTERING CONSULTATION!!

PLEASE WRITE TO THE VICE CHANCELLOR AND LET HIM HAVE YOUR OWN VIEWS

If you are willing to help in any way please write to or email the Vice Chancellor with your views. If you are prepared  to do this please can you send a copy to the Dean, and also to Course leader, Kyra Cane as we would like students and staff to know what fantastic support we have from the wider world of both Ceramics and Education."

Professor Geoffrey Petts

Vice Chancellor

University of Westminster

309 Regent Street

London

W1B 2UW

Email: G.Petts@westminster.ac.uk

Sending a copy to both:

Kyra Cane,

Course Leader : Ceramics

University of Westminster, Harrow Campus, Watford Rd, Harrow HA1 3TP

Email: canek@westminster.ac.uk

 

Sally Feldman

Dean of Media Art and Design

University of Westminster

Harrow Campus, Watford Rd, Harrow HA1 3TP

Email: feldmas@wmin.ac.uk