Monthly Archives: February 2012

The Ceramic Furniture of Hun-Chung Lee

Sth. Korean Designer Hun-Chung Lee :

 

After receiving his BFA and MFA in ceramic sculpture from Hongik University in Seoul, Lee came to the United States to obtain a second MFA in sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute, staying on as a teaching assistant for a year after graduation. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Architecture in Korea. His work has been exhibited widely throughout Korea and in the United States.

In his magnificent, unique ceramic stools and objects, the seemingly chaotic pattern of glaze belies Lee’s careful, painterly control of palette that emerges upon closer observation. In Lee’s hands, the solid ceramics — as with other materials — take on a soft, almost cloud-like character.

Through exceptionally skilled handwork and applied layers of patina, Hun-Chung Lee transforms materials often considered cold — such as concrete and steel — into architecturally graceful, soft-edged sculptural furniture.

Bench by Hun-Chung Lee

CEramic Chairs Hun-Chung Lee

Chairs by Hun-Chung Lee

About the artist:

Lee’s interests in the historic precedents of Korean decorative arts and cultural heritage encourage him to celebrate the natural poetry of his materials in a way rarely seen in Western design. Many of the high-fired ceramics in the exhibition feature a celadon glaze originally developed during the 15th century. Lee also uses a traditional, hand-built kiln and relishes the unpredictable nature of the glazes over the course of the several days of immersing, pouring and firing that it takes to produce each piece. He presents the collection of works as a collaboration with and homage to nature. His delicate colors and simple forms are intended to suggest the natural beauty of the Korean landscape throughout the changing seasons. A recurring theme in this new collection is harmony — the harmony of colors and the harmony of seemingly disparate materials in his benches and storage units. In these pieces Lee coaxes concrete and steel into shapes that are softer than seems possible from such traditionally hard materials. His stools, chairs, and tables are hand-sculpted from ceramic and concrete then painted with layers of glaze to create a multihued surface embellishment, giving the heavy material an ethereal luster.

Ceramic,concrete,steel desk Hun-Chung Lee

“Organic Lined Concrete Desk,” concrete, glazed ceramic and natural rusted steel.

Low table in concrete and ceramic.Hun-Chung Lee

Low table in concrete and ceramic.

ceramic glazed stool

Ceramic stool in a pale colored glaze with a red band

Foot Stool ceramic

“Silver Brushed Ceramic Stool in Sky Blue,” glazed ceramic.

"Skyblue Garden" vessel in glazed ceramic.

“Skyblue Garden” vessel in glazed ceramic.

An extract from an essay by Yun-chung Lee :

” Whenever I saw a sculptor’s work resembling a lump of clay or a bowl, I used to try to find out the artist’s intention. In the past when I created a piece I used to try to convey the meaning and the function of the project to spectators. However, there came a point in time, I don’t remember exactly, when I began to see a sculptor’s work without the need to understand the artist’s intention. Presently, I try to escape from the pattern of  [planning and following the plan], in my work because I have come to realize that forcing spectators to understand the artist’s intention and forcing artists to explain the work is a sort of intellectual violence, which blocks the flow of emotion in my heart. When I am freed from the obsession of the result of my creation, my freedom can give light to the memories in my heart so that I can re-live a spiritual journey.”

” For me, the world is like a swift current, while the inside of my body is a calm pond. “

Ceramic Bench Hun Chung Lee

“Concrete Day Bed with ceramic Pillow and Jar,” concrete and glazed .

Ceramic Box

“Small Beige Square Ceramic Box with a Lid in Plum Flower Motif,” glazed ceramic.

Ceramic Stools

Ceramic Stools

Ceramic and concrete Bench

Low ceramic stool with pale blue glaze.

Ceramic Bench Hun -Chung Lee

Yun-Chung Lee

 
 
 
 
 

 

Ukrainian Painted Porcelain Sculptures

 

  The porcelain art of Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontiev 

Small green frog with bridge drawn on shell by Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontiev

‘Green Frog With Bridge’

Anya Stasenko painting porcelain figurine

 

Slava Leontiev painting porcelain figurine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontiev – were born respectivley in 1965 and 1967 and live in Krakov in Ukraine.  They specialize in hand painted porcelain sculptures.

Education: Kharkov Art School (painting department, specialty – teaching painting and drawing at school), Kharkov Artistic-Industrial Institute (department of graphics, specialty – easel graphics, book design, poster), Graduate Department of History and theory of art Kharkov Art and Industrial Institute (specialization – history and theory of art, a specialty – art critic and researcher).

–The following interview is translated  from their Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/AnyaSlava ) :

 

Porcelain – main profession? – definitely, yes. For many years,  ceramics for us has been the main source of income. Well, as regards the approach to work … As follows from the above, we are on Arts Education – schedules. No special training as a sculptor and ceramist, we do not have, and, as such, it is naive.

 

 

What (or who) inspires, and where are the stories?

Slava:  The source of subjects – everything that we have seen, heard and read  in life. We like frogs and leaves, flowers and birds. We study very well what they look like and what they do.

Anya:  We looked at a lot of beautiful pictures. From the beautiful is not enough, we turned away.We read many wonderful books.  From childhood we are taught, above all, to distinguish beautiful from the ugly, interesting from the uninteresting, and the second is – something to think and do. And now in our picture gallery, library, and generators of images, it is enough to decide what is appropriate for this thing – and the subject will come up with, and descriptive language will follow.

[ Ed. Note:  Some of the Russian translation goes astray but the drift is discernible ]

Painted Porcelain Lizard Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

‘Coelacanth’ – Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

Soft porcelain, colored fire clay, potter’s clay. Slip casting, molding, painting glazes and overglaze colors, gold chandeliers and biscuits.

 

Anna paints on ceramics rather than on paper? 

Anya:  It is interesting to place the subject on a three-dimensional surface. On either side it is visible only to a certain part, it enriches the composition and makes it possible to show the plot development, and offer the viewer different perspectives, turning the thing to go from episode to episode.

Slava :  The same technique with tradition, the Romans had the memorial pillars depicted flowing into each other depicting episodes of the history of long-term military campaigns.

Anya:  Even if the little creatures are just two of the medallion scene – this is more than one graphic sheet. And I like it when the story grows out of my ear or tail.

 

Porcelain Golden Snail Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev “The Golden Snail “ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

How do you work together? 

Slava :  I’ve always wanted to work in collaboration. Firstly because of perfectionism: that I get are almost always unpleasant for me, is too clearly visible imperfections. Well, the imperfections of others (and, hence joint) of the once tolerant and removable. Second, do not always have the very mood to set goals, I want to relax on the unthinking performing the work. And when “bear” arms did not have time for head and reluctance to “give himself the bricks.” Well, in the third, the possibilities are expanding. The two are able to more than one, if everyone is worth something. Anja has focused mainly on painting. I – on ceramics, and the concept in general. That, however, does not mean that everyone does not interfere at all. Each of our stuff was created by two authors.

Anya:  It’s very interesting to get into the hands of an unexpected form, which must somehow dooformit, the image that you want to develop the plot, which should continue. Like Schwartz, ” to make a living from the dead every fool can, and you try to make a living even more alive.”

Why are you doing this ceramic plastic?

Slava  Very difficult to become a prominent painter. Especially in historical perspective. In ceramics, such as softer competition, especially in today. We still do not live in ancient Greece, China or Minsk. You can search for a place, especially “at the intersection of disciplines,” and as an alien from another art form, with their luggage. Anina “chart on ceramics” was already a virtuoso, to put it on a neprikladnoy and self-support.

Anya:   Every artist is looking for new, having been something. While working on the decorations we have been able to instill a graphical approach to the ceramic material. There has been a view of the plastic, its aesthetics.

Blue Frog with a gold dragonfly Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Blue Frog with a gold dragonfly’

 

All figurines are strictly frontal and symmetrical. Forms laconic, almost geometric. This is a technical limitation, or such aesthetics?

Slava : A plastic (clay) idea with which I begin, as a rule, is extremely simple. The ball on legs. Unwound helix.The plane, low-hanging above the plane of the support. Concise volume contrasts with detailed painting.  And it provides more freedom

Anya:  It is pleasant to develop a moderate curvature of the surface of a spacious and refined character is not too “Distinguishing” character.

 

Red butterfly with white polka dots Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Red butterfly with white polka dots’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

website – Farfora.com

 

Porcelain 'Turtle Heaven' - turtle with zodiac on its back Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Turtle Heaven’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

4 porcelain owls Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

Four Owls  –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

White-Kitten Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘White Kitten’ –   Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Mumps with Moon and Sun’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

Painted porcelain owl Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, UkraineFinely detailed porcelain owl – Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Porcelain Owl’  from above-  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

Painted Porcelain Fish Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Most Saltwater Fish’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

A large porcelain fish figurine with marine animals on the fins, seascapes on the scales.

Technique: slip casting, molding, painting glaze, overglaze colors, gold and platinum luster on the glaze and biscuits.Length: about 31 cm.

 2011.

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Cosmic Turtle belly’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

Orange Turtle by Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Orange Turtle’ Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 

Young-girl-playing-mandolin.-Ceramic-bell,-sculpture.

‘Young girl playing mandolin’ – ceramic bell sculpture – Yalonetski ( Anya Stasenko)

Yalonetski – etsy

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Fireclay Frog in leaves of paper’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

Porcelain Fish Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Marine fish’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine‘Most Rat-Comet’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Forty Crow’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Striped Pig’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 

Snow-insects

Snow Insects –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Zodiac Turtle’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine red, white and blue dog figurine

‘Cute Kitten’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine Porcelain snail with a miaze on the shell.

‘Snail with a maze’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 

Barbed-Lizard - Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘Barbed Lizard’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 

Chameleon--- Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

‘Chameleon’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

 

White Bull Terrier - Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev, Ukraine

‘White Bull Terrier’ –  Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

 

Young-girl-in-purple-dress-playing-mandolin.-Ceramic-bell,-sculpture.

‘Young girl in purple dress playing mandolin’. Ceramic bell, sculpture.

Yalonetski – etsy

 

 

 

Magic-Bee-Anya-and-Slava finely detailed porcelain bee

‘Magic Bee’ – Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev

 

Etsy link 

 

 

 

Women with pots.

Zulu Women Carrying Pots Zulu woman in traditional outfits.

There is something eternally graceful about seeing a women carrying a pot on her head. A vision of feminity, balance and sustanence with their gait being slow and gentle and their posture, dictated by maintanence of their load, remaining perfect. The daily pilgrimage to the village well was essential for suppl;y of water for drinking, cooking and washing.
I have spent time in rural India villages and it was a regular occurance to witness the village women carrying their pots.They never seemed to struggle with this task, even when transporting large vessels and strolled along with ease. I have always been transfixed by the timelessnes of this imagery whenever I have seen this in my travels , so I want to do a feature of visuals along this theme.

A Mali woman carryng pots in the village of Songha hjfklein - flickr   Woman carrying pot, village of Songha, Mali

hjfklein – flickr

Bali Batikof woman with pottery

Bail Batik

 

Dancing with pots on head

Dancing performance in India ( Elica.org)

 

Goddess Savatri blessing for married women

Celebration of  Vat  Savatri. On this day a married women invokes the blessing of Devi (Goddess) Savatri for the general well being of her husband and for the prolonging of her marital life. ( Photo by Rajen Nair

 

 

Batwa women with pots  Batwa women with traditional pots. Taken in Burundi, in the village of Kiganda in the province of Muramvya.

 

 

African girl carrying a pot

African woman with a large pot

Photo by echwaluphotography

 

 

 

hervillageventures_malawi-village-firelight

Making pots in Malawi Village

Firelight

 

African Cocoa Farming lady

An old water  pot.

 

 

Rajastani women with pots

Women from a nomadic community from Rajasthan state carry drinking water.

 

 

African fulani woman with large pot

Fulani woman

 

 

Egyptian traditional bread baking

Egyptian traditional bread baking

 

 

African pottery making

African pottery making. Photo by Mjengwa

http://saharanvibe.blogspot.com.au

 

 

Pot cleaning

 

 

Balinese pot transport

Balinese pot transport

 

 

African Swazi women holding pots

Young Swazi Woman

 

 

Woman carrying traditional water pots for sale in Niger

Woman carrying traditional water pots for sale in Niger

 

 

Indian seed festival parade

Seeds Festival

Indian woman with hand painted pots

Indian women with decorated pots

women carrying a pot, bottle and a barrel Eastern Cape

Xhosa women off to paarty ?

Photo by Lister Hunter

A women holding a pot in India decorated with neem leaves

Bonalu means Bojanaalu (meal) in Telugu, is an offering to the Goddess of power. Women prepare Bonam with cooked rice, milk, sugar, onions in a pot, decorated  with small neem breanches and turmeric, kunkum and a lamp on the top it. Women put the pots on their heads and take it to Goddess temple, led by drummers and dancing men. ( Tellanga region, Andhra  Pradash India http://chandu-telangana.blogspot.com.au

Women transporting pots in Togo , Africa

Togo, West Africa

 

 

Bangladeshi-women-protesting water shortages

Two hundred women from indigenous (or adivashi) communities in Rajshahi, north-western Bangladesh, carried empty clay water pots to symbolically highlight the problem of water shortages.

( caroschoice blogspot )

 

 

Rajasthani women with her pot

Rajastani villager carrying a pot

Sulu girl with a beer pot

Zulu woman carrying beer pot

Photo – Ariadne van Zandbergen

Pottery selling in Argentina

Pottery selling at an Argentina train station.

 

Vintage postcard of a Mexican girl carrying a pot

Mexican girl carrying  pot

( Mexican Postcard )

 

 

Cooking in clay pot

This woman stirs traditional atole (a thick, usually sweetened corn drink), prepared in an olla de barro (clay pot) over a wood fire.

Morelia, Mexico

 

 

market in Gorom Gorom

Songhay pottery market,  Gorom Gorom

 

 

Balinese women making an offering

Girl with offering in Bali

Zulu woman with beer pot

Zulu beer pot

 

 

Indian woman carrying several pots in black and white vintage photo by Paul Joyce

An Indian woman carrying grain pots

photo – Margaret Bourke White

1946, Life magazine

 

 

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, Bali-Indonesia

Taking offerings to the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan Temple, Bali Indonesia

 

 

African Zulu girl with large basket

Zulu girl with large basket

 

 

Native American girl with Zuni jar

Zuni girl carrying jar ,New Mexico

 

 

segou-pottery-village-woman-making-pot

 Making pottery in Segou village, Mali

 

Women with pots at sunset in Sri lanka Sri Lanka Sunset

Woman of Niger carrying pots

Parade of Fulani women with pots

 

 

 

houses-of-the-1930s-with-the-typical-architecture-of-the-time-and-tiled-walls-the-street-of-st-martin-henrique-j-c-de-oliveira

Portuguese Azulejos

 

 

 

tea-light-woman-figurine

Female African figurine

 

 

 

vanessa-by-james-denmark painting

‘Vanessa’ by James Denmark

 

 

cheerful-young-girls-pound-corn-outside-families-homes-near-monkey-bay-south-end-of-lake-malawi-photo-by-nigel-pavitt

Girls Pounding corn outside their homes

 Monkey Bay, South End of Lake Malawi

Photo by Nigel Pavitt

Also see the Veniceclayartists post – Women Using Traditional Pots

 
 
 
 
 

 

Contemporary Euro Ceramics

 

 

 

Merete Rasmussen abstract ceramic

Merete Rasmussen

 

 

 

Puls Gallery Brussels

Puls Gallery  ” 10 years on ” exhibition

 

Puls contemporary ceramics – is the only gallery in Brussels exclusively dedicated to ceramics. The gallery stages around eight exhibitions annually, showing the best of international contemporary ceramics, with a special focus on Denmark. The gallery features the works of both established international artists and also upcoming new artists. Below are some of the European artists that have exhibited their ceramics at Puls over the last 10 years since its inception.

 

Merete Rasmussen /Denmark  & UK :

Merete Rasmussen contemporary ceramic sculptures

 

 

” I work with abstract sculptural form. I’m interested in the idea of one continuous surface, with one connected edge or line running through the whole form. Clear, clean shapes; soft smooth curves in contrast to sharp edges; concave and convex surfaces; the discovery and strength of an inner/negative space – these are all form expressions that appeal to me and results in my continuous exploration and expression in many different variations.

My sculptures are either asymmetrical or with a repetition of form:

Asymmetrical where I mainly work with the idea of continuous surface. The form has only one side and one edge connected throughout the shape.

Repetition of form with three symmetrical parts that are connected; three being both a strong number and a balanced repetition of form. The negative space – the shape of the space in between, is equally important. “

Merete Rasmussen - Danish sculpture

 

 

Jean-François Fouilhoux /France :

Jean-François Fouilhoux - French contemporary sculpture 

Jean Francois calligraphic like forms are done exclusively in Celadon glazes.

” His shapes”, he notes, “arise from a unique course, without remorse or recovery,” with both an entry and an exit in the clay. They are “graphs in three dimensions, types of ideograms” whose meaning is revealed to anyone with the ability to look and truly be seen. Touch and genuinely be touched. Listen and hear his music. Every gesture that ultimately shapes a piece is associated uniquely to each object, despite its sometimes apparently fraternal twins or more distant cousins. Each movement is a choreography rehearsed mentally and physically time after time before the first action, before the initial sweeping movement. Before the moment the dance begins. “The rest,” he says, “is just technique.”

Jean-François Fouilhoux teal green glazed ceramic sculpture

 

 

Rafael Perez /Spain :

Rafael Perez contemporary ceramic art 

” My work is about surprising myself and the audience, using white porcelain and black earthenware clay, fired at high temperature. The black earthenware expands, thus creating a volcanic landscape. It is not just a natural landscape, because it is directed by me. I have created the cuttings from the beginning, but still the aspect of surprise is always present, because what happens in the kiln is unpredictable. “

Rafael Perez-modern ceramic sculpture

Rafael Perez - Spanish contemporary ceramic sculpture Carine Neutjens/Belgium :

Folded ceramic cup in red and white by Carine Neutjens

” I can work quietly, at my own speed when using  clay, my favorite material. I cast the clay model in plaster of Paris and silica, and then I can introduce the glass paste granule by granule. The trick with glass is applied to controlling the baking process so as to preserve the glittering of the granules of glass. Apart from washing the glass object after it has been taken from the mold, no further treatment is necessary. “

 ” I had just returned from a heavenly holiday on La Graziosa, a tiny island in the Canaries off Lanzarote. That was the foundation for my glass working. The lava stone that I found there was the model for my first trial pieces. After my angular works in stone structures, I have recently began working on organic shapes and structures. Now I am getting more confident, daring to experiment with colors and strange combinations. I combine parts, and let them grow together or live in symbiosis.My glass work is a personal interpretation of what I experience, see and feel. I do not make stones and corals, I make glass objects. They are a distillate of my feelings and emotions, or the response that naturally evokes in me. “

Annette Sloth, the owner of Puls Gallery made the observation, ” Carine Neutjens’ bowls remind one of stone, coral, lava and other natural elements. These are extremely vulnerable, fragile pieces All which SEEM to have come straight from nature. “

Carine Neutjens organic contemporary vessels

 

Carine Neutjens contemporary ceramic dish

 

 

Jane Reumert/Denmark :

Jane Reumert contemporary vessel



In her more than 40 years career as a studio ceramist, Jane Reumert has undergone an evolution from more functional pieces in stoneware to working with porcelain, creating paper-thin bowls and vessels, salt-glazed and fired to 1330°C. In the 1990’s she experimented with fibreglass in the pure form, which lead to a new chapter in her artistic process, whereby she incorporated her experiences with fibreglass into her work with porcelain clay. By mixing fibreglass into the clay, she was able to work sculpturally and create bigger volumes, yet achieve translucency at the same time. Her almost eggshell-like vessels seem to defy the laws of gravity. They are often perched on delicate wire tripods so they float over the circle of their own shadow, seemingly held in levitation by the force of their own lightness. The particular strength of her work lies in the harmony between the shape and the decoration, patterns which are varied almost indiscernibly and are often reminiscent of personal experiences, things one has seen before: the bird’s feathers, the wasp’s nest, the larva’s cocoon, the sea-shell. Reumert’s astonishing pots evoke the fragility of human endeavour and the mystery of its inescapable link with the primitive drives of Mother Nature.

Jane Reumert textured porcelain cup

Jane Reumert porcelain vessel

 

 

Morten Løbner Espersen/Denmark

Morten Løbner yellow contemporary clay sculpture

 

 

Morten Løbner green textured ceramic vaseMorten is one of the most successful Danish ceramists of his generation. He has had numerous major international exhibitions since graduating in 1992 and establishing his own studio. He has been a professor at HDK Göteborg University in Sweden since 2005 as well as continuing to work in his own studio in Copenhagen

Yoshimi Futamura/Japan/France :

Yoshimi Futamura contemporary japanese ceramic sculptures

 Born in Japan in 1959, Yoshimi Futamura learned ceramics in the tradition of her masters. She came to France in 1986 and studied at L’Ecole Duperre. She decided then and there that she wanted to be an artist, using clay as a medium.
Nature is at the heart of her inspiration. It is the material itself which underlines nature: cracked structures that resemble bark, breathing clay that almost seems alive, where primeval forces seem to be at work. ( I wonder if the above set inspired by car tyres ? )

Yoshimi Futamura-contemporary-sculpture

Jonathan Keep /South Africa /UK :

Jonathan Keep contemporary porcelain

“Nature – not objective nature out there but subjective nature within us -maker and viewer – is what interests me. As conscious beings I feel we forget the unconscious, instinctive role biology plays in our lives, especially with respect to aesthetic experience. It is how so often we respond at that unexplainable gut level to art that intrigues me. Most often my work develops out of the way I work, responding to the material and process. The work becomes an exploration of the nature in myself, as a reflection of the greater nature out there. My first and primary concern is with form, both inside and outside form and how we read it in a very bodily and physical way. By trying to understand these qualities in myself I am seeking to test the idea of natural creation being that which drives artistic creation – Nature as the inner cause of everything. The importance is not in the objects themselves, but how the work can communicate the pleasure of natural order – pattern, symmetry, structure, process. It is not necessarily personal expression I am seeking but a more universal awakening.”   


Jonathan Keep South African - UK ceramics

Jonathan Keep ceramic sculptural vessel

Wim Borst/Netherlands :

Wim Borst/Netherlands ceramic modern sculpture


This ritual of analysis and synthesis is the connecting theme in his gradually evolving oeuvre. After having used straight lines and angular shapes for twenty years, he started to apply cylinders and ovals from 1998 onwards. The mat and smooth skin developed into a granito-like skin with a silica-like, mineral structure. He stacks volumes just like an architect, playing with interior and exterior spaces, proportions, rhythm, surfaces and corbellings. Glaze and strips of perspex direct the light. Architecture serves as an important inspiration, from Greek temples to modern grain silos. Ad Dekkers’ reliefs, where squares transform into circles, inspire him as well.

Wim Borst became a professional ceramist at a rather advanced age. At the age of 31 he exhibited for the first time. As a self taught artist he took lessons in ceramics from Ru de Boer and Emmy van Deventer a.o.

Wim Borst ceramic sculpture - Netherlands

Hank Wolvers/Netherlands :

Hank Wolvers Vase

Hans specializes in very thin walled, translucent ceramic wares.

Hank Wolvers thin walled ceramic vessels

Hank Wolvers Netherlands potery

Claudi Casanovas/Spain :

Claudi Casanovas, Spain - contemporary ceramics


 He studied and began working in clay in the town of  Olot in his native Catalonia, becoming a member of a potter’s cooperative and working with them from 1978 to 1987. He creates his sculptures—often large-scale work—from a variety of clays and media. His pieces are reminiscent of the earth from which they come. While not a direct evocation of the forms and textures of the geology and landforms of his native region, it is nevertheless powerful and uncompromising work that is modern day alchemy with clay and water, fire and ice.

Claudi Casanovas textured ceramic dish

Alexander Engelfriet/Netherlands :

Alexander Engelfriet contemporary white sculpture

 

Alexander-Engelfriet-Dutch-contemporary ceramics sculplture

Tjok Dessauvage/Belgium :

Tjok Dessauvage ceramic vessel - Belgium


Tjok Dessauvage is without any doubt today’s master of the ancient technique of Terra Sigillata. The ceramic pot is turned on the wheel, after which the slip is added, without the use of glazes. The pot is then polished and fired in a kiln with a reduced atmosphere. Tjok Dessauvage then gives his personal comment, by grinding the pot and adding other materials like gold, porcelain or bone and thus marking the     pot with graphic or pictorial accents.


Hans Vangsø/ Denmark 

Hans Vangsø ribbed ceramic vessels

 

 

Anna Torfs / Czech Republic :

Anna Torfs red and black ceramic contemporary vessel



Monika Patuszynska/ Poland :

Monika Patuszynska ceramic cup



Pippin Drysdale/ Australia ( slight exception to the Euro theme ):

Pippin Drysdale green ceramic vessel



Arnold Annen/ Switzerland :

Arnold Annen elegant white porcelain bowl


Tora Urup – Denmark

Tora Urup-Danish contemporary ceramic vessel pale blue glaze

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Barcelona Ceramicist Lidia Serra

Whimsy, spontaneity and exuberance are terms I would apply to the famous Barcelonian architecture.  I see this reflected in the works of Lidia Serra. She lives and works with her partner Jose Davila in the small village of  Sant Pere de Ribes, in the south of  Barcelona. Studying at the Ceràmica  a  la  Escola  Massana for 5 years from 1982, she has been a professional ceramicist for 30 years. Her artistic statement :  ” My work responds to a need to express and communicate my vision and particularly of what happens around me.I do not usually use complicated or sophisticated handling of my materials, as it does not seem necessary for my purpose. I feel comfortable using a traditional process. I like to integrate  natural elements that I find into my work such as wood. I enjoy my work.”

Lidia Serra in her studio

Lidia and Jose display and sell their work through fine art and craft galleries and fine art and craft shows around Spain and Europe.

website-http://www.davilaserra.com

 

Lidia Serra Plate Plato

Lidia Serra Vessel

Pieze Gr4

 Ventana Semilla

Lidia Srra Branch Vessel Branch Vessel

Lidia Serra Cacharro VaseCacharro Vase

Esculturra  Esculturra

RecipienteVessel

 Recepiente

Placa Alagarda Placa Alargarda

Ventana Azul Blue Window 1  ( stoneware and porcelain slips )

 Abuela Cleta

Lidia Serra plate

 Shields ( stoneware,slips and seeds )

Lidia Serra Disco

Disk (stoneware.slips and straw )

 Dos Asas