Pixel emoji and juicy tomatos: Lucinda Mudge — Tom Edwards

 

Two ceramicists that use imaginative, evocative images and text to deliver poignant narratives to their decorative language. And the delightful minimalist black line images on earthenware by Louise Madzia, filled with subtle humor. 

 

 

Lucinda Mudge, ZA

 

Lucinda Mudge – ‘Jungle Killers Alive’  

Inspired by the overly dramatized poster art from old fashioned circus shows.

 

 

Baluster guilty vase Lucinda Mudge

‘If you are feeling guilty you probably are’  baluster vase — Lucinda Mudge

 

 

If you were a vase, what imagery and text would you choose for your surface?*

Gold fingernails, fancy sunglasses with tiger stripes and an ornately patterned floral outfit with gold monkeys from head to toe. I’d have glistening rubies in my big smiling teeth and the text would read: ‘repent, repent, repent’.

“I use humor, irony and mockery as a way of asking authentic questions. The work then opens up to operate on two levels, because it’s sometimes unclear to the viewer as to whether it’s serious or not. I don’t think artists in general need to use humor, but it is part of who I am and this comes through in my work. I am interested in the human spirit – the good times and the bad – so my vases reflect that. They are glitzy, gold and beautiful, but there is a heaviness there too.”

“I have been fascinated by ceramics from childhood. It’s the transformation that the clay undergoes, changing from floppy to rigid and glass-like. The beauty of a ceramic canvas that is round is that the story will link up and repeat. My vases are canvases that tell stories and I use this as a reference to the human condition – the idea that we are on repeat. Secondly, with a vase, it is not possible to see the whole picture at once. The image on the back will always be hidden, but we know it is there. This is a reference to the way that we live – what we choose not to see even though we know it’s there. Some of my vases are built with this in mind – there are two different sides to the vase and only one is visible at any one time. If you don’t like the message, you can turn it to face the wall. I engage with that.”

 

Lucinda mudge, ‘wake me up when it’s all over’, 2016 ceramic, gold lustre,

Height 21 58 in. (55 cm)

 

“Building a ceramic vase is a technically difficult operation, and one that I still struggle with. It’s similar to spending three weeks stretching a canvas and two weeks mixing paints, and all the time I’m thinking, thinking. It’s also very demanding – if I do one thing wrong, the vase will fail. Then, thrown against this is my personality – I can’t make test tiles, I just don’t have it in me; I can’t measure the amount of stain in milligrams, it’s too boring. It makes me rebel against it all, be free, not care. I think it may be these two elements combined that give my work a sort of edge.”

 

‘Humanity i love you’ — Lucinda Mudge

 

 

Hybrid pixel weave vases

 

Everard Read / ‘CIRCA’ Cape Town presents Lucinda Mudge Pixel Vases as a feature exhibition in our Winter show. This includes a collection of fourteen ceramic vases and one bronze inspired by traditional South African Zulu baskets with 8-bit pixel art images referencing the arrival of the internet in rural areas.

Ulundi House, Portswood Square, Portswood Ridge, V & A Waterfront — running till 15th July

 

Lucinda Mudge Pixel vase Height 22inches

Lucinda Mudge Pixel vase

Height 22 inches

 

 

Lucinda Mudge - ceramic Pikachu Pixel Vase-2017

Lucinda Mudge ‘Pikachu’ Pixel Vase

2017

 

Lucinda Mudge Gold Dollar Sign Pixel Vase-22 inches

Lucinda Mudge ‘Gold Dollar Sign’ Pixel Vase-22 inches

 

Lucinda-Mudge-in-South-African-studio with her pottery

Lucinda Mudge, Sth. African studio

 

Lucinda Mudge Hi-Pixel Vase

Lucinda Mudge ‘Hi’ Pixel Vase

 

 

Lucinda Mudge Hi Pixel Vase collection-2017

Lucinda Mudge ‘Hi’ Pixel Vase collection

2017

 

 

Lucinda Mudge Miffy Pixel Vase--2017 White pixel bunny motif

Lucinda Mudge ‘Miffy’ Pixel Vase–2017

 

Lucinda Mudge-Wow Pixel Vase

Lucinda Mudge – ‘Wow’ Pixel Vase

 

 

Take what you want-ceramics exhibition by Lucinda Mudge,--at-Knysna Fine Art

‘Take what you want’ – ceramics exhibition – Lucinda Mudge

Knysna Fine Art, 2015

 

Lucinda-Mudge South African pottery

Floral skulls – Lucinda Mudge, Sth. Africa

 

 

Click! ??? ceramic vase---Lucinda Mudge

‘Click! ???’ ceramic vase — Lucinda Mudge

 

 

filthy stinking rich vase Lucinda-Mudge-Oh How Glorious to be Filthy Stinking Rich-56cm-High

‘Filthy stinking rich’ vase Lucinda Mudge

56cm High

 

Forget Me Not, ceramic, vase-h-56cm-by Lucinda Mudge

‘Forget Me Not’, ceramic, vase by Lucinda Mudge

My mermaids are inspired by their popular choice of imagery in the past for tattoos, this one is from an actual tattoo.

56cm height

 

 

I told you not to call me baby-Vase-lucinda-mudge-lavenders-blue

‘I told you not to call me baby’  vase Lucinda Mudge

 

Lucinda Mudge, and I can’t control my mind-(after-catteau)

Lucinda Mudge, ‘and I can’t control my mind (after catteau)’

2016 — 24 3/8 inches

Referencing French ceramicist Charles Catteau

 

Lucinda Mudge, baby let`s start living dangerously, 2016 21-5/ 8inches

Lucinda Mudge, ‘baby let`s start living dangerously’

2016  —  21 5/8 inches

 

 

Lucinda Mudge, -- kill you eat you,-2016---22 inches

Lucinda Mudge, — ‘kill you eat you’ series

2016—22 inches

 

 

Lucinda Mudge,-one of us- is lying,-2016-25

Lucinda Mudge,- ‘one of us is lying’

2016 – 25inches

 

 

Lucinda-Mudge-After-Catteau’-from-the-Kill-You-Eat-You-collection

Lucinda Mudge  ‘After Catteau’

Referencing Art Deco French ceramicist Charles Catteau

 

 

My African Dream-2014-Lucinda Mudge gazelle vase

‘My African Dream’  —  Lucinda Mudge

2014

 

 

Take heed of the light within Lucinda Mudge deep turquoise vase

‘Take heed of the light within’  –  Lucinda Mudg

2016

 

 

Tom Edwards, USA

 

Tom Edwards began doing pot jokes back in 1984. Here’s how his Wally musings all evolved:

“A friend of mine was in med school and she had a delirious patient who kept talking about Nappy. After a week or so, she realized that the patient was talking about a dog…I made this weird little plate to commemorate the incident and I really liked the way it looked. I was compelled to make more pots like this. I got the name ‘Wally’ from these British guys I worked with, it’s slang for ‘nerd’. One day I started drawing these really simple Wally jokes on the pots just for my own amusement. When I took them to a craft fair, the response was incredible. Within a month, I had an order for a complete dinnerware set and people were asking for more Wally adventures.”

 

Wallyware tomato mug

Wallyware tomato pot

 

Tom-Edwards-Wallyware-old age mug

Tom Edwards – Wallyware-old age mug

 

 

Wally pots mug

Wally pots mug

 

Tom Edwards holy guacamole bowl

Tom Edwards ‘Holy Guacamole’ bowl

 

 

 

kiln meditation - Tom Edwards

Tom Edwards Zen kiln

 

 

Wally Ware drinking mug

Tomato mug

 

 

wally ware ripneing process mug

Ripening tomato mug

 

Celebrity tomato mug

Reverse side of above ripeneing mug

 

Message mug - the truth is out there - Wallywares

‘The truth is out there’ – Wallyware

 

 

tomato wally pots

Wally Pots

 

Tomato pots

Tomato mug

 

 

Two tomato mugs

Screaming tomato mugs

 

 

Tom Edwards farting unicorn mug

‘Farting unicorn mug’  –  Tom Edwards

 

 

Elon Musk power generation plate

 

 

tomato message mug Tom Edwarda

Wallyware mug

 

spider tomato mug

Tomato mug – Tom Edwards

 

 

WallyWare-Too-Sexy vase

‘I’m too sexy for my clay’ – Tom Edwards

 

 

 

  Louise Madzia, UK

 

“The way I work is a reflection on how I see things. That sense of playfulness is what I’m striving for, it’s like a comic relief. If I laugh at a drawing I’m working on I know I should pursue it and when I show the pots to friends and it’s great to get that reaction.  I’ve just always been drawn to figurative sculpture and paintings. My earliest inspirations were really classic figurative artists like Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde and Picasso. It feels natural to draw this way and I think it suits the shapes that I work in.”

Excellent “shelfie ware” from Louise Madzia, made individually, slab built, earthenware pots, hand painted with a clear glaze.

 

Louise Madzia Instagram

 

 

Form-Louise Madzia-Wavy Girl Ceramic Planter

Louise Madzia – ‘Wavy Girl’ pot with succulents

 

Louise-Madzia-playful minimalist art planters

Louise Madzia playful planter ensemble –  ‘Toosh’ (left)

 

Louise_Madzia line drawn pot decoration

Louise Madzia planter ‘Social Smoker’ minimalist, line drawn pot decoration

 

 

Louise Madzia earthenware pots

Louise Madzia – three cylindrical earthenware pots

 

Pottery ensemble -- Louise Madzia

Louise Madzia pottery ensemble

 

Louise Madzia naked ceramic vessels

Louise Madzia naked torso vessels ensemble

 

 

Slab built pots - Louise Madzia

Louise Madzia planters – ‘Encircle’ (centre)

 

 

Louise-Madzia black line drawn porcelain decoration

Louise Madzia figurative slab built pottery

 

 

Louise Madzia-cylindrical pot--The man with all the eyes

Louise Madzia –‘The man with all the eyes’

 

 

Louise Madzia planter with tropical plant

Planter –  Louise Madzia

 

 

Lucinda Mudge photo

Louise Madzia

 

 

Louise-Madzia---ceramic mug stack

Louise Madzia mugs

 

 

 3,700-year-old piece of ceramic jug

A  3,700-year-old  ceramic vessel with a smiley emoji face.

Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition at Karkemis, the ancient capital of Syria

 

 

 

 

 

 

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