Ric Swenson on wed 26 nov 08
Hello again from China. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. It has been a whi=
le since I last wrote. It has been a busy semester here at the University =
but now I find some time to write and fill you in on the activities here in=
JingDeZhen. October 18 was the opening ceremony of the JDZ Internationa=
l China Conference here. The conference included forums and speakers at se=
veral venues around town. The trade shows=2C product presentations=2C lect=
ures=2C demonstrations=2C exhibitions and competitions were held for five d=
ays. It was SRO at the opening ceremony where speeches were given by local=
leaders and professors and there was entertainment by student performers=
=2C who danced and sang which livened up the occasion. The 3 Universitys he=
re in town all sponsored exhibitions of student and faculty works in clay. =
The city sponsored a contemporary exhibit in the main exh ibition hall tha=
t featured works by potters and sculptors from all over the planet. I was =
fortunate again this year to have one of my works exhibited and then collec=
ted by the city for their museum. The Pottery Workshop sponsored a marke=
t in their large courtyard where University students and recent grads could=
sell their work. There were over 100 booths. The work had to be contempo=
rary and no traditional designs were allowed. The Pottery Workshop sponsor=
ed an exhibit of NCECA members' work and also held a wheelthrowing competit=
ion. That was fun to watch! It was like a ceramics olympics=2C except tha=
t some of the competitions had the potters wearing a blind fold and later h=
aving to throw wearing heavy rubber gloves. In one contest=2C the competito=
rs had three minutes to make as many 30 cm tall cylinders as they could. T=
he winner made 5 in three minutes. Not pretty=2C but pretty fun to w atch.=
They had 10 Shimpo Whisper wheels set up on a stage and hundreds of people=
watched. That afternoon they held a concert of country music. Caroline C=
heng's husband is a musician and his three piece group visited JDZ from Sha=
ngHai for an afternoon of country/western and even some Mongolian songs. Gu=
itar=2C banjo and mandolin=2C as well as harmonica=2C had everyone movin' a=
nd groovin'. San Bao sponsored some events out at their studios in the co=
untryside. Unfortunately I didn't have time to make it out there this year=
. NCECA held a conference (SHARED JOURNEYS: American Art in China) here =
on campus in conjuction with West Virginia U. / JCI. I listened to Val Cus=
hing=2C Linda Arbuckle=2C Jin Wen Wei and many other speakers during the we=
ek of Oct 27-31. Discussions between faculties centered around how we teach=
ceramics in the East and the West. The influx of about 70 Americans on cam=
pus for a week was thrilling for the students. That pretty much doubled th=
e number of foreigers in JingDeZhen. There were demonstrations by Chinese =
and American craftspeople alike. Throwing=2C trimming=2C coiling huge jars=
=2C decal work=2C brushmaking=2C you name it. Glen Blakly=2C (Dixie.edu=
) who was photo-documenting the entire conference for NCECA=2C and I had an=
interesting opportunity a couple weeks ago to be bit players in a TV serie=
s being filmed here in JDZ. Four Americans were selected to portray mercha=
nts who have come from Europe at the turn of the century ( C.1900 ) to visi=
t a JDZ ceramics factory owned by a successful businessman. It took about 5=
hours total and was fun to do. Costumes were appropriate and as it turned =
out we acted with two of China's most famous actors. The role of the busin=
essman in this series is played by Xia Yu and his wife is played by Yi Neng=
Jing. Of course none of us knew about their fame=2C but the young JCI Engl=
ish faculty members that went with us that day to help with translations et=
c. were shocked and delighted to meet these two 30 year old actors. Both o=
f them spoke English pretty well....and of course they are both VERY good l=
ooking. JCI and City of JDZ have just released a 4 DVD documentary set =
on the History of JingDeZhen Porcelain. It will air on CCTV -10 the Educat=
ion channel at some point=2C but they gave me a copy because I did the Engl=
ish proofreading and English narration. Each episode is 30 minutes long an=
d it describes in some detail what historians=2C archeologists and experts =
have learned about JDZ's 1700 year old traditions in clay. The photography=
is good and it documents the many various styles of work done here histori=
cally. There are actually 8 DVDs in the set.....four in Chinese and four in=
(mostly) English. There are some sub-titles when needed too. We have =
our first student for the new JCI _STUDIO program already and we are hoping=
more will come soon. If you are interested in an inexpensive but informat=
ive program in the Porcelain Capital=2C just e-mail me directly. I'm head=
ing back to Atlanta Dec 20 for a couple weeks with family and friends.....b=
ut first I have to finish giving finals to my 200+ students! Hard to belie=
ve I have now lived here nearly 3 years. Zai Jian=2C Ric Richard H. =
("Ric") Swenson=2C Teacher=2C Office of International Cooperation and Excha=
nge of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute=2C TaoYang Road=2C Eastern Suburb=2C Ji=
ngdezhen City.JiangXi Province=2C P.R. of China. Postal code 333001. Mobile=
/cellular phone : 86 13767818872 < RicSwenson0823 @hotmail.com>=20
_________________________________________________________________
Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger=A0
http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/launch80/default.aspx?locale=3Den-us&sourc=
e=3Dwlmailtagline=
| |
|
