Ric Swenson on sun 3 oct 10
Hello from China!
In two weeks the annual JingDeZhen Ceramics Conference and Fair will open. =
More than 200 ceramic artists works have been juried to join the Contempora=
ry Exhibition. There are three big venues in town. One will be highlighting=
commercial products such as tile and sanitarywares. Another will show cont=
emporary art works from around the world and display the works of dinnerwar=
e and artware companies from China, Europe and elsewhere. The final venue d=
isplays historical works from JingDeZhen's 1800 year history of ceramics an=
d in particular the past 1,008 years of porcelain production, including , o=
f course, the blue and white wares made famous here.
Welcome all! I have spent a lot of time proof-reading the local CERAMIC V=
ISION magazine, which promotes the ceramic Fair and the Contemporary Cerami=
cs Exhibition. Translations from Chinese into English are sometimes challen=
ging to understand. ( Uff Da! )
Another semester has started at JCI (JingDeZhen Ceramic Institute). The Ins=
titute is a four year University which offers its 14,000+ students study in=
ceramics, ceramic engineering, art and design, painting, sculpture, drawin=
g, marketing, finance, law and foreign language courses. Most students are =
ceramics majors. There is a graduate program that offers Master's and Docor=
ate degrees in ceramics arts and sciences. It is a vital and exciting place=
to live and work. West Virginia U. has 16 American students here for a few=
months to study the culture and ceramics methods, the techniques used in t=
hrowing, casting and slab work. Other foreign students studying clay here c=
ome from Indian, Turkey, Korean, Japan, Malasia, Indonesia, Belguim and els=
ewhere. The dormitory where we all live is abuzz with many languages and in=
teresting cultural exchanges about foods, customs and ways of working with =
ceramic materials.
I am now approaching my 5th year here and just signed my contract for anoth=
er year. I teach oral English 10 hours a week and tutor Master's degree st=
udents and other ceramic classes. The University gives me a studio space t=
o work in, so I have ample opportunity to do my own ceramic work.
I marvel at the work ethic of the folks here. As I was waiting for the bus=
to the new campus the other day, I saw three elderly men picking weeds fro=
m the grass by hand in one of the many green lawns on campus. At 6 AM one c=
an watch the men and women who daily sweep the campus, working with their b=
rooms. From dawn 'til dusk I can watch students playing basketball, badmint=
on and volleyball on the sports ground in front of the dormitory. In the ea=
rly morning one can watch Tai Chi exercises and even ballroom and modern da=
ncing at various locations on the old campus. Joggers and walkers are out i=
n force, now that the weather has moderated and Fall seems to have finally =
arrived in Southern China.
My work has been accepted for the Contemporary Exhibition and I have fired =
the porcelain (gas fired reduction, 1300 C.) so I am ready to submit my wor=
k. I was asked the other day to submit work for an exhibition in HangZhou =
and look forward to participating...and visiting West Lake again. (6 hours =
by bus from JingDeZhen and said to be the "most beautiful place in China".)
Dump trucks full of clay, feldspar, gypsum and other locally mined minerals=
rumble through town daily. There are also copper and coal mines and even a=
gold mine somewhere in the nearby mountains that surround the city of 1.47=
million souls. JingDeZhen is also a center of helicopter and aircraft prod=
uction and has a joint venture (with Japan) factory that produces Suzuki a=
utomobiles. Most of Jiang Xi Province is remote and covered with farmlands.=
Nearby Le Ping is a huge vegetable producing area that provides a big shar=
e of vegetables sent to bigger metro areas. Rice fields are now being harve=
sted and overloaded trucks hustle the bags of rice to the big cities. The f=
armer's market springs to life 7 days a week at sunrise. All manner of fre=
sh vegetables and fish and meats are brought to a wide area of the street a=
bout a mile from campus. The array, colors and smells are inviting. This w=
eek fireworks start the day...it is their Independence Day celebration this=
week.
The other day I was googling and found more images of two of my favorite in=
spiring potters...Hans Coper and Colin Pearson. It appears that Pearson and=
I started putting wings on ceramic vessels at about the same time..late 60=
s. Our works don't look alike, but you can see resemblances in some forms. =
Of course my influences were totems in Sitka, the winged victory, spacecraf=
t nosecones, and my love of trying to combine clay with other media...metal=
, wood, fabric, plastic, glass, etc. Pearson stuck with unglazed stoneware.=
I am more adventurous, to an extent, but still love texture and unglazed, =
or simply glazes. Lately I have also been playing with big platters and usi=
ng cobalt to dabble in blue and white designs...of birds, of course. I was =
influenced again about celadons ,when teaching in LongQuan this summer, so =
that has influenced some of my latest work too.
Check out my blog spot below for some images. (We still can't get Facebook =
or U-Tube here in China...deep sigh.)
Today is the start of a week long school holiday, so I find that I have tim=
e to write now. BUT...Time to get to the studio now........
Hope you are enjoying your work and makin' great stuff!
Regards,
Ric
http:blog.sina.com.cn/ricswenson
Richard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher,
Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Inst=
itute,
TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City.
JiangXi Province, P.R. of China.
Postal code 333001.
Mobile/cellular phone : 86 13767818872
< RicSwenson0823@hotmail.com>
http://www.jci.jx.cn
| |
|
