Linda Arbuckle on wed 24 nov 99
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>From Sue Jeffries at the Gardiner Museum (Suej=40gardinermuseum.on.ca)
Seduced by Colour: The New Maiolica
EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL MAIOLICA CERAMICS
February 11 to April 16, 2000
The practice of tin glaze spans a thousand years of history, from its
inception in Mesopotamia, through its flowering in Islamic culture, its
brilliant heyday during the Italian Renaissance=3B and its current active
revival around the world. It has always been a medium both varied and
expressive that has seduced ceramists and artists alike over the
centuries to ply their brushes in an exuberance of painted decoration
and narrative.
Within the field of ceramics, maiolica, with its stable colour-holding
glaze surface is unique as a medium =96 indeed, it has been called a
painter's medium.
The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art has initiated an exciting event to
celebrate the uniqueness and diversity of contemporary maiolica. The
Museum possesses one of the finest collections of historical maiolica
pieces in North America, exemplifying two great tin-glaze traditions:
Italian Renaissance Maiolica and 17th century English delftware. As an
adjunct to this collection the museum has invited maiolica artists from
around the world to submit pieces. Among the twenty-five artists showing
new works specifically created for this event will be Alan Caiger-Smith
of the UK one of the pioneers of the maiolica revival in the early
1950s. Some of the other overseas artists will include Hylton Nel from
South Africa, Alexandra Copeland from Australia, Marino Moretti from
Italy, Sigrid Artes from Germany and Eduardo Nery from Portugal. The
United States will be represented in this collection among others by
such notable artists as Andrea Gill, Linda Arbuckle, William Brouillard
and Faraday Sredl. Such well-known Canadian ceramists as Bruce Cochrane,
Angelo Di Petta, Walter Ostrom, Paul Rozman, Karin Pavey, Xenia Taler,
Dale Pereira and Ian Symons will be showing some of their newest works.
Figurative, narrative, abstract, functional and sculptural works will
give evidence of the great variety of making and surface treatment
techniques inherent in the medium of tin glaze.
What will become evident in viewing this exhibition is that this
diversity of expression is part of a long-standing and on-going process
of assimilation and transformation of cross-cultural influences. As Alan
Caiger-Smith writes in his Foreword to the New Maiolica: Contemporary
Approaches to Colour and Technique:
We do not begin our work as blank sheets: we are supported by methods
and knowledge handed down by those before us =96 by some kind of living
tradition. Traditions are not necessarily conservative: they can provide
the ground for innovations which in turn shape the knowledge handed down
to succeeding generations.
Maiolica techniques have always been a blend of tradition and
innovation. To take just one example, the highly original fa=EFences
fauves of Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck, and Rouault, were made possible, in
the early years of this century, by the evolution of glazes, pigments,
and kilns for conventional tableware during the preceding hundred years.
Without that traditional backing, the exhilarating works of these
artists would not be with us today.
People of many times and places have contributed to the maiolica
heritage. The white glaze was first devised a thousand years ago in an
attempt to imitate Chinese porcelain. Those early potters discovered
that it could be decorated in colours in ways that porcelain could not,
and we today are still following up the consequences of that innovation.
In Persia, the white tin glaze was used almost exclusively for reduction
lustre and minai enamels =96 two other far-reaching innovations. The green
and brown pottery of the western Mediterranean was mostly painted
directly on the clay and covered with a semi-opaque tin glaze which let
the colour fuse through from below, an innovation which transformed the
older tradition of unglazed imagery. Italian majolicari, vastly
extending the palette, established the custom of painting and
over-painting on the surface of the powdery glaze, using tones of colour
to indicate modeling and perspective depth. They developed figurative
imagery to a degree never matched before, and seldom since. The blue and
white delfware of the Low Countries, inspired by the newly imported
Chinese porcelain, applied these techniques to produce European forms
and images that were soon being used as models by the Chinese
themselves. In such ways, new vision continually regenerates established
techniques.
To complement the exhibition =22Seduced by Colour: The New Maiolica=22 the
Gardiner Museum is hosting an important symposium for members and the
general public on February 12th. Here Ceramists, authors and historians
from around the world will address a wide range of historical and
contemporary topics of interest relating to the field of maiolica. (See
Program and Events).
Matthias Ostermann, Curator
Matthias Ostermann is a practicing ceramist living in Montr=E9al. He has
exhibited and lectured internationally and is author of The New
Maiolica: Contemporary Approaches to Colour and Technique. (A =26. C.
Black, London, 1999)
Programs and Events
HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY MAIOLICA: A SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, February 12, 2000
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
lunch and reception included
cost: =2455 Members, seniors and students=3B =2460 General public
A unique and unprecedented international gathering of 7 specialists in
the field of maiolica, including world-renowned authors, artists and
historians, will present slide lectures on a wide variety of topics
relating to the field of historical and contemporary maiolica.
Keynote Speaker
Timothy Wilson (UK), Keeper of Western Art, The Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford and author of: Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance.
Alan Caiger-Smith (UK), ceramist and author of Lustre Pottery=3B
Technique, Tradition and Innovation in Islam and the Western World=3B Tin
Glaze Pottery in Europe and the Islamic World=3B Pottery, People and
Time. Co-editor with Ronald Lightbown of Piccolpasso's Three Books of
the Potter's Art.
Topic: =22Lustre and Light:
This talk will encompass a thousand years of ceramic lustre from the
Middle East through Spain and Italy to the present day --- techniques,
motives and meanings=22
Catherine Hess (USA), associate curator
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles and author of: Italian Maiolica
Topic: =22Maiolica in the Making: The Gentili/Barnabei Archive
In the late 1980's the Getty Museum acquired what appears to be the
oldest known patterns for maiolica decoration in existence (ca 1660s).
These patterns are fascinating and tell how potters worked in the
Baroque period. Ms. Hess believes that it is possible to extrapolate
the methods of the Renaissance potter from this important archive.
Alexandra Copeland (Australia), ceramist and author of: An Artists's
Travel Guide to the Ceramics Museums of Europe.
Topic: =22Drawing the Line=22, This talk will cover an exploration of the
artist's own body of work, documenting changes in style and pushing the
borders of maiolica as a medium. She will discuss her development of a
personal colour palette and her thoughts on luminescence in glazes. Her
extensive travels in Central Asia and Europe have produced some
exquisite large platters where her love of drawing and eye for detail
are paramount.
Andrea Gill (USA), ceramist
topic: =22Pottery as a Site for Personal Expression=22
=22My personal vision as an artist has focused on a format that is
admittedly ancient. My devotion to surface patterning has proven to be
an addiction that satisfies my love of stylized image. In the motifs of
my overlaid figure/ground surfaces, I suspect I am often exploring my
subconscious.=22
Walter Ostrom (Canada), ceramist
topic: Maiolica: Historical Context, Contemporary Practise
Walter Ostrom, one of Canada's foremost maiolica potters, who has been
instrumental in educating so many of Canada's younger talents, will
speak on a potter's perspective on classical maiolical techniques and
contemporary notions of maiolica as process.
Eduardo Nery (Portugal), artist
Topic: The Mural Works of Eduardo Nery, is a visual presentation of the
artist's major tile mural works, with references to the history of
Portuguese tiles and their extensive use in architecture.
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