Ric Swenson on sun 31 dec 06
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Artist's Statement.
Over 500 attended the opening of my show in Jingdezhen, China on Dec 22 at Caroline Cheng's " Pottery Workshop".
Thank you !
Dreams of flying- we have all had such dreams at sometime in our lives. We're fascinated by birds. Some get the feeling of flying .....from swimming in water. I know I do. Some people dream of angels floating around heaven. I've been influenced by Pacific Northwest American Indian totem poles and totem figures. I grew up in Alaska and so the influence from that area has exposed me to these forms many times. They are magic fetishes to the natives of Alaska and British Columbia Canada. Wings have influenced art in many ways- from the 'Winged Victory' in the Louvre Museum now- to the totem figure in Tianamen Square in Beijing, whose clouds resemble wings...to me. There are many examples of winged figures. My forms are a ceramic vessel shaped roughly like the nose cone of a rocket, like the one that went to the moon in 1969, and I attach wings of clay, metal, cloth, wood or whatever materials are available and might make a serious or humorous statement to others. I try to provoke my au
dience to think about flying and wings. I attempt to balance the form; top and bottom and sides, from all angles, to create an interesting sculptural expression. I was told in graduate school that if I
wanted to make a statement in clay it should be a highly personal statement. Part of my life. So I attempt to make a balanced and interesting form with my work. I dream of flying. I have loved swimming for 55 years because it makes me feel as though I were flying. I make functional clay forms in my teaching and for a living. My functional forms are covered jars and bowls and plates and cups. These winged forms are my very personal expressions, not to hold cookies or flowers. They have lids or covers to complete the visual effect without showing the secrets of how I attach the wings... to the whole world. I have experimented with hundreds of these forms. I've drawn thousands of these forms in pencil, ink and paper. For every piece that I make in clay, there are many drawn on paper. It is my way of playing with form, space, texture, color and the other elements of design. I like the contrasts and compliments possible between clay...be it porcelain, stoneware or terracotta and othe
r media. I have learned metal casting, cutting, welding, woodworking and sewing and many other skills, from my efforts with my winged fantasies over the past 30 years. I enjoy collaborating with other
artists and in this particular exhibition I have collaborated with several Chinese artists. I thank them for their efforts and their creative solutions to the problem I have presented to them. Their collaboration with me serves us both, I believe. I learn to push the envelope further and they are challenged to create wings for one of my ceramic forms, which I hope pushes their own creative urges and responses further. These flights of fancy are the result of my upbringing in a Norwegian household where we lived and ate and slept with Scandinavian furniture and tableware. I don't paint decorations on my sculptures. My taste in design is spartan and quite spare. I believe in simple shapes and forms. I use celadon as a color ...not a tradition of Chinese history. I hope you enjoy my work and will be inspired to open your mind to my abstractions and the abstractions of others.
Ric Swenson, JingDeZhen, P.R. China, December 2006."...then fiery expedition be my wing, ..."Wm. Shakespeare, RICHARD III, Act IV Scene IIIRichard H. ("Ric") Swenson, Teacher,Office of International Cooperation and Exchange of Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, TaoYang Road, Eastern Suburb, Jingdezhen City JiangXi Province, P.R. of China.Postal code 333001.Mobile/cellular phone :13767818872E-Mail: RicSwenson0823@hotmail.com
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