EXPERIMENTAL...

'All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In between all sorts of regular studio activities, I am always searching for new directions...these pots were made in one of Hennie Meyer's workshops when we spent the weekend at Millstone Studio in MacGregor. I am quite excited about the possibilities of taking this further...

WINTER SUNSET

“Nobody of any real culture, for instance, ever talks nowadays about the beauty of sunset. Sunsets are quite old fashioned. To admire them is a distinct sign of provincialism of temperament. Upon the other hand they go on.”

Bearing in mind the above quotation by Oscar Wilde, I clearly have a distinctly provincial temperament...but who wouldn't, witnessing this from my studio window on an autumn/winter May evening...?

Pottery Exhibition to Feature 120 Ken Matsuzaki Pots That Narrowly Escaped Japan Earthquake

'Ken Matsuzaki - An upcoming exhibition that features pottery that narrowly escaped the devastating March earthquakes in Japan. Fortunately, Ken and his family were not harmed physically in the earthquakes, but his kilns and five kiln loads of greenware were destroyed. By a twist of fate, Ken had shipped out 120 pots for an exhibition at Goldmark Gallery in England just before the earthquake hit. These pots will be on display at Goldmark from June 4-26. If you are in England, anywhere near Uppingham, don’t miss this exhibition!'
See Ceramic Arts Daily latest post for more info on the destruction and rebuilding of the potteries of Mashiko

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. ~T.S. Eliot

Coffee mugs on show in The Cube at The Clay Museum, Rust-en-Vrede

'Over second and third cups flow matters of high finance, high state, common gossip and low comedy. Coffee is a social binder, a warmer of tongues, a soberer of minds, a stimulant of wit, a foiler of sleep if you want it so. From roadside mugs to the classic demi-tasse, it is the perfect democrat. ' ~Author Unknown

ARTIST IN THE GARDEN

My work is currently coming up on a group show curated by The Art Shop in Abergavenny, Wales...info follows here

Festival of the Arts

St. Mary’s Priory Church. 2nd-5th June

For the first time The Art Shop is curating a small exhibition in the hall of the Priory Centre, as part of a new annual arts festival.

Featured artists will include painter, Andrea Mclean, illustrator, Rachel Tudor Best and ceramic artist, Jacqueline Leighton Boyce. This show will continue at The Art Shop and is part of our extended summer exhibition, 'Artist in the Garden'.

Artist in the Garden- Mixed Summer Show

28th May – 3rd Sept

Bringing together artworks by painters, printmakers, sculptors, ceramicists and jewellers, including new, exciting contributions by...

Clementina van der Walt - ceramics

A new departure by the South African maker. ’Irregular earthenware forms work to restore a sense of soul to dining rituals, rebelling against the coldness of much industrial tableware on the market. Her work is designed to encourage contemplation, conscious aesthetic awareness and meaning’

PORTRAITS AFTER IRMA..

At my exhibition at The Irma Stern Museum last year I exhibited a dinner service on her dining room table, with side plates featuring portraits 'after Irma Stern'. I subsequently received a further commission to make several dinner services which I am in the process of making. These are some of the portrait plates.

MUGS IN THE CUBE

These are our studio mugs submitted for a group Mugs in the Cube show opening next week at The Clay Museum at Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery in Durbanville (just outside Cape Town)

Homage to Betty Woodman and Virginia Woolf

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Virginia Woolf portrait plate on tablecloth by Shine Shine

Clementina's feet - a la Betty Woodman (not intentional!)

No particular link between these two other than they are women whose work I admire...Betty Woodman - American ceramist - wears funky shoes...and I am making plates with images of my 'heroines' , hence the Virginia Woolf plate... all photographed yesterday in my studio by my friend Tessa Frootko Gordon (photographer extraordinaire)

'MAP' EXHIBITION AT UNIVERSITY OF JOHANESBURG

These are the 2 works which I have on show at the exhibition of Map South Africa (MAP = Modern Art Project) at University of South Africa Art Gallery in Johannesburg
An exhibition entitled Map – South Africa with works from a broad spectrum of artists and genres will be hosted by the UJ Art Gallery from 11 May to 15 June 2011. In addition to showing new work by 39 artists who have participated in Map, the exhibition documents the diverse spaces utilised for the Map projects all over South Africa.

These spaces include restaurants, hotels, homes and Map’s own Karoo residency. The show also records Map participation in the 2007 Innibos arts festival and an architecture conference: African Perspectives 2009: ‘The African City Centre (re)sourced’, hosted by the University of Pretoria, as well as publications relating to these projects.

The founders of the project, patron of the arts, Harrie Siertsema and Abrie Fourie, well known artist and curator, brought a fresh and innovative approach to the domain of visual arts through this ongoing project and through their unwavering trust in and support of South African artists.
The multifaceted Modern Art Project (Map) originated in 2005 out of the impulse to combine the works of established and emerging artists and to show such works in unexpected spaces outside the traditional gallery context.

Map is emblematic of a new ‘empathetic economy’ in which the artwork is taken from the white cube gallery for more democratic dispersement, and brought back to the white cube for documentation and integration. Map also points to the destruction of the division between high and low culture.

The Map endeavours are documented in an exceptional series of “black books” available for public perusal. This informative resource is also a collector’s item as a limited edition “black box” set.

Opening on 11 May 2011 at 18 30 for 19 00. Gallery hours: Mon – Fri: 09 00 – 18 00, Sat: 09 00 – 13 00.

HENNIE MEYER AT 'OP REIS'

Hennie Meyer and others...

8 artists participating - Strydom Van der Merwe, Ann Marais, Susan Kruger-Grundlingh, Theo Kleynhans, Hennie Meyer, Elizabeth Miller-Vermeulen, Louis Jansen Van Vuuren, Theresa-Jo Wessels, Lizl Dreijer at Artb. Gallery, Carl Van Aswegen Library Centre, Bellville (just outside Cape Town)
opening 11th May at 6.30 pm

WOODFIRING JAMBOREE

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Whilst some of the inhabitants of this planet were killing a man, others of us in a far away corner of the world were peacefully involved in the 4 elements - earth, air, water and fire. The emphasis on fire, and in fact the 5th element too - wood. A wonderful workshop at the studio of Paul de Jongh and Nina Shand in MacGregor which is a charming country village about 180 kilometers out of Cape Town. The workshop was extremely inspiring - a small group of participants, we glazed and packed the bourry box kiln which subsequently fired for about 24 hours and took as long to cool down. During the stoking of the kiln, surface decorating and construction workshop with Hennie Meyer and a slide lecture by me. All supplemented with delicious food and wonderful videos of wood firing specialists like Gwen Hanssen Pigott, Ken Matsuzaki, Svend Bayer. This was 'real' pottery in the traditional sense! Unpacking the kiln extremely exciting with some encouraging results...thanks to Paul and Nina for a memorable weekend...