BARGAINS AT THE FLEA MARKET

Not quite sure what it means when one's early work starts turning up in charity shops and flea markets..last year I found a plate of mine in a junk shop in Dublin! Would love to know the journey of that plate from Cape Town onwards and, since I never claimed it, where it will eventually live...

The above image is of four small plates of mine made probably in about 1985 - I don't have any examples or even images of work from then, so I was quite thrilled to discover these at the Milnerton Flea Market here in Cape Town selling for R5 each..what a bargain!

RHINO

Amongst many other recent activities, I had a request for another panel on the rhino theme, so here it is with inspiration from the poetry of W.H.Auden, William Yeats ,  and excerpts of text from an Emily Dickinson poem 'You said that I "was great"- one day'

Tell which - it's dull to guess-

And I must be Rhinoceros

Or mouse -

At once - for Thee -

MIRO MEETS BLING MEETS THE 60'S

I am always astonished that in many craft forums today, it seems expected that makers can come up with a new 'product' overnight as it were. In the past months, whilst posting about many other ceramists, and also making some of my regular work for clients - to pay the  bills! - I have been struggling to find new meaning in my work. I think there is a Sufi concept which is something like -
 I know not who I am - 
and with this in mind I have been experimenting and searching for my voice in my ceramic work. I have been experimenting a lot and these images posted here are some of my first results which I feel are slowly getting somewhere in this journey. I find the creative process always such a struggle of brow-beating, slog and self criticism and wonder if this is the same for other makers. Certainly I would not be able to come up with a new design in a hurry!

I am reminded thus of a beautiful poem by Rilke which I have posted previously...still applies...

I live my life in growing orbits

which move out over the things of the world.

Perhaps I can never achieve the last,

but that will be my attempt.

I am circling around God, around the ancient tower,

and I have been circling for a thousand years.

And I still don't know if I am a falcon,

Or a storm, or a great song.

Rainer Maria Rilke 1875 - 1926

WISDOM

“What day is it,?" asked Pooh.
"It's today," squeaked Piglet.
"My favorite day," said Pooh.”

EARLY INFLUENCES

These plates were purchased by my mother in Vallauris, France - where Picasso made his ceramics -  in the 1940's. As children we ate off these every evening surely absorbing regular doses of lead from the glaze which has now been almost worn away completely! The fragrance of the salad dressing which no doubt contributed to the lead release, is still fixed in my senses. And somehow I think that these plates must have been the start of my ceramic 'awareness' both aesthetically - the easy flow of the  slip trailed decoration - and the sense of nourishment and dining which accompanies the use of beautiful dishes.

MASTER OF CONTEMPORARY SLIPWARE - DYLAN BOWEN

One of my very very favourite ceramists is British Dylan Bowen - his forms and slip decoration display a wild and free spirit which warms the soul. 

 In the words of David Whiting

(Author of Modern British Potters and their Studios) - "Dylan Bowen makes slipware really quite unlike any other produced today. There is a rhythmical attack, a flow of gestural energy that conjures up some of the most vibrant traditions of 17th and 18th century decorated earthenware. Yet it has a force that also reflects some of the more vigorous and minimal expressions of 20th century abstraction - particularly American - in painting and ceramics. He also cites outsider art and music as influences. His fresh and original combinations of colour on big platters and plates, the particular nature of these creamy surfaces on free, expansively thrown and press moulded forms, take the art of slip somewhere new and exhilarating."2006

MORE PAINTERLY CERAMICS

I seem to  be on a role with posting free brushstoke on ceramic surfaces...I find it incredibly exciting..the combination of a limited 3d form holding within it bold expressionist paint marks and textures.

And so by chance I came across the website of the Dutch ceramist, Petri Voet. The images posted here are admittedly from several years ago, and since Petri seems to produce a somewhat diverse range of work, I am not sure if this direction is still being pursued. I found the description of her work on her website rather inspiring and mysterious:
'Much of the work of Petri Foot contain her memories of distant travels. The open-minded viewer can travel on his own imaginative conception. Swivel the horizon around a bowl reveals new horizons loom on. '