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● Dr. Hsu's Review

Beyond Woodfiring 超越柴烧

by Dr. I Chi Hsu
    Wood-firing ceramic art work in sculpture format is not new.  Peter Voulkus has already developed it in a successful way.  Some other earlier artists also expressed that wood-firing was one of the best technique to show a powerful sculpture piece.  Efforts have not made that much today in comparing with the past.  This "All China Woodfire" program is aimed to raise the interest in wood-firing sculptures among the younger ceramic generation. 
    
    Another consideration is to develop the wood-firing in China, particularly in wood-fire sculpture. As you all know China is catching up in contemporary ceramics but wood-firing is still behind. China needs stimulation and this program is aimed for this purpose. In addition, China could provide better space, labor and living condition for artists to make better and larger size work which is one thing we really like to see it happen.
    
    A total of nine artists participated, six from the USA, one from Taiwan and two from China. But the core of works done for this program is made by six American artists and one Taiwan artists, what I called them “Magnificent Seven”. Two of them spent seven weeks and the other five spent three and half weeks in China. Within such limited time the work done was really magnificent. This catalog illustrates the efforts they made. A total of more than hundred pieces were made and many of them are in good size. Two fires were made, one in Beijing HAP Pottery and one in Fuping Pottery Art Village. Two shows were given; one in Jia Pingao Museum in the Xian Architectural University and another one in XYZ Art Gallery in Beijing 798 Art District. Sales were made for 40% of the work. It was a successful operation.  Artists all expressed their satisfaction about their work as well as the working and leisure conditions. It was originally designed to work in Yangshuo also but because of kiln problem we only made a tour to visit there and hope to work there in future time.

    Both Ryan Mitchell and Brian Kakas spent seven and half weeks in both Beijing and Fuping and visited Yangshou two times. Brian came directly from Seoul with the Silver Medal from Korean Biennale. They came to China earlier because they have planned to help build kiln in Yangshuo. But it ended up by making more and larger works in Beijing and Fuping. Ryan's "Buddha Heads"  and "Tube-Jar" show more sophisticated than his other
similar works before. Good wood-firing added more tone variations and achieve strong feeling particularly in his large work of "Button" and "Chunk". Brian demonstrated that his work can also be presented by wood-firing successfully. It stimulated him even to make larger pieces of his work. Both of them give us hope of making wood-firing sculptures among the younger generation.

    I have to admire the other five artists for spending only three and half weeks and made so many good works. Davis Smith and Tony Yee made more than 50 bowls and most of them were successful. Particularly their glaze test on these bowls created outstanding achievement. Their other works such as Tony’s blue decorated plate and David’s four no glaze plates are wonderful pieces. David’s four bust figures are also impressive. Tara Wilson created new forms of "Basket" in addition to her usual pots and dishes. The "Basket" may become her new line.  Ted Adler made so many large size wood-fired balls and formed a good installation. Again this is his new try. He added glaze to his old form and the result was encouraging. Dean Adams made many new form tries and expanded his work tremendously. He said he never felt so easily to make work and to come up new ideas. He claimed it is a "China effect".
    
    The group effort in firing was another significant matter. Because of time limit, they had to fire art works when they were wet. They had to cut down the cooling time to make the opening show possible. The results told us they achieved all these successfully.

    The success of this program is encouraging. Tony will apply fund in Taiwan for another "All Taiwan Woodfire" program by doing wood-firing in Daxi (northern Taiwan) and Shuili (southern Taiwan). I am also contacting Korea and Europe in addition to fire more in China. We welcome wood-fire ceramic artists contact us to promote sculpture wood-firing among younger generation.

    用柴烧表现雕塑不算新鲜事。彼得夫卡斯就很早成功地做到了；也有其他早期的柴烧陶艺家成功地证明了柴烧是很有表现力的。而如今，人们在这方面的努力却不如从前了。这次我们举办的《柴烧遍中国》活动，就是想把年轻一代的陶艺家对柴烧雕塑的兴趣提起来。
　　另一方面，我也是想促进柴烧在中国的发展，尤其是在柴烧雕塑方面。正如人们所知，中国的现代陶艺正在蓬勃发展，但柴烧却一直落后。中国需要激励，而本次活动的目的就在于此。另外，中国的场地、人工及生活条件让艺术家能有创作大型作品的机会，而这也正是我们所希望的。
　　共有九位陶艺家参与了本次活动，其中六位来自美国，一位来自台湾，两位出自国内；而活动的核心创作由六位美国陶艺家和一位台湾陶艺家完成，因此，我将这七人组誉为“七雄”。这其中的两位在中国工作了七周，另五人工作了三周半。在如此有限的时间里，他们进行了非常精彩的创作。这本小册子展示了他们的创作成果。在总共一百多件作品中，其中许多是相当大件的。活动期间，我们分别在北京乐陶苑和富平陶艺村各烧了一窑；最后在西安建筑科技大学的贾平凹文学艺术馆和北京798艺术园区内的XYZ画廊安排了创作成果展售，其中40％的作品有了买主，活动非常成功。陶艺家们对作品以及工作和生活安排都表示满意。原本我们还计划在阳朔安排创作活动，但由于柴窑没有建成，我们便只去那里进行了一次游览；我们希望不久就能在那里烧柴窑，搞创作。
　　雷恩米契尔和布莱恩卡喀斯两人这次在中国工作了七周半，并两赴阳朔。布莱恩携韩国双年展银奖直接从首尔来京。他们早来的本意是要协助指导在阳朔建柴窑，结果建窑作罢，却成全他们在北京和富平创作了很多大型作品。雷恩的“菩萨头”和“花瓶”和他以前的类似作品相比，显得更细腻了。良好的烧制也为他的大型作品“纽扣”和“大块头”添加了更丰富的色调变化，更让人感觉到力量。布莱恩成功地证明了他的作品同样可以用柴烧来表现。这也激励着他要去做更大的作品。他俩让我们看到了柴烧雕塑在新生代上的希望。
　　我不得不佩服其他五位陶艺家。他们在短短的三周半里做了这么多的作品。大卫史密斯和叶文做了50多个杯和碗，而且大多数都很成功。尤其是他们在杯碗上试验釉料，结果相当精彩。他们的其他作品，比如叶文装饰蓝色的盘子，以及大卫的四个没上釉的柴烧盘子也很出色。大卫的四座半身人像也给人以深刻印象。塔拉威尔逊不仅做了她常做的罐和碟子，还创作了新型的“篮子”。这些“篮子”可能会成为她新的创作方向。泰德艾特勒做了好多柴烧的大圆球，组成了一个很不错的装置作品，而这也是他的新尝试。他还在他旧有的作品形式上施加了釉料，结果令人振奋。丁亚当斯尝试创作了很多新造型，极大地扩展了他的创作领域。他说他从未感觉到创作和创意能如此轻松。他把这归结为“中国效应”。
　　另一件很有意义的事，是在烧窑时大家所做的共同努力。由于时间紧，他们不得不在作品未干时就开始烧窑，又不得不缩短冷却时间，以保证展览按时开幕。为此他们做了特别的处理，大家轮流紧密细致地控制烧窑温度及气氛，结果证明，他们的这些努力都成功了。
　　本次活动的成果令人振奋。叶文说，他要回台湾申请经费，再办一个“柴烧遍台湾”活动，在大溪（台湾北部）和水里（台湾南部）做柴烧。我除了继续在中国开展这个活动之外，也正在联系韩国和欧洲。我们欢迎各地的柴烧陶艺家与我们联系，在年轻陶艺家中推广柴烧雕塑。