2007 The World  Exhibition of Lucky Pig Teapot 

 

The Impacts between Eastern and Western Cultures

Dofferemt Ways Contribute to the Same Result Luck

 

2007 Lucky Pig Teapot to be Marketed

 

The great writer Hugo said:

“The belief is what people need .A person who has no belief will not be happy.”

The folk custom is the most direct and vivid window to observe and understand the culture of a country, a nation,while art is the best communication ambassador not only to let foreign countries understand China, but also enable Chinese culture to move towards the world!

 

The totem culture is worldwide ,its folk custom of 12-animal calendar formed in ancient Egypt,ancient Babylon ,India ,Greece and China long time ago, while zodiac belief belongs to Chinese culture .The zodiac “Harmony of Man with Nature ”from the 12-animal calendar of ancient times is a set of symbols used for commemoration, which is part of astronomical calendar of ancient times. Later. it has become a zodiac calendar generally recognized by people. Thezodiac has become a factor deciding people’s own life and apart of life belief.

 

 

The year 2007 is zodiac pig, the beginning of 60 jia-zi of the new century, implying the beginning of “Heart  Economy ” and “Heart Wealth”, and the pig implies a treasure bowl of the “Heart Wealth”

With the concept of “Heart Economy”, we creatively unite teapot artists of 12 countries in 5 continents to stroll about Zhujiajiao and to play an eminent role in Shanghai ,which is a “Heart Wealth” of  2007 lucky pig culture given to you! From Zhujiajiao, a 1700-year ancient town in Shanghai, we will present a bright scene of zodiac culturall luck to Shanghai, to the world.  

 

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Time of  the Acitivity:Jan28-Mar.28, 2007

Venue:327 North Main Street Zhujiajiao Town,Qingpu District

 

 

Supported by:

 Shanghai Economic Committee Metropolis Industry Department

 

Sponsored by:

Shanghai Arts and Crafts Association

Cultural Creative Source Integration Center Arts & Crafts Association

 

Contracted by:

 Shanghai Handicraft Zhujiajiao Exhibition Center

 

Assisted by:

Shanghai Arts $ Crafts Company

Shanghai Arts and Crafts vocational college

Shanghai Arts &Crafts Museum

Shanghai Arts & Crafts Research Institute

Shandhai Arts & Crafts Institute

Shanghai Industrial Design Association

“Shanghai Arts & Crafts”  Magazine

Shanghai Zhujiajiao Investment Development Co., Ltd.

Shanghai Zhujiajiao Historic TownTourism Development Co., L

 

George McCauley (Greece)

 

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                

George McCauley, a Greek potter, has had 23 solo shows and has been included in 155 exhibitions.  He makes colorful earthenware pots and narrative sculpture. Along the way he has worked as a chef in a Greek restaurant, horse trainer, fulltime cowboy, concrete inspector, aluminum siding salesman, western catalog model, lifeguard and carpenter.

We in the ceramic world own so much to the artists in Asian countries.  When I think of so many art forms that came from or grew in Asia- calligraphy, porcelain, jade ware, lacquer ware, cloisonné, ivory, and painting- I am overwhelmed.  I am drawn to the early folk pots make with such immediacy, anonymity, and usefulness of purpose.

George McCauley says I have a similar philosophical ideology as Asian culture.  I relate to the smallness and compactness of the lifestyle and living/working space and translate that into a philosophy of “big is not better” and “make do with what you have”, which is how I live my life.

                                                 

                                                                  

                                                          

Graduated at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam in 1981, Jeroen Bechtold already worked in 1980 for Rosenthal in Germany as a freelance designer.  Later he also worked for other factories as a designer. 

He never shunned serial work. “People with a small purse should also be able to buy a work of my hand.”

Jeroen Bechtold is known for his egg shells: paper thin, translucent porcelains.  In his gallery they are displayed in such a way that light shines through, thus revealing their mysterious inner life.   The process of creating them is difficult.  He has become a master in this technique which is among the finest in the world.

Jeroen Bechtold has exhibited his works in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Italy, United Kingdom, the United States, Spain and Japan.  The latest being a solo in Sydney, Australia, as a part of a three months teaching/artist in residency period at the University of Canberra, Australia.

His works appear in books like: Peter Dormer’s The New Ceramics, Peter Lane’s Contemporary Porcelain, Susan Peterson’s The Art & Craft of Clay and Sasha Wardell’s book on Slipcasting.

                                                         

                                                            

                                                 

Tineke van Gils started her mainly self-taught ceramics career in the early eighties with her first studio in Amsterdam. In 1994 she married a farmer and moved to the polders near to Delft to set up a studio on the farm.

Tineke works with stoneware and porcelain and decorates in a spontaneous way with slip on the soft body. In simplifying techniques she reached speed and accuracy. Her pots are thrown and while still on the wheel distorted in some way, before being finished from the inside only. This final one-handed completion of the pots leads to liveliness and vitality in each piece.

Having reached this state of fluency in throwing, Tineke’s goal changed from technique into more content-based work. Her experiments on the wheel have taken her on a pioneering path and she has become a specialist in uncentred-throwing. In this way her women-statues arose.

                                              

                                                          

                                                     

Rafael Navas Espinosa, borned in Sapin, had finished doctor course of Fine Arts at The University of Barcelona in 1991.   After that, he flew to Nagoya, Japan to make research on Asian culture and art in 1992. There, he came to know Japanese ceramics and deeply impressed by beauty of it. He begun to learn making ceramics in Seto, where is well known as one of the oldest ceramics- producing region in Japan.   Besides, he studied prints in The University of Fine Arts Aichi Prefecture from 1993 to 1994.  In 1995, he builted a Japanese style wood-firing kiln called “Anagama” with Japanese ceramic artists, at his home town Jaén.

Basically, he stays inTokoname, the other historical ceramic town in Japan and makes his art works.   But every summer he goes back to his studio in Jaén and fires the Anagama-kiln with olive trees.

Since 1993, Rafael Navas exhibits his works both as ceramic artist and painter, in Japan, Spain, France, and the United States.   In 2005, he participated a Teapot  Symposium inCzech Republic, organized by Thun ceramic company.

His interests on art is still growing and spreading, that enriches his unique art world.

                                                         

                                                              

                                                   

Catherine Paleczny completed a Master of Fine Art degree at the University of Calgary, Alberta, and has studied at the University of Michigan and the University of Western Sydney Australia.  Most recently she has completed her Masters of Science in Education. 

Catherine has been a guest artist in residence at the International Ceramic Center in Denmark, the Banff Center in Alberta and the International Ceramic Sculpture Symposium in Boleslawiec, Poland.  She has exhibited in Australia, Europe, Canada and the USA.  She is currently an instructor at Ridley College in Canada.

Catherine received many scholarships and grants from government and art centers before, and she also has work in the permanent collection at the Grimmerhaus Museum in Denmark. 

                                                         

                                                                 

                                                      

Hennie Meyer is an acclaimed South African ceramist.  He works predominantly in earthenware, creating highly individual pieces.  Hennie enjoys the challenge of making composite shapes, experimenting continually with the expressive qualities of clay and glaze.  His balance of strong form with highly detailed surfaces creates aesthetically pleasing vessels in his recognizable signature style. 

Hennie studied ceramics in Australia and South Africa.  He exhibits extensively, both locally and overseas.  His work has been included in numerous permanent collections and international publications.  Hennie and Heleen and their two sons live in Durbanville, Cape Town.  He works and teaches from his studio at home.

                                                   

                                                             

                                                    

Hwang Jeng-daw, born in Taiwan, is an internationally acclaimed teapot-maker.  He has traveled to more than 25 countries, and has been guest artist at various universities, art centers and city governments in many countries such as United Kingdom, China, France, Poland, Czech, Estonia, Korea, Lithuania, Norway, the United States, and New Zealand.  His works are also widely collected by many museums worldwide, such as “the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art” in Canada, “American Museum of Ceramic Art” in USA, “Faenza International Ceramics Museum” in Italy, “Zhenjiang Museum” and “Wuxi Museum” in China, “Boleslawiec Ceramics Museum” in Poland, “Tallinn Applied Art Museum” in Estonia, and “Nottingham Castle Museum” in England.

The followings are some of Hwang Jeng-daw’s feelings collected throughout his teapot-making career.

1.      Teapots show us different ways and we also give teapots different appearances.

2.      Drinking tea is not only a way of life, but also a belief in the life of art.

3.      If you cannot make a good teapot, reflect upon the Confucian teachings.  If you make a great teapot, reflect upon the Buddhist teachings.  If this doesn’t work, reflect upon the Taoist teachings.

                                              

                                                       

                                                       

Xu Qu was born in Yixing, Jiangsu province, China in 1981.  She is the granddaughter of Mr. Xu Hantang, a craft & art great-master of China.   She is also the daughter of Xu Darming, who is also a master of Chinese craft & art.

Xu Qu studied at Southern Yangtze University from 2000, majoring in public art.  In 2004 she received her bachelor’s degree.  Now she is an assistant craft-master, and a member of “Yixing Pottery Association” and “Jiangsu Professional Potters Association”.

Xu Qu’s work “Nest” was in the national art-school almanac, and also permanently collected by her school.  From 2000, she has followed her grandfather Mr. Xu Hantang to learn the art of Yixing teapots.  In 2005 she won the first prize of “2^nd Yixing Emerging Potters’ Competition” with her work titled “Bond Teapot”.

                                                    

                                                                  

                                                             

Siukwan Wong was raised in Hong Kong and moved to London in 1992. From 1998, in five instead of the standard seven years, she completed all levels of a part-time pottery and design course of London Institute, and was twice nominated and won the 2001 national City & Guilds Medals for Excellence. She graduated in 2006 from the renowned Camberwell College of Art with a First Class Honours Degree in Ceramics.

Siukwan Wong believes that everyday objects influence the quality of life of their users ¾ functionality comprising of both an object’s usefulness and its symbolism. She likes to work with grogged clays using reduction glazes to convey the appearance, texture and timelessness of natural forms, and to adapt them, and embed their fundamental spirit in good ergonomic designs.

                                                            

                                                                         

                                                                

Albane Trolle studied applied art at “E.S.AA.T” in Lille, and also studied at the ceramic department of the applied art of “Oliviver de Serres” in Paris.  She graduated from school in 2004.

Albane Trolle worked with Bernard Thiran, Catherine Delbruyere in Belgium, Pierre Dutertre in France, and is learning from Jeroen Bechtold in the Netherlands at the moment.   She is good at ceramic casting and 3D software, and works in pottery and industrial ceramics now, as well as teaching ceramics in Nant, France. 

Albane says now she is more interested in focusing on high-temperature firing, and will keep going on it.

                                                        

                                                                                             

                                                                    

Kadri Parnamets, born in 1968, was graduated from Tallinn Art University in 1994.  She is currently a chief member of the Estonian Artists Association.

Kadri has participated in several international symposiums.  They are “International Porcelain Symposium, Kaunas” in Lithuania,  “International Symposium, Zvartava” in Latvia, “Brattvag International Symposium” in Norway, and “Kohila International Woodfiring Symposium” in Estonia.

Kadri Parnamets’s works have been exhibited at many galleries and museums in Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Switzerland, and Lithuania.  And her works are collected by “Tallinn Applied Art Museum” in Estonia, “Latvian Applied Art Museum”, and “Lithuanian Ceramics Museum”.

                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                         

 

Kart Seppel graduated as a ceramics and applied-art artist from Tallinn Art University, Estonia, in 1992.  She also established a ceramics studio with her friends together right away at the same year.

Kart differs from the others at her studio by her strongly personal style, characterized by individually graphical drawing-skill and sculptural handling-form.  Her simple and clear forms are covered with lush decoration.  Her signature trait the precision she applies to polishing the surface of her work.

The clay world, created by Kart Seppel, is always positive, happy, plentiful, childish and rich.

                                               

                                                                   

                                                        

In her works Külli Koiv creates different world in clay by big decorative forms. There is always a story to tell and often these stories are quite personal. She calls those stories “memories from the future”.

Kulli uses mainly hand built technique, scratching the surface of the form until it looks old and worn out or rough like a deeply dried land.  Her wish is to express the unity of antipodes which can be found everywhere in our life.

One of Külli’s big passions is woodfiring. She has practised woodfiring for several years. Since a big anagama- type type kiln was constructed in Estonia in 2000, she has actively took part in the firings. Natural warm colours created by flame and ash and  salt or soda often characterize her works. Nature is one of  the endless sourses of the inspiration for her.

During last six years Külli has been one of the organizers of the Kohila International Ceramic Symposium to popularize woodfiring among the artists as well as among the sculptors.

                                                             

                                                               

                                            

                                               

Ruta sipalyte, born in 1973, works in her private studio and lives in Vilnius, Lithuania.  She holds a master degree of arts from Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts where she studied ceramics in the Applied Arts Department from 1992 to 1998.

Since 1994, Ruta has participated in exhibitions and international ceramics workshops in Lithuania, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Ireland, Norway, France, and Taiwan. 

Ruta has won awards such as acknowledgement from the mayor of Vilnius City for the project LT-identity in 2004, a Sleipnir Travel grant for Young Professional Practitioners of Art from the Nordic Council of Ministers Information Office in 2002, and a scholarship for residency at the Nordic Artists’ Center in Dale, Norway in 2000.

Works by Ruta have been acquired by the Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts Museum and Panevezys Civic Art Gallery Museum.

                                                         

                                                                                   

                                                                 

Ken Shipley is an Assistant Professor of Art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, USA.  He has worked in ceramics for close to 30 years and began his career as an apprentice to both Charles Counts in Rising Fawn, GA and Bill Ashley in Chattanooga, TN.  Ken’s work covers many aspects of ceramics, from production pottery to large one of a kind vessel pieces, both wheel thrown and hand built.  He uses high fire reduction, salt/soda, wood fire, and electric kilns.  He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Ken Shipley’s work is always about what is going on in his life.  It is a combination of body, mind, and spirit.  It is about form and function, although not necessarily the function of pouring liquid or holding cookies, but the function of vessels as a visual interpretation of the world around you.  Some of the forms move and have gesture; some are more stoic and staid in appearance. The idea is to find the way for them to vibrate with the energy that runs through all of us in our lives.

Ken’s work has been exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally.  He has work in the collections of Mayor Bob Corker of Chattanooga, TN, President Sherry Hoppe of APSU, Clarksville, TN, the US Ambassador to Cameroon, George Staples, Arrowmont School of Art and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN, and AIR-Vallauris, Vallauris, France among others.

                                                        

                                                                    

                                                         

Since 1996 when Melody Shipley completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, her journey in life has taken her from being a manager in a major retail hardware store, to living out of her truck to ultimately becoming a wife and a mother.

Throughout her journey, she has been a potter, finding her strength, peace, and inspiration from the beauty of nature and then recreating her vision of that beauty in the forms and surfaces of the pots she makes.  Each pot is a separate landscape, a separate path, a separate person in her journey of life.  Her thrown and altered functional and large, one of a kind sculptural vessels are reduction fired in a gas kiln.  She uses both stoneware and porcelain and applies several different layers of glaze to achieve the rich textures of her surfaces.

She hopes that each one of her pots reflects the peace and beauty that she finds in nature, and the joy she finds in her current journey as a wife and mother of a two-year old daughter.

                                                                       

                                                              

Jiri, born in 1949, is a sculptor and designer from Prague. He is primarily involved with porcelain and industrial design.

After finishing the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague in 1974, he started his designer’s career in the Lesov Development center.  Between 1981 and 1992, he was employed in the Institute of Housing and Clothing Culture in Prague, while at the same time he continued his work for the porcelain producer in Karlovy Vary.

From 1992 Jiri has been working as a designer for the firm Porcela Plus a.s. As a sculptor he is mainly concerned with porcelain figurative sculpture.

Jiri has been designing porcelain for more than 30 years.  The porcelain sets are produced by Thun Karlovarsky Porcelan.

From 1998 he has been a member of IAC (International Academy of Ceramic).

A number of his works have been awarded prizes by the Czech Design Center.

He has exhibited in the Czech Republic and abroad.

                                                               

                                                                                                

                                                           

After completing a science degree, Janet Deboos studied ceramics at East Sydney National Art School from 1970 to 1971.   She has taught at and been in charge of ceramics at various colleges in Sydney and was head teacher at East Sydney when she retired from fulltime teaching in 1980 to run a production pottery from almost 20 years.  The focus of her work is the domestic arena and functional pottery- the processes that form it from clay, and those rituals that reform it through use.

Janet is also an editorial consultant on Ceramic Technical and Ceramics: Art & Perception.  She has written three books on glazes (Glazes for Australian Potters, More Glazes for Australian Potters and Handbook for Australian Potters), and has been invited speaker at national and international conferences, and conducted workshops or demonstrations in most states of Australia, the USA, and China.

                                                                 

                                                                

                                                             

Pratya Raktabutr was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand.  He completed his degree in Rangsit University, majoring in ceramic design.  To fulfill his interest, Pratya continued ceramic study in Canberra school of art, Australia, and completed his master degree in 2001.   After graduation, he came back to Bangkok to start teaching as a part time lecturer.

Pratya is interested in the function pottery, because he loves the domestic pottery of the daily use.  Recently he works in non- functional object and keeps using a slip-cast technique as a memory of his background.  He likes the quality of industrial process to repeat a small number objects by using a simple routine of making ceramic in Bangkok, just having a small space and few tools by chosen clay and glaze with care to suit the process.   He keeps using clay as a medium that transfers a story to the next generation as well as his teaching.