Ceramic Art London 2014

"Ceramic Art London 2014 was a major selling fair for contemporary studio ceramics at the Royal College of Art on Friday 4 – Sunday 6 April 2014."

More details at the event website

Fiona Kelly has sent this report.

Dear All,

Here's my report on CAL 2014 for newsletters or whatever. Hope it's not too long/wordy ... Lots to pack in.

As our old computer is now lacking security I thought it best to send this from the iPad so you'll have to copy and paste it.

Returning to Ceramic Art London after a gap of two years was a real treat. Last April I didn't feel able to attend as we'd just taken over the Creative Gallery in Wareham and I felt the three days would be better spent there. But this April that's more under control and there was a programme of lectures/demos and films not to be missed as it was the 10th anniversary CAL.

There were more new exhibitors this year and some "old hands" had been moved from their usual position so there was a fresh feel. 80 exhibitors, 22 London based, 39 from the UK,17 European (4 from Belgium) and 2 from Japan. The caste majority of the work on show was vessel orientated with varying degrees of usefulness.

New people that impressed me:

www.keithvarney.co.uk - bone china

www.hashimotoshinobu.com - stoneware

www.barbarahast.de - porcelain

www.katescottceramics.co.uk - stoneware with inlaid calligraphy

The opening lecture was Jonathan Keep on 3D digital printing. Jonathan, born in S. Africa, has been potting in Suffolk for many years. Making small scale domestic ware for sale from the workshop and large sculptural forms which are thrown and assembled. In 1999 he started looking at pots digitally - virtual pots; then a symposium in Holland led him to 3D printing. Collaborating with a Belgium couple at Bath Uni he developed his machine for printing symmetrical "vase" forms, which he has further adjusted by introducing sound waves into the programme - jazz and classical music giving markedly different surfaces. He has also developed a way of printing spherical forms, protecting the growing pot inside a former surrounded with dry clay. By tiny modifications to the programme he can morph the shape into another. He's collaborated with others trailing other materials for 3D printing - chocolate works particularly well.

The next talk was Aneta Regel in conversation with Felicity Aylieff. Aneta is originally from Poland. Her early talent suggested she should be a pianist, but at 15 she rebelled and ended up going to art school in Gdansk, where she benefitted from the amazing facilities and flexibility of the old soviet system -- making full scale life models, stone carving and finally moving to clay. Since 2000, when she joined the last students at Harrow and later went on to the RCA, she began to incorporate stone (granite chips) into her clay for hand building her forms - from fine dust to large pieces, and then using vivid glazes to inject life into the objects. Scale varies from massive floor pieces to large rings for the finger, including a lump of granite as the "stone".

Phil Eglin was next with a race through 25 years of teaching and making. First inspired by medieval jugs he found throwing hard to master so hand built them from slabs of clay. Having moved to Wales he now teaches less but continues to build his Madonnas, footballers and Christs using soft slabs, often imprinted with moulds taken from everyday objects - margarine tubs,sauce bottles, etc. he often incorporates sketches by his two sons as part of the surface decoration and uses anagrams as titles for pieces which have a hidden meaning. Witty, satirical and passing comment on contemporary culture.

And for the final treat "Desert Islands Pots" with the Duke of Devonshire. The collection at Chatsworth included many historic pots when the current Duke took over the family estate in 2006. His father had collected paintings and his own first important purchase was a Hockney, but a friend gave him a delicate John Spearman vessel which had been purchased from Joanna Bird. And that marked a turning point. Pots entered the Duke and Duchess' lives. Many commissions and purchases have followed which are displayed in the public areas of Chatsworth or in their own rooms. Groupings of pots seem to be an important part of their collection; Pippin Drysdale, Julian Stair, and Edmund du Val to name a few. Their most recent commission, an installation of 659 tiles depicting the DNA sequence of the Devonshire family - a two year long project for Jacob van der Beugel, now installed in the Sketch Gallery at Chatsworth.

So which pot to save as the waves crashed in on the island? The first John Spearman pot.

Day II started with a change of programme. Ken Eastman stood in at short notice and what an amazing show where the philosophy of making met stand up comedy.

Ken started training as an architect but found that was too cold and regimented for him so moved into the clay department at Edinburgh School of Art in 1979. Since then he's taught and made his pots turning to slab building in the late 80's - building open and closed vessel forms with " a rolling pin, a knife and a paint brush" (for slips). "What are your pots about? 18"!" He seriously questions why he makes pots. Enjoys commissions as it can set the parameters within which to work, otherwise he sets his own rules and goes to play.

Since moving to the Welsh borders in the mid 90's he thinks his work related to place. He's interested in change to keep his work alive. He's recently collaborated with Royal Crown Derby on a series of vases and has really enjoyed the experience, which continues with one off and production pieces.

Next in complete contrast Julian stair talked about his recent touring exhibition "Quietus - matters of life and death".

As a student at Camberwell in the late 70's he found that the purely sculptural wasn't satisfying. So in the 80's he was making pots for use - a celebration of the "common place". Gradually the form took over from surface decoration, often unglazed and placed on "grounds" (plinths) to emphasise the forms.

The idea of "Quietus" was to mediate our understanding of death through art. See Julian Stair: Quietus @ Somerset House.

A series of four installations relating to containers for the bodies/ashes of the dead. An incredibly moving talk, the final piece containing the bone ash of a relative. The work was displayed at MIMA (Middlesborough), Museum of Wales Cardiff, Winchester Cathedral and finally the dead house at Somerset House in London. He had the challenge of rearranging the exhibition to fit each space. Fascinating talk, extraordinary project, monumental results.

Following on nicely from that as Julian had worked with Ibstock bricks during the production of his sarcophagi, was a talk by Gwen Heeney about her life time of work with the brick industry to produce large public space commissions. Her current work is looking to make more abstract sculptural pieces from the elements in her brick constructions. "Shadow Stack" and "Fossil Pit" being examples from a residency in Montana.

The final talk on Saturday was Halina Cassell. The volume of work she has produced over the past 20 years is staggering. Her energy and commitment is evident. She initially went to college to study glass, but quickly changed to clay. Always good at Maths she started making simple forms with complex surfaces, carving into the mass of clay with straight lines. In 2005 she introduced curves. The forms are built and allowed to go leather hard before accurate marking out and carving from above and below. Each piece has between 80-180 hours of carving. She works on 6-7 forms at a time, now in a workshop or at a brick factory for larger commissions, though used to work in her flat.

She has also undertaken projects in stone carving, cold casting, bronze casting, glass casting in lead crystal, wood carving which she found harder than stone, and chain saw carving which she found most liberating, and is now working in concrete as well.

Sunday opened with a film about Takeshi Yasuda, a fascinating insight into his preparations for his 70th birthday exhibition at Goldmark Gallery. The most amazing part was the guys on Jingdezhan rolling out slabs of clay 6' x 12' to be decorated and hung in hotel foyers all over China. Teams of 10. Quite extraordinary skills. Lovely film.

Before the film Patia Davis had set up for a demonstration. She'd brought a huge amount of work to show us how she decorates her work with various coloured slips. She works at Wobage Farm and works in both earthenware and porcelain. Most interesting was her tin can trailing technique and the variations she produces using different thicknesses of slip.

Following the demonstration the first Tony Ainsworth Memorial Lecture - Tanya Harrod talking about Michael Cardew. A breakneck tour of his life and works. Her book "The Last Sane Man" would be a fascinating read.

Tony Ainsworth was one of the original team setting up Ceramic Art London and in his memory a fund has been set up to help fund an annual lecture at CAL. CAL exhibitors past and present are asked to donate a piece for sale to go towards the fund, making an eclectic display in the main foyer.

Sadly I had to leave before the final film - "Anthony O'Brien: Tatiko. - the journey of an African pot" - so that's one for another day.

All the best,

Fiona

The Takeshi Yasuda film can be seen on Youtube at this link (along with many other great Goldmark Gallery videos.)