Full Circle: Joan Bruneau
My pots function as decorative objects
activated through use. Containment, delivery or presentation of food or
flowers completes their aesthetic potential. Sensual forms and sumptuous
surfaces inspire interaction with the viewer.
The
confluence of function, symbolism, technique and composition drive the
evolution of new forms, patterns and glazes. My pottery forms and
surfaces take cues from various cultures and periods in ceramics
history, natural phenomena and ornament. Shape and surface compositions
may evoke a season, landscape, architectural detail, or flower. The
variables of form and surface possibilities offer the potential to layer
meanings and influences.
Using Lantz earthenware native to
Nova Scotia, my wheel thrown and constructed pottery is decorated with
slip, sgraffito, under glazes and polychrome food safe glazes. The forms
are wheel thrown and assembled using “Cut and Paste” technique
characterized by gestural throwing lines, dynamic volumes and structural
seams. The surfaces are treated with brushed white slip, sgraffito,
under glazes and polychrome food-safe glazes.
Various glaze
palettes employed in Full Circle are intended to enhance different
foods, from fresh spring and summer salads to hearty, savoury dishes.
The flower bricks are also intended to compliment flowers and foliage
available through the seasons but also presentation of seasonal foods
and flowers, corresponding to a specific shape, glaze palette and
function. The Four Season Flower Brick Set, celebrates the natural
beauty and diversity of Eastern Canadian seasons while alluding to the
four seasons, a universal theme associated with the cycles of life,
death and regeneration.The Dutch developed the flower brick form in the
17thc to display highly prized tulips. In this case, individual flower
bricks containing seasonal flowers and/or indigenous foliage may be
displayed separately or unified in a circular configuration as a set.
The exhibition will also investigate the disruption of natural cycles by
human intervention through a series of pieces addressing the
globalization of food sources.
This venue offers the potential
to attract a broader public audience associated with the farmer’s
market who may not associate ceramics or fine craft with broader issues
such as the 100 mile diet vs. globalization of food sources. The
exhibition in this venue presents the opportunity to bolster the
relevance of fine craft and contemporary ceramics within a broader
social context.
Joan Bruneau has been a full time studio potter in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and Regular Part-Time Faculty in the Ceramics Department at NSCAD University since 1995. She earned her BFA from NSCAD in 1988, and MFA from the University of Minnesota in 1993.
Joan was Assistant Professor at Emily Carr University, Vancouver 1998-2001 and has taught in the Distance Ceramics Diploma Programs at Red Deer College, the Australia National University and Glasgow School of Art .
She teaches workshops and lectures across Canada and the US. Her work is exhibited throughout North America and is in public collections including the AGNS, Canada, Sykes Gallery, USA and Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute, China.
Joan was the 2009 recipient of the Established Artist Recognition Award from the Nova Scotia Arts and Culture Partnership and the 2005 recipient of the Winifred Shantz Award which funded her residency at La Meridiana Ceramics Residency in Italy in 2005.
Or read more here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/201217-ns-potter-comes-full-circle
Mary E. Black Gallery
1061 Marginal Road, Suite 140, Halifax, NS B3H 4P6
(902) 492-2522
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