by Carole Epp | May 17, 2007 | Uncategorized
Icon, the architecture and design mag, published some interesting design projects in their November 06 issue. The subject – designers engaging with controversial topics such as war, terrorism, poverty, etc…
Beyond the interesting images of projects by a multitude of designers, there is an interesting text that accompanies. The article states that this focus towards more “darker issues” in design rather than mere functionality and fashion leads to the “descent from a noble cause into shallow sensationalism”.
I guess I would argue against the shallowness of making such needed and current commentary, as while inarguably it does sometimes rely on sensationalism, to me there is no greater noble cause than to wake the world up to what’s going on in society and throughout the world.
This is the work of Industreal (designers: Andersson Frida and James Steiner) called “Smokes Like a Chimney”. It’s an ashtray with a lid with bronchi-shaped tubes.
Dominic Wilcox created this “War Bowl” of melted plastic toy soldiers.
by Carole Epp | May 15, 2007 | Uncategorized
Here are a few new pieces off to Red Deer later today, so I just quickly took some digitals. They’re for a group show to be held at the Harris Waarke Gallery which will present the work of faculty from the Red Deer College Ceramics Department where I was the Visiting Artist last fall. Should be a great show including the work of Trudy Golley, Candice Ring, Brian McAuthur and Dawn Deterando.
They didn’t really know what was next.
They felt the tug of war.
4048 : 783,209
Alot of my figurative pieces in the past had dealt with violence and inequality, but for these ones I decided to make a more direct statement about the war. It’s hard though to make work about current events that are constantly changing and shifting in front of your eyes, and for a long time I had held off making this work as I didn’t want to make work that was hollow and simply jumping on the bandwagon of political art about the war which has been in fashion in the last few years, with some artists producing incredibly strong and powerful statements, while others arguably aiming to make confrontationally charged work that falls flat. I’m not quite satisfied with the development of the ideas in this work thus far, but who am i kidding, i never am. But it has been interesting to put the ideas into concrete form. What I wanted to discuss though was the inequality of the media representation of the dead count, the North Amercian or eurocentric overendulgence and valuing of one soldier loss over the countless Iraqi civilian and military loss, the political game at play which brings nations into the situation regardless of the views and stance of the people in their so-called democratic societies, and the fate of all those injured in battle, whether they be army personal or innocent civilians and the uncertain future that they face.
Hopefully in the near future i’ll be able to update with other images from the exhibition, so stay posted…
by Carole Epp | May 15, 2007 | Uncategorized
There’s not much better than escaping a cold and dark Canadian winter for sandy beaches of another country. It should almost be a yearly gift from our governement to restore community spirit and sanity. So when the opportunity presented itself to travel to the Dominican with family this year one could hardly pass up the chance. Of course for me no trip is complete without a bit of local culture, cuisine, and what else but some ceramics.
While we were emersed in the generousity of the Dominican people, some of us took a day trip into the Dominican Alps, passing through Santiago where we stopped to visit a local ceramics factory. I of course was the nerd of the group enjoying every second of it. The type of work produced was tourist goods, alot for the local tourist trade as well as some for export. We got to tour around everything from the clay pits to the kilns. Gotta love those huge walk in kilns which dwarf my own tiny electric back home.
The tasks were all divided between men and women, the men doing all the harder labour such as crushing and filtering the clay, throwing the pots and loading the kilns. The women’s roles centered around altering the thrown forms, making attachments and painting or glazing the wares, mind you not many of the pots had glaze, most were painted with acrylic washes as the main product of the buisness was planters and garden pots.
I was practically sitting on my hands not to jump on one of the kick wheels and have a try of the local clay which was a beautiful yellow ochre color and quite plastic. I think I could have been left behind here and lived my life quite happily.
This last picture I love of some of the women working in the painting studio.
by Carole Epp | May 14, 2007 | Uncategorized
Should be a great exhibition worth the drive to see it. My former prof Jack Sures, who is one of the reasons i’m a ceramicst today, will have work alongside so many artists for whom Saskatchewan ceramics are known. The list includes: Gisele Amantea, Victor Cicansky, David Gilhooly, Marilyn Levine, Jeannie Mah, and Zane Wilcox.
by Carole Epp | May 14, 2007 | Uncategorized
Ever since I spent 2 years living and making work in Australia it seems that all things Australian and in particular Australian craft have been on my radar so it was no surpise to run across an article about the work of Patsy Hely, a PHD student at the Canberra School of Art at the Australian National University. While I was a student there I was lucky to have the opportunity to meet Patsy and see her amazing work first hand. The article, PASTORALIA – The Work of Patsy Hely, is published online at Craft Victoria’s Craft Culture site www.craftculture.org and is written by another dear friend of mine, Sarah Rice, a ceramic artist, art theorist, writer and instructor in the art theory department of the ANU.
Here is an image of Patsy’s work from the exhibition and another vase form from an exhibition held at Beaver Galleries in Canberra.
by Carole Epp | May 14, 2007 | Uncategorized
As their website states:
“New Craft – Future Voices is an international conference and exhibition organised to encourage debate surrounding the future of craft. It seeks to expose and articulate craft issues currently being investigated via doctoral research, post-doctoral research and craft practitioners, and to document new ways of questioning and disseminating the dialogue of craft practice.
New Craft – Future Voices will explore the relation between skills, intellect and culture within the individual vision of crafts practitioners.”
I’m lucky to be participating in the conference’s exhibition and it’s worth checking out their website at www.newcraftfuturevoices.com as they had an interesting submissions process wherein you had to post your submission to their website and undergo a very public review process. While it was a bit unsettling, it was a great experience to participate in as you were able to read the other submissions and gain valuable insight into the range of theorectical research being undertaken internationally. Should be a great conference as a result.
The conference will be held July 4th to 6th, 2007 at the University of Dundee in Scotland. There is also a related blog site – www.craftresearch.blogspot.com worth a read.
Dominic Wilcox created this “War Bowl” of melted plastic toy soldiers.
