by Carole Epp | Jan 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
News today of the loss of two of the community’s great artists. Thanks for all the inspiration.
RIP – Emmanuel Cooper
“Potter Emmanuel Cooper’s first solo show was in 1968 and since then he has continued to regularly exhibit his vessels which are characterised by an interest in marrying relatively classic forms to vibrantly coloured glazes and unusual textures. But he also has other interests: he was a founding editor with Eileen Lewenstein, and since 1996 has edited, the highly respected magazine Ceramic Review, he is Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art and has been awarded an OBE for his services to the arts. However in spite of his writing and teaching activities, Cooper remains at heart a potter, saying, ‘The head, heart and hand literally and metaphorically come together when I’m creating.’”
Text via Ideas in the Making. Please follow the link for more images and text.
RIP – Raymond Finch
“Ray Finch, a South Londoner born in 1914, approached Michael Cardew in 1935, seeking employment. Cardew told him to go away and get some experience. He studied for a year at the Central School of Art, in London, and then was accepted by Cardew at Winchcombe Pottery. When Cardew went to Wenford Bridge in 1939 he left Finch in charge of Winchcombe. Production was interrupted by the war, but when it re-started in 1946 he purchased the business from Cardew. He ran Winchcombe until 1979 when he handed the running of the business over to his son, Michael.”For more info about Ray Finch please visit: http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=164, http://rangefree.blogspot.com/2012/01/ray-finch-rip.html or this post on Dan Finnegan’s blog.
by Carole Epp | Dec 13, 2011 | Uncategorized
I received an email this morning regarding the passing of Malcolm Davis. I don’t have many details but wanted to pass along the news for those of you that were close to him or inspired by him and his work. As more details surface I will update.
From the email:
“Malcolm Davis died in the morning of 12/11. He had hip replacement surgery last Thursday, recovered over the weekend…and evidently collasped in PT Mon morning and died instantly.”
His wife has requested no calls for a few days.
The following is from the AKAR website:
“I first touched clay at age 40 and knew immediately that I had been a potter all along. I love to make pots! For me, the joy and the challenge comes from making things that will become an intimate part of the daily lives of others – pots that will be held, eaten from, poured from, sipped from and perhaps even licked from. For me the making of pots is a way to celebrate the mundane rituals of daily life and to make them holy.”
Malcolm Davis has been a full-time studio potter since 1984 when he left his previous life as campus minister. He took his first ceramics class in 1974 and since 1985 has maintained his mountaintop studio in Upshur County, WV. He is internationally recognized for his work with shino-type glazes, specifically for the creation of a unique ultra Carbontrap shino-type formula with a high concentration of soluble soda ash, which encourages the trapping of carbon in the early stages of the firing.
He is the recipient of numerous awards, including four grants from the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and was a finalist in the 1995 Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation/NEA Visual Artists Fellowships. Other awards include the Purchase Award at the Ceramics Monthly International Competition (1999), First Place in the 1996 Strictly Functional Pottery Show, Feats of Clay XIII and XIV Merit Awards, Orton Purchase Awards in 1994 and 1996, Crosscurrents All Media Award at the Stifel Fine Arts in Wheeling (1990. 1996), WV Juried Exhibition Merit Award in 1996, and Awards for Clay Cup VII and Clay Cup IV.
He has exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, the Smithsonian Craft Show and the American Craft Council Craft Shows. He has been an artist-in-residence at Artpark in Lewiston, NY; Baltimore Clayworks; Greenwich House Pottery (NYC); The Clay Studio in Philadelphia; Red Star Studios in Kansas City; Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis; Waubonsee Community College in Illinois and the Lee Arts Center in Virginia.
Malcolm’s work is included in collections at the American Crafts Museum; The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY; the Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY; Mobach Collection, Utrecht, Holland; Orton Permanent Collection; Arthur and Lillian Weiss Collection; Bailey Ceramics Collection; Old Church Cultural Center in Demarest, NJ; Highwater Clay Permanent Collection, Asheville, NH; American Art Clay Collection, Indianapolis, IN and the Twentieth Century Collection, Sarah Lawrence College in NY.
He has been featured in over 15 books and publications, he has published articles in American Shino by Lester Richter and Stayin’ Alive by Robin Hopper; and curated an issue of The Studio Potter Magazine on carbon trapping. The December, 2003 issue of The Studio Potter Magazine featured an extensive interview: “Malcolm Davis, Shino Warrior.” His work with carbontrap shinos was recently featured in Ceramica (Spain) and Ceramic Review (England).
Malcolm has taught and lectured widely throughout the United States and Canada, and has conducted Masters’ classes at Penland School of Crafts, Peters Valley Craft Center, Touchstone Center for Crafts, and others. Recent exhibitions include AKAR, Iowa City, Iowa; Blue Heron Gallery, Deer Isle, Maine; Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC; Santa Fe Clay and “Our Cups Runneth Over” at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston.
Malcolm recently curated a national exhibition of work with shino-type glazes, “Endless Variations: Shino Review 2005,” featured at the 2005 NCECA Conference in Baltimore. In 2007 he juried the 15th annual Strictly Functional Pottery National and was one of three presenters at the 20th annual NC Potters’ Conference in Seagrove. He also taught a two-week carbontrap shino workshop at La Meridiana in Tuscany in 2007 and 2008.
Here are a few other links to info and images:
http://www.18handsgallery.com/bios/malcolm.html
http://www.mudfire.com/malcolm-davis-am08.htm
Thank you to Ruby Serben for sharing the news.
by Carole Epp | Oct 23, 2011 | Uncategorized
Bob Reimer passed away October 20th at the age of 57. Born August. 11, 1954, in Steinbach Manitoba, Bob lived most of his life in British Columbia before moving to Calgary in 1980 to start his family and ceramics career. He leaves behind three children; Julia, Peter and Angela, four grand-children, his former partner and best friend Jeannie, a community of friends, colleagues and students. Bob was known as a passionate, loving, talented and humorous individual, an asset to the ceramics community and a beloved teacher. He touched many lives. He will be remembered fondly, and thought of daily. No words can describe the grief we are all feeling while coping with this sudden loss. We take comfort in knowing he did not suffer, he was happy and loved by many. A special thanks for all the support received from friends and family. We will be celebrating Bob, a remarkable individual, at North Mount Pleasant Arts Center, 402, 470 – 27 Avenue N.W., Calgary on Monday, October 24 at 3:00 p.m. Please bring your stories, smiles and clay splattered pants if you have them. If you would like to send your thoughts or condolences please e-mail [email protected] or visit WeRememberBob.Tumblr.com .
by Carole Epp | Mar 10, 2011 | Uncategorized
Following text via Frank Lloyd Gallery
Toshiko Takaezu (b. 1929), born in Hawaii of Japanese descent, has been working in clay for over forty years.Her work has developed steadily throughout her career as she has moved from producing functional vessels to abstract sculptural forms.Over the years she has continued to draw on a combination of Eastern and Western techniques and aesthetics, as well as her love of the natural world.For Takaezu, the practice of building vessels in clay is intimately linked to everyday life:
“In my life I see no difference between making pots, cooking, and growing vegetables.They are all so related.However there is a need for me to work in clay.It is so gratifying and I get so much joy from it, and it gives me many answers in my life.”
Throughout her career, Takaezu has explored a select repertoire of forms, often focusing on the vertical closed vessel that has become a symbol of her work.While her earlier pieces were almost exclusively wheel-thrown, as she began envisioning larger forms she incorporated hand building techniques as well, which allowed her to grow her vessels vertically and eased the circular restrictions of the wheel.The simple, cohesive structures she is now well known for are united by their common form but gain individual character through the painterly aspects of their surface decoration. Takaezu’s spontaneous approach to glazing, in which she walks around the vessel freely applying glaze through pouring and painting, balances her more methodical building process and allows her to add an improvisational element to her work.
Another important aspect of Takaezu’s involvement in clay has been her roll as a teacher.Her love for clay is infectious, and she has shared it in many forms.In addition to her 23 years of teaching at Princeton and the many workshops she has performed, she has given her time to generations of apprentices.The many awards and honors she has received, from the Hawaii Living Treasure Award to her honorary doctorate degree from the University of Princeton, demonstrate the wide range of people and institutions that find inspiration, history, and meaning in her work and life.
For more info and to purchase a book about this amazing woman please visit The Earth in Bloom
