In 2019 Shoji completed a massive long-term collaboration with Chinese master craftsmen, students, and artists from the world over, culminating in KAPOW! Finding Heros in the Age of Trump. This exhibition hosted by Eutectic Gallery in September 2019 featured the products of this collaboration, exquisite porcelain vessels created according to millennium-old processes but emblazoned in the classic blue and white style with female comic book heroes rising up against the hate and misogyny of President Trump. Shoji recently released a new round of works from this project, including polychrome jars and Trump ash trays. Listen in as Shoji takes us deeper into the project, its inspiration, and his hopes for the future.
This video is part of Ann’s Workshop Express Series. A series of FREE pottery project workshops that are condensed into 10 minute (or less) videos. This video demonstrates how Ann created her popular Frog Mug. This is an easy project that does not require a wheel and utilizes basic pottery tools. Please also check out Ann’s Video Workshop Series. These workshops are very detailed (typically 1.5 – 2 hours in length) and designed to help potters take their work to new levels of craftsmanship and artistry. https://vimeo.com/showcase/6725318
Hitomi Hosono explains how she combined British and Japanese aesthetics to create a collection of ceramics for Wedgwood in this video Dezeen filmed at their factory in Stoke-On-Trent. Hosono, a ceramicist from Japan known for intricate porcelain pots featuring botanical forms, designed the collection in collaboration with Wedgwood, after being invited to take part in the brand’s artist in residence program. The collection is comprised of vases, bowls and ornamental boxes in an unglazed matte finish typical of Wedgwood’s signature Jasperwar – a kind of stoneware developed by the brand’s founder Josiah Wedgwood in the 18th century. Jasperware products typically employ relief decorations of human figures and natural forms known as sprigs, which are cast in clay molds and added to the pots. “Sprigs are like thin leaves made of clay,” explains Hosono in the interview. “I chose jasper sprigs from Wedgwood’s archive and applied them in a new way on the pots, with a Japanese aesthetic.”
