The (potter's) wheel of life
- Source: Global Times
- [10:47 July 14 2010]
- Comments
A ceramic teapot.
Gao says he is particularly interested in the pottery of the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) which commonly used a technique known as jiao tai (marble pottery). And his own work now adopts this approach allied with more traditional pottery skills. "I've never seen anyone in China using the same method as I do now," he said.
Fans of Western-style ceramics may appreciate the work of Benjamin Carter, Gao's colleague at the Pottery Workshop. The US-born artist makes functional pieces such as full dinner sets of plates, cups, saucers and serving bowls. One piece, Dogwood Platter, is a petal shaped dish designed to serve fish, and featuring a dogwood flower pattern on the interior. In common with the dogwood - which is the state flower of Virginia - all of the other flowers Benjamin paints hail from the midlands and southern regions of the US.
"Through the depiction of flowers, I want to present the cycle of fecundity in nature; flowers thrive, fade and fall, and so are like a metaphor for life," he said. "And I believe we should honor family and friendship in this life and that is why all my pieces have a practical use for the family table." Carter's unusual color palette includes denim, cream, and terra cotta and he manipulates his raw clay material into shapes with convex bulges that resemble pillows and tufted furniture. According to Carter this aesthetic of abundance is a visual metaphor for the comforts of southern hospitality. "So nature, as well as the human rituals of conviviality and socializing are brought together in my ceramic pieces," he said.
The work of Caroline Cheng, who is also based at the workshop, includes a series of multi-colored replicas of the faces of the famous Terracotta Warriors.
"I chose the Terracotta Warriors because I wanted to use a Chinese theme, but one with a modern aspect to it" she said. Another work that symbolizes her effort to use a traditional Chinese subject in a new way is her creation of a dress sewn with intricately handmade porcelain butterflies. "From afar, people see China as a very uniform country. But if you look closely, it's evident China has many complex personalities and many different cultures mixed into one large pot," she said.
