Ceramicist Sarah Scampton shares the steps she follows to create her finely marked, multiple-fired sculptural forms. Discover more inside Ceramic Review issue 284, which features the full step-by-step Masterclass. You can order current and back issues of the magazine from ceramicreview.com.
Film by Layton Thompson for Ceramic Review.
Los Angeles-based mixed-media ceramic artist Jenny Hata Blumenfield helps us reconsider the place of ceramics and pottery in contemporary art. ‘I see clay as having the widest range of expression,’ she explains. ‘By working with it the way that I do, I hope that steadily people will start to receive this idea of ceramics or clay as something beyond just functional.’
Blumenfield incorporates Lucite, an acrylic resin, into some of her works. In this short film, she describes transforming a two-dimensional drawing into a three-dimensional sculpture, which truly comes into its own when taken outside.
One of the most striking aspects of her process is her embrace of division, dissection and separation.
‘Being half-Japanese and half-American, I always felt stuck between two cultural identities,’ she explains. ‘I’m these two halves that really can’t seem to connect — I just exist in the in-between.’
But there is a second duality at play here, too. ‘I just would love to cut everything in half or into quarters just so that I can continue to break down this idea that ceramics can only be functional and can only be used in a day-to-day setting.’
‘That allows me to really incorporate other materials — Lucite, wood, paper, photographs — because it takes away the formalism of the vessel itself, and allows me to get experimental.’
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Conversations about Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art: In conjunction with the exhibition The Peacock Room in Blue-and-White, Jan Stuart, Stacey Pierson and Louise Cort discuss Chinese Cobalt-decorated Porcelain in Foreign Markets.
(Part 1) Exported to Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia – The Peacock Platter – Export/Exported Porcelain – Identifying Blue-and-White- Kendi
Meet the Clay Masters of Tokoname in this mini-documentary on Bonsai ceramics!
Tokoname is one of the six famous old kilns of Japan, producing tea pots, sewer pipes and… Bonsai Pots. Though Tokoname was famous for its clay (Tokoname literally means "Always smooth"), much of that has ran out and what remains are highly skilled craftsman, with a reputation for quality Bonsai containers, both glazed and unglazed.
Invited by the Tokoname association, we shot this documentary on the true craftsmanship of the potters. Focusing on the process of creating a Bonsai pot, we filmed six artists in their ateliers.
The stars of the film:
Tatsuhiro Tanaka (Clay Atelier)
Katsushi Kataoka (Reiho, Seizan Toen)
Kazuhiro Watanabe (Ikko, Kanesho Seitosho)
Kakuyuki Watanabe (Kakuzan toen)
Katsuichi Shibata (Shibakatsu en)
Hidemi Kataoka (Shuuhou, Yoshimura toen)
And the process of creating Bonsai pots:
Step 1: Preparing the clay
At the Atelier of Tokoname clay they import, mix, purify and distribute all the clay for the all potters in Tokoname. For different types of pottery, there are different types of clay and the potters can customize their own mixture for the best characteristics.
Once the clay is at the potter, it will be kneaded by both hand and machine to enable the potter to work with it. Normally a potter uses a machine to make the clay more soft and then knead it in the right shape.
Next, there are three different ways to shape a pot. We'll explain the shaping with a mould first and after that describe how the wheel and manual methods work.
Step 2a: Shaping with a mould
The slab of clay is created by kneading the clay thoroughly and then creating thin layers by running a thin steel wire across the clay.
The slab is then rolled onto a pipe to transport it to the mould.
Finally, the slab is then pushed and shaped into the mould using a sand bag. Excess clay on the inside is now removed using a spatula, to make sure the thickness of the clay is uniform. The moulded pot then needs to dry for a day, before the mould can be removed. Usually this is the moment to add the stamp on the bottom of the pot, as well as creating holes for drainage. Finally, with some moulds the rim also needs to be added manually.
Step 2b: Shaping with a wheel
Using the wheel is probably the method that we always think of when talking about pottery. The potters show incredible craftsmanship when creating the perfect shape for the bonsai pot.
While the feet of the pot are automatically created when using a mould, the potter that uses the wheel as a shaping method, needs to create this separately (usually after one day of drying first).
Step 2c: Shaping with clay slabs
Not all pots can be made using moulds or wheels. As not all can be similar in shape and not all are round. Some potters rather form the bonsai pots themselves using slabs that they cut out themselves. This enables them to make one of a kind pots that are exactly designed to their customer’s wishes. Usually the body of the pot is designed first and after a few hours drying the rim is added, and again a few hours later the feet can be created.
Step 3: Finishing and drying
Water finishing. To smoothen the surface and edges of the pot, the craftsmen use all kinds of cloths and cards that they dip in water.
Drying. Drying makes sure that the pots stay in the right shape when being fired later. Drying can take between 1-3 days time depending on the size of the pot. On this photo several glazed pots are drying, almost ready to be fired.
Step 4: Glazing
Some pots are glazed, mostly to suit Deciduous or broadleaf evergreen trees. The pot is dipped into a basin of glaze, after which it is left to dry for about a day before being fired. Sometimes a second glazing is added and the pot would be fired again.
Step 5: Finishing and firing
Both the surface and the edges are polished and smoothened during the drying process, right before the firing.
After one day of drying the potter can add their own brand mark by either scribbling or pressing their name on the bottom of the pot.
The kiln is then packed with pots and over the course of about 30 hours heated to 1180 degrees Celsius, and cooled down again.
This film is a cooperation of Bonsai Empire with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).
Music, in order of playing: Chat roulette, Avert your Eyes, Water Lillies, 1.42, Still (Hiatus), Mana Two, Lullaby, Sixteen Twenty Five.
More information:
Ceramics as a means of expression in the 21st century.
Practical and decorative objects made out of clay for any conditions. A Ukrainian sculptor who works with ancient material.
UATV visited the ceramic workshop, which should become a hub for creative people.
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The Joanna Bird Foundation felt it was imperative to make a film about Richard Batterham – the last of Bernard Leach’s practicing apprentices. Richard is a great example of how one man with due talent, diligence and discipline can achieve a remarkable and successful life time’s work making pots which truly enhance life.
Richard Batterham is an iconic figure though he himself is a modest man who has never sought fame or favour, but found his life making pots fascinating and utterly satisfying. He has built up a very successful business on his own selling his work all over the world.
Rejecting the notions of haste and commercialism that he feels are all too present in modern society he works with tide-like regularity preparing his own clay and glazes from the apple trees in his garden. Batterham cannot accept society’s pressure which dictates “items that you must have in your home to show everyone that you are in fashion”, fed to us in colour supplements and glossy magazines. His work is based around his philosophy and the resulting pieces are not only beautiful to behold and satisfying to use but imbued with deep integrity. Tanya Harrod has said of his work, “These pots are for us – ordinary people – not for museums.” This holds true, his notable fan club love and use his pots daily and Museums have also found his work irresistible, the V&A amongst many others have acquired his work
The film features Sir David Attenborough and Nigel Slater, both of whom endorse the quintessential philosophy behind Richard Batterham’s pottery, through which our daily lives are enriched.
The Joanna Bird Foundation
Producer and Interviewer: Joanna Bird
Director and Filmmaker: Alex J. Wright
The American Museum of Ceramic Art is honored to present ICHEON: Reviving the Korean Ceramics tradition, an unprecedented exhibition organized by Icheon, South Korea. Icheon has a history of ceramic culture that began over 5000 years ago and has a reputation for its internationally renowned ceramics cultural events. Now Icheon
has reached out to an American institution for the very first time. As the premiere exhibition of its kind in the United States, ICHEON will present over 230 objects never before seen on American soil that exemplify the revival of the ceramics tradition in Korea from antique techniques to contemporary innovations.
Icheon Public opening is from October 12th- December 29th. Join us in welcoming Icheon Dignitaries as we celebrate this major exhibition on Saturday, November 9, 2013, 6:00pm‐8:30pm.
Founded in 2001 and opened in September, 2004, AMOCA is one of the few museums in the United States devoted exclusively to ceramic art and historic innovations in ceramic technology. It is located in an area abounding with ceramic history and internationally recognized clay artists from the Arts and Crafts Movement, the 60's Clay Revolution and the current Studio Pottery Era. Geographically, the building is located in an urban downtown district where art is an important element of the continuing and successful community revitalization program. The home community consists of a rich ethnic mix and a large academic constituency with approximately fifteen institutions of higher learning within an eight-mile radius.
You can visit for more information.
The exhibit "Icheon: Reviving the Korean Ceramic Tradition" was on display at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, AMOCA from October 12th- December 29th, 2013. www.amoca.org
For more images of the show –
If you would like to learn more about the five Master Hands and the fascinating history of dojagi–Korean ceramics–stay tuned for the release of A Thousand Year Journey, the tale of an art that was lost and the men who revived it.
Teaser Video –
Twitter.com/1000YearJourney
Music Credit: "Piano"
The American Museum of Ceramic Art is honored to present ICHEON: Reviving the Korean Ceramics tradition, an unprecedented exhibition organized by Icheon, South Korea. Icheon has a history of ceramic culture that began over 5000 years ago and has a reputation for its internationally renowned ceramics cultural events. Now Icheon has reached out to an American institution for the very first time. As the premiere exhibition of its kind in the United States, ICHEON will present over 230 objects never before seen on American soil that exemplify the revival of the ceramics tradition in Korea from antique techniques to contemporary innovations.
About AMOCA
Founded in 2001 and opened in September, 2004, AMOCA is one of the few museums in the United States devoted exclusively to ceramic art and historic innovations in ceramic technology. It is located in an area abounding with ceramic history and internationally recognized clay artists from the Arts and Crafts Movement, the 60's Clay Revolution and the current Studio Pottery Era. Geographically, the building is located in an urban downtown district where art is an important element of the continuing and successful community revitalization program. The home community consists of a rich ethnic mix and a large academic constituency with approximately fifteen institutions of higher learning within an eight-mile radius.
You can visit for more information.
