Chris Keenan - British Ceramicist

Introducing Chris Keenan - British actor turned ceramicist.

In the 90's, Keenan apprenticed with potter Edmund de Waal, and began his new career as a ceramicist. He works mainly with thrown Limoges porcelain, using a glossy, black/brown tenmoku glaze with a vivid, pale blue celadon glaze, and implementing a reduction firing in his gas kiln at about 2300 degrees Fahrenheit.

I love his work for both its functionality, yet its simplistic beauty, and thought he would be a good artist to focus on in light of us just beginning our work of throwing on the wheel in class. He is a great inspiration for making simple forms with minimal glazes in such a way that is still interesting and aesthetically pleasing to the viewer.  He states in his artist profile, "I like clean lines and simple forms, and although I use a limited palette of glazes, I am still finding new ways of working with them to produce fresh decorative effects that complement the forms." (studiopottery.co.uk/profile/Chris/Keenan. More of his work can be seen on his website: chriskeenan.co.uk.

Marilyn Levine

Boots With Steel Toes, 1971

H.A.B. Suitcase, 1972

Hayes Cowboy Boots, 1973

Button Cup, 1974

Faye's Black Satchel, 1974

Trent's Jacket, 1976

Early Cups, 1978-79

Sandi's Mailbag, 1980

Spot's Suitcase, 1981

Peggy's Jacket, 1991

Zipup, 1994

Recent Cups, 1994-95

 "In their native material, these satchels and shoulder bags would be too ordinary to merit special interest. Rendered in clay, they become objects of fascination, meticulous and loving portraits of the everyday." This was said by the reviewer Leah Ollman at a Marilyn Levine survey show in 2004 at the Frank Lloyd Gallery in Santa Monica; quoted from this article in the LA Times:

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/apr/11/local/me-levine11.

This is what I love about Levine's work. An ordinary leather jacket is nothing but an ordinary leather jacket. But the appearance of a leather jacket that is actually fashioned entirely out of clay is remarkable. Levine is a master of hyper-realistic rendering of leather with clay, working in the tromp-l'oeil tradition, and I appreciate her work very much. To me it represents humanity and the work and wear of life that shows up on the faithful items that aid us on our journeys, and that gives me an odd sense of comfort and familiarity.

Levine started out as a chemist in Canada, however, she took up the hobby of pottery and ended up getting her Masters of Fine Arts from UC Berkeley in 1971. It was when she was a grad student in CA that she developed this style of sculpting, and she faithfully stuck to it the remainder of her career. Another reviewer (for the Record of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario - also found in the latimes.com article) said that even though one may think this might show a lack of development in an artist, in Levine's case it rather "confirms the unwavering power of her vision." Levine's work is represented in private and public collections throughout the world - including LACMA and SF MoMA. I would love to see some of her work in person.


Image Source: www.marilynlevine.com

Info Sources: http://www.ceramicstoday.com/potw/levine.htm;

http://www.franklloyd.com/dynamic/artist_bio.asp?ArtistID=38;

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/apr/11/local/me-levine11; 

http://www.marilynlevine.com/bioframeset.html

Richard Notkin - American Ceramicist

Heart Teapot: Hostage/Metamorphosis IV, Yixing Series

Richard Notkin, 20th Century Solutions Teapot: With or Without Reason, detail, Yixing Series, 2003

Hexagonal Curbside Teapot, Variation #23, Yixing Series, 2006

Nuclear Nuts Teapot, Variation #13, Yixing Series, 2001

Richard Notkin is an American ceramist who currently lives and works in Helena, Montana. He earned his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1970, and his MFA from University of California, Davis in 1973. He is known for his re-interpretations of the Yixing teapot, some examples shown here, which pay homage teapots from Yixing, China.

The original craft of teapots from Yixing, China are made with "purple clay" which absorb the flavors of the tea over time. Thus,  each teapot becomes specific to its owners' style of tea, developing its own uniqueness with each use. As such, most of these teapots were intended for single serving use, and each person was to use their own teapot.

Notkin explains in ceramicstoday.com that he vessel of choice is the teapot because it is the most complex, and gives him a wide variety of ways in which to express his images, social commentaries, and narrative pieces. He also believes that since the teapot is such a familiar vessel, that it, in a sense, grabs the initial interest of the viewer but then they have to continue looking in order to discern its meaning or narrative imagery, which speak  of  our civilization's current situations and symbols. 

Cube Skull Teapot, Variation #23, Yixing Series, 2000

Information learned from:
www.ceramicstoday.com/potw/notkin
www.estatetea.com/yixing

Diving Into the World of Ceramics

One of my many classes at Biola University this semester is Ceramics I - "An introductory level course designed to provide a broad understanding of the craft and study as a fine art medium." As a way to enhance this process of learning ceramics, I will be regularly posting about various ideas within the world of ceramics, including artists, techniques, and movements. So, here we go...


One of the first three techniques that we learned this past week was that of slab building. I was not necessarily interested in building a normal box with this style, for I did that in high school ceramics and wanted to challenge myself to do something new. I liked the style of rolling the slabs and connecting them at the overlap, rather than connecting square cutouts of slabs, so I decided to do this for our first project. Then, while I was browsing through our textbook The Ceramics Bible by Louisa Taylor, I saw the beautiful work of Elke Sada on pages 7 and 15. She not only incorporated the style of rolling and overlapping her slabs to form cups and pitchers, but she also had beautifully painted designs on them. I was instantly inspired!

Capriccio pitcher and mugs

Earthenware with engobe painting. Height of the mugs: 10 cm, height of the pitcher: 27 cm. 

Photo: Michael Wurzbach.

Source: http://www.artaurea.com/objects/81-elke-sada

 

 

Cylindrical Capriccio vases 

Earthenware with engobe painting. Height: 37cm, 32.5 cm and 41 cm. Photo: Evelin Frerk

Source: http://www.artaurea.com/objects/81-elke-sada

On this site, artaurea.com, I learned that Elke's style is not normal, or one that I would have guessed she used. Instead of building her ceramic objects, firing them, and then glazing them, she first creates abstract paintings using engobe, which is a "pigmented watery suspension of clays and other minerals." She then applies the clay directly on top of the paintings, allowing it to soak up the "paint" and then forms the leather-hard clay into these cylindrical objects. How fascinating this process is!


I think it is especially captivating to me since my first love in art is painting. It seems like such an innovative style of ceramics, and one that I would very much love to try on my own one day.










Top and bottom images from http://www.internationalceramicsfestival.org/speakers/elke_sada/