Studio Pottery

SUMMARY: In his film " Secret Beyond the Door " (1947), German director Fritz Lang introduced the symbolic concept of " felicitous room " developed by a character who is an architect exploring a thesis according to which the way a place is designed determines what happens in it. Appropriating the concept of " felicitous room " , this paper intends to problematize the earlier collective work of artist Querubim Lapa and architect Francisco da Conceição Silva, especially addressing the case of Rampa, a store in the centre of Lisbon, and the " felicitous " story of its doorframe, designed in 1956.

How familiar are South Africa's twenty-first century ceramists with the history of ceramics of their country? Do they know and understand the cultural, social, political, economic and educational circumstances that shaped the rise and growth of the initial studio potter community and the later rise of ceramists? Do they have insight into how the pioneers and their successors sought to negotiate and express their identities via studio pottery and ceramics? Do they understand that what they produce now will someday in the future be measured against what was produced in the past? And with that I do not speak of the 'look' but of the nature, intent and ethos of oeuvres.

Summary:
South African studio pottery of the later twentieth century has consistently been described as ‘Anglo-Oriental’, because it was perceived to adhere to the standard forms of utilitarian wares in plain or subdued colours and decorations, as promoted by the Anglo-Oriental tradition of studio pottery. This dissertation investigates the validity of such an epithet, based on evidence that the pioneer South African studio potters and their successors were exposed to broader pottery influences, and that the oeuvres which they developed reflect what they borrowed, adapted and re-interpreted from such influences. The studio pottery careers and influences of the pioneers Esias Bosch, Hyme Rabinowitz and Bryan Haden are discussed, and the oeuvres of the second generation of studio potters are also investigated. Attention is given to both the ethics and aesthetics of their studio pottery practices. The dissertation further explores whether the era’s studio potters contributed towards the creation of a distinctive South African pottery identity.

List of key terms:
Anglo-Oriental tradition of studio pottery; Bryan Haden; Craft pottery; Esias Bosch; Hyme Rabinowitz; Michael Cardew; Pottery ethics and aesthetics; South African ceramics; South African studio pottery; Utilitarian pottery

Devi Prasad (1921–2011), India’s pioneering artist-potter, visionary educationist
and pacifist, joined Santiniketan, India’s premier art school in 1938 when
founder Rabindranath Tagore was still involved with the institution. At Nandalal
Bose’s suggestion and following a correspondence with Gandhi in 1944 he
joined Sevagram, Gandhi’s ashram, as Art Teacher, where he taught for nearly
twenty years. His political consciousness saw him participate actively in the
Quit India Movement in 1942 and in social reforms such as Vinoba Bhave’s
Bhoodan — the land gift movement of the 1940s and 1950s.

Apart from the making of his personal history and his times, this book leads
us to why the creative act of making art itself takes on such a fundamental
philosophical significance in his life — an ideal derived directly from his
absorption of Gandhi’s principles. The purpose of art and life as they came to
be realised by him, needed a change in the very approach people have toward
work, which could only be achieved through a new philosophy of education.

This book argues for an aesthetic basis for India’s freedom movement whereby
the Arts and Crafts Movement’s pioneers like John Ruskin, William Morris,
Charles Ashbee and William Lethaby impacted the writings and work of
Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy as seen
in the ideology of ‘Swadeshi’ — India’s rallying cry for Freedom and the artistic
milieu of Santiniketan. Devi Prasad’s story, then, exemplifies the importance
of the Arts and Crafts Movement in shaping the nature of Modernism in India.

Devi Prasad’s ideals in art and in political activism, shaped though they may
have been on Indian soil, led him to crisscross international borders. In 1962
he migrated to London to become Secretary General (later Chairman) of the
War Resisters’ International, perhaps the oldest Pacifist organisation in the
world in order to spread the Gandhian way of life internationally. Here his
artwork underwent another transformation, cognisant of the realities of Western
living. On his return to India in 1982, he began to work more concertedly on
pottery: developing a community of studio-potters, their studios, tools and
equipment. This book reveals, against a backdrop of Modern Indian history
and international peace movements, how the worlds of ‘design’, craftsmanship
and studio art were negotiated via a philosophical quest to bring about social
change.

An extensive curriculum and activity guide to supplement educational visits to the Leach Pottery Museum in St. Ives, Cornwall. Offers thematic lesson plans and activity suggestions for learning about ceramics materials & processes, design, and the importance of the Leach Pottery for all ages.

Up-draught kilns tend to be seen as easy and unchallenging. Some rediscovered archaeology from Wales is demonstrating how sophisticated a medieval up-draught kiln can be. Probably the most complete medieval pottery kiln ever excavated in the UK, the Newport kiln was found in 1921, recorded by Mortimer Wheeler, covered and more or less forgotten until 2013.

An essay about the founder of Indian studio pottery, Gurcharan Singh and how he might have seen Imperial Delhi as it was being laid out and made and as he was simultaneously becoming a ceramist. The essay speculates about the way he would have seen Sultanate and Mughal monuments with blue tiles which stand as jewels in the setting of Delhi's brick buildings, green parks, axial roads and traffic circles.

Pottery manufacturing in Early Bronze Age (EBA) Anatolia witnessed a host of technical innovations that transformed what had been a small-scale domestic activity into a specialist craft. At the proto-urban village of Seyitömer Höyük, dedicated pottery workshops appeared in the EBIII period (ca. 2250-2200 BCE), along with a suite of technical innovations, such as pottery molds, clay mixing pits, and clusters of pottery kilns. These advances allowed potters to manufacture more vessels with less effort, and represent a fundamental shift in the chaine operatoire, which is indicative of broader social and economic changes in the EBA. This poster presents the archaeological evidence for various stages of standardized pottery production, in comic book style. Sequential illustrations tell the story of an apprentice potter learning her craft under the tutelage of a seasoned corporate group of specialists. These fictional characters perform activities that are empirically attested at Seyitömer Höyük, and offer an approachable way for general audiences to engage with real archaeological data.

Mary Newcomb is today recognised as a significant British artist of the rural world she inhabited, and her intuitive, lyrical paintings and drawings are exhibited widely. But few people nowadays realise that Mary began her professional creative career in the 1950s making traditional slipware pottery. This book documents the studio pottery she established in 1958 and which her husband Godfrey took over when Mary focused on painting in the 1960s.
To reveal the history of Needham Pottery is also to tell the story of the creative lives of Mary and Godfrey Newcomb. The pottery began at their first home in Needham, Norfolk, and moved with them to their subsequent houses in Linstead Magna, Suffolk and Newton Flotman, Norfolk in the 1970s and 1980s. Of the 90 illustrations which accompany the text, almost 40 are previously unpublished photographs from the Newcomb family archive, which reveal for the first time the rural domestic environment that inspired Mary Newcomb’s celebrated paintings and drawings.

Illustrated lecture series discussing the history of British ceramics and giving examples of its interaction with Iran ceramics culture and artists, placing particular emphasis on the interactional nature of this international exchange and influence. (Given in Farsi)