Editors Note

by Catherine Spence

March madness has never been a more accurate description for this time of the year!

We were about to remind everyone of the invitation to come to the AGM that was scheduled for 19 April 2020.

However, as with many things in the last ten days, Covid-19 has changed this and it will now be postponed to a later date.

Please keep your eye out for Notices from the Office. Carla, Bex and Olivia will ensure you are kept up to date with any necessary changes that will need to be implemented as this health challenge continues for us all.

In the meantime, as always, the Newsletter is looking for contributors: please send anything you might have seen, learnt about, read of interest. Copy and any associated photos need to be in by the 13th of the month. I look forward to being flooded by copy…

And speaking of copy – an apology to Mark Goody, he pointed out that he did not undertake the Diploma (Postgraduate Diploma in Ceramics – as it was prior to 2018) with Otago Polytech.

Keep well and safe everyone!

Contemporary Ceramics at the Suter

by Catherine Spence

The Suter Art Gallery Te Arotoi o Whakatu is a bit of a shining gem in Nelson’s kete of culture. It is a gallery of fabulous artwork, changing exhibitions, and has one of those NZ pioneering histories that can only impress. It was originally a passion of Bishop Andrew Suter; he was a collector of art and wanted a place the people of Nelson could go to enjoy art. After his death in 1895, his wife Amelia wanted his dream realised and thus gifted land, money and his art collection to the city of Nelson. A Board of Trustees was formed to ensure the perpetuity of the Suter vision. They purchased the school building to house the collection. 2016 realised the addition to the original gallery building, complete with significant engineering to remodel it to earthquake standards, so now stands the Suter Gallery. It sits outside the hubbub of the town itself, which lends to the idea of taking ‘time out’ to go and see what is there.

Until 22 March 2020 is the Fire and Earth Exhibition. This is a contemporary ceramic show, of “top of the South” potters, both established and up-and-coming. It is a rich show of the familiar and recognisable (Sue Scobie, Royce McGlashen) through to some challenging and fun fresh work, (Cammie Blaisdell, Russell Harding, Erika Aupperle). The Curator, Sarah McClintock, has made a commitment to showing ceramic work in a focused show once every two years. The intent is to have some artists by invitation along with submissions that the show is selected from.

This year’s inaugural show is a fabulous collection; there isn’t much time, but if you are down that way before the show closes, make sure you catch it.

Images: Catherine Spence

Erika Aupperle, Wandering Circle

Erika Aupperle, Spine

Katie Gold, Moutere Garden Colour Swatch

Cammie Blaisdell, Tropical Flora

Royce McGlashen, Seed Box

Russel Harding, Under Construction

Fiona Sutherland & Sue Scobie

Aaron Scythe in the Poi Room

by Siriporn Falcon-Grey

The Poi Room Gallery is exhibiting the Māori- and Japanese-influenced oeuvre of Aaron Scythe. The Note It Down Exhibition includes illustrations, Yobitsugi-style pottery and Hikidashi guro pottery. This collection was very surreal for me as I've always been a huge fan of Scythe's work and dreamt of adding a piece of his pottery to my own private collection, and now I'm faced with a sea of red and blue ceramic images of Nagasaki. Fashioned with a top knot down to his Tabi and Asahi in hand, Scythe was casually floating around the gallery observing the guests and chatting with old mates. I managed to get an introduction and from there jumped right in and picked his brain about his techniques. Scythe was happy to share his knowledge and talk pottery, and was very encouraging and open about trying different ways of firing and glazing. Aaron is a very approachable artist with creativity that knows no bounds, and dare I say his demeanor was refreshingly chill and unobtrusive. Now I'm just waiting for a workshop to spring up, but in the meantime, The Poi Room Gallery will be my ceramic utopia!

Images: Siriporn Falcon-Grey

The French Potter

by Catherine Spence

If you are ever travelling between Wanaka and Cromwell along State Highway 6 there is a little “blink and you’ll miss it” spot called Queensberry. It isn’t even a village, just a named area at about the half way point along the journey.

There are the typical landscape sights of cherry tree orchards, sheep paddocks and vineyards but there is also a newish resident in the form of Yannick Fourbet and his pottery studio.

Yannick moved to New Zealand from France with his Kiwi wife and their two children about two and a half years ago; they wanted a healthier lifestyle with room to move. They found it in Central Otago where they run a biodynamic vineyard that produces the loveliest chardonnay, Domaine Rewa, and it’s where Yannick has set himself up with a massive space to house his creations, his kiln and a gallery space to present his wares.

Yannick makes both traditional large pieces and bespoke for specific use ceramic pots; mostly but not solely for outdoor landscaping. One of his goals is to create ceramic amphorae for the vineyard’s wine. The day I met him his kiln had just arrived from Spain – a six burner gas monster that would fit the ASP gas kiln about eight to ten times… enough to make any large-scale clay maker green with envy.

All his pieces are hand built using an old tried and true method of construction that dates back to the Neolithic period. He first creates an internal skeleton of plywood. Around this structure he winds thick coir rope, which he then covers with his soft pliable clay in thick application. Then he places the formed pot onto a wheel head and holds a former shape (one he created to match the skeleton shape he made) against the outside of the pot as it rotates, akin to a massive, single rib, and smooths the pot outside wall to his designed shape. He allows the pot to dry slowly, (taking weeks), carefully timing the removal of first the interior plywood skeleton, then the coiled rope. Lastly, he adds his own sprig designs.

His clay is supplied by a brick factory in Darfield, Canterbury - a lovely mix of grogged white clay that they make for Yannick. A hand-builders dream mix, (I toyed with visiting Darfield and bringing some back…..I even had buy-in from my fellow traveller, but clay is heavy stuff and I gave that idea away….for now).

Yannick can make about six pots a day. He creates his own glazes, and fires to between cone 4 and cone 6.

When I am next down there, I will pop in and see how that kiln of his is firing and find out what he is up to next.

Have a look and a listen to Yannick talk about his story himself on the link below:

Click here for Yannick's story

Ian Smail at ASP

by Catherine Spence

Ian Smail was recently cajoled out of pottery retirement by Suzy Dunser to give a demo at ASP. Ian is one of the originals; original potter, original ASP’er, original character. He loves to provoke and prod and he loves to laugh.

He also may be the king of grog – the size of grog he uses in some of the clay bodies he throws would make your hands cry. But the impact the grog has on the finished product is really interesting: it has the capacity to burst through the body - sometimes making a hole, so as Ian points out, it's not ideal for functional ware - and accentuate some glazes by creating iron spots, or pooling glaze into the surface spaces created.

Ian throws with fluidity and speed, he understands clay and is never worried by the challenges it presents – clay not ‘attached’ to the wheel head, who cares? "Just keep going adds to the whole of the thing”. Wedging clay…”Yeah, I suppose you should… but it’s pretty nice like this, freshly pugged…”.

He says he is not coming out of clay retirement anytime soon… but he might be convinced to run a workshop… maybe???

Jane Moore receiving one on one tuition with Ian

Ian Smail with Katherine Habershon looking on.

Ian Smail on the wheel with the Bruce and Katherine Habershon looking on.

New in the Library for March

by Bronwyn Mason

Donations! A big thank you to Louise Rive for her recent generous donation of a stack of great pre-loved pottery books. Do you have any ceramics-related titles taking up space at home? The ASP library is always happy to take them off your hands. It doesn’t matter if we have them already, as any which don’t go into the library can be sold to fundraise for more books.

And just a gentle nudge - we’re missing a couple of new and fairly pricey reference-only books, so if you have them, please bring them back into the library asap. You don’t have to let anyone know, just drop them back onto the shelves.

Thanks all,

Bronwyn

Two cents and once around the wheel: spouting off

by Suzy Dunser

Jug spouts are one area of functional pottery where aesthetics and function have to be carefully balanced. It took me a long time to learn why my jug spouts didn't pour well, and it had nothing to do with the sharpness of the edge (well, almost nothing).

The key to a well-pouring spout is the angle of the spout at the moment the water or other liquid leaves the vessel. This is true of teapot spouts as well, but since there are other considerations for teapot spouts I’ll stick to jug spouts here.

If the angle is too upright, the water will go over the edge of the spout and run down the side of the pot. In contrast, if the angle of the spout is close to horizontal when the water gets to the edge, it will flow out away from the pot and pour well. This is the same principle that explains why it's harder to pour out a full cup of water without dripping down the side than it is to pour out a half empty cup – a vertical spout on a jug is really just half of a tiny straight-sided cup stuck to the top edge.

There are a few ways to ensure you have a good angle on your spout. If you’re stretching the rim to make the spout, make sure you bend the top edge out enough (very gradually!) to get the angle you need. If you’re attaching a spout, a combination of the angle of the whole spout and any curve in the spout itself should be considered.

Returning to the question of the sharpness of the edge – if your rim is relatively straight, you can try to fake the curve by having a rounded edge on the inside and a sharp angle on the outside. The shape of the jug also contributes to how well it pours, since the underlying issue between dripping and not dripping is whether there is enough force behind the water to overcome the surface tension between the water and the jug surface.

As with everything else in pottery, testing out different approaches is the best way to see if something works!

Here are examples of two jugs of mine, one whose spout pours well and one whose spout doesn’t – that tiny flick on the rim of the one with the handle makes all the difference.

Images: Suzy Dunser

Jug A Series

jug b series

On now and worth a look

by Siriporn Falcon-Grey & Catherine Spence

Debbie Harris, What Light Can Do 26 February to 19 April 2020 at The Pah Homestead

This show is an arts-object based installation by AUT Masters student Debbie Harris. It is her exploration of how plants grow and how objects are made. It grows by virtue of the creative-making process, metaphoric of plants that grow, bud, flower and so on.

Worth a look, worth contemplating.

Images: Siriporn Falcon-Grey