Visit to Origin Contemporary Craft Fair

I visited this exhibition for the first time in September, It's an annual exhibition for applied artists working in the fields of ceramics. fashion accessories, furniture, glass, knitwear, lighting, metalwork, millinery, jewellry, paper, wood and textiles. I thought the work was of a very high standard by skilled craftspeople. I was drawn to the work of ceramicists and a few people's work caught my eye for different reasons:

Kerry Hastings - I liked the contrasting glazes she used to accentuate her organic forms. Matt, stonelike glazes on the outside of her pieces contrasting with the shiny, colourful glazes used on the outside of the forms:

Kerry Hastings Ceramics

Also of interest to me was Lok Ming Fung's pieces which were very intricate. I liked the small details of the mushroom forms on her jewellry boxes. She used bright, shiny glazes on the inside of the 'mushrooms' which contrasted nicely with the plain white porcelain of her pots:

Lok Ming Fung Ceramics

Mette Maya Gregersen used paper clay to create strong organic shapes. She was interested in waves and other types of movement. I really liked the textures she had achieved in her work:

Mette Maya Gregersen Ceramics

I also admired the work of Sophie Cook who produces handthrown porcelain bottles which resemble glass. I thought the bottles were really beautiful and the colourful glazes really accentuated their form. They were impressive since porcelain is very difficult to throw and the artist had challenged herself to see how tall she could throw her bottles:

Sophie Cook Ceramics

I also liked some of the work of Timea Sido, I liked the 'sugarspun' effect achieved on some of the pieces, which must have been achieved through using porcelain slip. The texture of the piece below is very interesting to me:

Timea Sido Ceramics

Lastly, I enjoyed looking at the work of Tanya La Mantia. She works with bone china which she leaves unglazed to take advantage of the clay's natural properties. The use of light also plays a large part in this work.

 Tanya La Mantia Ceramics

There was a lot of interesting work at this exhibition and I noticed that many ceramicists were working predominantly with porcelain. For my final project at Oaklands College this summer, I was interested in texture in ceramics and the idea of using touch to experience works of art. I think this is still an area I wish to explore further and some of the ceramics I have seen at this exhibition have definately given me food for thought.

My first entry!

Here's my first ever blog entry and I thought I'd start off  by talking about an interesting exhibition I went to in the summer. During a holiday visiting family in Macau, I went to an exhibition of contemporary ceramics held at the Macau Art Museum. A very varied and interesting exhibition of 10 local ceramicists, including Simon Ho Sio Chong's piece of contrasts 'White and Black' 2008:

Simon Ho Sio Chong 'White and Black' 2008

I liked this piece for it's contrasts: the black and white clays used and the two forms, with the black being the feminine part and the white being the male part.

I enjoyed looking at each piece in the exhibition and I tried to understand how they had been constructed and glazed.

Also of interest was Sou Pui Kun's 'New Human Species' work from 2008. Whilst the forms were intriguing, I particularly liked the effects of layering achieved from using different glazes:

Sou Pui Kun 'New Human Species' 2008

Sou Pui Kun 'New Human Species' 2008 (detail)

I also liked Josefina Maria Banares' work 'Shade and Shadow of Memories' 2010-2011. I liked the carefully moulded forms, the contrasting white and dark blue glazes used, as well as the simplicity of the illustrations that relate to the artist's childhood memories:

Josefina Maria Banares 'Shade and Shadow of Memories' 2010-2011

I thought it was a very interesting exhibition and I have been thinking about how some of the techniques used could inform my own work..