Directed by John Takehara, 1997.
Length:
Approximately 100 minutes.
Format:
VHS.
Purchase:
$69.95 plus $5 postage/handling.
Available from:
Mesa Productions International, 2834 Starlington Dr., Boise, ID 83712.
Five years in the making, this overview of 18 contemporary Australian artists illustrates the rich diversity to be found in Australian ceramics. Each section of the three-part series contains vignettes on six different artists, conveying "a sampling of creative expression" through interviews, working scenes and shots of finished work.
Part One opens with spectacular footage from the Australian Tourist Council. The first thing we learn is that the indigenous peoples of Australia were nomadic and did not make clay objects or vessels; settlers from Europe brought their own ceramic traditions with them. To illustrate this point we go first to the studio of English potter Barbra Swarbrick. "I feel I'm more observant of my adoptive environment than someone who was raised here," she says. Barbra uses a graphic approach to Australian imagery, combining figures and local animals painted on pots. Next we look at the process-oriented wood-fired vessels of one of Australia's most influential potters, "pioneer potter" Peter Rushforth from New South Wales.
My favorite segment is the following one on Gwyn Hanson Piggett. Inspired by historic Sung pottery she passed in the gallery on the way to painting classes at the University of Melbourne, she asked herself, "How could a Sung bowl seem so fresh? You never tire of looking at it like you never tire of looking at the sky." After college Hanson Piggett studied in England with Leach and Cardew, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper. "I want to show how eloquent and powerful a simple form can be," she says. We see her working in her light-filled studio in the remote countryside of Queensland and arranging her "simple yet subtle" forms in the recent groupings inspired by the still-life paintings of Morandi.
The first tape also introduces us to abstract figurative sculptor Maria Kuczynska from Sydney, and to Barry Hayes, the first contemporary ceramist to use pit firing in Australia, as he loads his pit at "Shard Studio." It concludes with Pippin Drysdale in Freemantle. Influenced by the abstract expressionists, she paints simple forms in a style that is bold and spontaneous.
Part Two showcases six artists "whose style is as distant from one another as the geography that separates them." Weekly drawing sessions from the figure give Headley Potts' painted slips on earthenware the vitality he seeks. Heeding the advice of an aboriginal woman who told him "the Europeans and Australians should be listening to the aborigines," he combines images from Australian legends with those of local fish and fauna. In comparison, the serene, hand built forms of Japanese-born Hiroe Swen express her desire to "communicate joy and inner peace." We see work in progress as well as completed pots displayed in the elegant gallery she shares with her artist husband at their home in Canberra.
The following section shows Jeff Minchan Raku firing very large pieces outside his country studio in Cherryville. He says, "I am influenced by the Australian landscape in a subliminal, not a literal, way." The technically complex colored clay vessels of Suny Manning provide contrast in both working method and finished forms. The second tape closes with a profile of internationally recognized potter Steve Bishopric, who believes "my greatest accomplishment is to be able to run a traditional, rural, wood fired pottery in the 1990's."
Part Three features six artists who share a collaborative development. After living in Japan, Carol and Arthur Roser decided to become full time potters, buying 250 acres of tropical forest for the site of their home and studio. They wish their functional pots, fired in salt and wood, to "reflect living in harmony with nature." Influenced by the desert and sea of Western Australia, Joan Campbell makes large murals and sculptures for public places. A primary consideration for her is "the relationship between the work of art and the people who use the space." Her student, Sandra Black, also from Freemantle, is shown teaching a class and piercing her fragile porcelain bowls with the aid an electric drill. Terry Davies in Crafer, South Australia prefers "spending as much time on the beach as possible" and draws a lively repertoire of sea creatures on white stoneware, enhanced with black stain.
I found it a treat to make this pottery tour of Australia, to visit with such a variety of accomplished clay artists, to watch them working in their studios and to hear them speak about their influences and vision. It is inspiring to see such a wide range of different approaches to working with clay. It also pleases me that our video library continues to become more international. All in all, I highly recommend this tape.
Reviewed by Catherine Merrill. Studio Potter Network Newsletter, Autumn, 1998.