Korean
culture enjoys and celebrates ceramics.
In
Korea ceramics are an important part of the culture and, unlike in our culture, potters and ceramicists are respected and at times revered. There is in Korea a
history of ceramics which goes back to the beginning of their civilisation and
has continued until today and will continue well into the future.
The
town of i-chon in South Korea, is an important ceramic center. Every two years
this fact is celebrated with an international ceramic convention, which
attracts an huge Korean and international audience, both in terms of
participation and observation. There are many exhibitions, workshops plus
series of lectures.
This year a new concept was added to an already impressive
program. 'Talks by
Artists', is a forum which introduces artists presenting their ideas in
relation to their work. There are no guidelines and as a result this will be an
interesting addition to the event.
The Korean Ceramic Foundation
(KOCEF) send out a brief, asking for expressions of interest and, as a result
of my connection with Korea I received an invitation to
submit a talk.
I
felt that after having worked with clay and enjoying writing about my concepts
and discoveries in relation to the medium for over forty years, I would be able
to make a worthwhile contribution.
I
thought a novel idea was to write in a poetic style and try to express the
emotions which are at work in my ceramic making. Here is a sample:
Throughout my
life, a life involved in art and ceramics and everything which is part of it,
this has been a mystery to me. Something which keeps on recurring. I visit a
museum and find myself standing in front of an ancient piece of ceramic ware. I
respond to it. However, I do not only respond to this work on an intellectual
or emotional level, although at first one would think so. My response surfaces
from a deeper place. It seems to come from a level much older, much more
ancient. From some aspect in our psyche which has existed from a time well
before the intellect and the emotions came into play.
I
wrote my artist talk and send a précis (which was requested). After a two
months wait I was informed that my artist talk had been accepted. This means
that I shall probably go to Korea to present my talk.
in
order to share my thoughts with my community, I will also
present this illustrated talk for this year's 'Words in Winter', held during
august. (Saturday august 3, at 8pm, Sunday 4th august at 4pm at door3 East Street Daylesford. Plus i will present this talk as a floor talk during my exhibition in Bendigo. Wednesday 28th august, 6 p.m. at the Latrobe Art Gallery View Street, Bendigo
"when it comes to going after what you love in life don't take no for an answer'
