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Derek Philip Au

Derek Philip Au

  • Derek Philip Au
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The Slab Builder

by Derek
August 30, 2008
Categories Jingdezhen Photos

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Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing the w Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing the week-long @redlodgeclaycenter takeover. "For the total work required to make a single cup, it must pass through 72 hands, and only then can it become a vessel." - Tiangong Kaiwu (天工開物) Traditional Chinese ceramics is based on the division of labor.  One person makes clay, another throws pots, another fires kilns, etc.  There are benefits to this system:  A family of glaze masters who pass down their recipes and secrets for generations can produce some amazing glazes!  And for ceramic designers, producing work is much easier when you can rely on those masters to make your vision a reality. But for contemporary studio potters based in Jingdezhen, this rich ecosystem can become a crutch.  One of the questions I often asked myself was:  "Can I leave Jingdezhen?"  One of the prerequisites for being able to leave was learning all I could about glazes. During those years, Nigel Wood's book "Chinese Glazes" was my bible.  And venturing into the mountains around Jingdezhen to find ancient mines of Kaolin, Porcelain Stone, and Glaze Stone was a favorite pastime. #takeover #ceramics #pottery #residency
Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing the w Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing the week-long @redlodgeclaycenter takeover. With my "Planeware" series, designing new slab-built forms became an IQ test rather than an enjoyable artistic endeavor.  And template-based construction removed creativity from the construction process.  I needed to do something new.  I had played with the idea of "painting" a slab, but that was still too limiting.  So I decided to try just painting slip directly on clay. Similar to ancient slipware techniques like Chinese Cizhou kiln, Japanese Karatsu ware, and Korean Buncheong ware, the Painted series uses brushes to apply slip.  But "Painted" removes the "ground" of the underlying thrown form, leaving behind only the slip.  Thus the decoration in part determines the form of the vessel. #takeover #ceramics #pottery #residency
Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing my @r Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing my @redlodgeclaycenter takeover. Jingdezhen was also where I met my best friend and partner in crime, Nuokan (@jacintta).  Nuokan graduated from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute and then hitchhiked through China's West and Southeast Asia.  She worked at start-ups in Shanghai until I tricked her into moving back to Jingdezhen, where Nuokan took up pottery again and developed a series of chattered pottery. When we arrived in the US, Nuokan didn't have a studio of her own.  Making do with a tiny space, she began to make tiny pots on a tiny wheel.  The work gradually evolved from individual pots to miniature settings in which her tiny pots could play. In her own words: "These landscapes form a personal space in which I am completely free to create and explore, escaping the chaos of daily life." #takeover #ceramics #pottery #residency #jingdezhen
Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing the w Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing the week-long @redlodgeclaycenter takeover. Jingdezhen was overwhelming.  The possibilities were overwhelming.  But the experience slowly seeped into my work.  I fell in love with Hutian Kiln qingbai ware:  thin, frosty, pure white porcelain bodies glazed in a water-like blue celadon, with forms that had ancient roots in Chinese Tang Dynasty metalware.  And I was delighted to find the craft of tinware thriving in Jingdezhen.  Tinware was being used for all manner of products, including forms specialized for ceramics:  plaster buckets with long spouts and filters; glaze blowers of various sizes for different types of glaze application. My "Planeware" series arose from those two influences:  qingbai ware and tinware.  Rather than just emulate the appearance of metalwork, I adopted the techniques and tools of the tinsmith to construct vessels with slabs of porcelain clay that have similar working characteristics to sheet metal.  My studio soon began to resemble a tinsmith's, with compasses, rulers, calculators, and templates galore. #takeover #ceramics #pottery #residency #jingdezhen
Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing my @r Hi All, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here continuing my @redlodgeclaycenter takeover. Jingdezhen has been producing ceramics for hundreds of years, with ups and downs along the way.  When I arrived in Jingdezhen in 2007, the city was at the end of a downturn, and the big ceramics factories were either in disrepair or completely abandoned.  Traditional porcelain craft still thrived in every nook and cranny of the city, but most production centered around making reproductions, and making a living was tough.  At that time, it was hard to imagine that the next decade would see Jingdezhen transformed into a world-renowned cultural and tourist destination, and that Chinese ceramics would undergo a renaissance with Jingdezhen at its heart. These photos were taken in 2007 & 2008. #takeover #ceramics #pottery #residency #jingdezhen
Hi everyone, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here taking over Hi everyone, Derek Au (@glazyorg) here taking over @redlodgeclaycenter for the week!  I'm looking forward to sharing more about myself and the amazing @redlodgeclaycenter. I studied ceramics in college and made pots at several community studios, but it wasn't until arriving in Jingdezhen, China, that I devoted myself to pottery full-time.  And it was there, in the "Porcelain Capital of the World", where I received my true education.  I was extremely fortunate to work with Takeshi Yasuda, whose profound insight into the history of ceramics, studio practice, and life itself influenced me immensely.  Through working with the myriad Jingdezhen artisans (slab-builders, throwers, trimmers, glaze-makers, glaze-blowers, decorators, kiln masters, cart-pullers, etc.) I "stole knowledge" and slowly absorbed the ancient secrets of porcelain production.  And I made some extremely precious friendships with people who taught me the true meaning of ceramics:  the union of functional craft with life through decoration, food, and drink. Recently, life has led me back to the US, and I've been incredibly lucky to have found temporary homes at @northernclaycenter, @alfredceramics, and now @redlodgeclaycenter.  I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'm excited to find out. #takeover #ceramics #pottery #residency #jingdezhen
120Mbps somewhere in the middle of Montana.  And 120Mbps somewhere in the middle of Montana.  And this is only the beta.  Maybe it's time to become a mountain potter. I was going to do a write up, but there's not much to write about.  You literally just take it out of the box, plug it in, and suddenly you have incredible internet. #starlink
The dream is alive.  #starlink #mountainpotter The dream is alive.  #starlink #mountainpotter
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