Art Canal Exhibition 2002

This exhibition was held during Expo 2002 Switzerland. 25 Swiss artists were invited to exhibit and 25 works were chosen from applications by Swiss born artist living abroad. The work had to be site specific e.g. to be positioned alongside a waterway (canal) and bear some representation of the artists adopted culture. My work The Journey was the only one chosen from Africa. The 4 metres high stainless steel structure is covered with ceramic panels, fired to 1220 degrees in an oil kiln.
I need to decide now what to do with the sculpture which is presently in storage in Switzerland and plan to make the final decision to ship it back to S.Africa or abandon it when I will be there in October. Not easy....

All these months I was busy building some badly neeeded additions to my studio, as the workspace was far too crammed and there was not enough electricity to operate my large kiln. But hooray the end is near, Although I have been working sporadically none of my ideas got taken further than the technical testing stage. I have now put a slideshow of some of my previous work on this blog and will periodically add images as the work pogresses and evolves.

Some weeks back I was doing raku firing together with other pyromaniac potters at the Clay Festival for people who wanted to experience the process .

I will hold a six week course on raku in October which willl include participation in a Japanese Tea Ceremony. This will give the students a new perspective of the traditional Japanese tea bowl and insight into the Japanese culture.

This helmet is treated with a copper stain and raku fired

This helmet is treated with a copper stain and raku fired

Warrior Vessels

These helmets are part of the Ancestor series I started last year. They are in the process of evolving and deal with various aspects of my life displaying symbols of my own culture as well as the ones I am surrounded by.

These vessels are metaphors for various stages of my journey,

I work in low fired stoneware using copper oxide and treat the fired stain with acid to obtain the verdigris patina.

my work

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shor4e for a very long time

ANDRE GIDE

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time ANDRE GIDE

I have always been fascinated by the alchemy of the firing process. The never ending possibilities for a humble lump of earth to be transformed into a permanent state with or without chemically combining rocks and minerals and the element of fire still holds my interest.

So for a long time I have worked extensively within the Raku tradition as well as High Fired Reduction Stoneware, Sagger, Pit and similar alterantive firing methods exploring these transmutations.

In the past I worked a lot with aged surfaces and cultural symbols from my ancestry. I now want to explore the hardness and purity of porcelain together with lustrous glaze effects
The boat has been my vessel to contain personal statements as well as questions.