The Ceramic City
Jingdezhen is an incredible city (although the people I talk to would refer to it as a small town- despite the fact that it does house approximately one million people.) The thing I find truly unique here is that porcelain and it's production seem to be the central force and focus of the area even outside of the Pottery Workshop.
We spent a day exploring different areas nearby and found lots of studios and shops of interest.
Exploring the PWS
We were lucky enough to arrive in the middle of the Chinese holiday for Labour day. This meant the Pottery Workshop was super buzzing with lots of people coming for the markets. It was so busy that our driver had to stop the van we were traveling in and get out to move parked scooters that were blocking our path. There were people, porcelain and scooters everywhere!
About The Pottery Workshop Jingdezhen
The Pottery Workshop Jingdezhen is an international ceramics center focusing on the development and enrichment of ceramics in China and abroad. Located in the "Porcelain Capital" it offers a unique experience found nowhere else in the world.
The Pottery Workshop is surrounded by hundreds of
small, independent craftsmen and artists. Clay producers,
throwers, sculptors, mold makers, blue and white decorators, glaze shops, public kilns, brush makers, blacksmiths, and box makers are only a sampling of the craftsmen working in the
community.
This paired with the rich history of 1700 years of fine porcelain production makes it a great place for artists to visit.
For more information on the Pottery Workshop and it's other facilities: http://www.potteryworkshop.com.cn/Jingdezhen.asp?246.html
For More information on Jingdezhen and it's history: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingdezhen
2 Months at the Pottery Work Shop Jingdezhen
I am lucky enough to find myself traveling to The Pottery Work Shop in Jingdezhen, China to undergo a 2 month artist residency where I will be able to realise my latest project exploring the translation of history and production of historic cultural porcelain items.
Project Plan:
Throughout my practice I have always been interested in the history of 18th century European porcelain and its production. Coming from New Zealand, a small geographically isolated country, the traditions of ancient régime European porcelain and its historical implications are equally remote. This has allowed a simulation of constructed conceptions to be born with many elements being morphed in translation.
While I was in Europe I was able to survey what has been lost and/or gained from these translations. It was here that I was able to see the evident Chinese / Oriental influence on the history of European porcelain and I was able to realize that porcelain and its production in Europe stems from and was an adopted industry from Asia where again many elements have been transformed in the translation of culture to a new time and place.
I am now especially interested in tracing this history back to its point of origin in Jingdezhen so I can explore the translation of culture and cultural items through different times and places in history, examining the altered understandings and lineage of historic items.
Inspired by this exchange of culture I would like to create a series of medium to large decorative urns using traditional Chinese production techniques in order to trace and tell the story of particular cultural items through time in their many transformations; linking them to a current understanding in the context of New Zealand culture which in contrast to China displays a very brief and adapted history.
This residency is made possible with the generous support and funding from Creative New Zealand and The Asia:NZ Foundation. THANK YOU!
