Vale Merran Esson

In memory of Merran Esson who died prematurely last week

When I applied at the National Art School in Sydney in 2010 I was asked to bring work to an interview at the painting department. 

I took my work and showed it to two  interviewing staff who looked very bored and who, after listening to what I had to say, said there weren't any places anyway and they had no idea why I'd been invited. I was dumbfounded but then asked if I could apply for the ceramics department instead. Oh if you want, they said and I went back outside to sit once again in the queue on the benches. Eventually I was asked in to talk to the ceramics staff, one of whom was Merran Esson.  

What a difference. These staff were bright faced, enthusiastic and supportive. They knew of the work of the Dunedin ceramic artist Jim Cooper with whom I had studied at the Otago Art school and invited me to join their student intake. 

I'd really only applied as a way to reintegrate into Sydney life after several years away, but I had a ball in the ceramics department, worked like a beaver and took home all sorts of ceramic objects despite primarily seeing myself as a painter. 

The people in the painting department didn't seem to be very happy, so I was pleased I'd been diverted to the ceramics group. Merran was instrumental in making the department a happy place to be. Thank you Merran. Vale. 

Window ceramics

When I was in Dunedin I took a ceramics class and to my surprise I learned to love clay. Beginner students often experiment to see how thin they can make clay and I was no exception. These pots were made by rolling the clay with a rolling pin and imprinting them with figures.






The paper protrusions were inspired by my teacher Jim Cooper's work. Now the pots  are sitting on my bathroom window sill. The curtain is a piece I crocheted in Germany during a crochet splurge many years ago. However did I find the time for that?

Bravo Jim Cooper

Jim Cooper has just won the Portage Prize, the premier ceramics prize in New Zealand. Congratulations Jim!

Jim Cooper (photo from the Otago Daily Times)

I thought clay was boring until I had Jim Cooper as a teacher. He is not only a wonderful ceramic artist, he is an 'original';  a man who does things his way, who is more generous than anyone I have ever met and who taught me a lot about art while I was messing with clay. I learned to look at art differently in Jim's class. I realised that art can be whatever you want it to be.

Blown off in the wind

The high winds blew the garden shed in last night and left the shed roof hanging over the back fence. As I moved boxes of ceramics this morning I was hoping the still strong wind gusts didn't blow the rest of the  shed down on top of me.  State Emergency Services say they will come and remove the roof later this afternoon so it doesn't do any more damage. I think the old shed is a goner.

Disappearing roof

Shed is a goner

I feel for those people who lost the rooves of their houses in the storm.

I Love Terracotta

I put some terracotta plates on the web today: www.artsmitten.com

Ceramic magic

Music again. Music of course.

Yesterday we unloaded the kiln. The good, the bad and the ugly. The ceramics that had been given up as failures were often the ones with that 'zing'. The magic of ceramics is a magic difficult to control. A bit like watercolours really.

Transformation

Ceramics is magic. Just a bit of heat and smoke is all it takes to transform this:

To this: