Feel the love Japan – i heART japan online charity art auction


In the days following the devastating 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Brisbane-based Japanese ceramic artist Kenji Uranishi and his wife Sonia felt overwhelmed with sadness and a sense of helplessness being so far away and unable to help. Turning their grief into positive action, a call went out to their network of artist friends and colleagues for help and was answered by more than 20 talented artists from around the country.

What resulted was i heART japan, a beautiful collection of work by a talented group of artists including ceramicists, painters, photographers and designers to be auctioned on eBay over a 2.5 day period starting Friday 8 April (3pm EST) and ending Sunday 10 April (8pm EST). http://myworld.ebay.com.au/i_heart_japan

The work can be previewed on Facebook in advance of the auction: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=196940070336811&aid=45605 Net proceeds of the auction will be donated to the Red Cross Japan and Pacific Appeal 2011.

(NB: inspiration for this auction was taken from the talented Mr Vipoo Srivilasa’s flood relief auction. We are grateful for the wealth of support and guidance Vipoo provided us along the way!)

Participating artists:
1. Anna Davern (http://annadavern.com.au/)
2. Dai-li Daws (www.daili.com.au)
3. Dan Brock (www.danielbrock.com.au)
Fukutoshi Ueno (www.idee247.com)
5. Gemma Smith (www.milanigallery.com.au)
6. Joseph Daws (www.josephdaws.com)
7. Julie Bartholomew (www.juliebartholomew.com.au)
8. Keikio Matsui (http://keikomatsui.com.au/)
9. Kenji Uranishi (http://kamenendo.blogspot.com/)
10. Kylie Johnson (www.paperboatpress.com)
11. Martin Smith (www.martin-smith.net)
12. Matt Dwyer (http://fio-contemporary.com/matt-dwyer)
13. Mel Robson (www.feffakookan.blogspot.com)
14. Miles Hall (www.miles-hall.com)
15. Mitsuo Shoji (www.mitsuoshoji.com)
16. Pru Morrison (www.bumcrane.blogspot.com)
17. Robbie Rowlands (www.robbierowlands.com.au)
18. Sophie Milne (www.sophiemilne.com.au)
19. Toni Warburton
20. Vipoo Srivilasa (www.vipoo.com)
21. Vicki Grima (www.vickigrima.com.au)

Extra information:
· To be notified when the auction is online or for further information please contact Sonia on email [email protected]
· Sonia Uranishi is authorised as the promoter of the event.
Red Cross Supporter Number: 26521163
· The auction will be live from Friday 8 April (3pm EST) – Sunday 11 April 2011 (8pm EST).
· Net proceeds of the auction will be donated to the Red Cross Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal 2011.
· Starting bids are at the discretion of the donor artist and will range from AU$50 upwards. Freight/insurance and any additional fees are to be paid by the successful bidder and arranged with the respective artist.

Snow outside again…

I’m desperately trying to get a message across to old man winter.
If you see him, tell him to move on,
come back later,
visit someone else for a change,
or simply just get lost.


Oh well, I guess there are more imporatant things to worry about.
At least I have a bit of spring in the kitchen.

Firing Up: A Crafts Council Initiative. (how i wish we would do the same here in Canada)

From their website:
“Interest in ceramics education is dwindling: our response is a national clay programme to ‘refire’ kilns in schools and inspire learners. About the programme

Firing Up is a new national programme of highlighting clay and ceramics. The initiative has been development by the Crafts Council through a steering committee of representatives from NALN, NSEAD, University of the Arts (London), Clayground Collective and Ofsted. The core elements have been designed to:

1. Raise awareness of the importance of clay in our everyday lives and in world cultures;

2. Support schools in using this medium creatively and confidently, and in optimising its educational value for students and creating sustainable local links;

3. Showcase and exhibit the work of young people; and

4. Demonstrate the links between clay-work and the wider creative industry sector showing that working in ceramics is a viable career choice.

The programme uses a ‘cluster’ format that will be constructed around the ceramics departments within partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Each regional cluster will consist of one HEI who will supply a ceramics ‘ambassador’ (usually the ceramics course leader), a technician and up to ten students, and five secondary schools.

It includes the following core elements:
• ‘Kiln Rehab’ – the rejuvenation of clay facilities in participant schools, supported by the expertise of ceramic –specialist staff from partner HEIs.
• ‘Clay Skills Training’ – twilight CPD for cluster teachers to build confidence and expertise using clay in the classroom.
• ‘Project Clay’ – an innovative creative workshop programme designed by Clayground Collective and delivered by local practitioners to enthuse and inspire the school community through a collaborative project.

Each phase of the programme has been carefully designed to support and inspire schools in using this magical material confidently and creatively with their pupils, in as broad a way as possible. In particular, we hope that through the building of sustainable relationships with HEIs and local schools, as ‘critical friends’, schools will feel inspired to take risks and enlarge upon the scope of the medium in a cross-curricular dimension as part of a creative curriculum.

Firing Up is generously supported by a 3 year grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.”Please visit the UK Craft Council’s website for more info.

SAN ANGELO CERAMIC INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION AND SYMPOSIUM

via Vicki Hardin

April 14 – 18, 2011

Hosted By: San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts – Angelo State University – The Old Chicken Farm Art Center A Survey of Contemporary Korean Ceramics
The Jean and Graham Devoe Williford Charitable Trust The Tile Club – Artists of America’s Aesthetic Movement

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
April 14 – Thursday
Ceramic Workshop With Randy Brodnax 1:00 – 6:00 pm Old Chicken Farm Art Center
($25.00 per person) April 15 – Friday
Ceramic Workshop with Stan Irvin 9:00 – 11:00 am
Angelo State University Ceramics Facility at San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts Twenty Sixth Annual Ceramic Symposium 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Robert and Nona Carr Education-Fine Arts Building, Angelo State University
Panelists: Harris Deller, Marian Haigh, Ed and Cornelia Gates
Moderator: Howard J. Taylor
Opening Reception 4:30 – 6 pm Little Figures
193 Gallery 193 Robert and Nona Carr Education-Fine Arts Building
Sponsored by the Angelo State University Art Department
Opening Reception 6:00 – 9:00 pm Different Directions: Coming Together in Clay
An Invitational Ceramic Exhibit featuring the artists:
Harris Deller, Marian Haigh, Ed and Cornelia Gates A Survey of Contemporary Korean Ceramics
Courtesy of the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas, Texas The Tile Club – Artists of America’s Aesthetic Movement from the Graham Williford Collection.
Courtesy of the Jean and Graham Devoe Williford Charitable Trust
Fairfield, Texas San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts
Opening 6:00 – 9:00 pm Texas Mesquite Art Festival – San Angelo
Featuring over 40 leading wood artists working with mesquite
Continues throughout the weekend.

Fort Concho National Historic Monument
Opening Reception 6:00 – 9:00 pm 6x6x30 …An invitational tile show curated by Jim Bob Salazar
Coop Gallery 427 Oakes Street in front of the Art Museum Plus .. . . Downtown shops will stay open till 9 pm with outdoor dancing and music.
All venues are within walking distance and free transportation by trolley will be available. April 16 – Saturday
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Invited Artists Workshop ($45.00 per person)
Featuring Harris Deller, Marian Haigh, Ed and Cornelia Gates
Old Chicken Farm Art Center 2:00 – 7:00 pm
Openings at the Art Center:
Chicken Farm Art Center galleries will be exhibiting ceramic work by Roger Allen, Linda Gossett, Joe Morgan, Jeremy and Millicent Bundick and Vicki Hardin. The work of several Texas potters will be also featured including, Shikha Joshi, Angela Gallia, Billy Ray Mangham, Mark Epstein, Randy Brodnax, Pat Johnson, Gary Huntoon, Gery Henderson, Bridget Hauser and Susy Siegel Vicki Hardin Gallery – “Art of the Brush” – An exhibit of custom made brushes of skunk, horse hair, moose, fox and more. Art6° Gallery – “Dreams,” new ceramic work by Esteban Apodaca; photographs and paintings by John Mattson and Karen Zimmerly 7:00 pm
Texas Barbeque Dinner ($15.00 per person)
Old Chicken Farm Art Center 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Texas Mesquite Art Festival
Fort Concho National Historic Landmark
Also continues on Sunday from 10 am to 4 pm April 18 – Monday
Walk-Talk: Roger Allen, Director, Old Chicken Farm Art Center 12:00 noon
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts Workshops information Thursday afternoon, April 14 From 1 pm till 6 pm Randy Brodnax will lead participants in a workshop of raku and alternative firing techniques and throwing thin on the wheel. Participants will build and fire the kilns. Work will continue on Friday, and Saturday will be a kiln opening. Participants are encouraged to bring bisque work to glaze and fire. Friday morning, April 15, from 9 to 11 am, Stan Irvin will conduct a workshop at the Angelo State University Ceramic labs located adjacent to the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts. Irvin will demonstrate many of his unique altered wheel-thrown vessel forms and discuss the ideas that drive his process and aesthetic. There is no charge and the public is invited to attend. For more information contact Esteban Apodaca at 325-942-2787 or 325-942-2085. Saturday, April 16, the Invited Artists, Harris Deller, Marian Haigh, Ed and Cornelia Gates, will conduct a daylong demonstration workshop, with each discussing their individual techniques. The Randy Brodnax and Invited Artist workshops are hosted by the Old Chicken Farm Art Center. Please use the attached card to register. Lunch is up to the individual, so plan to bring a sack lunch or patronize one of the many local restaurants. Different Directions: Coming Together in Clay An Invitational Ceramic Exhibit featuring the artists: Artists information Harris Deller was born in Brooklyn, New York. He received a B.A. in Art from California State University at Northridge and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Deller’s work has been featured in more than 125 group and solo exhibitions throughout the United States, Asia and Europe and his work is represented in over 25 collections. He has been awarded 6 Artist Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council; a Gold Medal at the 47th Concorso Internationale della Ceramica d’Arte, Fienza, and the 2nd International Ceramics Competition, Mino, Japan. Deller received an Arts Midwest Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship. He is currently a Professor of Art, School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Marian Haigh was born in Pittsburg, Kansas and grew up in very small towns in a rural setting. She received a B.F.A. from Arkansas State University in 1973. Since then she has worked in her studio, hand building ceramic vessels, teaching workshops, and exhibiting locally and nationally. Her work can be found in American and European museums, corporate and private collections and published in books and magazines. Marian lives with her husband in Austin, TX. They divide their time between the city and a cabin in the Texas Hill Country. The country landscape brings back memories of a rich childhood immersed in the natural world, which has a deep influence on her art work. Since 1994, Ed Gates and his wife Cornelia Henderson Gates have owned and operated Aloe Tile Works in Corpus Christi. Ed was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and grew up in the Midwest. He holds a Bachelor of History and Arts from Grinnell College in Iowa and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. In 1995, he received a National Endowment for the Arts Federal Design Achievement Award for his work on the Staples Street Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. Cornelia was born in Uvalde, Texas and grew up in Corpus Christi. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Texas and a J.D. from Tulane Law School. She practiced law for seven years before she and Ed started Aloe Tile Works, where they share all studio responsibilities. She has been published in Ceramics Monthly and The Journal of the American Art Pottery Association. Aloe Tile’s work is also featured in Peter King’s Architectural Ceramics for the Studio Potter and Lark Books’ 500 Tiles. (A Survey of Contemporary Korean Ceramics from the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art With a 5,000 year tradition in the ceramic arts, contemporary Korean artists have the challenge of combining rich and distinct ceramic roots with new influences and reinterpreted methods. The contemporary ceramic movement in Korea began in the universities, where ceramicists began to make ties with their Western counterparts. Scholarships to study in the United States and elsewhere were given to numerous Korean artists who wished to be trained abroad. New information was brought to Korea while new skills were being taught simultaneously for preserving the Korean ceramic tradition. Today’s Korean contemporary artists stand at a crossroads – to only follow Western tendencies or combine Western methods and techniques with Eastern ideology. This exhibit includes artists whose pieces incorporate traditional techniques with innovative methods to create both functional and sculptural works. Nearly every aspect of ceramic art is represented – from clean lines, smooth surfaces and established techniques to playful designs, modern perspective, and colorful, energetic forms that give new life into this traditional art form. The artists in the exhibit range in age from 40 to 80 years old and come from many regions and schools, providing works that spotlight the distinct trends in contemporary Korean ceramics. They are internationally celebrated ceramists with many whose work is featured in major museum collections around the world. The 16 works in this exhibition are on loan from the Trammel and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas. The Tile Club – Artists of America’s Aesthetic Movement from the Graham Williford Collection During the last quarter of the 19th century artists and their activities were seen as a bit bohemian and therefore interesting. Visiting studios and going to gallery exhibitions were commonplace activities for people interested in culture from both the middle and upper classes. One creative group that formed and flourished from 1877-1887 was a small art club in New York City called The Tile Club. The club formed for the purpose of camaraderie, painting on 8” x 8” ceramic tiles and traveling together on group excursions and sketching trips. They banded together to promote issues and concepts about aesthetics and the fine and decorative arts. Of particular interest were handmade and decorated objects inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement in England. Among its illustrious members were several who are now considered leading American artists at the turn of the century, including Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, Julian Alden Weir and John H. Twachtman. Other notable members are the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the architect Stanford White. The group‘s self-promotion and public antics appealed to the country’s growing middle class who avidly followed the Tile Club’s deeds, which were covered in the popular publications of the time, such as Scribner’s Monthly and The Century Magazine. Although their professed intent was to paint tiles, they soon abandoned that pursuit for other art-related projects. This exhibit is on loan from the Jean and Graham Devoe Williford Charitable Trust. The Twenty Sixth Annual San Angelo Ceramic Symposium April 15, 2011, 1:30 – 4:30 pm The Ceramic Symposium is co-sponsored by the San Angelo Museum Endowment for Ceramic Events, Angelo State University, the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, and the Old Chicken Farm Art Center. The four panelists will begin the symposium with opening statements followed by an intermission and refreshments. A question and answer period concludes the session. Angelo State University will host the symposium at the Robert and Nona Carr Education-Fine Arts Building in room 101. The symposium is offered at no charge. Symposium Panelists Invited Artists Harris Deller, Marian Haigh, Ed and Cornelia Gates Panel Moderator Howard Taylor, Director of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, will serve as moderator of the Symposium. An enthusiastic proponent in exhibiting contemporary craft and design, he has been with the museum since 1985. Esteban Apodaca, is the Symposium Coordinator. He is Associate Professor of Art in ceramics at Angelo State University, and has received national and regional recognition of his work. He has taught at a diverse number of institutions including the Parson School of Design/Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic and in 1995 received an American Cultural Specialist grant from the United States Information Agency-Arts America to travel to Honduras where he taught ceramics. In 2005 Esteban participated in a panel discussion of “Cultural Migrations” at NCECA in Baltimore. His works are held in both private and public collections. Call the San Angelo Convention and Visitors Bureau at 325-653-1206 for hotel accommodations and information. Identify yourself with the Ceramics Workshop and Exhibition. Stan Irvin
Angelo State University Workshop
Friday, April 15, 9 – 11 am
ASU Ceramic Facility Stan Irvin received his M.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1974. He maintains a studio in central Austin and is a Professor of Art at St. Edward’s University, where he has been teaching ceramics and sculpture for over 30 years. Stan focuses primarily on high temperature, single fired, altered, wheel-thrown, stoneware vessels. A 2009 recipient of the First Place award at the Texas Teapot Tournament, he shows his work locally, regionally, and nationally. Randy Brodnax
Workshop Leader at The Old Chicken Farm Art Center Randy Brodnax is a life-long potter and educator from Dallas, Texas. A Louisiana native who has retained much of the Cajun joie de vivre with which he was raised, Randy has spent a career building bridges among clay artists of all levels of experience. In workshops, Randy entertains as he shares his knowledge with participants, and helps individuals seeking a refined focus, new direction, or simply camaraderie among clay artists.