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CERAMICSQUARTERLYHigh alkali copper crackle glaze

Train Kiln Building Workshop withRobert and Coll

Interview with Chester Nealie

Around The RegionsWhakatane

Buying and Selling in Christchurch

Around the Regions:Report from lopdell House

Around the Regions:Wellington

Comment: Charity Auctions

The Tasman Tile Project - Anneke Borren

obituary: Kenneth Clark

Jenni Taris’s Wood Kiln Project

Nostalgia

THROWING by HAND

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Instructions for the concrete pad and a list of materials were sent from the uK prior to the workshop, and it is interesting that differences in terminology and conventions meant that some things were not quite as expected. For instance mortar grog here was a coarser grade than was suitable so had to be laboriously sieved on site after mixing.Specifications: The concrete pad is 3.7 x 1.2m and 20 cm thick and was laid on a tractor-levelled surface and surrounded with power poles.Chamber: 2m x 50 cm x 50 cm (about the same size as a coffin!)Bricks: 1200 straight firebricks, 250 insulation bricks and 62 arch bricksFire Clay: 320 kg of fire clay (60 kg left over)

Wood: 2 cubic metres of dry split pine.once the concrete pad was cured, the laying of the bricks could begin.

Day 1: Robert outlined the basic form of the kiln, and its configuration, explaining where the fire box, chamber and chimney would be. one course of concrete blocks was laid on edge on the pad (left). Some blocks were modified and clever use of off-cuts kept the spacing accurate. Robert and Coll were kept busy making sure this foundation course was well placed

Assessing the location of the firebox.Bricks were first laid out without mortar to get the placement right, then carefully lifted off in sequence and laid back in place with a thin coat of fairly wet mortar. A working team soon evolved and building went fairly quickly on the first day.The firebox bricks were cemented in place with constant measuring and levelling to ensure all was straight and true, to fit in the steel frame which was being made by Barry, Julie’s husband. A spirit level was used as each layer was set in place (left). Note: the four bricks pictured in the forefront of the firebox are spacers and not permanent.

Constructing the fireboxWhile the firebox walls were being built the welders were working on the angle iron frame

and another team was measuring and cutting the skew bricks which would support the arch leading from the firebox into the main chamber. The floor of the main chamber was extended to the full length of the kiln with careful measuring and levelling at every step of the way.

The skewbacks are placed (left). At this point the custom-made angle iron frame was bolted into place on the firebox.

Robert had previously measured precisely and trimmed the arch bricks to shape. Again the bricks were laid dry, numbered, removed and it was all hands to the arch as each brick was finally placed. Julie had the honour of dropping the key brick in place, choreographed by Robert’s,”steady, NoW” then, “let go” and all hands simultaneously did just that.

A few expert taps from Robert here and there with a rubber hammer and there sat a beautiful arch.As the firebox team completed that area another group cleaned up any spilt mortar and checked that the floor was smooth and level and started on the building of the chimney.

Work moved on apace as time was running out if the kiln was to be fired in time. The walls of the chamber were carefully built up, levelling and measuring every step of the way. Side stokes were built with angled sills for ease of stoking. Thought was given to where baffles might be placed. (photo top p3)

Train Kiln Building Workshopwith Robert Sanderson and Coll Minogue

This wood-fired “Train Kiln” was built at Burwell’s farm, Putaruru, Waikato during March 2012, in the week prior to the Woodstoke

conference.Robert Sanderson and

Coll Minogue, of Scotland and Ireland, have been

international kiln builders for many years.

Julie drops the key brick in place while many hands support the rest of the arch bricks.

Robert checking angles and levels

Article and photos by Jill Nicholls and Judith Rivers

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CQ editor

PeTeR lANGe

16 Carrick Place, mt eden 1024

09 6306942

lange52@clear.net.nz

Copy and photosalways very welcome.

The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers in

this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the

New Zealand Society of Potters.

Julie had obtained a two piece steel flue and Bruce became the man up the ladder with help of Bevin and others.As dusk fell a decision was made to rig lights and work until finished that night.late in the evening Robert selected a variety of pots from the hoard that had been brought and spent considerable time and effort placing them, all the while answering questions and explaining why certain things were being done.The ordered silicon carbide kiln shelves for the roof of the firing chamber arrived late afternoon.These were laid across the tops of the chamber walls after the pots were loaded and the non-mortared insulation bricks were laid on top (below).

As midnight approached Robert built an external platform for the first warm-up fire. This was made of loose firebricks sitting on concrete blocks on the outside of the firebox, with an old piece of kiln shelf as a roof-cum-wind screen, for formation of the first small wood embers which would eventually fall into the main firebox hearth and build up to warm the kiln and contents in readiness for the main fire.

We all gathered to share the moment as Julie lit her first firing in the brand new kiln! Robert and Coll looking on. (below)(above) Chimney with loose spacer bricks. Note

angle iron frame bolts, also side stoke to left in wall.

The flue goes up

Setting up the chimney area

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A beautiful lazy flame reached long fingers into the chamber and the firing was underway.

Warm up fire begins.Jill Nicholls of Riverton, Southland has contributed the first part of this article but had to leave the next day after the lighting of the kiln.Judith Rivers of Waitaki Valley, Otago completes the tale ....

After 4 days of intensive work, Julie at last struck the match and the firing of her “Inglewood“ kiln was underway! Just a small quiet fire to start, with the secondary air closed. With the little flame flickering away, could we relax for a bit? No, the kiln gods had heard us, and a gale roared up from the north-east and continued for most of the firing. It was all hands on deck as we rigged plastic

sheeting shelters over the kiln, propped up and tied down to wherever and whatever we could. The sound of wind and the mad flapping of the plastic were to be a constant accompaniment to the voice of the kiln throughout the night as Coll sat up to pre-heat the kiln from midnight to 6am.once all the soot had burnt off the inside of the firebox, we started putting wood into the main firebox; not onto the hobs, but into the ash pit to build up an ash and ember bed. Then we were firing on the hobs; opening the double hinged door as quickly as possible and stoking with fairly thin pieces of wood to start with.Later in the firing we were able to use bigger pieces. Bruce, Geoff, and others handy with an axe had been hard at work splitting side stoke and firebox wood that Barry, Bevin and Robert had brought up on the trailer earlier.On we went though the night; grabbing a cup of tea and a sit-down when we could, Coll and Robert ready with encouragement and help, sitting in front of the firebox, listening to the sound of the fire, trying to hear when it needed stoking again and looking at the colour inside the kiln and the flame from the chimney.A highlight was briefly opening the primary air holes in the firebox arch and hearing the “chuff chuff’” sound of the train kiln!

Cone 10 down in front and we started alternate side-stoking and firebox-stoking, carrying on for several hours (a blur of flame, wind and sound!). Just on dawn with some wood still in the firebox, cone 12 was down in front, cone 11 in the middle and a stubborn cone 9 in a cold spot at the back was still standing. The door and primary air were clammed up and the mouse hole

The first flame

and the chimney damper closed.Then it was off to snatch a couple of hours sleep and then drive over to mike and Chester’s workshop while the kiln cooled. And then back again on Sunday in a haze of tiredness and anticipation to open up and discover what the kiln had given us!Some very nice pieces emerged from under the ash and embers.Bruce’s and Janet’s work stood out and Fiona’s beautiful rhino (see photo below) with very subtle flame and ash marks. Also George had some stunning pots, and there emerged from under the side stoke ember a quiet and lovely little porcelain pot of Coll’s with impressed decoration. Just looking at the colour of the wads gave us a great deal of information.

overall a wonderful and enjoyable learning experience and an inspiration to work with such a hardworking, friendly group of potters.Thank you to linda’s team who kept us fed, and to Julie, Barry and Bevin for putting up with such a noisy, hungry mob invading their peaceful farm (and I don’t mean the cows!)

And thanks especially to Robert and Coll for their generous encouragement and hard work throughout.

George Kojis stokes the fire

Coll and Robert and the open kiln.

Pots among the ashes

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NZ SOCIETY of POTTERS INC

MISSIONSTATEMENT

“To promote excellence in ceramics in New Zealand”

NZSP operates in three

key strategic areas:

membership AimTo provide an

umbrella organisation for potters, pottery clubs and associations in New

Zealand

Promotion AimTo encourage and

promote awareness and appreciation of New Zealand

ceramics nationally and internationally.

History Aim

To keep historical records of New Zealand Potters,

National exhibitions, National and Regional publications and other nationally significant

events

Definition Potters are all people

involved in the production of fired works

produced from clay.

Corporate Members

PlatinumDecopot

SilverCCG Industries ltd,

BronzeWellington Potters Supplies,

Bot Pots, Morris & James (Matakana) Ltd

Avid Gallery

54th NZ Potters National Exhibition - “Celebrating Ceramics”

venue and dates confirmed:

Opening evening Sat 23 March 2013 - closing Sunday 12 May 2013.

Mt Marua Gallery “Expressions Arts & Entertainment

Centre”Upper Hutt

http://www.expressions.org.nz20 -25 minutes north of Wellington Central

Entries to be pre-selected from images - closing date for entries TBA

but likely to be first week in Feb 2013. Selector TBA

Entry forms will be available on the NZPotters website and mailed to

all members

BREAKING NEWS!

Clearly the influence of the Woodstoke conference lingers on ... many of the articles and photos in this issue relate to wood-firing. It is not an easy way to fire but the pots are much livelier and richer for it. There are often temperature differences in wood kilns - they are almost always cross-draught and unsymmetrical - but this can be allowed for if the kiln is yours and your pots are the only occupants. In this case you learn to find clays and glazes that suit the different parts of the kiln. However in group firings, when the people nearest the wicket or the most assertive people or those who bring the best morning tea get first choice of kiln position there will always be a few disappointing pots that need to head straight for the nearest gas kiln for a touch-up. or the nearest stone wall.I recall one of my kiln partners always getting the best results, and after a few firings I watched her place her pots strategically. While she wasn’t looking, just before building the wicket, I took one of her pots out and put one of mine in its place, and put hers where mine would have gone. Sure enough, at the opening, her pot looked fantastic and mine looked rubbish. maybe she’d got suspicious and double-bluffed me.Wood-firing is big in Australia right now - it was the same here in the 70s and then faded a little, but now it seems to be making a resurgence in this country. For more information go to: www.woodstoke.co.nz Editor

The finished Train Kiln

Night firingThe Great Teapot & Tea Cosy Show

Corelli’s Cafe46 Victoria Road, Devonport 09 445 4151www.corelliscafe.co.nz

14 November - 4 December 2012

Opening party Wed, 14 November 7pm - 8pm MUSIC - FOOD - WINE

Special Guest Judge:Buck Shelford

Entry forms available from Corelli’s

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Chester Nealie has been potting for almost 50 years – for many of those here in his native New Zealand, and more recently in Gulgong, New South Wales, where he is a key member of the woodfiring community. Chester was in Auckland recently for his biannual show at Masterworks Gallery, this year celebrating his 70th birthday at the same time. He’s also starting work on a book. It was a great opportunity to talk with him – about his work, his path as a potter, and what he’s up to these days – but mostly about the work. At the end of the day, Chester is the consummate potter, and everything he does is the result of his passion for making. We met in Masterworks.Talking with someone so experienced in his field was naturally instructive, and more so than expected. While a few potters out there may have the opportunity to do 60-plus hour wood firings on a regular basis, there was also a lot for the rest of us – some technical tips, but also life lessons and rules, learned from experience, that apply regardless of what one’s particular direction in clay may happen to be. In the first part of this article (which will be concluded in the December issue of CQ), Chester talks about his introduction to pottery, the years in New Zealand, and begins to discuss his work and working process.

SD: How did you get started in pottery?CN: When I first started I was a chemistry/maths teacher, so I learnt my skills as a potter whilst being paid by the government. That was for about 4 or 5 years. And then I was at North Shore Teachers College – I was the ceramics lecturer there, and built kilns. It was a great experience, to build kilns.I started potting in Auckland, and I joined the Auckland Studio Potters in 1964 – and I was on the committee just about straight away. Because that’s where I learned pottery. It wasn’t taught at the universities – in fact Prof Beadle [Paul Beadle, Head of Elam School of Fine Arts from 1961-1977] said the reason why it was so strong was because it wasn’t taught at the universities, when he opened one of the Auckland shows. We had these amazing exhibitions of the ASP at the Auckland museum every year in the 60s and 70s. And we used to hold regular meetings, once a month or so; we had guest speakers, and we’d bring people from overseas like leach and Hamada and Kawai, Cardew, Soldner – all the famous potters from all over the world would come here. I’d go see Cardew give us demonstrations out at Peter Stichbury’s, and you know, Hamada did a big speech and demonstrations at Avondale, I think it was. So there was a brilliant learning curve. And we learnt from each other. There were night classes, and I think I remember teaching 4 nights a week, and I’d only been potting a year! I reckon that was the best teaching I ever did, because I knew the problems. I was just solving them for myself, so I could pass it on – you know the problems immediately. It’s no use telling people all the answers if they don’t know there’s a problem. That’s how I faced teaching.SD: Were you always interested in wood firing?CN: No, I didn’t start wood firing. I was oil firing, and salting… I’ve built over a hundred kilns, I’ve built every type of kiln you can imagine. I’ve only just fired my first electric kiln the other day, for a bisque firing. It was a revolution! I turned on the switch and it went! And it turned off! I can’t believe it (laughs). It took me 2 years to work out the computer, though. I started woodfiring after a big World Crafts Council conference in Kyoto in 1978. I was invited to represent New Zealand at that conference with Len Castle, and I saw my first big wood kilns firing. Anagama kilns at Arakawa’s and at Shigaraki – and I came straight back and built a kiln. Didn’t know how to fire it, and that’s when it started. SD: So there wasn’t anything like that happening here?CN: No. And there wasn’t anything like that happening in America, nor in Australia. I didn’t realise, but it was quite revolutionary. The martins built a kiln just after I fired up mine, in Napier – that was the other first anagama in New Zealand. SD: Most people in New Zealand seem to have started with oil.CN: Barry Brickell started out drip-feeding sump oil, and blackened all the clothes around Devonport quite successfully, and when diesel came along, we started building diesel kilns. Roy Cowan had his design of a kiln that a lot of people built, he was an innovator in that. I remember teaching all my students at night class how to make their own burners. We all made our own burners out of pipes and copper tubes.SD: You built a kiln without knowing how to fire it… you just went ahead and did things.

CHESTER NEALIE interviewed by Suzy Dünser

Above:Chester in 1982 with a salt kiln he built at the

Auckland Studio Potters Centre (from the ASP 50

years blog)

Below:Chester’s present-day kiln

in Gulgong (from the website:

www.sidestoke.com)

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President:Jim Pollardj.pollard@netaccess.co.nz

Vice Presidents:Duncan ShearerSara Schotanus

Secretary/Treasurer:Trien Steverlyncknzpottersadmin@vodafone.co.nz

REGIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS

Northland:Susie Rogerseleven1961@hotmail.com

Central:Duncan Shearershearer@duncanshearer.co.nz

Auckland:Suzy Dünsersuzy@dunser.com

Wellington:Sue Scobiesuescobie@xtra.co.nz

Nelson/Marlborough:Sara Schotanussara@essonsvalley.com

Canterbury/Westland:Jane mcCullajanemcculla@gmail.com

Otago/Southland:Nicole Koligkolig@xtra.co.nz

Immediate Past President:Wally Hirshwandahirsh@orcon.net.nz

NZ PottersCouncil Members

CN: And I still do – it’s been my way ever since. I just go and do. And surprisingly, if you think about the scientific logic about what you’re heading for, and you go and do it, it innovates. This is why we’re so far ahead in our wood firing, because we haven’t been subjected to tradition. often, for example with the Bizen potters, there is a set of rules that “thou must make thy pots like this” – this clay, and fire it like this – and the same with the Shigaraki potters and all the others – there are set rules and traditions. We don’t have that tradition of clay. So as a result, we’re very innovative. The problem can be that we follow so many new fashions every year that we never fixate on anything and develop any further. And that was a bit of a difficulty that occurred with the Fletcher Brownbuilt exhibitions – a new pot would win it, and everyone would want to do that style, and for a year, masses of that style turned out. And then they’d go to paperclay, and then they’d go to pit firing. It was a fashion cycle. But this way we learn, we learn a huge amount of innovation. We aren’t bound by rules, so we just travel on and make new things and new ideas come out. And that’s why our work’s been so strong. We didn’t have a lot of wood firers to start with in this country, but we had a lot of salt glazing. Col levy came over here in the late 60s and he taught us. He salted by putting the salt in on a green bamboo tube and tipping it over the pots. And he said he also sometimes put wood ash on there and tipped it over the pots. And so you started getting all these variable interesting things occurring. SD: When people were salt firing then, were they glazing the pots completely? (CN: No.) So why would the props and walls look better? Is it because they were exposed multiple times, or they were different materials?CN: Well, quite often the best effects happened in little spaces, under the props, but one of the things that really struck me was that the props were dipped in kiln wash each time! And you’ll see pots around here that have been dipped in kiln wash, and refired.SD: Well, this is the thing – Gail Nichols talks in her book [Soda, Clay and Fire] about using high alumina clay bodies, and kiln wash is certainly high alumina…

CN: Yes, that’s part of it. The surface that you’re putting on the pots gives you all sorts of variations, like high alumina shinos, give you quite subtle effects in wood firing and in salt glazing. SD: Does the salt stick?CN: Yes… well, yes and no. It gives subtle qualities. like I said, the kiln props are so subtle sometimes – they’re not the traditional orange peel shiny salt glaze. I’ve never been one that’s stuck with one fixed thing. I love the effects of traditional salt glaze, like on the bottom of that pot (1), but then that’s been put over ball clay, which has a sort of softening effect itself.In my present kiln, and I have no idea what kind of kiln it is – it’s an anagama for the first part of it, and then it goes into a big sprung arch, all in one big space – I can salt glaze in the main chamber, and that doesn’t affect all the bundled stacked pots in the firebox, which is an anagama.SD: Mike O’Donnell was talking about your kiln, that it inspired him for his kiln.CN: Yes, he’s built my kiln.… well, with a few michael additions to it.I throw salt amongst the pots, through the port, which I’ve been doing from the very beginning. SD: When you tip the salt in, does it vapourise immediately?CN: No, it immediately turns to a liquid, and then vapourises as it runs down towards the floor. It also pools, especially inside bowls – you can get a bowl full of solid salt. It flows as a very fast liquid at that temperature. But you get some very interesting results if you spray it in, by throwing it in in handfuls rather than in big dollops. With that terrible technique of rolling it up and throwing it in, what mostly happens with the big lumps, is that the liquid goes to the floor, and leaks between all the bricks on the floor.SD: We tip it into the firebox and hope it vapourises off the floor. CN: Yeah… I want it to vapourise around the pots where I want the effects, I don’t want to sell the bricks out of the firebox! I want the main effects to occur by spraying it in by handfuls, right by the pots. It’s just lovely. By wood firing and salt glazing at the same time, you get the wood ash landing on the pot as a directional thing, and then the salt affecting it all over. I tend to bundle the pots a bit.

Chester teaching at the Auckland Studio Potters Centre in July 2012

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That little tenmoku teapot (left) has a directional thing about it, but more to the point, it has been sitting next to another pot, with a shell between it, so it gets a variation in the salting effect because of placement. SD: So that’s a shadow?CN: Yes, a shadow – and a scar, both. And I do love scars. You show me someone without a scar and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t lived.This pot (right) looks like someone’s had their dentures stuck on the side, but it’s really just part of a scallop shell. I used the shells initially in the South Kaipara kilns – the pots would steam crack in the kiln, in the drying. The floor of the kiln was wet, from continual moisture flowing under the

kiln. I don’t build my kilns on concrete, because I want the moisture in the ground to come through the kiln. At 1000°C it reacts with carbon in the kiln to form hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which later burns, and is the best reducing agent you can get. You get carbon monoxide if you have water present from 1000°C onwards - which is tricky. You have to have this water be introduced then, because any water in the kiln at the start is long since gone. You’ve got a number of ways to do it. For starters, you don’t pour a concrete slab to build the kiln on, so you have water travelling through the kiln, all the time, so that the carbon and water can form hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Both are magic reducing agents, and also when they burn they give off extra BTus – they produce heat, so it’s really a very good thing.But you only want it occurring from 1000 onwards. In the Kaipara kiln my pots were breaking because of the steam in the early stages before they came up

to bisque temperature – I raw fire everything. So I set them on shells to give them a waterproof membrane between the floor and the pots. All of these pots sit on shells – that was important, to stop the pots breaking, but they left a lovely pattern. It made this beautiful mark, and then it became an aesthetic. And now I use it to separate the pots from each other, because if that pot stuck onto that next one I’d have a bit of a scar that I might not want. And now everybody uses it, but they don’t know that I started off using the scallop shell. Hamada used little cockle shells to sit under his bowls, and his pupil, Shimaoka, started using cockle shells on the side. But I started the trend for using big scallop shells in bowls and as a decoration back in

the early 70s, and now everybody in the woodfiring fraternity uses that technique. They haven’t got a clue who started it off. SD: Do you use wadding with the shells, too? CN: Yes, pots that sit on the ground will have wadding. I use a special fire clay with 50% of a very coarse sand. I haven’t found a suitable sand in New Zealand as yet, I’m afraid to say – it has to be very coarse silica sand, usually an inland sand. You’ll find it somewhere… And I use a very high temperature fire clay. At Mike O’Donnell’s firing with the Whangamata group [at the Woodstoke conference], I used a very coarse grog, plus a sand, plus a fire clay. The fire clay needs to be coarse, so it’s like balancing your pots on hedgehogs – there need to be just little points of contact, so the wadding will come away easily. And then I put the shell on top of the wadding.When you have big pots that are vertical and about to touch, I put a little wedge – shell-fireclay-shell – to stop them sticking together. Then of course I also put pots on their sides. There’s a bottle there that’s been fired two or three times, between 130-190 hours, on its side. I fire a lot of

The opening of Chester’s exhibition at Masterworks

Gallery, Ponsonby in July, on his 70th birthday.

In the audience: Dugald Page, Helen Schamroth, Michael Smythe, Jacqui Brown and

Anna Hoffman.

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The NZSP offers members a chance to have their own web page on the

web-site for free!Info on the site:

www.nzpotters.com

pots on their sides, because the denser part of the pot is the bottom, usually, and that’s the part of it that’s sitting on a kiln shelf, so it’s harder to get the water out of it. They stack better like that anyway.If you tumble stack then they can’t fall down any lower. And I like the effects. See this great round firebox bottle (right, top), that was lying on its side. SD: Why is that so red? CN: That is a thin, simple shino type mix, 75% nepheline syenite, 25% kaolin, sprayed over very coarse white body. That pot was only 50cm from the front of the kiln. It’s right in the firebox, and it’s raw fired, so it has to take thermal shock. It’s been covered with this thin shino-type surface, and then because it was lying on its side, the ash collected on the top surface – you can see that on the other side of this same pot (far right, bottom) where it’s flowing all around. At the end of the firing, I’ll shovel the embers all over the front pots, with a big iron shovel with a long long metal handle. I do that so you get a lot of ash on there – normally you wouldn’t get that much ash effect on a pot unless you’d fired over 100 hours. And once you put the embers on there, you have to then let them melt into a glaze, over the next 6 hours. This is all occurring at 1300°C. Then you do it again, you shovel it on and leave it to melt over another 6 hours. This pot (near right) has been in for 66 hours, and it’s been at 1300°C for over 30 hours, maybe close to 40 hours. If you do an electric kiln firing you soak for maybe half an hour, so it’s like 80 electric firings this poor little pot’s been in! Where there are bits of orange surfaces, it’s been shielded from the ash – these little patches on one side are where it’s been covered with wadding, to stop the ash getting to them.The leaf-like fossil impressions that you see on the pots have occurred because I put little leaves into the wet glaze. I started doing this to stop the pot sticking to the bench after I’ve sprayed it – I sit it on

leaves, and then I peel them off before I put them in the kiln, and that leaves a nice little mark.And I got so excited by this that I started putting them on the sides. I’m playing with landscape – the countryside I’m living in, and looking at: the bright orange of the red rocks, the lichens, and then the fossil impressions… I did geology in my days at university, and I love finding fossils. You’ll see all sorts of patterns – I use the shells as separators, but I use them also for their aesthetics, and I place them in specific places to see what happens.

Tune in next time, to find out: What wood gives the best ash effects… how to keep your pots from deforming in such a long hot firing… new uses for kiln wash… And more.

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SMALL SALT KILNHarold Deeley

I was very much inspired by Woodstoke this year. For several years I had been thinking about building a wood oven and as a result of learning a really easy way to make adobe clay from Danny (Gyan), I used that knowledge to finally build my bread oven .... DONE! Believe it or not, we have not fired it up yet, even after 3 or 4 months. I have been too busy with my clay work and, unfortunately, my day job.I built the bread oven after I returned from Whangamata while I began thinking about and planning my own diesel/wood kiln. I HAD to make something. So now I have built burners and a wood kiln that has fired successfully twice; the wood oven was a bonus ... and a lot of sweat.The kiln was a snap to build. I built the two burners to experiment with. one with a wider opening and one with a narrower opening. The jury is still out on this one and I am continuing my trials. The burner with the narrow opening took the kiln up about 600 degrees C in about 10 minutes which freaked me out a bit (especially when I thought my pyrometer was set on F and not C). There are interesting stress

cracks on some of the work that did not appear in my second firing at normal speeds. I actually had a bit of trouble on the last firing getting the top and bottom even. Cone 11 was ‘downish’ on the bottom and only cone 9 on the top was just starting to bend. I managed to even out the temperature a bit but ended up shutting off the kiln before 11 started to bend on top. I was a bit concerned about the shelf next to the hot-face melting, since I have only used silicon carbide shelves before and have not used sillimanite shelves before. I also used a 1mm opening and may cut that back to 0.8mm as these burners heat a bit too fast when opened up. I’m still getting used to the diesel/vacuum cleaner combination and trying to get the kiln firing a bit more evenly. I am trying different stacking arrangements, shifting shelves around and trying to get rid of my hot spot.

I scrounged around and found an 50 gallon fuel tank from an old forge and have mounted that on the side of a steel container in my kiln area. I have used a water filter from a pressure washer from my local engineers and a 1/2 inch needle valve instead of a ballcock valve so I have finer control over the fuel. The needle valve with fittings is about 60 dollars. Because of the poor quality of NZ diesel, and the old tank, I put the filter on. Most high pressure water fittings will work with diesel as they are all PVC and cheaper than hydraulic or gas fittings. I ended up buying a Nilfsk vacuum from Bunnings for a couple of hundred dollars that has too much power. I am going to put the vacuum in my shed and run some PvC pipe to get rid of the noise.Anyway, I was on a mission, with a goal and a deadline to meet. Happily, I did that. I really enjoyed meeting all the people at Whangamata. I am disappointed I couldn’t stay for the actual conference to see Danny’s kiln fire.

AROUND THE REGIONS

Welcome to Jane McCulla

as the new regional representative for Canterbury and Westland.

Jane is replacing Jim Pollard who has been elected President of the

NZ Potters.Check out Jane’s interesting and

informative website:www.janemccullaceramics.com

NEW RCM

Below: Harold with bread ovenOpposite: Salt kiln firing

Harold Deeley is aWhakatane potter

Diesel salt kiln on full throttle.

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earthquakes in Christchurch hit the craft galleries hard. Cantaclay and The Pot Shop, like the rest of the Arts Centre, are out of bounds and rebuilding may take many years. The Christchurch Art Gallery was taken over as Civil Defence headquarters after the February quake and along with it, Form Gallery, one of New Zealand’s foremost craft galleries. At first it was thought Form would open as soon as Civil Defence moved out, but then it was realised that demolishing a high rise apartment block next door would put the eastern end of the gallery at risk. So Form was commandeered for safe storage as it was furthest from the doomed apartments. Form understood it could open early this year but then it was discovered the Art Gallery itself had suffered serious damage and would remain closed at least until the middle of next year. Form struggled on with exhibtions in the home of owner Koji miyazaki until last week when it opened in brand new premises in Sydenham. This was once a wrong-side-of-the tracks suburb but is becoming a thriving centre of innovative retailing and rebuilding with a wealth of folk art on newly exposed wall spaces. Form’s opening stock featured a wealth of ceramics including work by *Yi ming lin, Kya Nancarrow, Katherine Smyth, Peter Collis, Chris Weaver, Akane Nakao, *Katie Gold, *owen Bartlett, Julie Collis, Amanda Shanley, Cheryl lucas, Sue Dasler, *Kim Henderson, *John Parker, Alice Rose, Hana Rakena, *Graham Ambrose and Renee Boyd. (* NZSP members)With the closure of The Pot Shop and Cantaclay, local potters have found it very difficult to find exhibition or selling space. Some have braved the weekend markets but it’s a big job transporting work for a one day spot and even less fun in the winter. As NZ Potters members will know, the biennial Tableware show has been cancelled twice because of damage discovered in its traditional home, the Canterbury museum.But five Canterbury potters have found a splendid exhibition space at the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple in Riccarton Road. This striking building by architects Warren and mahoney, is well known to passers-by for the statues of the Buddha which nestle on its street wall. Inside is a haven of tranquillity which includes a tea house, library and exhibition space. The surrounds of glass and stone and basalt tiles are perfect for ceramics and Averil Cave, marie Rusbatch Dawson, *Ngaire van Grondell, *Gaye morton and Anne Pullar have used the space to advantage in an exhibition of new work.For the future, the museum visitor’s Gallery is booked for Canterbury Fired up (the all-Canterbury clubs exhibition) next year and for an NZ Potters National or Tableware exhibition in 2014. Canterbury potters looking for ways to market their work have agreed to pursue, with the aid of the Rick Rudd fund, an internet based virtual shop. Things are looking up.

BUYING AND SELLING POTS IN CHRISTCHURCHJim Pollard

Alice Rose

Ngaire Van GrondellAverill Cave

The new “Form” gallery

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brick building that was once the headquarters of Ceramco ltd. which owned Crown lynn.Gallery manager lesley Smith notes somewhat wryly that because it will be displayed in the window of the Totara Ave Gallery, the Crown lynn Exhibition will be open “24/7”.lopdell House is an acknowledged local, regional and national historic landmark. The conservation plan prepared addresses lopdell House, lopdell Hall and their associated landscape as one spirit. It includes policies and recommendations that aim to conserve and enhance the cultural heritage significance of the precinct in its contextual richness of landscape, buildings and community activities. lesley says that the move has prompted the gallery to develop its “outreach” by collaborating with schools – via its Art in Box Project - and with other institutions such as moTAT and The maritime museum.

LopdellHouse Redevelopment Projectlopdell House has stood on the Titirangi Ridge since 1927. Originally built as a hotel, it later became a school for the deaf and under WaitakereCity Council it has was converted into The lopdell House Gallery. Crown lynn was literally a household name in New Zealand because, between the early 1940s to the late 1980s, almost every New Zealand home, and many businesses, would have had at least one Crown lynn dinner set, a tea set and an ornament.Crown lynn traced its roots to 1854, when Rice owen Clark settled in Hobsonville and started making home-made ceramic pipes to drain his land. This cottage industry turned into a business which amalgamated with other brick and tile makers to become the multi-national conglomerate Ceramco.During World War II Rice owen’s great-grandson, Tom (the late Sir Tom) working for the company as a young man, realised New Zealand would be cut off from household crockery and pottery supplies from Britain and so he created Crown lynn to manufacture pottery ware locally.Tom taught himself every aspect of the business and in 1941 personally helped to build a continuous tunnel kiln; today, the historic Ambrico kiln. From this came the early Crown lynn household crockery dominated the New Zealand market for half a century.From the 1980s onwards Crown lynn was gradually overwhelmed by a combination of inexpensive imports that sparked a desire in a new generation for imported dinnerware. The remains of the company were sold in 1989. The irony of this is that today, Crown lynn ware is iconic, rare, very collectable and valuable.

Portage Ceramics Awards head for “The Cloud”

The Portage Ceramic Awards continue to grow in stature: last year a selection of finalist pieces went on tour to the Suter Gallery, Nelson, this year the event is to be launched to the biggest audience in the country – Auckland City.lopdell House Gallery in Titirangi and funders TTCF, facilitate the Awards which have grown over the years into a significant national event.lopdell House Gallery manager lesley Smith says the awards are nationally significant and in keeping with this, and to take the Awards to the largest possible audience, this year’s Awards exhibition will

Lopdell Gallery Pops Uparound West Auckland

From September 1st, lopdell House Gallery will continue to deliver a creative and exciting art programme from the new address of 5 Totara Avenue, New lynn, a minute's walk away from the lynn mall shopping centre and the new Transit Centre. This isn't the only roaming that the gallery will undertake however.Plans are underway with the Gallery to embrace the current trend of "pop-up" spaces, appearing in a variety of venues across West Auckland throughout the construction period. Collaborations with motat and the maritime museum are already happening. Signs are the Gallery Team are going to be busier than ever.The final days in Titirangi will also allow visitors to share their thoughts and wishes for lopdell House Gallery in a continuously evolving cardboard structure - by popping in and designing a cube before the Gallery vacates the building.lopdell House began its life in the 1920s as a luxury hotel, and was a former home to the School of the Deaf - before turning into a regional arts gallery in the early 1980s after an acquisition from Waitemata Council.The historic building will undergo a $19m makeover, with a focus initially on seismic strengthening, heritage restoration and the addition of a new gallery space to meet international standards to bring a wider scope of art to West Auckland.

First round of prizes announcedThis year lopdell House Gallery was pleased to be able offer an additional prize for which all entrants were eligible. This year two lucky entrants will be winging their way to Adelaide in September to attend ‘Subversive Clay’, the Australian Ceramics Triennale. Two names were drawn on 2 August, and the winners are Todd Douglas and Fiona Tunnicliffe – congratulations we hope you enjoy the trip.

Lopdell House Comes Full Circle with Crown Lynn

lopdell House Gallery has a new (temporary) home and to celebrate, its first exhibition will be very specifically West Auckland – a small exhibition of Crown lynn ware.With lopdell House itself now undergoing a major refurbishment and earthquake strengthening, the hugely popular lopdell house Gallery has relocated to No 5 Totara Avenue – a refurbished shop in New lynn, where it will remain until July 2014.The temporary exhibition space opens on 14 September with a

“window exhibition” of Crown lynn pottery. There is an interesting symmetry in this because No 5 Totara is beside Ceramco House, the landmark

AROUND THE REGIONS

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be staged at “The Cloud” on Auckland’s waterfront.“The Cloud” is now one of the prestige venues of Auckland and is a fitting place to showcase this very proud West Auckland exhibition, to the wider audience of Auckland. It really shows how much the Awards have grown in stature over the years and we’re excited by this opportunity to grow them even further,” ms Smith said.The exhibition will run for 10 days during Auckland’s Art Week. The opening on 26 october is expected to draw an audience of more than 400 people, many of them corporate organisations, hopefully interested in buying pieces for their own art and ceramic collections.ms Smith says that this year’s awards have attracted a record 139 entries, although not all of these will be selected by the judge, Dr Paul Scott of the uK, to be included as finalists.“Interestingly there is a large number of installation pieces among this year’s entries, although we’re not sure why; last year the emphasis seemed to be on smaller works,” ms Smith says.Dr Scott will select the finalists from among the entries, and these will form the public exhibition. There will be a range of category winners and all their pieces are for sale. The overall winner will take away a prize of $15,000 and the winning piece will as usual, be purchased for the Portage Ceramic Collection.ms Smith says lopdell House Gallery is very proud to host the Portage Ceramic Awards, it has grown into a major event on the national arts calendar.‘This annual award provides a vital platform to showcase the diversity of talented artists nationwide

who work in a medium that wins the hearts of makers, collectors and the general public like no other. In the weeks preceding the event, packages are couriered in from every corner of the country. The early ambitions of these awards to showcase New Zealand ceramics have been handsomely met and exceeded .Tickets for the opening event cost $40 and go on sale on Monday 1 October, phone 09 817 8087 x201, email info@lopdell.org.nz or visit www.lopdell.org.nzDr Paul Scott is a major uK artist, a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and Professor 2 at the oslo National Academy of the Arts. He was awarded his PhD in 2010 by the manchester metropolitan university He creates individual artworks, installations and artefacts for exhibition, writes, teaches and curates. He is known for his research into ceramics and print and his printed ceramic works are in public and private collections world wide.

“The Cloud”

NZSP website:www.nzpotters.com

WeBmASTeRlAWReNCe eWING

1015 ellis RdFive Rivers

R.D.3, lumsdenNorth Southland

Ph 03-248-6068e-mail lewing@woosh.co.nz

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CRAFT AOTEAROACraft Aotearoa Charitable Trust – launched 7 Sept at the opening of Kete: Contemporary Craft and Design Fair, NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington.

The stated aim of CA is:“We aim to create and promote opportunities for the public to have increased access to craft research, exhibitions, events, and education and training opportunities across a broad range of craft disciplines in New Zealand. We do this to foster the retention and development of craft skills and ensure knowledge and learning is transferred.” The speeches at the official launch of CA didn’t really provide any greater detail than that as to what and how they plan to actually implement their aim, other than via a blog and Facebook page. Both of these are worth a look to get a better idea of what has been done to date, including overviews of, and links to, what is happening within NZ and overseas e.g. exhibitions and workshops. There was talk of providing ‘greater connectivity’ to meet the demand by people working in craft (undefined) for a collective body to support makers, buyers and sellers. As an organisation, all the work is being done on a voluntary basis, and there is no money in the bank as yet.A long list of organisations were thanked for their support to date, notable amongst them, Auckland Studio Potters

http://craftaotearoa.blogspot.co.nz/ www.facebook.com/CraftAotearoa

ELEMENTS 2012NZ Potters

Wellington and Western Districts Exhibition

elements 2012 is the annual exhibition for Wellington and Western District members of NZ Potters.The selector is Fran maguire.A big thank you to Aimee McLeod (Wellington) and Cecily Bull (New Plymouth), who are organising the exhibition along with Sue morton from the Percy Thomson Gallery.opening 26 october – 18 November 2012: Percy Thomson Gallery, miranda St, Stratford, Taranaki. This will be during the Rhododendron Festival and should attract lots of people.The entry form is on-line at http://www.nzpotters.com//Exhibitions/Exhibitions.cfm?page=ExhibitionsFor further information on the gallery and the rhododendron festival see;Percy Thomson Gallery http://www.percythomsongallery.org.nz/index.asp Garden Festival http://www.taft.co.nz/gardenfestnz/welcome.html

AROUND THE REGIONS

Christine ThackerCeramics

6 - 17 November

The ASP 50th anniversary book

PLAYING WITH FIREwas selected for the finals of the NZ Post Book awards recently. A group of ASP folk went along to the glamorous “black tie” dinner and spent the night eating, drinking and spotting literary celebrities. Sadly we were not the chosen book from our “Illustrated Non-fiction” category, but we were presented with certificates by Sir michael Cullen and the winner of our group “NZ’s Native Trees” by John Dawson went on to win the Premier Award.

Pictured are Stuart Newby and Peter Lange (editors) in the nearest they’ll ever get to a black tie. It must be pointed out that Stuart’s jumper was his very best one. A few copies left from the ASP at $55 incl p&p. Christmas is not far away. See: www.ceramics.co.nz.

“Slip” derives from the old english word slype, a relative of slop, and its original meaning is liquid mud. Common usage retains a hint of this meaning in the verb to slip, and in the common adjective slippery.

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NZSP CoNTACTSCharity art auctions and sales events can have very positive outcomes for all. The charity receives support and exposure it deserves, the artist’s work is well shown to a supportive audience and the artwork reaches a reasonable sale price. The excitement of the event can be moving. However this is not always the case. Putting aside the emotive issues of wanting to support, or be seen to be supportive of, a just cause, the rationale behind gifting (totally or partially) artworks for charity auctions does not always add up. The work, unsupported by other pieces by the same artist and out of context, will have little chance of presenting well, unless it is a collectable piece by a sought-after artist. If this is not the case often the work will sell for less than the market value. This may seem of little consequence to the artist as the piece was donated, however the devaluing of the work in public can have a direct effect on the perceived value of the artist and his or her work. When this happens at an event organised by an arts-based group the inference is even more significant. An arts group can end up reducing or devaluing the work the creation of which was the reason for the arts group to exist in the first place. The reality is that the market value of the piece is the price it sells for in a shop or gallery, not the amount the artist receives or the price you sell it for to your friends and family. This is a reality for anyone selling work for a living.It can take many years for an artist or craftsperson to develop enough credibility in the market so that they can command prices at a level that means they can work full time in their chosen field. There are many pressures on potters to head their prices down to Briscoe’s levels, but once you are working for less than $10 an hour you cannot continue as a professional. There are many ways for community groups to be supported by, and to support, the arts; charity auctions and sale events can work for all concerned but they need to be designed and planned carefully with an understanding of the role these public events have in the art market. Brendan Adams

The plague of being asked for donations of work for various outfits to auction is starting up again after a year or two’s respite. Recently I have been asked to donate work for fund-raising auctions by four different outfits, none of which I have any serious connection to. I also get asked to donate to organisations that I am directly involved with and I feel happier about that - it seems more reasonable somehow. It is a strange phenomenon. Why do fund-raisers see artists and craftspeople as such a soft touch? Perhaps it is because we actually are a soft touch, often not blessed with 20:20 economic vision, and we are willing to oblige, or, conversely, unwilling to appear mean. I recall my first donation being in the late 70s for a campaign potters fought against repressive sales tax regulations, and then followed a

series of auctions during the ‘81 Springbok tour to cover fines and court costs. These were both causes I was actively involved in and I was happy to donate to them. But then slowly the watershed of requests started to spread until many of us were getting calls from people with the slimmest of connections. It then fell to us to either refuse, or make up an excuse (fire in kiln, unexpected paternity suit etc) or donate, often the easiest option.eventually it dawned on many of us that there were a couple of fundamental flaws around these deals. Firstly: why should artists actually donate a work? What response would the fund-raiser get if they asked the artist for a cheque instead? This is basically what was happening anyway - the artist was giving away their product which otherwise represented a lump of income. They would probably be told to get lost. Secondly: why artists and craftspeople,

often the worst-paid members of the community? Why not plumbers, doctors, r e s t a u r a t e u r s ? Try asking an accountant, see how you get on.So a backlash kicked in ten or more years ago and the word got out among the wider arts community (painters were often favourite targets) that it was oK to supply work for these events as long as the artist was allowed to stipulate a return for their work - either a percentage (which

could be quite small, or even zero, to reflect the artist’s enthusiasm for the cause) or a reserve price up to the point of their usual wholesale price. Sometimes the work would go for a bit higher than the normal retail price as bidders got carried away, so the charity creamed a bit extra while the artist was still happy. mostly they were sold at less than retail (and that raises problems alluded to by Brendan earlier) but the artist was able to receive their stipulated amount which in turn became a sort of reserve and below that the piece was passed in.Also, interestingly, the odd contribution from other professions did start appearing – cafes, garden centres, tourist spots (usually those who saw an advertising opportunity) but so far no accountants.Why is it starting to happen again? Perhaps time has blurred memories or a new generation of organisers is reinventing the deal. Whatever the reason, it is important for the artist to be treated with respect, and for artists to take a professional approach. There is still room to be generous – the percentage is up to you, but the basic right to some return must first be offered. It’s amazing how mean-spirited you suddenly feel when you try to explain your concerns. So best to have an excuse ready …. you are about to walk out the door to take up a year’s aid project helping Somalian pirates see the error of their ways, head for the shore and take up investment banking. Same business, just a lot drier. Peter Lange

COMMENTBrendan Adams, Peter Lange

IS THIS THE LAST SUPPER?

Domesticware Competition 2013

masterworks Gallery is delighted to announce an exciting project aimed at invigorating the contemporary domesticware scene in the field of ceramics.Submission requirements: Submissions must be functional domesticware for the 21st century. This should be a combination of form and surface. New work to have been made in last 12 months. CV and artist statement. All of the above requirements must be fulfilled for a submission to be valid. Submissions due Thursday 28th February 2013.High resolution images and dimensions to:77 Ponsonby Rd Ponsonby, Auckland (09)378 1256exhibitions@masterworksgallery.comwww.masterworksgallery.com

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THE TASMAN TILESAnneke Borren

one page:$150 per issue

$500 per 4 issues

Half page: $100 per issue$350 per 4 issues

Third page: $80 per issue$300 per 4 issues

Classified$5 per column cm

ADVERTISING RATES

Through may and June I have been living on the water in the middle of Golden Bay, in the year 1642, on board the Dutch sailing ship de Zeehaen – this, looking through the eyes of a Delft Blue ceramic tile. Actually, not just one, but 500 of them.

Just before my major neck surgery o p e r a t i o n in march 2010, I was commissioned by The Dutch museum Trust in Auckland, to reproduce as a major tile mural, a drawing that is attributed to Isaac G i l s e m a n s , who was on board one of Abel Tasman’s

ships when they arrived in Golden Bay, west of Nelson.Golden Bay was originally named murderer’s Bay by Tasman after a 24 hour incident with local maori, in which he lost five sailors and the Maori lost four warriors. Gilsemans’ drawing recorded this event.my commission required the drawing to be translated into a 3x5 metre Delft Blue Tile Tableau to be installed in a planned new Dutch museum in Foxton, Horowhenua. n 2011, I made four maquettes of this etching, each comprising 24 tiles. one was for The Dutch Connection for fundraising purposes, one for the current Dutch Ambassador, one for Waiariki Polytech in Rotorua, and one for myself. In march this year I finally signed the contract, with a “my own artistic interpretation” clause which is necessary when “translating” history into an artwork.I divided a copy of the original drawing into segments, four down and seven across and had photocopy enlargements made. The logistics were interesting, in my small studio, but I managed to fit four tables

in, each holding sections of 16 tiles. my white glaze is fairly high-firing, between 1200 and 1250 degrees C, while the bisqued tiles were of white earthenware, so I fired them over 100C above their intended firing range, to be able to get a lovely blue on sparkling white. This meant their horizontal stacking in my electric kiln became of paramount i m p o r t a n c e .

Howard Williams gave me his special tile-firing stacks, without which I could not have done it at all.I brush decorated with a mixture of oxides on top of the unfired glaze (overglaze decoration) – no room for mistakes as every bit of each brush stroke shows up! Copper oxide for green; cobalt oxide with bits of iron and chrome for a good blue; watered down versions of both for shading and a red stain for the Dutch flag.My first attempt of 16 tiles for the background mountains was unsuccessful. I had used Japanese brushes and the fired result was “painterly” with lovely colours, but too “watercolour-ly” to be indicative of the original etched line. mentally and emotionally I had to translate that etched line into a brush stroke that evoked a 1642 image. It had to be bold in its much larger size and confident, within the knowledge of the time and the understanding that the artist had never seen maori before and was probably better trained in drawing topography than bodies. I changed to short-haired square brushes of several sizes.The incident itself had to be examined and is still today, controversial. Had Tasman’s sailors landed, perhaps in search of fresh water? Had they, unwittingly, broken a tapu? Perhaps they had ventured too near maori food gardens? Were there maori runners through the night warning other maori, resulting in the large gathering of waka the next morning in the bay? What about the misunderstanding of Abel Tasman in response to the war-cry of the conch shell, trumpeting back? What

Right: Maquette number 3

Opposite page top: Anneke painting on tiles Opposite page bottom: Drawing of mural on the wall. Enlarged photocopy section of drawing on right. Oxide painting on unfired glaze on left

Above: Unfired section of waka paddlers - note sgraffito lines through oxide stain

Right: Fired section showing the battle incident

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about the firing of the ship’s cannons and the hurried escape out of the bay, with the explanations of the incident as explained on the page of the original drawing?I started again with the mountain range in the back and made my way through the blocks of tiles, getting totally immersed; square-eyed and focussed. The heads of the maori depicted in the etching seemed so out of proportion, perhaps because when looking down on a waka from a tall ship, the perspective is skewed, so I asked my artist friend, Jean Dickinson to “normalise” the men’s heads so I could brushwork them into the style of the whole tableau.To demarcate the brush-lines I used a pointed steel tool to “sgraffito” the divisions of the lines, not noticeable from afar, but from close up making for nice detailing. In fact I did a lot of line scratching; wavy ones for beards, lines forming pulled back hair, lines distinguishing knees from legs, arms from paddles, etc. Also, while I could not change the positions of the waka warriors, I still had to take into consideration the eventual grouting lines between the tiles, trying not to cut through important details like necks, eyes and noses.Following each firing, I laid the tiles all over the carpet in my house, but had no room big enough to see the complete whole, so had to carefully pack each section after examination, in order to lay out the next one. only when the museum building in Foxton is completed and I’m helping the tiler to put it all together, will I be able to see the whole image together, in reality, instead of in my head.The New Zealand Netherlands Foundation happened to ring while I was in the middle of all this, asking a survey question, “Are you an ACTIve or PASSIve Dutch person in this country?” Well – I am Dutch by birth, a nationalised NZ citizen by choice and a well integrated lover of Aotearoa for 50 years, but it was a pointed reminder of the duality of my translation of the “Tasman Tiles”, figuratively, giving it my best shot both ways.

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Ken Clark, who has died aged 89, was among the leading ceramicists of his generation. His strengths included a sure feel for shape when designing solid objects such as candlesticks; masterly ability in imparting a particular hue to a glaze; and sureness of touch in applying a design to ceramics then firing.Among his greatest triumphs was recreating the red lustre used a century earlier by the potter-novelist William De morgan. This arose from a commission for red tiles by the film director Michael Winner. Clark went on to fathom the secrets of De morgan’s other glazes, including those of Islamic origin which had been almost completely lost between the late middle Ages and De morgan’s rediscovering them in the 1870s.Such skills brought Clark commissions from other patrons, whose celebrity could match the lustre of his own tiles. Socially, his crowning achievement was to reproduce the Windsor Castle dairy’s tiles following the disastrous fire there of 1992. He also made copious decorative ceramics for the Sultanate of oman.Artistically, he joined his contemporaries’ rebellion against the Bernard leach school of gentlemanly, muted colours, substituting for them a fiery chromatic riot inspired by Picasso’s and matisse’s

work on display in the South of France, which he visited on his honeymoon atop a vespa scooter, with his new wife (and muse-in-the-making) riding pillion.Kenneth Inman Carr Clark was born on July 31 1922 in Nelson, New Zealand, the second son of Aubrey Clark, a farms inspector. The “Carr” commemorated his 18th-century ancestor John

Carr of York, architect of the Crescent at Buxton and (with Robert Adam) of Harewood House.At Nelson College, New Zealand’s oldest school, Ken won several drawing prizes. Ill health, then the war, curtailed his education. He initially joined the New Zealand expeditionary Force, but transferred to the Royal Navy, taking part in the 1944 Normandy landings, of which he made superb drawings. He was mentioned in despatches.Clark stayed on in Britain, enrolling at the Slade, where he was taught by Stanley Spencer. In 1953 he founded Kenneth Clark Pottery (later Ceramics), together with his wife-to-be Ann Wynn-Reeves, whom he married the following year. The firm’s premises on Clipstone Street, Fitzrovia, were where vanessa Bell had created her pottery.He designed items for the Denby Ware and Bristol ranges of household crockery. late in life he concentrated on reproducing Arts and Crafts tiles designed not just by De morgan but also by William morris and the architect Philip Webb. Ann, however, was the firm’s principal designer of motifs and decorative emblems, Clark using them to enliven its basic ceramic lines.The firm’s list of private patrons included John Cleese , David Attenborough , Ben Kingsley, and Felicity lott. Wayne Sleep, on being asked what shade of blue he wanted for his tile commission, told Clark: “the colour of your eyes”.In the late Seventies, Sir Ralph Richardson had a part in a West end play requiring him to drink endless cups of coffee. This, if undertaken faithfully, would have strained the plumbing of a man Sir Ralph’s age. Clark glazed a coffee cup brown inside to make it look permanently topped-up.Clark published four books on his craft . He was appointed mBe in 1990 and awarded the Society of Designer Craftsmen’s Centennial medal in 1991

KENNETH CLARKLondon-based expat potter

Howard Williams, Auckland potter, arts advocate, writer and photographer, writes of the influence of Kenneth Clark on his career:

I spent about 8 years in the 1960s with Kenneth Clark in london, where he taught me his specialities of slip casting, tile decorating, mosaics and ceramic murals. He was my prime mentor and the major influence on my subsequent life in ceramics. Under his guidance, I also photographed for his first book, Pottery Throwing for Beginners (Studio vista, London, 1970) which led me to later specialise in photographing 3D art – pottery, glass, jewellery, woodturning and sculpture – a skill which has stood me in good stead after I had to give up making pottery in the mid 1990s. This part of my career culminated in my taking most of the studio photos of pottery for the two important books by the late len Castle. Kenneth had several trips back to New Zealand in the 1970s, accompanied by exhibitions of his work and that of his wife, Ann Wynn-Reeves. He always had a special interest in the development of NZ pottery and other kiwis who worked in his studio at various times include Sally vinson and Graeme Storm. Through Kenneth, many potters developed their work with a Northern european design sense, this not based on the then-prevailing Leach/Hamada culture.

Article reproduced from the files of

The Telegraph

above: Kenneth Clarkbelow: Clark tiles

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JENNI TARIS’SNEW WOOD KILNDuncan Shearer

After years of collecting bricks and dreaming about a wood kiln romantically puffing smoke next door to the pottery studio, Jenni Taris was ready for the wood kiln adventure. Step one was to count the bricks so that kiln designer Duncan Shearer could begin the design phase. There was the full gamut of shapes and types, everything from an e0 wedge to an H40 straight, in total about 1500 bricks and lots of half bricks.It became apparent that Jenni was after a flexible kiln that could be fired fast with pallets and perhaps salted or soda fired, but then if the right wood was available, to fire the kiln slow and build up ash effects. Size was another important consideration with an obvious upper limit determined by the number of bricks, but not too small either as Jenni hoped to use this kiln to fire large sculptures in. The design phase started with shelf size and as Jenni already used 18” x 12” shelves in her electric kiln that was the size chosen for the 4 setting stacks. Initially the idea was to have a catenary chamber attached to a firebox and chimney, but after calculations proved there were too few wedge bricks, the design changed to a Dutch oven firebox connecting to a 30 cubic foot chamber with a sprung arch and a round chimney to use up all the half bricks.The kiln build was organised as a series of day long workshops, usually on Friday or Saturday and a team of up to 5 were onsite laying out the kiln according to instructions from Duncan. everyone soon learnt how to identify all the different bricks just by feel, how to use a scutch and bolster and the subtle intricacies of kiln building. lunches were a delicious affair and gave us all an opportunity to talk pottery. We were lucky with the weather during the late April to mid June building period and made

good progress each day, working as a team and utilising the facilities that Jenni’s husband, John, has on hand. His well equipped shed proved a boon when we need welding to be done, or cutting the arch formers. The date for the first firing was set for 11th August and pallets were sourced, chopped up and stacked. We all got there early to load the kiln with a wide range of works from the functional to the figurative. Then at 3pm the kiln was lit and everyone settled down for the all night firing. By 7pm the drizzle started and by midnight it was raining constantly. The weather gods were making up for all those fine days during the build and decided that 24 hours of solid heavy rain would dampen our spirits! Not so – we ploughed on, but by midday on Sunday we had burnt the last of the dry wood and managed to drop cone 9 so called it done.A couple of days later and amidst great excitement we cracked the wicket and drew the kiln to see what delights were inside. It was a little cool in places but also showed great promise with an even firing. The kiln behaved well for a first firing and the chimney certainly provides enough draught. The next firing will be later in the year once the pallets have had a chance to dry out from the wettest August the Waikato has seen in years.

Duncan uses the sprung arch as a trampoline

Below: Section through kiln

Below: Jenni and assistant building the kiln

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WOODSTOKEPOTTERS’ MARKET

location: 2294 Waihi Whangamata Rd, (Woodstoke Whangamata conference site)Dates: Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st october, 10am to 4pm

Nestled in the countryside and bounded by a stream, maureen Allison’s studio and kiln site will be the location of a potters’ market during labour Weekend. local potters including Janet Smith, Fiona Tunnicliffe, mike o’Donnell, Cheryl oliver, maureen Allison, Charade Honey and Duncan Shearer will have a range of beautiful work for sale. In addition we will be firing up Daniel (Gyan)Wall’s kiln that he built in march and also building and firing a wood fired raku kiln.Please note that it will be a cash or cheque only, no eftpos.For more information please visit: www.woodstoke.co.nz

A slice of cake and a slice of history.

Trevor Hunt (fifth from the right) was for many years the General Manager of Fletcher Brownbuilt Ltd, but also a patron of the arts, particularly ceramics and music, and it was under his patronage, in partnership with Ruth Court, that the award which eventually became the “Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award” was developed. On the occasion of Trevor Hunt’s retirement from the company (c1986) Rick Rudd organised a surprise birthday cake - each slice a slip-cast ceramic wedge decorated by a number of notable NZ potters. At the “cutting” of the cake (above) were: Ann Ambler, Lex Dawson, Beverley Luxton, Lex’s arm, Merilyn Wiseman, Roger Paul, Chester Nealie, Rick Rudd, Trevor Hunt, Ailsa Hunt, Ruth Court (obscured), Debbie Pointon and Warwick Lidgard (thanks to Warwick for the photo).