Tag Archives: Ceramics

Museum Stories: ‘Japanese Plate With Kintsugi Repair’

Ashmolean Museum (June 7, 2023): Here, animator Charlie Black brings the poetic story behind this beautifully broken 17th-century Japanese plate to life.

JAPAN COLLECTION

Ashmolean Museum – Oxford University

The Japanese collection is now best known for its ceramics, in particular the collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century export porcelain which is one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. Ceramics for the Japanese market are also well represented, including fine examples of Arita, Nabeshima and Hirado porcelain, tea ceremony wares and Kyoto earthenwares.

Ceramics: Ancient Athens Red-Figure Vase Painting

In this five-minute animated video, journey back to the 6th-century BCE workshop of the Athenian master Andokides and witness an ancient artist’s moment of creative ingenuity. For generations Athenian vase painters had employed black-figure technique, in which the figure is painted in a mixture of clay and water called slip and details are incised with a sharp tool.

At some point—we don’t know precisely when or why—a vase painter had the idea to reverse the scheme, leaving the figures the color of the clay and painting details with a brush. We now call this red-figure technique. Learn how ancient vase painters created vases in both styles and marvel at the technical virtuosity of the multi-step firing process that contributed to their distinctive, high-contrast look.

Cocktails With A Curator: ‘Saint-Porchaire Ware’

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” join Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon as he delves into the mystery of three rare Saint-Porchaire objects currently on view in a room featuring enamels and clocks on the third floor of Frick Madison. Much remains unknown about 16th-century Saint-Porchaire ware—exquisite pieces inlaid with colored clay and embellished with three-dimensional reliefs—but an ongoing Frick research project recently identified an exciting potential link between the great French ceramicist Bernard Palissy and a lizard on one of the ewers at the Frick. This week’s complementary cocktail is a classic French American drink, the Boulevardier.

To view this painting in detail, please visit our website: https://www.frick.org/stporchaireware

Profiles: Australian Ceramic Artist Nicolette Johnson – “Enigmatic And Timeless” Objects Of Art

From a Yatzer.com online article (March 14, 2020):

Hand-crafted through a laborious, almost ritualistic process, which sometimes has Nicolette individually sculpting and applying hundreds of protrusions to one vessel for days, her work transcends the dichotomy between artefact and artwork. 

Nicolette Johnson Ceramic ArtistWhether it’s a reaction to the intangible aspect of our digital age, or a consequence of the trend-setting power of Instagram, there’s been a resurgence of ceramics in the last few years, both as an art form and a hobby. Perhaps it’s quite telling then that London-born, Australia-based ceramic artist  Nicolette  Johnson  recreationally begun taking pottery classes just a few years ago as a counterbalance to her day job as a photographer.

Fast forward five years and Nicolette has distinguished herself as an acclaimed ceramist artist through the enchanting sophistication and painstaking craftsmanship of her work that channels ancient forms with contemporary precision.

Read full article

Nicolette Johnson is a ceramic artist whose work explores symmetry, motifs, and the importance of the artefact.

Nicolette was born in London, England in 1990, grew up in Texas, USA, and today is based in Brisbane, Australia. Working in stoneware and employing wheel-throwing, coiling, and sculpting techniques, Nicolette applies a modern aesthetic to re-imagined ancient forms. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The National Gallery of Victoria and the Museum of Brisbane.

With a background in photographic art and social documentary, Nicolette began studying ceramics in 2015 and is continuing her practice-led exploration into functional and sculptural ceramic vessels, hand-making and firing each of her works in her Brisbane home studio.

Website