Contemporary design and craft in Australia.
Season 3 goes behind the scenes of the 2023 MAKE Award, Australia's newest and richest national award celebrating innovation in contemporary craft and design. Meet the winner Vipoo Srivilasa; and finalists High Tea with Mrs Woo; Julie Blyfield, Csongvay Blackwood, and Johannes Kuhnen. Hear from MAKE Award judges Jason Smith, Hyeyoung Cho and Brian Parkes.
Season 2 is all about ceramics - production pottery, teaching and learning with clay, museum collections, personal collecting, working with galleries, and ceramics writing and photography. Hear from Ilona Topolcsanyi, Brett Stone, Jane Sawyer, Robyn Phelan and Eva Czernis-Ryl.
Season 1 explores the Masters of Craft - nationally and internationally acclaimed Australian craftspeople working in ceramics, jewellery, textiles and metal. Why does their work matter? How do they keep going? What’s their advice for makers now?
Hear from artists Prue Venables, Jeff Mincham, Lola Greeno, Liz Williamson, Les Blakebrough, Marian Hosking and Robert Baines, and go behind the scenes on the making of the 'Living Treasures' program with Brian Parkes.
Object: stories of design and craft is by the Australian Design Centre.
It's hosted by our CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill.
Production by Jane Curtis, with production support by Alix Fiveash.
Sound engineering by John Jacobs.
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Host Lisa Cahill chats with master metalsmith Johannes Kuhnen.
Johannes Kuhnen is one of the pioneers of anodised aluminium metalwork. In this episode, Johannes explains why he finds anodising annoying, and his design process.
Hear from judges Jason Smith, Hyeyoung Cho and Brian Parkes on his MAKE Award entry, Remnant Green.
Johannes Kuhnen is one of Australia's most well recognised silversmiths. Johannes' practice has remained at the forefront of innovation, in particular his pioneering use of anodised aluminium. A fascination with the colour options of the aluminium continue to provide inspiration for his work and have also inspired many others to explore such potential.
Brian Parkes, CEO at JamFactory, Adelaide, South Australia
Credits
Object is a podcast of the Australian Design Centre and is made on Gadigal Country in Sydney, Australia.
It's hosted by CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill and produced by Jane Curtis, in collaboration with Lisa Cahill. Sound Engineering is by John Jacobs.
Csongvay Blackwood, MAKE Award finalist
Season 3 · Episode 4
Sunday, December 10, 2023 • Duration 20:39
Host Lisa Cahill chats with partners in life and work, Csilla Csongvay and Matt Blackwood.
In this episode, Csilla and Matt share the inspirations behind their work, what it takes to enter an award, and how they made a single sculpture from 100 pieces of clay.
Hear from judges Jason Smith, Hyeyoung Cho and Brian Parkes on their work, Walk the Line Version 7.
Brian Parkes, CEO at JamFactory, Adelaide, South Australia
Credits
Object is a podcast of the Australian Design Centre and is made on Gadigal Country in Sydney, Australia.
It's hosted by CEO and Artistic Director Lisa Cahill and produced by Jane Curtis, in collaboration with Lisa Cahill. Sound Engineering is by John Jacobs.
Plating up with Ilona Topolcsanyi: Production pottery
Season 2 · Episode 1
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 • Duration 25:36
Ilona Topolcsanyi makes bespoke tableware for some of Australia's most notable chefs. She’s even made plates that world leaders have eaten from, like Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Xi JinPing.
Hear how Ilona designs and makes by hand large orders of beautiful, hard-wearing and functional tableware.
Learn how she works with chefs as a problem-solver, figuring out how to make bowls where the sauce sits perfectly.
Ilona and her partner Colin Hopkins run their business Cone 11 in Naam, Melbourne. Their tableware has subtle surfaces that range from shimmering pearly whites to rich encrusted terracottas.
Some of the restaurants Ilona has created work for include:
Read the highlights and takeaways, and see photos of Ilona's work with Josh Lopez and Dan Hunter on the Show Notes page for this episode on the Australian Design Centre website.
Credits
Object is hosted by Lisa Cahill, with production by Jane Curtis and sound engineering by John Jacobs. It's made with support from Visions of Australia regional touring program.
Object Series 2: Clay Connections
Season 2
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 • Duration 01:38
From production pottery to learning and teaching ceramics, museum collections and personal collecting - this season of Object is all about making with clay.
Over five episodes you’ll meet Ilona Topolcsanyai, Brett Stone, Jane Sawyer, Robyn Phelan and Eva Czernis-Ryl.
You’ll hear from other artists too, and their advice for makers.
Object is a podcast by the Australian Design Centre.
It’s hosted by Lisa Cahill, with production by Jane Curtis and sound engineering by John Jacobs.
The making of Living Treasures
Season 1 · Episode 8
Wednesday, December 22, 2021 • Duration 32:30
In this bonus episode, you’ll meet one of the key people behind the original idea for the Living Treasures series of exhibitions - Brian Parkes.
How did the idea of recognising Australia’s master craftspeople become a reality? Who chooses Living Treasures?
How was the first Living Treasures exhibition made on a shoestring budget, maybe some shopping at IKEA?
How important are exhibitions like these to regional art galleries? How do audiences react?
And hear about the two Living Treasures Lisa Cahill didn’t get to interview – the late glass artist Klaus Moje and South Australian glass artist Nick Mount.
Brian is the CEO and Artistic Director of JamFactory, Adelaide’s leading craft and design centre, where he's been for over a decade. Before that, he was Associate Director of the Australian Design Centre 2000 - 2010 (when the Centre was called Object. Now you know where the podcast name came from!).
Brian Parkes lives and works on Kaurna Country in Adelaide.
Guests
Steve Pozel was the former CEO and Artistic Director of the Australian Design Centre who developed and championed the idea for the Living Treasures series during his 16 year tenure with the organisation. He’s now an Innovation Strategist and Facilitator in mindful leadership.
Inspiration from National Gallery of Australia Susan Cohn exhibition [1:47]
In 2000, the National Gallery of Australia made a national touring exhibition of the work of Australian jeweller Susan Cohn, . It toured to Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth and Melbourne into 2001. Brian Parkes says it was the first time that a major institution had done a big touring exhibition of someone who came out of the crafts sector. The , Assistant Curator of Australian Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Australia, curated the exhibition and Brian Parkes worked with him during this time.
Robert Baines
Season 1 · Episode 7
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 • Duration 26:06
With a career spanning five decades, Robert Baines is one of Australia’s leading gold and silver smiths.
Robert Baines makes intricately constructed jewellery and large-scale, sculptural, complex wire works that often combine gold and silver with plastic and powder-coated elements.
Hear how Robert researched high Classical Greek gold jewellery and remade it using 2000 year old techniques, how colour takes on many meanings in his jewellery, and how a chance meeting in a gallery changed everything.
Robert’s work can be found in all major public galleries, as well as internationally in significant museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The Australia Design Centre made Robert Baines a Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft in 2010.
Robert Baines lives and works on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne.
Les Blakebrough
Season 1 · Episode 6
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 • Duration 23:55
In a career spanning seven decades, Les Blakebrough has become one of Australia's most acclaimed and influential ceramic artists.
The ceramics of Les Blakebrough range from earthy functional ware to more delicate forms, made with the Southern Ice Porcelain - a material described as having ‘the whiteness of snow and translucent of ice'. In fact, he used Southern Ice Porcelain to make Tasmania’s wedding gift to Mary Donaldson and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
In this episode, you’ll hear about Les’ experiments in the early days, why he went from ceramics maker to porcelain producer, and how Australia’s first national craft association was founded.
The Australia Design Centre made Les Blakebrough its very first Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft in 2004. His Living Treasures exhibition toured nationally until 2007.
Les Blakebrough lives on Dharawal Country in the Illawarra region of NSW.
Ben Richardson is a ceramics artist and runs Ridgeline Pottery Tasmania. He studied under Les, taught alongside him and was a co-researcher on Southern Ice Porcelain.
Anne Ferran is one of Australia’s leading photographic artists. Anne is also Les Blakebrough's partner.
Show highlights and takeaways
Studying under the Australian 'masters’ of ceramics – Peter Rushforth andMollie Douglas [5:30 mins]
Les Blakebrough went to art school at East Sydney Technical College to study painting, in the 1950s. He says, "I wanted to be a painter and sadly, I was in love with the idea of being a painter. It didn't gel." Les made the fortuitous switch to ceramics, at a time when iconic teachers led the department. Peter Rushforth (1920–2015) was a master potter largely responsible for to Australia. (1920 – 2011) was a founding member of the Potters' Society of New South Wales, along with Peter Rushforth.
Liz Williamson
Season 1 · Episode 5
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 • Duration 26:20
Liz Williamson is known as a ‘matriarch of Australian weaving’. Hear what Liz’s favourite ‘magical’ material is, how darning and repair informs her work, and how she works with weavers around the world.
Liz Williamson is an internationally respected textile artist who specialises in hand-woven textiles.
Sometimes wearable and sometimes for display, the texture of Liz’s work is distinctive. It’s woven flat, and the materials she uses create crushed, crinkled surfaces and three dimensional shapes like loops and sacks.
Australia Design Centre made Liz Williamson a Living Treasure in 2007, and her Living Treasures exhibition toured nationally until 2011.
Liz lives and works on Gadigal and Wongal country in inner west Sydney.
Guests
Ilka White is an artist whose practice spans textiles, teaching, cross-disciplinary collaboration and art-in-community. ilkawhite.com.au
Anna Waldman is a former curator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and was the director of the Australia Council's Visual Arts and Craft board.
How long does it take to weave something? [3:50 mins]
People often ask Liz Williamson how long it takes to weave something. She weaves panels that are about 1.2m long in two to four hours.
Why fine worsted wool is 'magical' [4:40 mins]
Fine worsted wool is material that Liz worked with a lot in the 980s and 1990s, to weave wraps and scarves. She calls it 'magical' because she says it can respond to different treatments. You can wash it, you can felt it, or you can combine it with materials that felt. The worsted wool doesn’t felt that much by itself but you combine it with other wool that does felt, creating textured surfaces.
Marian Hosking
Season 1 · Episode 4
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 • Duration 26:56
Jeweller Marian Hosking makes silver brooches, necklaces and vessels that are translations of the Australian bush. Hear why Marian thinks that souvenirs are underrated; the reason she still makes brooches and how she co-founded the iconic Melbourne open access jewellery space, Workshop 3000.
Marian Hosking is an award-winning artist, and is former Head of Jewellery at Charles Sturt University, The Riverina College of Advanced Education and Art Design and Architecture at Monash University.
Marian Hosking collects, draws or takes photos of Australian plants and flowers to make silver objects like brooches, necklaces and vessels. She often oxidises and heats the silver to blacken it. Using techniques of drilling and sawpiercing, Marian's work is delicate but strong, detailing fragments of the Australian bush.
The Australian Design Centre honoured Marian as a Living Treasure in 2007.
Marian lives and works on the ancestral lands of the Boon Wurrung people, on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
The Australian bush isn't all the same [4:04 mins]
For Marian, the Australian Bush is never the same. She likes to draw attention to something you think you know, like an ordinary gum leaf, and isolate a single element or a particular quality.
In the first lockdown, Marian thought there was no point in making [4:38 mins]
Prue Venables
Season 1 · Episode 3
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 • Duration 30:40
Prue Venables is one of Australia’s most accomplished ceramics artist. Hear how Prue went from a career in science to pottery; how three tiny porcelain jugs changed everything for her; and her controversial advice for new makers.
Prue Venables makes porcelain vessels - like jugs and beakers, ladles and colanders - that elevate humble domestic objects to exquisite works of art. They are smooth and elegant, with a minimal colour palette of white, metallic black and sometimes red.
The Australian Design Centre honoured Prue as a Living Treasure in 2019.
Neville French, former Teacher and Coordinator of Ceramics, Arts Academy, University of Ballarat. He taught with Prue for many years. https://www.nevillefrench.com/
Show highlights and takeawaysThe foundation of me [10:32 mins]
Prue's earlier study of music and science became the foundation of how she thinks and approaches her craft. "The thinking and the discipline, the asking questions and exploring things."
Approach with an inquisitive mind [11:03 mins]
Prue credits her curiosity to her science and music teachers, "people who were really inventive and exploratory thinkers....I watched what they did and what they said to me and it just built up a sort of way of being really. "
Throwing multiple things at the same time [12:13 mins]
Using a number of wheels at the same time is standard practice for Prue. She says that with porcelain, it's often actually better to make something on and let it sit and not move it. As soon as you move it in any way, you get this sort of ripple response in the body of the clay, and that could come out in the firing.
Handmade tools [12:55 mins]
Many of Prue's ceramics tools are made by her out of junk, as she puts it - old hacks saw blades ground down into make a little sharp knife or something to almost grate the clay. She says that when she can't find these handmade tools, she can't work. "It's like you become dependent on these little things."
"All the hallmarks of the Living Treasure series were borrowed from that exhibition, which Jim had always intended as an ongoing series of shows, celebrating the extraordinary wealth of talent in the kind of decorative arts scene in Australia, " Brian says.
Who nominates and selects craftspeople to be Living Treasures? [5:30]
First, a jury was appointed by the "key figures - curatorially, academically, theoretically", Brian say. Then, the nominations process lets Australian craft sector organisations, as well as individual practitioners, to nominate Australian artists to be a Living Treasure.
The criteria to be nominated as a Living Treasure [6:12]
There are some specific requirements to be nominated as a Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft. These include a thirty year practice requirement and the need for the artist to not have been recognised in a similar way, says Brian. "Perhaps the biggest umbrella criterion was that the person needed to be a leading practitioner in their field, whose influence had been significant."
Part of the success of Living Treasures series is the nimbleness of a small organisation. Steve Pozel agrees and think that Living Treasures "was not just one organisation's project, it really was a collaboration with many centres across the country. What I see is that it actually established new ways of working with bigger institutions, smaller ones." In turn, this collaboration developed relationships and skills within the sector.
Changing roles of curators [9:46]
The early 2000s saw lots of conversations amongst curators about their changing role. Brian says there was an increasing need to be more of a project manager, than the kind of traditional institutional curatorial role of connoisseurship and scholarship. In the small to medium type organisations sector in particular, the curator position became the key project managers of increasingly complex projects.
Curator as translator [12:45]
"The opportunity in the Living Treasures series was to become a kind of translator, " Brian says, of his curatorial role in some of the early Living Treasures exhibitions. "The story is the story. How do you package it for an audience to digest in different ways, depending on whether they're deep craft enthusiasts, or if they're a casual observer?"
Making a 'flash' exhibition on a shoestring with IKEA [14:00]
One challenge of designing the first Living Treasures exhibition of Les Blakebrough was that there was "bugger all money", as Brian puts it. One solution was shopping at IKEA for trestle legs, using MDF box tops with "a particular of color hue that we worked with Les on," and a series of little boxes that would hang on the wall to kind of frame objects, and concertina into one another to pack into a truck. Despite the shoestring budget, "It looked pretty flash."
Touring regional Australia [15:14 ]
Touring to regional venues always been a priority for Australian Design Centre On Tour, from the very first Living Treasures exhibition. Les Blakebrough's ceramics toured eight regional venues, and four metropolitan venues, and the number of regional venues in each Living Treasures tour has only increased. "Audiences love these shows, touring venues in the regions love these shows because their audiences love them," Brian says.
Essential access of arts to the regions [15:45 ]
Essential access to quality and significant artists' work is how Tamworth Regional Gallery Director sees the Living Treasures series. Bridget Guthrie talks about the impact of exhibiting the work of Living Treasure Lola Greeno. "We had some of our First Nations community come in and particularly some of the local weavers and they were really inspired by seeing those works. So there was that exchange of ideas that occurred as part of that process."
A safe place for 'unsafe conversations' [16:39]
Bridget Guthrie describes another impact of the hosting the Living Treasures exhibitions as being an important prompt for community discussion, including reflection on recent Australian history. "Particularly some of the works that Lola had done, talking to that difficult past and colonial history."
An alternative to the NETS touring model for small to medium arts organisations [19:00]
Before the first Living Treasures exhibition in 2005, most organistions across Australia in the small to medium sector relied on what were previously called the NETS organisations to manage touring exhibitions, Brian recalls. "So what would happen is a small to medium organisation like ADC or a contemporary art space would develop an exhibition and propose it to the NETS body in their state...
Les met Col Levy at art school. Col had originally trained as a manual arts teacher, and studied pottery at East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School) in Sydney in 1956. Les says, "There was a kind of chemistry that was involved that Col Levy introduced me to, and we had a collaboration going. We were desperately trying to make high temperature, stoneware and porcelain and Levy and I would sort of do these experiments, trying to make reduced glazes. And the kilns weren't set up to do it. "
Through the 1970s and 1980s, Les felt the white clay he was using "never quite came up to the mark."
He wanted a clay you could knead, throw well, and handle easily. Most of all, Les wanted it "very white. I wanted it to be whiter than anything else."
The name Southern Ice was used because Les wanted to give it a name that located it in the part of the world where he and his team created it. Southern Ice is still made in Australia today, by Clayworks pottery in Melbourne.
Cybelle Blakebrough and Sage Ceramics [13:48 mins]
Les Blakebrough's daughter has followed in her father's footsteps and created handmade, high end porcelain tableware from Southern ice porcelain, in her business Sage Ceramics.
No longer making [13:58 mins]
Les is saddened by the fact that he no longer makes ceramics. With black humour, he says, "I had a go at making some things a little while ago and I was so frustrated and upset. I couldn't really do what I used to do. I thought, this is silly. I'm making fake Blakebroughs." Les says, "I miss it a lot. It's what goes hand in hand with being bloody ninety-one."
Living Treasures impact [20:40 mins]
Being made the first Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft in 2004 was life-changing for Les. He says he is eternally grateful.
Meeting his partner Anne Ferran through Living Treasures [21:10 mins]
Being made a Living Treasure impacted Les' life in unexpected ways too. At a dinner in Sydney, Les Blakebrough met his partner Anne Ferran and they have been together for over fifteen years.
More about Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft
Australia's Indigenous fibre tradition is one of the most amazing in the world [6:25 mins]
Liz feels very privileged to live in a country that has such a wonderful, rich fibre tradition, saying, "The Indigenous fibre art tradition is one of the most amazing in the world. It's been wonderful to see that tradition come to fore with artists representing Australia, internationally with Yvonne Koolmatrie.” Australian Indigenous weaving traditions have broadened our thinking around weaving, she says, to include many shapes and forms.
Woven loops and sacks [7:35 mins]
Liz's work includes three-dimensional structures like woven loops and sacks. "The woven loops came from a project sitting at the loom, trying to work out how I could explore this idea of protection. I was creating a three-dimensional structure," she explains. Some of the loops are made just with plain weave, with their shape and texture coming from how she's combined different materials.
Experimentation with the material leading [7:50 mins]
Liz often experiments in her work, and she gives an example of 'playing around with leather lacing." She said it was "the material that gave her the structure", and allowed her to create, in this case, tubular structures. Liz believes experimentation is vital to develop different approaches to your work.
Gerlinde Binning was Liz’ teacher at the Melbourne College of Textiles. Gerlinde was the master weaver at the College, and her practice was rag rug weaving because her family's business had been rag rug weaving in Bavaria in Germany.
In Bavaria, Gerlinde's family had a weaving mill that wove rag rugs for people mainly in farming communities. Families collected their old clothes, cut them into strips and the strips were woven into a set of three 60cm rugs, which were given as a trousseau. The strips of old clothes were the weft of these rugs. Gerlinde Binning lives in Melbourne and teaches weaving workshops through the Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria.
Darning plays a really interesting place in Australian history [15:24 mins]
Research into the history of darning was part of Liz Williamson's Masters degree. Liz found that the skill of darning was an acquired expertise for a lot of women in the 1700s and 1800s, because it allowed them to get a job. The way that they learned was by doing darning samplers. Liz says that a lot of the women in the First Fleet and who arrived in Australia as convicts got opportunities in the colonies because they knew how to darn and could repair household textiles and clothing.
UNESCO's Vital Traditions conference [18:25 mins]
The 2001 UNESCO Vital Traditions conference in Vietnam was a turning point for Liz. The conference brought together artisans from 14 different Asian countries, to assist those artisans to develop new, more marketable design that referenced their traditions. Liz worked as a weaving teacher at this conference and she said it made her realise how she could contribute to weaving more widely.
Cultural Textiles [19:45 mins]
Her experience of visiting India in the early 2000s and engaging with artisans there led Liz to develop an elective course at the University of NSW called Cultural Textiles, which took students to Gujarat and West Bengal in India. The purpose of the course was for students to engage in handmade textiles, study and research the rich traditions of the area.
When Melbourne and regional Victoria went into extended lockdowns in 2020, Marian thought, "There's no point in making anything because there's already too much of everything in the world. And making things is just a waste of time and space."
She stopped making for a time, but kept up with other parts of her practice, like closely observing nature, sketching and taking photos of local plant and bird life.
"And I noticed the swans, the black swans. I've worked over a number of years with swans, in England and Australia, the black and the white. These swans and little baby cygnets were just so appealing." Marian has just finished a vessel depicting these swans and credits them for getting her making again.
Rejecting 'sentimental' as a derogatory term [6:28 mins]
"In fine art terms, being sentimental or a souvenir is often a derogatory term," Marian says. "Actually what I do is both souvenir and sentimental. And I really value both of those aspects of my making. I love the souvenir."
She says another reason that jewellery is seen as sentimental is because it's often gifted. Even if the gift is to yourself, it carries sentiment with it
Working with silver because it'snotvaluable [9:40 mins]
Marian chooses not to work with precious gems because she "didn't want the value of what I made to be around the material value of the materials incorporated into it." When she began studying jewellery making in 1969, she was interested in Scandinavian design and silver was much used by Henning Koppel and the Scandinavian silversmiths.
Working graphically is another reason silver as a material suits her, as well as its low sheen.
Marian Hosking loves making brooches, even though "nobody wears brooches". [10:25 mins]
Marian makes brooches, even though she admits that nobody wears brooches. She even says, "Nobody has ever really worn brooches. But I do love making brooches still. A brooch is a contained object. It's in and of itself."
A brooch says something about yourself and it says something to the onlooker, she says, and it's a comfort to yourself as well. Marian says that her "fabulous cuttlefish brooch" that Catherine Truman made is like "having a little friend along with you. What we wear is sometimes worn to say something to somebody else about ourselves, but it's also a comfort to ourselves."
Australia's first open access jewelleryworkshop [11: 35 mins]
Su San Cohn, Harry Rowlands and Marian Hosking founded Australia's first open access jewellery workshop space in 1980, called Workshop 3000.
They put in their own money, and received funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. 3000 is the postcode for Melbourne and the workshop was located right in the CBD, behind Hardware Lane, so it was accessible to people to work in, use equipment, train and collaborate.
Like your veggies, buylocaljewellery [22:40 mins]
Marian is a big fan of buying local – from food to handmade goods. She says, "I can buy locally produced tomatoes, strawberries, cabbages, whatever's in season from the farmer's gate... The same should be for your clothes, your jewellery, your furniture."
Keep going, keep persisting [24:14 mins]
"It's hard when you get knock-backs and you don't know where to put your work or your work doesn't get accepted into something. I remember when Paul Derrez first came to Australia and he didn't want to stop my work and I felt mortified, but years later he did," Marian recalls.
"You just have to keep going. You have to keep making, you have to find something that is true to yourself. You'll only do well, if you are committed to what you're doing and you persist with it."
Make your own work [25: 18 mins]
Along with commitment and persistence, Marian believes that making work that is 'yours' is essential. "It’s really important that you find something that is meaningful to you, so that you are prepared to spend time exploring it."
More about Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft
Prue believes the most important technique for working with porcelain is that you have to listen to it because it'll tell you what it'll let you do. She says that what's needed with porcelain is "a sense of, that it's always a developing knowledge.That you start with the material. You have to really feel what the material wants to let you do, and then explore that. And gradually, gradually gradually move the edges and change the parameters as you go. In a way you have to respect what it's telling you."
Visiting Takeshi Yasuda in the pottery workshops of Jingdezhen, China
Prue visited Jingdezhen on the insistence of Japanese potter and director of the pottery workshop there, Takeshi Yasuda. Prue describes how Takeshi used to say, "Why haven't you come? You should come. if you don't come soon, it'll be too late!"
Prue describes it as amazing, seeing ceramic works that she couldn't believe possible like big tiles that have four meters by one meter wide or one and a half meters wide.
An artist's path is not an easy path
"The hardest thing is accepting it's something in yourself that needs that, and then just doing it."
So many times I've met people who've said, Oh, I really want to do this. But everyone tells me that you can't make a living or you can't do this, or you shouldn't, or you should do something more reliable. Often it’s the parental voice talking, but I always say, You have one life. I don't think it is an easy path, but then many paths aren't easy."
Advice to makers
Prue's advice to makers is
to try and always do the best work you can.
learn to be really discriminating.
don't keep everything.
look widely around you and experiment.
don't ever use social media as your reference material, because the world is so much bigger than that.
Once you start selling, you cut back on your learning.
Prue strongly believes that to not sell your work until it's really well established. She says if you want to be a really good maker and build a reputation for your work, don't start selling right at the beginning. "Everybody when they first make things, think, Ooh wow, I made that, this is great! But a lot of people are selling within the first year or something. I was lucky at Harrow in that we weren’t allowed to sell anything. It would have meant instant expulsion. Nobody ever did. Nobody ever tried.
Once you start selling, you cut back on your learning."
It will look like the gas bill
"I remember Gwen Hanssen Pigott used to say, If you're thinking about selling all the time that you're making, there's a part of your work that will look like the gas bill. And she was absolutely right."
Living Treasures
The Living Treasures exhibition enabled Prue to produce a large body of work and to incorporate metal much more strongly in her work, and to present it publicly. She points out that one of the key things is that it's work by a person who makes functional objects and that's very unusual to have to have an exhibition like this.
Winning with three tiny jugs
Winning the Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award in New Zealand [in 1995] was another key achievement for Prue. She says she almost didn’t send the work because she entered three very tiny jugs, some of the smallest pieces she'd ever made. They were under ten centimetres tall. As she packed them up, she thought, "Well, there’s not a lot of point to this."
Fortunately, she said, Takeshi Yaseda was the judge. "Takeshi said he just walked past them, he didn’t notice them to start with. They were so small. And most of the work in the competition was huge. Huge, almost life-size figures of animals and absolutely extraordinary work actually. There’s a fantastic contemporary ceramics world in New Zealand.
He said that he wandered around the exhibition for a few days. He didn’t notice my work to start with, and when he did, he realised they were very complex. Anyway, he awarded them the first prize and it was after that, that people started to notice what I was doing. "
Functional objects
Prue believes that functional objects can actually change your life. They can change your thinking. They can alter how you feel and that they are key things in our lives.
Making functional work
"It [Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft] has a very important role to play for anybody who wants to make functional things. It provides good encouragement that you can actually do that. That you can treat that as your serious work. That you don’t have to make something else, and then do functional work as an aside. That’s a major, major thing that it’s done for the ceramics community."
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