Welcome to Cone 5 Down, thanks to Suzie, John

Taking the Mountain to Mao

In Jingdezhen, the Porcelain capital of the world. Even the traffic lights are Oriental Blue and White

Stuff is made in sections and joined bone dry.

I hate photographs with people in them but this is me being a matchbox. The tall pieces behind me have seperate necks like the shape of the smaller one which are joined after firing.

We are staying in the Pottery Workshop ( not the big pot factory in the pix though) and Richard and I are very keen to come here next year to make an exhibition to freight back home. The city is full of small backstreet family businesses. Just arounnd the corner is a Revolutionary Ceramics Factory.

And over the alley from where we sleep, is this gem of a workshop.

The Mao-maker

Too many Maos and too small a suitcase,

Jxxx

Another Opening, Another Show

Happy and sad feelings this morning.

Yesterday was very emotional as the culmination of our residency was marked with the opening of our museum.

Fireworks of course.

The Australasians

I did the display with Jan Nealie , also pictured is Mr Fu one of the big bosses. He was very pleased with what we did. Especially the AutoCAD plans we presented.

Cheryl Lucas

Richard Parker

Mark Mitchell

Chris Weaver

Moyra Elliot


My installation.

I am most pleased with the last pieces I made, the Stacks of brick bowls. They were made from variations of the standard brick clay which has so many additives. They were then once fired in the brick tunnel kiln and bound togfether like the stacks of bricks are. Most exciting.

We leave here in about an hour for the Han tombs on the way to the Airport to Nanchang. Then a 3 hr bus ride to Jingdezhen. The landscape is through a lake district so it should be wonderfully picturesque.

Don't know what the internet situation will be until we get there. Will try to update, but this may be the last post until 6 June.

Jxx

Epiphany

This will sound very wanky, but I had a major realisation the other night at the banquet welcoming Janet here. And I spoke about it. The copius previous toasts lubricated the idea, but the emotion behind it was truely heartfelt and genuine.

It had just occurred to me, the big lightbulb going off in my head, of the life changing enormity of the situation I was involved in. I was here in China, in a major historical pottery area, making pots with ancient Chinese clay, using techniques from 4000BC. I was playing my small part of the continuum of ceramic history of The Middle Kingdom. That is a huge concept for a little NZ boy to take in. Don't know where the six degrees of seperation fit in or how much luck had to do with me being here. But I was actually here and actually doing it.

Pretty special time here.

This is the first layout of my installation. The grey pieces are the brick clays, with an 1170 degrees C black glaze used as an oxide wash, which stains the clay a kind of burgundy colour.
The agate ware is grey clay and porcelain clay glazed with lead-based Tang Green glaze.
I wanted to reference the brick and tile factory as well as the historical museum collections we have seen. I am chuffed really.


The factory workers seem to respond to it all too with great interest. Much picking up and muttering about techniques and they give thumbs up to me which is a relief because we have really invaded their space and work time and they only get paid for what they make rather than the time spent here.
We are going to have a morning tea with lots of sweet cakes etc for them.

Jxx

Buried-army-land

Must be really getting old when I start beginning reminiscences with "I remember when..."

But I do remember vividly the first time I saw the Terracotta Buried Army in 1986. The sheer scale was totally unexpected.

The second time in 1996 was impressive because there were two new pits with even more impressive architecture and the new 360 degree cinema experience, telling the story of the discovery and history and making methods of the warriors.

This time however on our overnight class trip to Xi'an, I found it was a great disappointment because it has become a theme park.

As you leave you are forced to run the gauntlet down a newly constructed street of shops all selling the same reproduction rubbish no-one wants. As so often happens here you flee the barrage of shop assistants rather than stop to look. If only they would realise they would get more sales from Westerners if they got out of your face. I guess the hard sell hassle works every so often, so it pays off.

The most tragic this time was the 360 degree cinema. It obviously hasn't been maintained in eleven years. The film is so scratched and faded into pinks and greens, some projectors are out of focus while others have very varying light levels. Also they never shut off a session so the doors are being continually opened and closed or worse held permanently open by tour guides. They should learn professionalism and showmanship from other theme parks. A sad wasted opportunity, but no-one seemed to care. It's what you can get away with I guess. But now with DVD and projection state of the art I reckon it is time to get out those original negatives and revisit a great idea in a more acceptable form.

On the plus side the grounds are well maintained and the traffic flow worked so you never felt you were swimming in people. The walk uphill from the parking lot through a green parklike area was pleasant but too long at 20 mins in the heat (37 degrees). You could have taken large golf cart type transport, but his kind of defeated the purpose.

However the warriors remain untarnished as an experience. They have sat out much and continue to do so unphased. Although I reckon there were more uncovered the first time I was here, they are still an unbelievable piece of conceptual art. China is a big country and the visions are big pictures of big ideas like the Great Wall, The Chendu Irrigation Project, Tiananmen Square. So you can imagine the Emperor one day saying he would build a monument of thousands of lifesize reproductions of his soldiers and conceal them under ground for no-one to see. And the people did it.

Still one of the wonders of the world that any degree of gross commercialisation can't detract from.

Jxx

The Last Arch

Our museum is almost complete, well the last arch is being constructed.

Also the outside skin is covering over the whole structure.

The inside form is quite awe-inspiring.

The scale inside is deceptive and the feeling is epic and timeless. Such a beautiful series of complex curves.

A person is about as high as the small rectangular brick insert to the bottom right

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, firings are happening.

We are all exhausted, but feeling great and looking forward to a night stay in Xi'an Sunday/Monday to see the tombs and the buried warriors (yet again) and a night antique market.

Genuine Antique in China really means made a long time ago, like yesterday,

Jxx

Sino-irony

In China, not,
Jxx