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Poplar ArtCraft is pleased to present The Decorative Device, curated
by Joanne Marion for Esplanade Art Gallery at the Esplanade Arts &
Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
by Joanne Marion for Esplanade Art Gallery at the Esplanade Arts &
Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Calgary-based KATRINA CHAYTOR challenges ceramic decoration’s basic
principles by incorporating computer symbols and circuitry with nature-based motifs
on her ‘active use’ pots. Chaytor comments: “I embrace the tradition and plurality of
decoration, which delights the eye and gives meaning through visual signs. In my
recent work, computer symbols, common signs of our technological environment, are
reinterpreted as decoration. Also, organic references at times merge with the
computer iconography, acknowledging our complex relationship and negotiation
within the digital and natural world."
A faculty member of the Alberta College of Art and Design in the Ceramics Program,
Katrina Chaytor received a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York State College
of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has
exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada, in the United
States, Mexico, Norway and Crete. Katrina Chaytor has been awarded grants from the
Manitoba Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council
for the Arts, and continues to contribute to the development of ceramics
internationally through lectures and workshops. Her work is held in collections around
Canada including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the New Brunswick Museum
and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, as well as in the Canadian Ceramic Artists
Charter Ceramics Collection, Fule International Ceramics Art Museums, Fuping,
Shaanxi, China.
ARTIST STATEMENT My pottery engages ‘active use’, a craft concept that connotes
an intimate connection to daily life. The context of utility is one of accommodation.
I make pots that serve and signify; connect sensuous life with active experience; and
intertwine use with beauty, necessity with pleasure. I explore connections of form
(domestic role), containment (working volume), and surface (decoration).
Decoration is integral to my practice in its capacity to actively perform and inform. I
embrace the tradition and plurality of decoration, which delights the eye and gives
meaning through visual signs. I am interested in how decoration has served multiple
purposes in cultures and histories. Its premise supports complex and diverse visual
languages that can reveal, upon inspection and reflection, a society’s values,
traditions and cultural structures. My previous decorative surfaces were derived from
the natural world, e.g.; stylized, cross hatch patterns hinted at the timber fence
construction in the rural communities of my Newfoundland roots. Currently,
compelled by a desire to challenge the use of familiar ‘nature’ motifs, I am looking to
the digital culture. Computer symbols are proving to be a rich and suggestive source
to rework and reinterpret as decoration in my pottery practice, synthesizing the digital
with a decorative intent. I choose digital iconography, (i.e. keyboard icons, circuitry
references and desktop symbols), as it gives my work a currency that addresses
decoration’s basic principles. These are common signs of the technological
environment of our 21st century society, symbols that permeate both the ‘domestic’
and ‘public’ domains. More recently, organic references, (i.e. the vermiculated
pattern of a worm’s burrowed pathway, a preferred decorative element in past work)
have once again reappeared and merge with the digital, (i.e. a circuitry pathway),
acknowledging our complex relationship and negotiation within the technological
and natural world. Visual cues to this end are subverted within colourful compositions
of repeating patterns and decorative motifs on the surfaces of my pots.
A recent adventure in China has inspired some of the pots in this exhibition. I was
one of 10 Canadian ceramic artists invited for a month long residency at Fuping
Pottery Art Village and Fule International Ceramic Art Museums (FLICAM), located
near Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. The group of Canadian colleagues came
together in Beijing. They included Jim Thomson, Ontario; Les Manning, Alberta;
Sally Michener, British Colombia; Charley Farrero, Saskatchewan; AnnRoberts,
Ontario; Ann Mortimer, Ontario; Grace Nickel, Manitoba; Susan Collett, Ontario;
Gilbert Poissant, Quebec.
While working at FLICAM in FuPing, the ceramic works and subsequent pottery
surfaces I produced there were inspired by the physical and cultural environment:
architectural elements (lattice window patterns, tile walls, studded doors at the
Forbidden City), oriental fans and the natural environment (i.e. twigs from the FuPing
orchard). The residency research, experience and study of exemplary ceramic
collections in my various museums visits introduced me firsthand to exquisite
historical pieces. This experience followed me back to my Calgary studio. Cizhou
pottery pillows, Qing twin-bodied vases and fan shapes continue to inform some of
my current research and pottery forms.
principles by incorporating computer symbols and circuitry with nature-based motifs
on her ‘active use’ pots. Chaytor comments: “I embrace the tradition and plurality of
decoration, which delights the eye and gives meaning through visual signs. In my
recent work, computer symbols, common signs of our technological environment, are
reinterpreted as decoration. Also, organic references at times merge with the
computer iconography, acknowledging our complex relationship and negotiation
within the digital and natural world."
A faculty member of the Alberta College of Art and Design in the Ceramics Program,
Katrina Chaytor received a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York State College
of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has
exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada, in the United
States, Mexico, Norway and Crete. Katrina Chaytor has been awarded grants from the
Manitoba Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council
for the Arts, and continues to contribute to the development of ceramics
internationally through lectures and workshops. Her work is held in collections around
Canada including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the New Brunswick Museum
and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, as well as in the Canadian Ceramic Artists
Charter Ceramics Collection, Fule International Ceramics Art Museums, Fuping,
Shaanxi, China.
ARTIST STATEMENT My pottery engages ‘active use’, a craft concept that connotes
an intimate connection to daily life. The context of utility is one of accommodation.
I make pots that serve and signify; connect sensuous life with active experience; and
intertwine use with beauty, necessity with pleasure. I explore connections of form
(domestic role), containment (working volume), and surface (decoration).
Decoration is integral to my practice in its capacity to actively perform and inform. I
embrace the tradition and plurality of decoration, which delights the eye and gives
meaning through visual signs. I am interested in how decoration has served multiple
purposes in cultures and histories. Its premise supports complex and diverse visual
languages that can reveal, upon inspection and reflection, a society’s values,
traditions and cultural structures. My previous decorative surfaces were derived from
the natural world, e.g.; stylized, cross hatch patterns hinted at the timber fence
construction in the rural communities of my Newfoundland roots. Currently,
compelled by a desire to challenge the use of familiar ‘nature’ motifs, I am looking to
the digital culture. Computer symbols are proving to be a rich and suggestive source
to rework and reinterpret as decoration in my pottery practice, synthesizing the digital
with a decorative intent. I choose digital iconography, (i.e. keyboard icons, circuitry
references and desktop symbols), as it gives my work a currency that addresses
decoration’s basic principles. These are common signs of the technological
environment of our 21st century society, symbols that permeate both the ‘domestic’
and ‘public’ domains. More recently, organic references, (i.e. the vermiculated
pattern of a worm’s burrowed pathway, a preferred decorative element in past work)
have once again reappeared and merge with the digital, (i.e. a circuitry pathway),
acknowledging our complex relationship and negotiation within the technological
and natural world. Visual cues to this end are subverted within colourful compositions
of repeating patterns and decorative motifs on the surfaces of my pots.
A recent adventure in China has inspired some of the pots in this exhibition. I was
one of 10 Canadian ceramic artists invited for a month long residency at Fuping
Pottery Art Village and Fule International Ceramic Art Museums (FLICAM), located
near Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China. The group of Canadian colleagues came
together in Beijing. They included Jim Thomson, Ontario; Les Manning, Alberta;
Sally Michener, British Colombia; Charley Farrero, Saskatchewan; AnnRoberts,
Ontario; Ann Mortimer, Ontario; Grace Nickel, Manitoba; Susan Collett, Ontario;
Gilbert Poissant, Quebec.
While working at FLICAM in FuPing, the ceramic works and subsequent pottery
surfaces I produced there were inspired by the physical and cultural environment:
architectural elements (lattice window patterns, tile walls, studded doors at the
Forbidden City), oriental fans and the natural environment (i.e. twigs from the FuPing
orchard). The residency research, experience and study of exemplary ceramic
collections in my various museums visits introduced me firsthand to exquisite
historical pieces. This experience followed me back to my Calgary studio. Cizhou
pottery pillows, Qing twin-bodied vases and fan shapes continue to inform some of
my current research and pottery forms.
Regina-based RORY MACDONALD describes himself as both an artist and a
designer. In this recent series of ceramic works, Rory MacDonald uses fragile and
fugitive chalk decoration as a means of exploring the terrain between the past as
represented by ceramic tradition, and our fast-paced, temporary and image-saturated
world.
His work in ceramics explores the history of industrial ceramic production techniques
and reveals his interest in the development of new public audiences and spaces for
ceramics. MacDonald’s research interests lean particularly to clay and glaze
chemistry, material culture theory, and the history of industrial ceramic production
techniques. He is interested in the role of ceramics within the practice of design and
art, particularly in relation to site-specific installation.
MacDonald earned a Diploma with Honours from the Ontario College of Art and
Design (1994-96), a BFA degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
(1996-97), and an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred
University (1997-99). Rory MacDonald has participated in a number of recent site-
specific exhibitions and public interventions across Canada. He is currently Assistant
Professor (ceramics) at the University of Regina and the winner of the 2007 Winifred
Shantz award for emerging ceramics in Canada.
ARTIST STATEMENT Ceramics has held a unique place in material culture. This
uniqueness might be best explored through the surface of ceramic objects and in the
ways artists and craftspeople have generated such a rich range of approaches to
decoration and quality of images. This is of course not to say that ceramics is an art
form of surface alone and to deny everything about the symbolic developments of
forms and their cultural significance. Ceramic history is the study of the relationship
of surface, form¸ repetition and abstraction. The meaning and reading of shapes and
decoration requires 'knowledge' of historical context about which many
contemporary theories question the very ability to acquire such a perspective. My
interest in ceramics in many ways is tied to this complex negotiation of reading
within histories. The fact that ceramics as a material is extremely resilient to decay,
combined with its value relative to other materials in history and the sheer number of
objects created, as well as the ability to mimic other materials, has meant its surface
has kept a lively cultural record of human marks for some for 4000 years, and possibly
by extension of human experience. The works in Decorative Devices seek to question
some of my reliance on history in understanding the role of ceramic surfaces and
also seek a means of exploring the experience of a changing surface.
I would be remiss and short sighted to resign the contribution of the field of ceramics
to the recording of culture, solely in the past, especially if I am maker in the present.
The recording of culture continues in ceramics today, it may simply be more difficult
to evaluate its contribution with such vast changes to the storage and
communication of information. The works in the exhibition attempt to create a
collision of historical pattern and representations of surfaces unique to ceramics,
such as celadon or blue and white. This combination of images and decoration from
many sources attempts to record the complexity of my position within ceramic
tradition and the daily bombardment of images and information. The uncertainly of
knowing my contribution relative to the study of past examples has always led me to
critique the very question of what constitutes the contribution of the field of ceramics
to the present.
This new series entitled chalk works comes closest for me in the examination of
ceramic surface as a recorder for the present. The work interrogates the images of
ceramic decoration of the past, within a fragile and even fugitive surface. No longer
are these objects able to retain their role as permanent recorders; by their very design
like a chalkboard, these pieces become a site of changing images. How else to
record a time without a fixed position in time, slipping equally between past and
present? I find comfort in knowing that the surfaces are designed to attempt to record
for the present moment and that the surface may be wiped down and be remarked
endlessly, or importantly show the haptic nature of the objects themselves. The
desire to preserve the surface and to capture with an expectation of high resolution,
an image, pattern, symbol or moment in these works will always be a senseless and
potentially futile exercise. Recognizing the futility may however be the most
important aspect of the work. In accepting the changing nature of the surface
hopefully this is an advantage for the works to become a new type of ceramic
recording space.
designer. In this recent series of ceramic works, Rory MacDonald uses fragile and
fugitive chalk decoration as a means of exploring the terrain between the past as
represented by ceramic tradition, and our fast-paced, temporary and image-saturated
world.
His work in ceramics explores the history of industrial ceramic production techniques
and reveals his interest in the development of new public audiences and spaces for
ceramics. MacDonald’s research interests lean particularly to clay and glaze
chemistry, material culture theory, and the history of industrial ceramic production
techniques. He is interested in the role of ceramics within the practice of design and
art, particularly in relation to site-specific installation.
MacDonald earned a Diploma with Honours from the Ontario College of Art and
Design (1994-96), a BFA degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
(1996-97), and an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred
University (1997-99). Rory MacDonald has participated in a number of recent site-
specific exhibitions and public interventions across Canada. He is currently Assistant
Professor (ceramics) at the University of Regina and the winner of the 2007 Winifred
Shantz award for emerging ceramics in Canada.
ARTIST STATEMENT Ceramics has held a unique place in material culture. This
uniqueness might be best explored through the surface of ceramic objects and in the
ways artists and craftspeople have generated such a rich range of approaches to
decoration and quality of images. This is of course not to say that ceramics is an art
form of surface alone and to deny everything about the symbolic developments of
forms and their cultural significance. Ceramic history is the study of the relationship
of surface, form¸ repetition and abstraction. The meaning and reading of shapes and
decoration requires 'knowledge' of historical context about which many
contemporary theories question the very ability to acquire such a perspective. My
interest in ceramics in many ways is tied to this complex negotiation of reading
within histories. The fact that ceramics as a material is extremely resilient to decay,
combined with its value relative to other materials in history and the sheer number of
objects created, as well as the ability to mimic other materials, has meant its surface
has kept a lively cultural record of human marks for some for 4000 years, and possibly
by extension of human experience. The works in Decorative Devices seek to question
some of my reliance on history in understanding the role of ceramic surfaces and
also seek a means of exploring the experience of a changing surface.
I would be remiss and short sighted to resign the contribution of the field of ceramics
to the recording of culture, solely in the past, especially if I am maker in the present.
The recording of culture continues in ceramics today, it may simply be more difficult
to evaluate its contribution with such vast changes to the storage and
communication of information. The works in the exhibition attempt to create a
collision of historical pattern and representations of surfaces unique to ceramics,
such as celadon or blue and white. This combination of images and decoration from
many sources attempts to record the complexity of my position within ceramic
tradition and the daily bombardment of images and information. The uncertainly of
knowing my contribution relative to the study of past examples has always led me to
critique the very question of what constitutes the contribution of the field of ceramics
to the present.
This new series entitled chalk works comes closest for me in the examination of
ceramic surface as a recorder for the present. The work interrogates the images of
ceramic decoration of the past, within a fragile and even fugitive surface. No longer
are these objects able to retain their role as permanent recorders; by their very design
like a chalkboard, these pieces become a site of changing images. How else to
record a time without a fixed position in time, slipping equally between past and
present? I find comfort in knowing that the surfaces are designed to attempt to record
for the present moment and that the surface may be wiped down and be remarked
endlessly, or importantly show the haptic nature of the objects themselves. The
desire to preserve the surface and to capture with an expectation of high resolution,
an image, pattern, symbol or moment in these works will always be a senseless and
potentially futile exercise. Recognizing the futility may however be the most
important aspect of the work. In accepting the changing nature of the surface
hopefully this is an advantage for the works to become a new type of ceramic
recording space.
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