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Let me start this blog entry with an excerpt of the foreword by Stephen King in his book Night Shift (February 27, 1977. Bridgton, Maine.)
 Five months ago, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Motherhood is wonderful, tiring but greatly rewarding.
Ceramics is yet again lying dormant, but I feel fine about it. I've realised that I just can't force myself to make ceramics whilst taking care of a baby. It's taken a long time to get to this point (I had a tough pregnancy and was at times physically unable to do anything), but I no longer feel guilty for not creating ceramics. Priorities change. But don't worry. Stephen King wrote about private obsessions. Ceramics is mine, Not a day goes by that I do not think of ceramics. More is yet to come!
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This is a story of a trip I made in October 2014 - I know it has been a while but better late than never! This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. In early 2014, I impulsively wrote a message on the website of F. Widayanto, the renowned Indonesian ceramicist, asking if I could visit him to learn about Indonesian ceramics. Never could I have imagined that more than ten months later, I would be invited to his studio in Tapos, Bogor, Indonesia for two weeks of learning. I was also fortunate to gain an ArtStart grant to fund the trip. The Artist F. Widayanto at work F. Widayanto has been making ceramics for more than 30 years. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Design of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). In his 60’s, he routinely divides his time between his three homes at the studio in Bogor, a gallery in Jakarta and a gallery house in Depok, just outside of Jakarta.  Bird sculptures on the roof of F. Widayanto’s gallery in Jakarta He is probably the most successful ceramic artist in Indonesia, with sold out shows and a variety of other ceramic related businesses. F. Widayanto’s sculptural works can sell for more than AUD$30,000, but he also caters for domestic needs by producing affordable tableware. He has stayed true to his Javanese heritage and style. He loves incorporating sensuality into his work but admitted that it may not be everyone’s cup of tea. He has experienced censorship with his work (some of them feature topless/scantily clad women) to the extent that at a show he was invited to participate in, his work was hidden behind a screen as it was considered too risqué.  A sculpture by F. Widayanto in situ at the home of Dr Andi Hudono Looking at his many colourful works, you would never have guessed that he is actually colour-blind. Luckily, he managed to overcome it using techniques taught by a friend whose father was a doctor.  Close up of a wall installation What I found refreshing about F. Widayanto is his open minded view on ceramics as a business. He stated that even though ceramics is his passion, he has to make a living out of his passion. He unabashedly calls himself a whore when it comes to his art as there is no limit to what he will do to sell his own expression of art. He makes ceramic tableware, wall installation, sculpture, indoor decorations, plumbing fittings and decorations for outdoor landscaping. He also branches out to food catering, interior design, landscape design, wedding organising and floral arrangements. Regardless of what he does, he has always managed to incorporate his own unique style and art into them.  Butterfly mosaic in the garden  A vase in the garden In his opinion, an artist should be able to sell their own works, and not be confined by the ability of the gallery/agent to sell their work for them. When an artist relies too much on the gallery/agent, they can end up being steered to the whims and trends set by the gallery/agent. He freely disclosed that when he thinks of new works, he takes into consideration whether the work will be saleable. That is, whether people will like it enough to actually purchase the work.
To be continued in the next part: At the Studio of F. Widayanto - The Studio This is a story of a trip I made in October 2014 - I know it has been a while but better late than never! This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. In early 2014, I impulsively wrote a message on the website of F. Widayanto, the renowned Indonesian ceramicist, asking if I could visit him to learn about Indonesian ceramics. Never could I have imagined that more than ten months later, I would be invited to his studio in Tapos, Bogor, Indonesia for two weeks of learning. I was also fortunate to gain an ArtStart grant to fund the trip. The Studio Tapos studio and its surroundings F. Widayanto’s studio is located in an isolated valley with a river running through it. Inspired by his trip to Shoji Hamada’s studio in Japan, he purchased the land 25 years ago and gradually expanded as he built his studio and home there. The studio is spacious and open, flowing to the natural surroundings outside. Seating areas are scattered all around the studio grounds, to allow people to enjoy the beautiful views. There is a sense of tranquillity, a fitting environment for such an artist. Everywhere, the works of F. Widayanto are visible as part of the landscape.  Ceramic turtles adorn the steps going down to the studio F. Widayanto has more than 40 people working at the studio. Since almost all of them are locally from the area, some of the workers are related to each other. All the workers were trained in house at the studio. I was told that because they are so well trained, competitors would approach the workers to entice them to work for the competition.  Inside the Tapos studio The studio is divided into sections: clay processing, moulding, throwing, glazing and firing, decoration, sculpture, jewellery and finishing. Each section has a team leader responsible for the work. And at the time I was there, there was a supervisor and a supervisor-in-training who runs the well-organised studio. The workers mainly work on the regular products, replicating previous works with a degree of creative freedom as long as it achieves the required quality and in the style of F. Widayanto. The tools used in the studio are a mix of bought and handmade tools. Some of the workers are skilled in making tools from materials such as bamboo and metal bits from broken umbrellas.  A mix of handmade and purchased tools The studio is very efficient with its materials, and avoids excessive wastage. All clay scraps are collected and reprocessed for use. With glazes, instead of wiping excess glaze with a wet sponge, they are scraped off with a wooden stick and the dust collected into a big bucket at the end of the day. Once they have enough, the glaze dust is mixed with water and then tested to make a one-off unique glaze. Instead of using an airbrush gun, glaze spraying is done manually using a toothbrush and a needle tool. They have used airbrush guns before, but it often jammed and required lots of maintenance. Although it is a slower process in comparison to using an airbrush gun, it is an effective method with a better control of the spraying.  Manual spray glazing using a toothbrush and a needle tool Fifteen minutes before the end of each day, everyone stops work and clean their benches, store their works, sweep and mop the floors so that they can start work afresh the next day. It was fascinating to watch the process; it was like a synchronised dance of cleaning where everyone knew what to do to complete the task within the time. In the short two weeks at the studio of F. Widayanto, I gained knowledge and skills that would help me with my own ceramic work. But most importantly, I was presented with a different, more pragmatic perspective on how I could develop and shape ceramic as a business. It was an experience I would always cherish as I go on my ceramic journey.  Me at the studio of F. Widayanto I am forever grateful for F. Widayanto for allowing me the opportunity to visit his studio, and thankful to everyone at the studio and the main office for all their help. And a special thank you to Dr Andi Hudono, who welcomed me into his home to view his collection of F. Widayanto’s artworks. For more information on F. Widayanto, visit www.fwidayanto.com.  With F. Widayanto and the studio team One of my works will be part of the BeLonging: Embodied Commentaries Inspired By Place exhibition in Canberra from Saturday 27 June – Saturday 11 July 2015. This is The Australian Ceramics Association Members' Exhibition and I feel so honoured to be a part of it. Here's a sneak peek of the work...  If you are in Canberra around that time, you can visit the exhibition at the Australian National University's School of Art Foyer Gallery, Building 105B, School of Art, Ellery Cres, Acton ACT 2601.
I will also be in Canberra to attend the Australian Ceramics Triennale: Stepping Up and to visit other amazing ceramic exhibitions. I am so excited to be fully immersed in ceramic-world! (geeky, I know) For more information: http://www.australianceramicstriennale.com.au/2015/about http://www.australianceramicstriennale.com.au/2015/exhibition/7 When I first started doing ceramics, I was happy to experiment with different types of clays. From earthenware to stoneware to porcelain, pretty much whatever I could get and what suited the situation. The problem with using a variety of clays meant that everytime I wanted to work using a different clay, I have had to thoroughly clean all of my equipment and tools to avoid cross contamination. For example, if I had been working with terracotta clay (red coloured), I wouldn't want it to get onto my pristine white porcelain. And also, if I had been working with earthenware clay, I wouldn't want it to get into my stoneware clay because they fire at different temperatures. (I learned this the hard way at uni when an someone's earthenware piece got mixed in with the stoneware firing and melted all over my work!) Now that I have my own home studio with my own kiln, to optimise my work production, I have decided to change into a mid-firing porcelain clay called Cool Ice. Cool Ice is manufactured by Clayworks Australia. I have previously used Clayworks' Southern Ice porcelain clay (e.g. for the angel wings), so I felt quite comfortable and confident to change to Cool Ice.  Southern Ice VS Cool Ice porcelain clays, single fired, unglazed I don't know if you see the difference, but the one on the left is Southern Ice and the one on the right is Cool Ice. The Southern Ice is a little more white than Cool Ice.
I've been quite happy with the results of the test pieces but now that I'm ready to experiment more, I've realised that there aren't that many off the shelf mid-firing glazes available in Australia. |