British Ceramics Biennial, 2013.
I am a great fan of Sue Paraskeva's work so was delighted to see that she was exhibiting at the Biennial. I decided that her work deserves a post all to herself, so here are the pieces we saw at the Biennial.
Paraskeva works with porcelain and uses a stick driven momentum wheel which allows her to work silently and without electricity in tune with the spin of the wheel. This is a technique used widely in Jingdezhen, the Chinese capital of porcelain. She uses wood ash slips, colouring oxides and inlayed clay. She produces tableware, altered one-offs and installation work.
Tableware
One off: Sculptural work that is thrown and altered
The pieces below I find extraordinarily beautiful. Paraskeva throws bowls on the wheel. She then takes a piece of wood, brushes it with oxides and then proceeds to 'attack' the still wet clay bowls with it. The results you can see below.
A very short video that shows how Paraskeva 'alters' her bowls. For a longer, more comprehensive exhibition of what she does, go to her website and watch the second video (the one on the right). It is definitely worth seeing.
Brilliant! Beautiful! Will comment more later when I can.
ReplyDeleteI love her 'altered' pieces, and I own two, I am happy to say. I have a friend who has six of her tableware bowls, and they are amazing - each one slightly different. I met her at the Oxford Ceramics Fair two years ago and it was a delight talking to her, and finding out about her technique. That's what I love about the Oxford ceramics fair - the artists are there, and the conversations with them are always fascinating. The installations featured on her website also look interesting and I would love to see them. I'm glad you liked them.
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