1997 Ceramics Festival Review

The 1997 Festival featured guests from as far afield as Australia, Poland, Hungary, USA, Czech republic, Germany and Israel. Not to mention the contingent of guest potters from Wales. This year we featured more activities on the kiln site than ever before, with fire installations by Nina Hole, from Denmark, and Maxine O'Reilly, Wales, and several kiln firings.

Micki Schloessingk, (Wales), and Paul Stubbs, (England), built and fired a magnificent saltglaze kiln. The design, unique to Paul Stubbs, featured a 'self flushing firebox' which never needs raking. The kiln was opened on Sunday afternoon for all to see the results. Also on the kiln site, German potter Martin Mindermann used Ian Gregory's 'flat pack kiln' to fire one of his large raku pots. Australian pyromaniac, Ray Rogers, excavated yet another hole in the Welsh landscape to build his 'Big Pit' kiln. Packed on the Saturday morning and fired throughout the afternoon, the amazing smoky, lustred and pink flashed pots were uncovered on Sunday morning.

Nina Hole and her assistant, Debby English from Canada, battled against all the elements early in the week, when it poured down on their 'ceramic house'. This three metre high clay structure, with a base of one and a half metres square, took five days to build using over a ton of 'Magma Clay' kindly supplied by Commercial Clays of Stoke on Trent, and was just about ready for firing over the weekend. Even the hot sunny days from Thursday on didn't dry out the damp clay quick enough meaning the unveiling of the fired form, glowing hot, did not happen until 4am on Sunday. This fired piece was taken apart to be reassembled in Battersea, London.

Jeff Oestreich, from Minnesota, USA, trained with Bernard Leach at St. Ives and Jeff's quiet, self assured throwing style owes much to the Oriental philosophy he came in contact with. Using a Leach Kickwheel, Jeff threw a series of his pitchers, which he later cut, altered and reassembled. He always had a crowd of interested potters around him in his work area whenever he wasn't on stage. This aspect of the festival is encouraged as it gives all the participants the fullest access to the artists to enable a more informal exchange of ideas.

Miroslav Páral, from the Czech Republic, amazed everyone by completing a 2 metre 'minotaur figure' in the two days. Beginning on the Saturday morning the figure was complete, decorated and all, at 4pm on Sunday. His slide talk on Sunday morning gave us an insight into his philosophy and the reasons for the often tortured looking figures. Like many of the artists of Eastern Europe, Paral was deeply affected by the Chernobyl accident and his dark figures stem from this experience.

János Probstner, Director of the International Ceramic Studio, gave a moving and spirited slide lecture describing the reasons and philosophies for establishing the Studio. A transcript of his talk, "An Island of International Creative Thought" is available online.

David and Margaret Frith, from the Brookhouse Pottery in North Wales, demonstrated their superb mastery of throwing and decorating their pottery. During their first session on stage they showed their methods of making the pots, David throwing large planters and crocks and Margaret throwing her fine porcelain. Their knowledge never ceases to amaze audiences and David can hold forth on virtually any technical subject thrown at him and more than that, he makes wonderful pots. Their Sunday session showed Margaret carving her floral designs into the pieces made the day before and David demonstrated his fluid style of brush and wax resist decoration. In between their sessions on the main stage they worked constantly in their spaces, always pleased to show something in detail or elucidate on topics raised in the main sessions.

Martin Mindermann, a raku potter from Germany, struggled against problems with his clay, yet still managed to show the audience how he throws his large pots. Made in several sections and joined when leather hard, these pieces are up to a metre in diameter. On Saturday afternoon he fired one of these pieces, brought bisque fired from Germany, the culmination being the drawing of the hot pot at about 5pm. Using his chain mail covered gloves he carries the piece to a sawdust lined pit in the ground where the pot is buried in sawdust and covered with earth overnight to cool. The sun was shining but luck certainly wasn't and the piece was cracked when uncovered the next morning. Demonstration session number two - how to glue a shattered pot back together.

Ian Gregory's (England) two stage sessions saw him making one of his dog series and a human figure. Ian uses several small sticks (like barbecue skewers) to provide support for the legs, arms body and neck of his creatures. A fascinating technique which gives a great deal of strength while building.

Sue Halls came up from London to facilitate this year's 'hands on project' entitled "A Field for Aberystwyth". This aspect of the festival really challenges the artist as they lead everyone who wants to participate in a communal piece of work. Sue devised a simple method to make clay animals and, with the help of the 750 participants and a ton of clay, proceeded to cover the concrete piazza overlooking the beautiful Cardigan Bay with a menagerie of hundreds of creatures. Sue also managed to give the audience a session on the stage, showing how she makes her unique, and intimidating, dogs.

Rina Kimche, from Israel, gave a well attended slide talk about her background and the ceramics in Israel. During her two sessions on stage she attempted to describe how she formulates her ideas into her, often large, slab built constructions.

Maxine O'Reilly was added to the guest list fairly late on. but she was certainly a welcome addition. Her clay installation became the kiln itself which, during firing, she was able to manipulate the flames in various patterns through a multitude of outlets. Placing different materials on the hot lay surface provided a whole new array of flame patterns. She describes this manipulation of the flames of her installations as playing them, like music.

Business was brisk in the trade marquee where the companies displays proved popular with virtually every material and tool available and the Islwyn Watkins' antique pottery stall was a joy to behold with examples of early Welsh country pottery and a rare selection of early 20th century British Studio Pottery. The ceramic magazines were well represented with Studio Pottery, Ceramics Art and Perception and Ceramic Review present.