Unit 7 Research, THE POISONED CHALICE

Sodeisha Movement

Akiyama Yo, part of the movement, worked with his father in a traditional Kyoto pottery but also sought to rebel against the strict rules and regulations of the ‘salon’. For example the movement showed pottery and sculpture in the same exhibition, something that was frowned upon by traditional Japanese potters. They also refused to submit their work to a salon, or copy traditional designs.

“AKIYAMA YO’S art stands in stark contrast to the utilitarian nature of traditional ceramics. His sculptures are rather a manifestation of the very essence of clay. Harkening back to its geologic origin, his oeuvre reflects the igneous nature of clay–– formed during its swift cooling from volcanic magma. Akiyama’s aesthetic perspective is that art is in a constant state of transformation, like the surface of the earth. Through his act of creation, he feels the energy trapped within the clay body is released.” – https://blogs.massart.edu/earthandalchemy/artists/yo-akiyama-japanese/ South Hall Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston. Related to the Earth & Alchemy Exhibition

In 1948, the Sodeisha artists mailed out postcards with their ‘motto’ or artistic credo:

“The postwar art world needed the expediency of creating associations in order to escape from personal confusion, but today, finally, that provisional role appears to have ended. The birds of dawn taking flight out of the forest of falsehood now discover their reflections only in the spring of truth. We are united not to provide a ‘warm bed of dreams’, but to come to terms with our existence in broad daylight”

Wedgewood

Josiah Wedgewood, and those who worked for him, Experimented with coloured clays, manipulated clay bodies, created jasper ware, revolutionised the status of clay around the time of the industrial revolution, a human trace within ceramic – our power goes beyond just manipulation into shapes and forms, we can also push the boundaries of plasticity, colour texture etc.

Elers Brothers

Created unglazed red stoneware, made it fashionable, desirable. The original trend-setters, changing the aesthetic sensibilities of a nation and beyond. They found clay in Staffordshire that imitated Yixing ware(purple teapot) apparently their clay was finer, according to a Chinese scholar of the time. They were previously jewellers, from Utrecht, but moved to London in the 1680s and became potters.

The beaker shown here is decorated with stamped Chinese symbols, which I thought at first were hallmarks, like on silver, interesting to think that they were previously jewellers. It would be interesting to possibly work with the idea of ‘signifiers’ like hallmarks, that determine and represent the material status of an object.