Huaguang Design Symposium

This month I will travel to China where I have been invited, as one of eight international ceramic artists, to take part in a tableware design symposium. The symposium is hosted by the Huaguang Bone China Factory, Zibo, Shandong province, China from the 1st - 15th September, 2009. I will work with the factory model-makers and highly-skilled artisans in developing new approaches to the interface between industry and studio ceramics.

The other invited artists are

Janet DeBoos (Australia)
Jiang Yanze (PRC)
Paul Mathieu (Canada)
Carol McNichol (UK)
Ilona Romule (Latvia)
Vipoo Srivilasa (Australia/Thailand)
Takeshi Yasuda (UK/Japan)

Creative New Zealand

I have been very fortunate to have received a grant from Creative New Zealand to enable me to travel to China to take part in this symposium.

Zibo 淄博

Zibo is where I will be going to take part in the design symposiun.

Zibo with a population of 2,700,000 is in the center of the Shandong Province and was once the capital of the ancient state of Qi, the most prosperous state during the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods over 2,000 years ago in China.
Zibo has a 6,000 year history of ceramics production, and is one of the five ceramics production bases in China, producing 430 million pieces of pottery and porcelain wares annually.

China

I had intended to keep my blog going while I was in China but it seems that the Chinese authorities have shut down all blog and social networking sites. It coincided with the 20th anniversary this year of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Now that I am home again I can post a record of what I was up to but I have had to reverse the dates on this blog so that it will read in chronological order. This image is of a sculpture I saw on my first day in Beijing and is very appropriate.

Beijing

After a 12 hour flight delay, I arrived in Beijing where I had arranged to meet up with some of the other symposium participants. Next morning I found Ilona and Paul at breakfast and we headed out for a bit of sight-seeing. Paul took us to the 798 Art District, a block of 50-year-old decommissioned military factory buildings that have been converted into galleries and artists' studios. In the afternoon we did the tourist thing, avoiding the crowds at the Forbidden City and opting for the smaller Prince Gong's Palace.

Beijing to Zibo

Janet, Vipoo and Michelle, who is one of Janet's students, arrived overnight and we left for Zibo in the morning. Michelle wasn't able to get a train ticket so travelled by air where she connected with Carol on her flight from the UK.

Huaguang Ceramic Design Symposium begins

Mr He Yan, the Huaguan Ceramic Design Director, made me especially welcome as he had travelled to New Zealand 10 years ago, visiting Whangarei potters Jin Ling and Greg Barron.

Janet DeBoos, Takeshi Yasuda, Michelle Lim, Huaguang Designer, Ilona Romule, Carol McNichol, Vipoo Srivilasa, Paul Mathieu, He Yan and myself. Yanze Jiang is missing from this photo but is seated next to Janet in the following image.

After introductions and a tour of the design studio we were taken for the first of many banquets.

Huaguang bone china factory

Before we began work we were given a tour of the factory.

Zibo International Ceramic Art Expo

Each of us were asked to bring a small group of our own studio work to exhibit at the Zibo International Ceramic Art Expo. We were driven to the opening with a police escort as part of a motorcade of overseas visitors including a delegation from Nigeria and South America who were staying in the same hotel as we were. Police were posted at each intersection to make sure we had a clear run all the way.

Mould-making

The apprentice mould-maker with my models ready for casting.


The master mould-maker preparing my teapot to make the mould.


Ready to cast the first half of the mould.


Mixing the plaster


Once the plaster is almost ready to set it is poured.


The moulds are tidied up and notched with a broken hacksaw blade before the other half is made.


I was impressed at what these highly-skilled craftsmen could do with just a few basic tools.

Slip casting

Stirring the slip before passing it through a the sieve into the pourer. The sieve has a large magnet in it to attract any metal fragments that would contaminate the slip.

Seconds from the factory are used for pouring the slip.


The teapot mold is spun on a turntable while it is filled with slip.


After 15 minutes the slip is poured out.


The moulds are left until the casts are firm enough to be removed.


The rose is attached with a wire tool to the inside of the teapot body with slip.


The pots are left to dry before being fettled and sponged down to clean them up.


Finished pieces belonging to Ilona and I are dry and ready for firing.

Bisque firing and glazing

Some of my pieces in the kiln for bisque firing. Bone china is bisque-fired at high temperature so that the ware can be supported if need be and then glazed at a lower temperature. If decal decorations are applied they are fired again to a lower temperature again.

.

These are two of the spoons I made for the condiment set, supported by a thin silicon carbide rod.

The glaze is stained with a red dye and gum added to help it adhere to the vitrified pots.

Some of Yanze's, Ilona's and my work waiting for the insides to dry before being sprayed on the outsides.

Results of the first firing

We were offered a choice of two bone china casting slips, white or an imitation blue celedon. I opted for the blue slip that only shows its colour when glazed. I asked them to glaze only the insides on one set so that the outsides would be matt white to highlight the cut sides.

Condiment set

More condiment pieces and teapots waiting for handles. I found some long bamboo tongs in the local market and tried to steam-bend them to make handles but because they were so dry they all snapped. Bamboo is usually heated and bent while it is still wet, but that wasn't an option for me because Shandong is not a bamboo-growing area. They told me that they could have metal handles made but because we were running out of time I went back to the markets to look for another solution.

This is the market alley not far from the design studio.


After much searching I found these scrubbing brushes at a kitchen/hardware stall.


I'm not sure what the Chinese made of it but the rest of the group were very enthusiastic about my find.


A group of finished pieces, unglazed except for the insides and lids.