Reflection on Paul Davis Slide Talk at Emily Carr Paul Davis is a potter who makes Hagi ware, a particular type of Japanese tea ware, which I greatly admire. He came to Emily Carr to talk about his experience in Japan and his particular beliefs concerning the apprenticeship of pottery making (which | happen to support wholeheartedly; if you really want to learn how to make production pottery, that is the way to go, although there is no excuse for the kind of bullshit and abuse some apprenticeship programs entail.) What could possibly be the reasons for anyone to make exact “reproductions” or “imitations” of Japanese 17th century ceram- ics at the beginning of the 21st century? He is not Japanese, he is not from that particular historical time either. In any other discipline than ceramics, with its chronic lack of rigor, its buddy system, this type of work would be rightfully perceived as com- petent reproductions - imitations at best and fakes, at worst. I can somewhat understand that someone of Japanese descent might want to do similar work or even better, someone for whom it has been a family tradition for centuries. But then again, the results are largely nostalgic and conservative strategies to exploit naive buyers, somewhat like the Royal family does so efficiently. The fact that both systems imply a rigid hierarchical order comes as no surprise. I lived and worked for six months in Japan too, and all the Japanese ceramic artists and potters I have met were of similar opinions. When Hagi ware was first made in Japan, it incorporated an aesthetic coming from Korea but the aesthetic was totally trans- formed by the Japanese sensibility. These objects, masterpieces of world art, made total sense to these people, their life, their beliefs, their tradition, etc. They can still speak to us forcefully and. eloquently over centuries. But to make similar objects today, especially if you are not from that culture and certainly not from that time, makes no sense whatsoever. This type of work is actually pretentious, since it pretends to be something it cannot possibly truly be. It can only look like the real thing, no mean feat mind you, but preposterous nonetheless. We should be making pots that have meaning now, that speak of the particular place and time we find ourselves, the way Hagi pots did when they were originally made. I wonder what the original Hagi potters would make of this work since they were living in the present and Paul Davis (and too many others, unfortunately) lives in the past. Paul Mathieu is a potter and teacher, He can be reached at pmathieu@eciad. Photos courtesy Phyllis Schwartz The Paul Davis Lectures and Beyond In many ways February was a Paul Davis month. Certainly after hosting him for that time, the place is suddenly noticeably qui- eter... Feedback from all quarters indicates that his presence, pots and ideas have stimulated us all to question what, why and how we do things. No doubt there will be ongoing discussions and dia- logue during the months to come, in a way that we have rarely seen before. Paul’s personal approach, work and aesthetic are strongly influ- enced. by the workshop ethic, so much a part of his Japanese experience, where most unusually for a westerner he was adopt- ed into the originally Korean Koraizaemon family to continue the unbroken 13 generation tradition, as there was no direct heir. Also his current status as a potter making a living almost entirely from sales of his work informs his approach. Part of his mandate of having the facilities at Sturt is that he operates a program of apprentice workshop training, returning to the origi- nal ethos of Sturt. In one sense this approach is at odds with his 26 years of University teaching and his ongoing weekly teaching assignment in Sydney. It certainly engenders a lively debate with his partner, who is head of the School of Fine Arts and herself a potter with a very conceptual bias! 6 Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter These poles were the topics of his two slide / lecture presenta- tions. The first at ECIAD, sponsored by the NWCE as part of their speaker series, looked at his own current work, his Japanese training and the whole workshop training ethic. The second at Surrey Art Gallery illustrated the other side of the coin, talking about Contemporary Australian Ceramics and the development of an Australian perspective. What Paul showed and. talked about was an incredible range of work, much of it with a strong conceptual basis. Paul is currently working with Shadbolt on ideas for the estab- lishment of artist residency programs there, similar to those offered at Sturt. In addition he and I will be working on the idea of a group trip to Australia to wood fire at Sturt, attend workshops and. make all sorts of other connections. Phone me if you might be inter- ested so I can gauge whether it is an idea worth pursuing. Also if anyone is interested in the Oxyprobe he used (approx. $500), I should be able to get a good rate for you through him. Keith Rice-Jones 604 522 8803. April 2005