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pots did when they were originally made.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