L'exposition de céramiques contemporaines.

Du 13 Décembre 2008 au 4 Janvier 2009.

L'exposition est aimablement accueillie par l’hôtel Victoria – Angkor où elle se tiendra.

Over the forty years that I have been a practicing potter I have tried many of the vast arrays of styles and techniques that the 6000 years of pottery has developed through its traditions and cultures. These include earthenware, maiolica, raku techniques, stoneware, salt-glazing and wood firing. It has always been those techniques and their aesthetic possibilities that involve the active participation of one's whole self that have attracted me. This is particularly so with raku, salt-glazed wares and wood firing. My preference for the vitrification of the clay has narrowed my interest to salt-glaze and wood firing. To this end I have now built eight kilns at my studio in Gulgong, Australia. These kilns are all functioning, each type of firing having its own particular effect on the clay body. With these techniques the clay body has a decided importance to the finished results, also the kiln, the type of wood fuel, any type of decorative process, the stacking of the pieces and, most importantly, the forms that one makes. Firing my anagama, for instance, takes many hours often up to three days increasing the heat and the ash deposits over that time. The flames course through the kiln leaving ash and flash marks on the unprotected forms. It is a science and an art which can lead to a lifetime of discovery and fulfillment.

I discovered at KCBC the possibility to express myself in the matter, I discovered Art. This possibility of expression using techniques from our ancestor had completely seduced me. My works are based on Khmer design trough I express myself. My pieces are throw on the potter wheel and altered, or hand made. I’m actually busy to experiment different types of finishing, including glazed and unglazed.

Process and Intent: Evidence of the Hand               The intent of my work is to reflect upon nature and the process of making art.  Working with clay and wood firing is how I explore these intentions. I am interested in creating an interaction between material, form and surface.  Drawing influence from folk pottery traditions, I make vessels that exhibit evidence of the fire and the hand-made process. Clay is a primal, living material. I have chosen it because it gives me a sense of connectedness and spirituality. Making things with clay involves a direct process and being in the present.  My best creative experiences occur when I am not thinking about past or future.Form gives my work a context. It occupies space, has volume and profile which interact to create a strong sense of presence.  Many of my forms reference African and Southeast Asian folk pottery, particularly water containers and funerary urns. I like surfaces that convey a feeling of age, a natural process of decay and constant change. By carving into the surface of wet clay and firing in a wood burning kiln, a weathered quality similar to an old tree trunk or the surface of ancient rock emerges. I also use surface decoration to explore some of my personal experiences of nature, drawing imagery directly from the bush around my studio and surrounding farmlands. Firing with wood is far more than just a process to heat pots and melt glazes.  It is an arduous process that requires direct personal involvement.  I love to cut wood and build large fires.  It is gratifying to smell the fresh wood burning, to hear the crackle of the fire and to work hard physically to create the outcomes. Pottery and fire run deep within my upbringing.  My father was in the furnace business which meant I was always around heating devices.  He also made wine in an old folk pottery jug which he kept near the furnace in the basement.  I loved the pot.  I still have it after more than fifty years.  As a young child I remember the thumb marks made by the potter at the base of the handle. I also remember the palm impression in the side, created when the potter picked the wet freshly- made piece off the wheel.  My hand fit perfectly in that spot. For a brief moment it felt like I was holding his hand.  The potter left evidence of his hand and a message about process. Evidence of the process made me realize that things are made by people. This was very powerful and a formative influence that has kept me focused on my intent to leave “evidence of my hand” in my own work.

As a potter, the clay is my voice.  My works are a testament of my beliefs, my vision, and my life. They speak with cultural undertones, and dance from one form to another, inspired by the shapes that my ancestors made. The forms always change, and progress to the next. But they are all related.
Each day brings a new shape and a new challenge. My works parallel my life, as i try to move forward to a new day.
Hadrian Mendoza

I started pottery as a creative hobby in Paris seven years ago. In 2005 I moved to Champasak (Laos) in order to get more time and space to experiment with clay. Primitive pottery came as an obvious choice in my new conditions. Thus, I prepare my own clay picked from the Mekong river bank, build my pots by hand and fire them in a mix of saw dust and rice husk. At the moment I'm working on the transition from spherical to squarish.
Laurence Chabard

The majority of my current work is within the parameters of functional ware.  I employ the ideas of the Gestaltist to arrange and rearrange the vocabulary of formal elements I have developed over the years.  I view my forms and textures as a bit of a scrabble game, arrangement and order create meaning; the possibilities are infinite.  The only trick to the game is spelling out the concept of utility.  Once this is achieved I use the object for experimentation in the finished surface through firing.  I am constantly referencing the formal attributes of historical movements in Fine Art and Craft to give my work a context for understanding by the viewer or user.  My work is always a record of where I’m at in time and an expression of living life as an adventure!

I am doing ceramics sculptures since 1970; and organized several sculptural symposiums in Czech Republic. I made those sculptures during one of my numerous stay in Siem Reap, as I want to participate at the Festival. I present “Apsaras of the year 2008”.

Michal Blazek

Clay and it's merry journey has filled my life for the last thirty-six years.  I have found joy and hope in my studio throwing this earthy substance and glazing and decorating  the rounded and angular shapes I  form. The kiln and the firing are always challenging and the anticipation of opening fills me with excitement each time.   I feel I am on a lifelong quest to find beauty and joy through the clay. I pray the users of my ware get a good vibration also.  Thank you Cambodia for welcoming me!     

Michael Pugh .