Author Archives: Johanna Perez

My visit to Ai Wei Wei’s exhibit

I visited the Design Museum on 9 June with the class. It was by far one of the most interesting and thought provoking exhibits that I have visited in this year. I truly enjoyed all the pieces that were in the exhibit and the range of media that was presented in Ai Wei Wei’s work

SPOUTS, 2015 Porcelain

"This field is made up of more than 250,000 porcelain spouts from teapots and wine ewers, crafted by hand during the Song dynasty (960-1279CE). If a pot was not perfect when it was made, the spout was broken off. The quantity here attests to the scale of porcelain production in China even a thousand years ago. Ai is also offering a commentary on freedom of speech, with the spouts-or mouths-having been removed"

It was extremely interesting to see the scale of this piece compared to the smaller objects in the exhibit. Especially made up of such a small object like a teapot spout, it truly reflected the description that Ai made for this piece. I wondered what would become of this piece once it leaves the exhibition.

7. HANDLED EWER, Song Dynasty Porcelain, unknown maker

8. UNTITLED (RE-FIRING SPOUTS FROM THE SONG DYNASTY), 2015 Porcelain

This goes hand in hand with the other piece above and was really interesting to see how the spouts looked like individually vs. all piled up together like the previous piece.

WATER LILLIES #1, 2022 Lego bricks

Courtesy of Galleria Continua

"The largest Lego work Ai has ever created, this is a recreation of one of the most famous paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet... To the right of Ai's version is a dark portal which is the door to the underground dugout in Xinjiang province where Ai and his father, Ai Qing, lived in forced exile in the 1960s. Their hellish desert home punctures the watery paradise. The image has been constructed out of Lego bricks to strip away Monet's brushstrokes in favor of a depersonalized language of industrial parts and colors".

This was my favorite piece in this exhibition, especially being a close comparison to Monet’s own style and work. It made for a much more personal and emotional composition considering the fact that this piece is made entirely out of legos. I loved how large the piece was and how it covered the entire wall of the exhibit, maybe even larger than an original Monet piece. It made me feel small next to the piece, made me feel really small next to the wall of emotions.

A piece from the timeline in the Design museum

After exploring the Ai Wei Wei exhibit, I explored the rest of the Design Museum and noticed a timeline that mentioned William Morris for 1861. It made me remember the previous museum visit that I made to his gallery and all the pieces that were exhibited as evidence to his contribution to design. This was all tied to the first episode of Genius of Design and how all three of these museums and media are tied together and refer to William Morris.

Unit 3 part 2 reflection

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My research directed me to focus on the craft of trees of life and the intricate designs of Talavera pottery. Making a mould of a very intricate tree of life proved to be hard and making a successful cast from that mould proved to be even harder. The mould itself had to be shaven down and become less detailed, making it look different from the original model I had made. In order to make up time from the many failed casts, I opted to glaze my tree of life with simplified colors to further emphasize the connection to the Talavera face plate I had printed. The Talavera design on the face plate also had to be simplified, as I had difficulties finding a way to recreate a colorful design. With this decision, I had let go of the vibrant and traditional colors that are very prominent in Mexican pottery for both pieces. The task of creating a successful casted piece became a huge trial-and-error process that demanded more technique and time than I had anticipated. I wondered if I was too ambitious with the mould, but I learned how to make the cast successful several times without being so time-consuming..

Talavera face plates before enamel firing

Creative futures file

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In this post, I’ll be mentioning the most influential pieces, artists, or media that have changed or motivated my practice throughout the duration as a Ceramic design student.

1. The Image of Christ from Hinton St. Mary

In the beginning of the first unit, I looked very closely at objects that were on display in museums. One of the first objects I was interested in was The Image of Christ from the Hinton St Mary Mosaic. In relation to my unit 1 piece, I was interested to see how religion used images to portray Christ and Christianity. This piece is a part of a bigger mosaic floor made of ceramic, dated early 4th century

2. Michael Anderson

Continuing my Unit 1 research, I fell upon a specific baptismal font created by Michael Andersen. This shape appeared in my research very often and I was inspired to create a similar shape for the unit 1 project.

I became interested in this specific design created by Andersen since it included pattern and images in such a small shape. It became a key factor to the creation of my own project.

3. Miniature Baptismal Fonts by Julian Wheeler

One of the most informational references that I used in unit 1 was this book by Julian Wheeler. Although this reference isn’t an artist, it informed a big part of my project on what baptismal fonts were and what miniature fonts were used for. I discovered that they had a purpose to the families that did not have the means to have a traditional baptism for their child, and it influenced the direction that I took for my own 15cm baptismal font by also including examples of different fonts in existence

4. DK Studios

For Unit 2, I wanted to focus on marbling through slipware and ran upon a few examples that specifically demonstrated slipware work on plates. DK studios demonstrated a usage of multiple colors and great definition in their marbling, especially on plates. I saw this studio’s work as an example of how I wanted to see my own marbling, but these examples were created on flat surfaces which was something that I was not interested in.

5. Angela George Antiques

Another example of work that I found for unit 2 came from this studio. Although these pieces of work aren’t an example of marbling, it gave me an idea of the further experimentation I could reach and how I could gradually move into agateware from marbling like these examples. This was also an example on cup forms which is the direction that I intended to take for unit 2 part 2 after learning how to make cup molds and thrown cup forms

6. Mark Campbell Ceramics

Mark Campbell Ceramic is another example of slipware that I found, especially since there are different patterns in these works. These are also examples I found on bowls and more open faced shapes that I thought would be easier to throw on the wheel in comparison to plates. This reference in specific was very useful to me since it gave me an idea of expanding my usage of color and technique/ application methods to get different patterns like the pieces here.

7. The Matsaba by Christo

For unit 3, I became interested in responding to the Hyde Park as a space for my monument. I looked at what sculptures had already existed in Hyde Park and in the Serpentine and this particular piece came up in a lot of my investigation as one of the recent sculptures in the Serpentine. This work was specifically interesting to me scale wise and gave me an idea of the potential I had to create a piece in this park for the visitors to see.

8. The Arch by Henry Moore

Henry Moore’s sculptures have always been an interest to me, so when finding out he’s had work installed in the Hyde Park, I wanted to learn more about this piece. This piece gave me ideas as to how a monument could blend into its occupied space while also standing out enough that it doesn’t ruin said space. Even the way the light reflected on the sculpture and how it created shadow is something I wanted to recreate.

9. Fountain of Life by Yoshimoto Nara

Nara’s Fountain of Life became one of the biggest references and inspirations that I used for unit 3. The meaning of life connected to a fountain was something that I could imagine being installed into a park. I loved how the heads stacked over each other and even in different directions and angles, and I wanted to replicate that composition for my own piece.

10. Serenity by Simon Gudgeon

Serenity is one if the references that I found when I visited my site in person. It was one of the monuments that already exist in Hyde Park permanently. This reference gave me a clear idea of what kind of monuments existed in a park as big and popular as Hyde Park, especially with a lot of pedestrians that walk by this statue constantly.

Sketchbook evidence unit 3

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A lot of the thinking process that I had for Unit 4 came from my sketchbook process in Unit 3. Thanks to my personal connection that I had for the unit, I knew that drawing out my thinking process would help me personalize my project even more and bring a more detailed composition and organized thinking process for Unit 4

Unit 3 Tree of Life sketches

Before beginning to sketch out my own version of a tree of life, I first had to investigate more about the craft and write down things that would help me understand it’s traditional structure, history, and what makes a tree of life authentic

The beginning of my Tree of Life

After understanding the wide variety of tree of lifes and the many possible routes that I could take to make my own tree of life, I chose the best structure that suited my practice, my skills, and the story that I wanted to convey within my own piece.

In my own version, I chose a structure that allowed for the tree branches to show through the ornaments that I would later add. I chose to create a main figure in the middle of the tree to represent myself as part of the tree and the roots, and I chose objects that had personal significance to my identity as Mexican American

Unit 3 Plate design

As part of the unit, the class would be required to make a print design for a plate. I knew that I wanted to tie both projects in unit 3 together and chose to incorporate more Mexican inspired designs into my work.

For the design, I drew inspiration from Talavera pottery traditionally from Puebla, Mexico, a state close to my father’s hometown and a place I used to regularly visit throughout my childhood. This artwork can sometimes look like Majolica and Azulejo tile design from Spain because of some similarities they have

til designs in different shades of blue — Spanish Majolica

In comparison to Majolica and Azulejo designs, Talavera designs can be more intricate, colorful, and take up more space of the surface with its design. Talavera designs can also range from being extremely colorful and ornate to being simple and one colored design similar to Spanish design

Sketching out designs

printed pictures of Talavera designs and sketches

For the purpose of designing a print for a plate, I chose to stick to more simple Talavera designs like the ones I printed out on my sketchbook.

Most Majolica and Azulejo designs work in a square-like structure for tiles, but I focused on Talavera designs meant for bowls and plates, designs in circular structures that would work well for my plate

Final plate designs

After sketching out my ideas and understanding the style of Talavera designs, I chose to stick with a design with slight variations in each of them.

After looking back at more colorful Talavera designs, I redesigned my final concepts and decided to make them encompass the surface like traditional Talavera does

These are all excerpts of my sketchbook and how sketching, drawing, designing, and laying out my work helped my thinking process that finalized my unit projects for unit 3 and influenced my object and thinking process for unit 4

Unit 3 part 1 reflection

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Considering the community that my monument would be placed in, as someone who is not a part of that community, was the main aspect that shaped my monument’s idea. I wanted to create this monument knowing other people could relate to the core meaning even if it was personal to me. This piece reflects on the feeling of moving to a completely new country and doing the best to make this space feel like home. I wanted to speak about how London has become a home to not only myself but to so many other people who have moved here for a new chapter in their life. When thinking about it’s placement, I knew that this piece had to be in Hyde Park and that it’s composition had to work well with its surroundings. During my site visit, I took notice of what current sculptures and monuments existed in the park, as well as past and temporary pieces that I found on Google. I thought about creating a water fountain, which later turned into a wishing well to further emphasize the hopes and dreams that a community can have as a whole and as an individual.

finished product fountain with hands — Wishing well final product

My visit to the British Museum

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Right after establishing my idea for Unit 3, I did some more research on Trees of Life, and thanks to my classmate, I also found out that the British Museum had a few trees of life in their collection under the name candelabrums (candelabras in Spanish).

After visiting and looking at their online collection, I discovered that the British Museum has a few candelabras from the most renown Mexican potters in Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, and Metepec. The Castillo family and the Soteno family are most known for their candelabrums that have earned much recognition around the world, not just in Mexico. Both families have been creating their own versions for generations and have passed down the craft to the next generation.

The Castillo Family

The British museum’s collection has a few candelabrums under the Castillo family name, and there are a few that also come from individual Castillo’s. The photo to the left is one of the pieces that the museum has under “Castillo family” but the most recognized member of the family is Alfonso Castillo Orta, who has many awards for his individual work. There is also work from Eriberto Castillo

Tiburcio Soteno Fernandez and Oscar Soteno

Tiburcio was part of the second generation of Mexican potters in Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, who learned the craft of tree of life from his mom. Oscar Soteno is part of the same family as a third generation, learning from his uncles and his parents. Many of their candelabrums are in the collection and each have a distinct style as the Soteno family and as individuals. The image to the right is an example of Tiburcio’s work, his own individual style and how decorative his tree of life’s can be.

There are also pieces from Francisco Flores and other pieces that are made by unknown artists but their region is consistently from Puebla and from Metepec. When searching the term candelabrum in the online collection, only 45 results appear, 32 of which are made of ceramic (and are actual Mexican candelabrums).

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/search?object=candelabrum

Arboles de Vida

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At the beginning of Unit 3, I knew that I wanted to go back to my own roots, to tell my story as a Mexican American artist. Upon learning that the art of trees of life traditionally comes from a nearby place that my dad is from, I drew inspiration from this type of art onto my unit 3 part 2 work. After discovering how rich in culture, history, and life this line of work truly is, I knew that this also had to be the work to focus on for Unit 4

Background

Trees of life are traditionally from central Mexico, specifically from Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, and Metepec. The examples above, like many other, were originally meant to depict the biblical story of Adam and Eve to teach the indigenous people in the early colonial period of Catholicism. Now, they’ve become a fusion of Spanish and Indigenous techniques and design.

Traditional Pieces

Many trees of life can be traced back to 1800-1300 B.C., but most recent depictions have now demonstrated themes of death, spring, duality of life and death, natural world and man, and represent abundance, fertility, story telling, and growth.

The most traditional trees of life are made with terracotta clay, decorated with religious images of God towards the top of the sculpture and other relating images. Many of these pieces depict flowers, birds, leaves, fruit, figurines, miniature ceramic pieces, and more. The more intricate and decorative they become, the longer they can take to produce. Typical pieces are between 26 to 60cm long, and can range from 2 weeks to three years to create.

The Soteno Family and Tiburcio Soteno

One of the most prominent families known for their trees of life in Metepec is the Soteno Family. Many generations have learned the craft of creating extremely decorative and intricate trees of life, but one of the most notable family member is Tiburcio Soteno (1952-2022), second generation artisan who has won many awards and has had his artwork in collections worldwide. Like his uncle, Oscar Soteno (b. 1970) was also known for his trees of life that display an array of stories with his unique style.

man in a ceramic workshop — Tiburcio Soteno working on a tree of life in his workshop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soteno_family#References

Alfonso Castillo Orta (1944-2009)

Castillo Orta was a Mexican potter from Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla whose trees of life became internationally known and received many awards for. As a fourth generation potter, he learned the craft through the past generations and experimented with creating more decorative pieces and creating his own style. He became the center of popular art in Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, what is known to be one of the pottery centers of Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Castillo_Orta

Personal Connection

My family is from Mexico, my dad from Tlaxcala, and my mom from Hidalgo. Both states are close to central Mexico, where Puebla and Metepec are not very far from. Going to Mexico many times during my childhood made me feel very connected to my ethnicity and my roots. Mexican pottery has always been such a rich part of the country and its culture, and while growing up I was always surrounded by the art. Now being able to create art similar to traditional Mexican pottery and work with similar clay, I feel more connected than ever before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life_(Mexican_pottery)

A visit to the William Morris Gallery

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My visit to the William Morris Gallery on the 28/4/23 was shortly after watching ep. 1 of Genius of design.

flower wallpaper design — Design for Chrysanthemum wallpaper (1877)

Both the episode and the museum mentioned and showed examples of Morris’ expertise in wallpapers and his skilled and detailed craftsmanship

“He took patterns from nature and made them into these wonderful, imaginative, white formalised but very simple patterns, very unlikely anything that was around at that particular period in Victorian design”
Genius of Design: Objects of Desire

I was drawn to how detailed these designs were, but was unable to make a copy of my own onto my sketchbook to replicate one of the pieces from the museum. The woodpecker tapestry is one of my favourites with all of its colourful details and depictions of animals, but interestingly enough, the gallery’s website mentions that “by the mid -1880s (around the time of this tapestry) tapestry designs at Morris & Co. were a collaborative effort”, with the exception of this one. The Chrysanthemum piece is also an interesting piece, as you can see that at the bottom, there is a lower portion of the drawing that reveals how Morris drew in pencil over a grid before adding watercolour, which is much different than the other pieces that are fully finished.

My visit to the V&A museum

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My visit to the V&A on 21/4/23 was mostly concentrated on the fourth floor where their large ceramic collection was in. I took evidence of several pieces that I found interesting and recorded what I thought would be influential to my practice during unit 3 and unit 4.

All three vases (Fig. 1 & 4) are different works with similar bodies and floral design in their own respective style. It makes me imagine the possibility of depicting the same thing alongside other artists with different styles. I found interest in these vases since I often create similar bodies but never considered the possibility of acrylic painting designs onto ceramic pieces or the idea of adding moulds to a vase.

Fig, 2, although originating from Germany, reminds me a lot of Mexican pottery, specifically to the choices of coloured slips on terracotta / earthenware ceramic and the design chosen. This realisation made me focus more in Mexican pottery which became the biggest influence for Unit 3 and 4 ceramic projects. Shortly after seeing this piece, I looked at more German pieces to see a similarity and found this simple and colourful design quite common across the V&A’s German ceramic collection. I also attempted to look for more Mexican pottery and was able to find very few pieces (maybe around 4) in the entire V&A.

white porcelain vase with flowers — Iranian, Doha Porcelain, 18th century, vase from the ceramic collection

ceramic bowl — Iranian, Doha Porcelain, 18th century, vase from the ceramic collection

Sketchwork

Evidence of my sketchbook work during my V&A visit along with notes, the piece’s information, and anything else that I found important to write down.

Influential Piece: Listening to the waves

A piece I found interesting in the contemporary artist collection was this piece called Listening to the Waves by Takayuki Sakiyama in 2022, Japan. This stoneware piece with sand glaze was really beautiful and elegant at the same time, and it was moving to me since it was supposed to mimic the movement of oceanic waves.

"His swirling stoneware vessels evoke the unending rhythm of the waves. The intricately carved exterior and interior are seamlessly joined and finished with a unique sand glaze that he has developed using local materials"

I truly found inspiration in this piece because the artist ties his work to his home and brings such an emotional connection and personal connection to this piece. Without showing and saying too much, he successfully portrays his idea of rhythmic waves to the eyes of the viewer with just the movement and design of his piece.

22039478’s blog

Unit 4 blog site

Author Archives: Johanna Perez

My visit to Ai Wei Wei’s exhibit

Unit 3 part 2 reflection

Creative futures file

1. The Image of Christ from Hinton St. Mary

2. Michael Anderson

3. Miniature Baptismal Fonts by Julian Wheeler

4. DK Studios

5. Angela George Antiques

6. Mark Campbell Ceramics

7. The Matsaba by Christo

8. The Arch by Henry Moore

9. Fountain of Life by Yoshimoto Nara

10. Serenity by Simon Gudgeon

Sketchbook evidence unit 3

Unit 3 Tree of Life sketches

The beginning of my Tree of Life

Unit 3 Plate design

Sketching out designs

Final plate designs

Unit 3 part 1 reflection

My visit to the British Museum

The Castillo Family

Tiburcio Soteno Fernandez and Oscar Soteno

Arboles de Vida

Background

Traditional Pieces

The Soteno Family and Tiburcio Soteno

Alfonso Castillo Orta (1944-2009)

Personal Connection

A visit to the William Morris Gallery

My visit to the V&A museum

Sketchwork

Influential Piece: Listening to the waves