Details
Hand-built dark clay
H. 42 cm x w. 13 cm x d. 9 cm
Weight: 6.5kg
 
 
About the Maker
‘There’s no one place or central ideology that is embodied in my group of work, rather an overarching passion towards making work that comes from answering an unanswerable question. How to live a full life? Letting the mind roam free and naturally creating what comes forth'. 
 
‘The play of the delicacy and lightness of porcelain against the weight and darkness of the black stoneware vessels has come about as an exploration of clay. The need for perfection with porcelain and the utter nonconformity that I felt when creating the stoneware vessels; an urge and an impulse to let go. The glaze techniques I’ve used on the porcelain vessels is to highlight a type of magic that can be found when one looks closer. A bit like the dancing of sunlight on water or stars in the night time sky. The black stoneware vessels stand in contrast, but within the same framework, eliciting feelings of the unknown. I came across this style of making within ceramics for the first time at Katherine Glenday’s studio where I have apprenticed and learnt for the last 4 years. There was an unidentifiable quality I related to which I wanted to explore. This developed further after coming across Shozo Michikawa’s work and feeling a profound connection. The ethos or non ethos found in the Tao, Wabi-sabi and the natural way of meditation all point in this directionless direction. I have since felt inspired to form my own voice within an established style of creating.’ 
 
'When viewing the work, I hope the perceiver can begin to touch on something that I have used my life to explore. To steal a saying from Zen, “The flower blooms with no thought as to whom might see it”.’
 
Alistair Blair is a ceramicist, cinematographer and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa. His work has been featured in the publication ‘Clay Formes’, a survey of contemporary clay from South Africa putting a spotlight on ‘thirty important South African artists’.