MISSA - Week One - Year 29

 Art Education in Paradise near Victoria on

 Southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia,
CANADA

MISSA (Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts)

 JULY 2013 

THE CONCEPT BEHIND MISSA WAS BASED ON A VISIT TO MacGREGOR COLLEGE, TOOWOOMBA, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, WHERE I WAS INVITED TO BE A VISITING INTERNATIONAL GUEST ARTIST IN SUMMER 1983.  THEY USED A COLLEGE CAMPUS THAT WASN'T BEING USED IN THE SUMMER FOR REGULAR PROGRAM AND RAN A SUMMER ART SCHOOL WITH A DIVERSE RANGE OF COURSES. 

  I HAD LONG THOUGHT OF STARTING MY OWN CERAMICS PROGRAM AT MY OWN STUDIO, BUT WAS ALWAYS WORRIED ABOUT THE LOGISTICS END OF THINGS. WHERE WOULD STUDENTS STAY, EAT, etc.,? ABOUT FOUR MILES AWAY FROM MY HOME NEAR BEAUTIFUL CITY OF VICTORIA, ON SOUTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND, IN THE VILLAGE OF METCHOSIN, WAS THE BEAUTIFUL CAMPUS OF PEARSON COLLEGE. IT IS SET LIKE A SMALL HAMLET ON THE SIDE OF PEDDER BAY INLET. 

PRINTMAKING AND FIBER STUDIO - FLOATING BUILDING

 I FOUND OUT THAT THEY RENTED OUT SPACE IN THE SUMMER TIME. I TALKED TO THE ORIGINAL DIRECTOR AND ASKED HOW MANY STUDENTS WOULD BE NEEDED TO OPEN THE DORMS, CLASSROOMS AND DINING HALL AND RUN ART  COURSES. TWENTY FIVE, I WAS TOLD - TOO MANY FOR ME. 

 VICTORIA IS HOME TO MANY INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED ARTISTS, WRITERS, POETS, AND MUSICIANS. I GOT A SMALL NUMBER OF THEM TOGETHER OVER WINE AND CHEESE AND TOLD THEM I WAS THINKING OF STARTING A HIGH-DISCIPLINED SUMMER ARTS PROGRAM AND ASKED OF THEY WERE INTERESTED IN JOINING ME. MY WIFE, JUDI DYELLE, WOULD ACT AS ADMINISTRATOR. THE ANSWER WAS POSITIVE. I WORKED OUT HOW IT MIGHT WORK, CONTRACTED WITH PEARSON COLLEGE AND IN 1984, THE METCHOSIN INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE ARTS WAS BORN WITH FOUR TWO-WEEK COURSES. RONA MURRAY TAUGHT CREATIVE WRITING, CAROLE SABISTON TAUGHT FIBER ARTS, FLEMMING JORGENSEN TAUGHT PAINTING AND I TAUGHT CERAMIC GLAZE AND COLOR DEVELOPMENT. WE ADVERTISED A VERY SPECIALIZED CHILKAT WEAVING COURSE WITH CHERYL SAMUEL, BUT DIDN'T GET ENOUGH STUDENTS TO SIGN UP. THE FOLLOWING YEAR, AFTER PUBLICATION OF HER BOOK "THE CHILKAT DANCING BLANKET", WE RAN THE FULL COURSE WITH MANY INDIGENOUS ARTISTS PARTICIPATING. 

THE CALIBER OF INSTRUCTORS, THE DEDICATION OF THE STUDENTS - MANY OF THEM PROFESSIONAL ARTISTS LOOKING FOR NEW DIRECTIONS OR UPGRADING OF OLD ONES, THE SMALL SIZED CLASSES, THE COURSE DISCIPLINES BEING OFFERED, IN A VENUE THAT IS AS CLOSE TO PARADISE AS CAN LIKELY BE FOUND, BROUGHT 53 STUDENTS THE FIRST YEAR. THIS YEAR - 2013 - THERE WERE 40 COURSES AND A TOTAL OF OVER 400 PARTICIPANTS FROM FAR AND WIDE.THIS BLOG REFERS TO THE FIRST WEEK OF DIVERSE PROGRAMS.  MY NEXT BLOG POSTING WILL SHOW ACTIVITIES OF THE SECOND WEEK.

Board Member - volunteer - Betty Burroughs plays many roles at MISSA and has been there almost since the beginning.

BIG Al Scott - large pot by Josh Deweese

Techie WALLA WALLA KEITH (moldmaking with Mavis Mooney

Techie Dan Severance

MISSA COURSES 2013 - FIRST WEEKEND AND FIRST WEEK

CATHI JEFFERSON - THE FLIP SIDE OF BIG BOWLS 

CATHI JEFFERSON - THE FLIP SIDE OF BIG BOWLS - IN THROWING STUDIO

ANGELA PISTRUCCI - SCULPTURED TILE

KAREN ALBERT - KELP AND FISH

DANCE LADY

SAM DICKIE - 
PAPER PLASTER MOLDMAKING 

SAM DICKIE - MOLDMAKING COURSE - TEACHER

AS THE LARGEST SINGLE FACULTY, THE CERAMICS PROGRAM IS CO-ORDINATED BY MEIRA MATHESON, FORMER MISSA DIRECTOR AND C.E.O.


FIRST WEEK FACULTY 2013

LINA DE GUEVARA - STORYTELLING 

CATHI JEFFERSON - CERAMICS

GRETCHEN MARKLE - PAINTING

CHIARINA LOGGIA - PRINTMAKING

CLAUDIA LORENZ  - PHOTOGRAPHY

ANGELA PISTRUCCI - ARCHITECTURAL CERAMICS

SUZANNE NORTHCOTT - PAINTING

HEATHER ASTON  - PRINTMAKING

JOSH DEWEESE - CERAMICS

DEB SCHWARTZKOPF - CERAMICS

BETSY WARLAND - CREATIVE WRITING

DEBRA SLOAN - CERAMICS

JULIA LOWTHER - JEWELRY

LANA WILSON - CERAMICS
CATHI TEREPOCKI - CERAMICS

HANDBUILDING

DEBORA SCHWARTZKOPF - HANDBUILDING CERAMICS

HANDBUILT CLAYWORK DRYING

Students in Handbuilding course -
In Background - Ceramics Coordinator Meira Mathison CCM and Tech for Life, Peggy Elmes TFL

THROWING STUDIO - POTTERY AS EXPRESSION

Josh Deweese - Master Potter - Bozeman. MONTANA
dressed and ready for the Ambassador of the Arts Dinner and Dance

FAY AND LISA CONCENTRATING

MONOTYPE PRINTMAKING WITH HEATHER ASTON

JEWELRY WITH JULIA LOWTHER 
SHOEBOX  STUDIO TWO

 LANA WILSON 
 INNOVATIVE  HANDBUILDING PLUS COLOUR

THE LOVELY LANA WILSON

LANA DEMONSTRATING

DEBRA SLOAN - CLAY SCULPTURE SAMPLER

DEBRA SLOAN

GRANDAD

OTTO  WITH FEED-ME FROM THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

SEAL-BASHING

PLEIN AIR PAINTING

SUZANNE NORTHCUTT

CREATIVE PROCESS - THE SPACE BETWEEN

CREATIVE PROCESS IMAGES

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AMBASSADOR OF THE ARTS DINNER 

AND BEAUX ARTS BALL

PARTYGOERS

OWEN

DAUGHTER SARAH AND SATCHMO SOCRATES DAD

DAVE AND KAREL - CO-MC'S

LAUGHING LANA SPEAKS

AMBASSADOR OF THE ARTS 2013

PREZ-TONY, CEO-DAVE AND BETTY PRESENT  ROBIN WITH A GARDEN BENCH

MAUREEN WASHINGTON AND HER TRIO

DANCE IMAGES CENSORED?? 

OR WAS I TOO TIRED TO SHOOT 
 PICTURES BY THIS TIME AT THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK?

I PLAN AN OVERVIEW OF THE SECOND WEEK ACTIVITIES AS SOON AS I CAN GET IT ALL TOGETHER. PROBABLY IN A WEEK'S TIME

COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU!

SUMMERTIME, AND TOO MANY THINGS HAPPENING AROUND HERE!!

I GOT FAR BEHIND WITH THE MISSA BLOG FOR A NUMBER OF REASONS;

I PLAN TO HAVE IT UNDERWAY IN ONE DAY'S TIME  
IT IS A LENGTHY ONE ABOUT PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES AT 
METCHOSIN JNTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE ARTS

BEST WISHES, SEE YOU ON FRIDAY,  ROBIN 

INSPIRATION - INTERPRETATION

 GARDEN IMAGES to 

 GLAZE PAINTING 

AS I'VE SAID MANY TIMES BEFORE, OUR LARGE ANGLOJAPANADIAN GARDEN IS MY BIGGEST SOURCE OF IDEAS AND INSPIRATION, FROM POTS TO GLAZE PAINTINGS ON PC SUBSTRATES.

THIS POSTING SHOWS THAT INTERPRETATION IN ACTION. SEVERAL EARLIER POSTINGS HAVE FOCUSSED ON GLAZE AND COLOR RESEARCH AND THE USE OF 

PC SUBSTRATES. 

THROUGH THE EQUATORIAL ARCH

ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE WAY THROUGH THE GARDEN IS WHAT I CALL "THE EQUATORIAL ARCH".  IT SPANS THE POINT WHERE FULL SHADE BECOMES FULL SUN. ON THE SOUTH SIDE, LOOKING THROUGH THE ARCH, THE VISIBLE PLANTINGS ARE ALL IN SHADES OF YELLOW - INSPIRED BY SUNLIGHT. ON THE NORTH SIDE THE COLORS OF VEGETATION IS ALMOST ENTIRELY IN SHADE, USING DARK GREEN AND BLUE GREEN TO EMPHASIZE THE YELLOW COLOR THROUGH THE ARCH, BECOMING PART OF THE "TONGUE -IN-CHEEK"

 GRECO-ROMAN GARDEN 

FLEMMING'S TOTEM

TO THE RIGHT OF THE ARCH IS A TOTEM PILLAR MADE FROM RECYCLED WOOD PILINGS AND ALUMINUM SHEET BY MY FRIEND AND MIXED-MEDIA ARTIST FLEMMING JORGENSEN. THE LARGE-LEAFED PLANT IN FRONT IS JAPANESE COLTSFOOT.

I ENJOY THIS GARDEN DETAIL AND DECIDED TO MAKE INTERPRETIVE GLAZE PAINTINGS FROM IT. FIRST, I MADE SOME LOOSE, BRUSH AND INK DRAWINGS. 

SIMPLE BRUSHPEN AND INK DRAWING ON PAPER -
 "EQUATORIAL ARCH" - NORTH SIDE

SNOW LANDSCAPE

PC SUBSTRATE GLAZE PAINTING - LAYERED GLAZES, BRUSHWORK AND UNDERGLAZE PEN DRAWING

ARTISTIC LICENCE CAN BE USED TO INTERPRET IN WHATEVER COLOR AHD TEXTURE RANGE DEEMED DESIRABLE BY THE ARTIST. IT CAN BE FIRED AT WHATEVER TEMPERATURE THE GLAZES REQUIRE AND CAN BE DOWN-FIRED TO USE GLAZES THAT MATURE AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE FOR DETAILS, SUCH AS THE CHROME RED LEAD GLAZE AT CONE 010.

"EQUATORIAL ARCH, BLUE SERIES"

THE METHODOLOGY USED IN MY GLAZE PAINTING WORK GOES BACK TO MY YEARS OF GLAZE AND COLOR RESEARCH. GLAZE APPLICATION IS DONE BY BRUSHING, POURING, TRAILING AND SPLASHING.  IN SHORT, ANY METHOD THAT WORKS TO INTERPRET THE  

 VISION OR INSPIRATION. KNOWING MATERIALS AND COLORANTS IS THE CORE TO VISUAL INTERPRETATION AND GLAZE PAINTING. 

LANDSCAPE INTERPRETATION ON LARGE PORCELAIN SLAB/THROWN
FORM WITH MULTIPLE GLAZE APPLICATION, FIRED AT CONE 10 REDUCTION.
"FOREST FIRE" SERIES - Robin Hopper 1977.

MY NEXT TWO POSTINGS WILL BE VIEWS OF THIS  YEAR'S HAPPENINGS AT THE METCHOSIN INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE ARTS. 

 I WILL THEN GO BACK TO THE EARLIER ONE  ON AGATEWARE THAT WAS LEFT UNFINISHED. 

BEST WISHES FOR A GREAT SUMMER OF ART AND EXPLORATION. 

THE SMALLEST DETAIL

THE GARDEN AS A SOURCE OF IDEAS: 

 ATTENTION TO DETAILS 

Throughout the BIG PICTURE are a mass of little images, details or cameos that may be isolated out as inspiration or ideas for all manner of individual concepts from pots to sculptures. 

Imagine, perhaps, the following images of Calla Lilies as free-form porcelain pots or sculpture. It doesn't take much to visualize such a transformation. The more you train your eyes to SEE, the more opportunity you have to interpret vision to reality.

ZANTEDESCIA Aethiopica - CALLA LILY 

ZANTEDESCIA Aethiopica - CALLA LILY 

ZANTEDESCIA Green Goddess

When looking at complex images and conflicting scale, like the fine Blechnum fern besides the bulky Rhododendron in the next image, your vision and brain combine to turn the combination into a complex image, or composition. 

At this point, reality turns into ART. The better the interpretation is done, the more artful the result. 

LOOKING turns into SEEING to selectively use the composition for whatever purpose the artist requires. If what you are looking at

is delicate in the extreme, realizing that delicacy is where

the artist is starting to SEE. 

This is where INTERPRETIVE ART begins.

RHODODENDRON Haemotodes with BLECHNUM Spicant Fern

When looking at any idea-generating image, the brain generally sorts out the image in priorities such as FORM, COLOR, PATTERN and DETAIL. It establishes ORDER. When you take a really close-up view of the object being scrutinized, your vision becomes like a MACRO lens on a camera, delving into more and more fine detail. This is really SEEING. 

How well the resulting interpretive artwork develops is dependent on the manipulative skills of the artist, and the tools and 

 art materials he or she decides to use. 

RHODODENDRON Marinus Koster

RHODODENDRON Blue Ensign

CLEMATIS Nellie Moser

Imagine and analyze the images that excite your brain, decide how you want to interpret and explore the medium to make it into ART. It is not as difficult as it may seem.  The more you explore, the more you will learn of the creative process.

MYTHICAL,  METCHOSIN, RED-LEGGED  PEA-CRANE -- PROTECTOR OF TREES, SHRUBS, PERENNIALS, KOI FISH, GOLD FISH, BEETLES AND BUTTERFLIES -
DISTANT RELATIVE OF THE SHORT-LEGGED,  ROUND-BELLIED ROBIN-BIRD.

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The next posting will trace the lineage from Landscape to Glaze  
Painting. If it all goes according to plan, it should be on your screen in about two weeks. 

GET WELL SOON, GOOFY!

The BIG Picture

NEW DIRECTIONS FROM

OLD IDEAS

MY AGING BODY DECIDED THAT IT DOESN'T WANT TO PUSH CLAY AROUND IN MY STUDIO ANY MORE AND OPTED FOR OTHER ALTERNATIVES!

JAPANESE WISTERIA ON PERGOLA IN FRONT OF STUDIO 

STIPA GIGANTEA GRASS IN FRONT OF OUR GALLERY

I'VE BEEN A SERIOUS GARDENER SINCE MY MID-TEENS.

I STARTED WORKING ON THE CURRENT GARDEN

35 YEARS AGO. IT IS ROUGHLY 2.5 ACRES OR ONE HECTARE IN SIZE AND IS AN ARTIST'S INTERPRETATION OF 5 DIFFERENT STYLES OF JAPANESE GARDEN.

MAIN ENTRANCE GATE - RHODODENDRON AND WOODLAND GARDEN 

WOODLAND PATH 

FERNS AND HOSTA GARDEN 

HOSTAS, FERNS AND  RHODODENDRONS

INNER GARDEN POND - VEGETATION REPRESENTS WATERFALL CASCADES

BOG GARDEN WITH  BIG LEAF GUNNERA MANICATA AND DARMERA PELTATUM

GARDENS AND LANDSCAPE HAVE BEEN MY PRIMARY SOURCE OF IDEAS AND INSPIRATION FOR MY WORK 

IN PORCELAIN AND

INTERPRETIVE GLAZE PAINTINGS FOR OVER 50 YEARS.

SOMETIMES I USE IMAGES FROM THE WHOLE GARDEN. OTHER TIMES I CONCENTRATE ON SMALL DETAILS.

THIS POSTING LOOKS AT THE BIG PICTURE

ART ALL OVER! 

THIS IS THE FIRST OF TWO POSTINGS. THEY ARE LOOSELY BASED ON STIMULATING THE EYEBALLS AND BRAIN TO SEE IDEAS.

LOOKING AND SEEING ARE TWO DISTINCT CONCEPTS. LOOKING IS RAPID AND GENERALIZED:

SEEING IS SLOWER, ANALYTICAL AND SPECIFIC.

MOST OF US ARE ADEPT AT LOOKING, 

BUT FEW REALLY SEE WHAT IS THERE.

SEEING IS THE REALM OF THE ARTIST.

ANOTHER ULTIMATUM!

TIME TO QUIT!

My medical team have again told me that I have to keep off the keyboard! So I regret to announce that this will be my last posting of this blog. I have had a good time doing it. Here are some of the images I was planning to use in this posting. It was to be about  agate ware.

Many thanks for being  a reader of this blog. If we can solve the health problems, I hope to be back.

BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL.

ROBIN

WHERE DOES ALL THE TIME GO?

AGATEWARE - NERIAGE - NERIKOMI #1

I'M TRYING AGAIN ON THIS!

I SEEM TO BE SLOWED TO ALMOST A STANDSTILL BY ALL THE FOLK WHO WANT TO BE FRIENDS ON KlubFAB! NICE BUT VERY TIME-CONSUMING.

MY COMPUTER SKILLS ARE MINIMAL AT THE BEST OF TIME, IMAGE MANIPULATION LEAVES ME IN A DAZE

AND OSTEOARTHRITIS IN THE HANDS MAKES TYPING A MISERY!

SO HERE WE GO FOR A NEW TRY!

PLANT OF THE DAY 
 There is so much coming up in bloom every day right now. Because of our super-mild winter this year, everything is about three weeks ahead of normal. Since I am as much gardener as potter these days,

I thought I should share some of the beauty that I am surrounded by and has given me both pleasure and decoration ideas for many years.

FAWN, TROUT OR DOG LILY (ERYTHRONIUM Tuolomnense "Pagoda")
THIS YEAR'S CROP IS THE BEST EVER. THE WILD OREGON LILY IS NOW IN BLOOM
Photo: Judi Dyelle

The bi-colored earthenware bowl below is from the earliest period of colored clay use. It is made by laminating colored clays, bending into wave like patterns and pressmolding into a bowl form about 5" diameter and 2.5" deep. It doesn't have to be big to be beautiful! It is covered with a clear lead glaze that turns yellow from contact with the iron in the clay. It was fired in Oxidizing conditions. It was made in China in the Tang Dynasty 660AD - 920 AD, a little over 1200 years ago.

Marbled Earthenware Bowl - Tang Dynasty China - Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Toronto, Canada.

Colored clay use has been in sporadic, irregular use through a little over a thousand years. The Lidded Chocolate Pot below was made in the Stoke-upon-Trent or Potteries area of England in the mid 18th Century. Chocolate was one of the favorite beverages of high society at that time.

The process of making is basically the same as the Chinese bowl, but instead of Earthenware it is made in white stoneware and white stoneware stained with cobalt and manganese.  It is salt-glazed, a Mediaeval method developed in Germany. 

Salt-glazed Agateware Chocolate Pot - Staffordshire - England - Circa 1750 -
Collection of the Chipstone Foundation. 

I'm trying to pace myself so I have decided to do a little at a time and, hopefully, with a little more regularity. Please let me know if you like this format.

Best wishes, Robin