Ceramics (art)
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Ceramics and ceramic art in the art world means artwork made out of clay bodies and fired into the hardened ceramic form. Some ceramic pieces are classified as fine art, while many others can be classified as one of the decorative, industrial or applied arts (the application of design and aesthetics to objects of function and everyday use). The identification of a specific pottery piece as a "work of art" is not always clear. Ceramic art usually, but not always, was intended by the maker as art. It may have a signature, designer name or brand name stamp on the bottom. Ceramic art can be either manufactured by individuals or in a factory that employs artists to design, produce or decorate the ware.
Historically, ceramic articles were prepared by shaping the clay body, a clay rich mixture of various minerals, into the desired shapes before being subjected to high temperatures in a kiln. However ceramics now refers to a very diverse group of materials which, while all are fired to high temperature, may not have been shaped from material containing any clay. The origin of the word is the ancient Greek keramikos, from Keramos, meaning "potter's clay." [1]
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[edit] Ancient history
Ceramic art has an extensive prehistoric development in the Chinese, Cretan, Greek, Roman, Persian, Mayan, and numerous other cultures.
[edit] European
[edit] Mediterranean
On the Greek island of Santorini are some of the earliest finds dating to the third millennium BC, with the original settlement at Akrotiri dating to the fourth millennium BC;[2] excavation work continues at the principal archaeological site of Akrotiri. Some of the excavated homes contain huge ceramic storage jars known as pithoi. Ancient Etruscan and Grecian ceramics are renowned for their figurative painting.
[edit] Venus Figurines
A number of Gravettian figurines found in the Czech Republic are believed to represent the earliest known works of ceramic artwork made of the human form. One such figurine is the Venus of Dolní Věstonice (Moravian), which was made between 27,000 and 31,000 years ago. The Venus figurine was made by molding and then firing a mixture of clay and powdered bone.[3] This is the earliest known figurine made of ceramics representing the human form. Scholars do not know if it was intended as fine art, as religious icon, or some other intent; they just do not know the original meaning to the original culture. Similar figurines found throughout Eurasia are called Venus figurines and are noted for their natural looking representations of the female form with some artistic merit. Here are examples of what has been written about them:
- Venus figurines are the name given to a nearly universal type of art, appearing first in the Upper Paleolithic period between 30,000 and 15,000 years ago. [4]
- The world's oldest surviving works of art fashioned after the human image appear in the archaeological strata of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe.[5]
[edit] Asian
The earliest known pottery vessels may be those made by the Incipient Jomon people of Japan around 10,500 BC. Chinese porcelain comes from the late Eastern Han period (100 to 200 AD), the Three Kingdoms period (220 to 280 AD), the Six Dynasties period (220 to 589 AD), and the Tang Dynasty (618 to 906 AD).
[edit] American
The Mayans are a relative latecomer to ceramic development, as their ceramic arts flourished in the Maya Classic Period, or the second to tenth century AD. One important site in southern Belize is known as Lubaantun, that boasts particularly detailed and prolific works. As evidence of the extent to which these ceramic art works were prized, many specimens traced to Lubaantun have been found at distant Mayan sites in Honduras and Guatemala.[6] Furthermore, the current Mayan people of Lubaantun continue to hand produce copies of many of the original designs found at Lubaantun.
[edit] Fine art ceramics
Fine art ceramics include ceramic art made by hand and designed to be purely art, that is to be looked at and enjoyed visually and contemplatively, without any further uses. It is often one of a kind.
In modern art theory, the fine art pot or expressive pot has been used as a name of pottery that aspires to the conditions of fine art, generally by prioritizing conceptual and aesthetic qualities over functionality or usefulness. Fine art pot has been used as a term opposite of the phrase ethical pot (meaning utilitarian pottery) - at least by ceramic art theorists defining art styles and their merits since the 1940's.[7]
Fine art pot styles were led and taught by William Staite Murray and other post-war potters such as Lucie Rie and Hans Coper. The alternative Arts and Crafts style of ethical pot (simple and utilitiarian studio pottery) was explored by potter Bernard Leach and his followers.[8][9]
The modern art movement in pottery is expiramental in nature. Many styles originated from the Arts and Crafts movement when studio potters were looking to find a place and definition for the crafts in the age of industrialisation and mechanised-production, and from the desire to re-establish ceramics as a fine art medium.[8][10]
Modern ceramic artists and potters often engage in what has become know as the "Art versus Craft debate", in which the merits of each pottery approach are perpetually reiterated without resolution.
[edit] Industrial art ceramics
Industrial art ceramics includes ceramics made in factories that employ artists to design or handpaint the ceramics, or industrial-minded art collectives, and is often known by the name of the founder or the brand name of the product line. In general, industrial ceramics are not one of a kind, and are intended to be duplicated and sold on the market, using methods of limited or mass production. Some factories are known for their fine materials, intricate designs, elaborate painting and glazing by artisans. Many are of the objects produced are decorative by design, while others adhere to the idea of form follows function and purposefully designed to be utilitarian, however still considered a "work of art." Industrial ceramic art can be identifed by brand name or distinctive styles. Examples include:
[edit] Environmental issues of production
Although many of the environmental effects of the workplace of ceramic art have existed for millennia, some of these have been amplified with modern technology and scales of production. The principal factors for consideration fall into two categories: (a] effects on workers and (b) effects on the general environment. Within the effects on workers, chief impacts are indoor air quality, sound levels and possible over-illumination. Regarding the general environment, factors of interest are off-site water pollution, air pollution and disposal of hazardous materials.
Historically plumbism, lead poisoning, was a significant health to those glazing pottery. This was recognised at least as early as the nineteenth century, and the first legislation in the United Kingdom to limit pottery workers’ exposure was introduced in 1899. [11] Whilst the risk of to those working in ceramics is now much reduced it can still not be ignored. With respect to indoor air quality, workers can be exposed to fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide and certain heavy metals. The greatest health risk is the potential to develop silicosis from the long-term exposure to crystalline silica. Proper ventilation can reduce the risks, and the first legislation in the United Kingdom to govern ventilation was introduced in 1899. [12]. Another, more recent study at Laney College, Oakland, California suggests that all these factors can be controlled in a well designed workshop environment.[13]
[edit] See also
Artists:
[edit] References
- ^ The Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary
- ^ Archaeological site of Akrotiri, Santorini, Greece
- ^ Chris Stringer. Homo Britannicus, Alan Lane, 2006, ISBN 9780713997958.
- ^ Archeaology.about.com - Venus, K. Kris Hirst
- ^ Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines, LeRoy McDermott
- ^ C. M.Hogan, Comparison of Mayan sites in southern and western Belize, Lumina Technologies (2006)
- ^ The fine art pot, called "expressive art" by Studio Potter review
- ^ a b de Waal, Edmund.
- ^ According to the popular post-war book A Potter's Book by Bernard Leach, an ethical pot is a natural looking utilitarian pot, compared to the fine art pot - source Collecting Ceramics.
- ^ Studio Potter review
- ^ Health Risks In A Victorian Pottery
- ^ Health Risks In A Victorian Pottery
- ^ Indoor air quality evaluation for the Butler Building Ceramics Laboratory, Laney College, Oakland, California, Earth Metrics Incorporated, Alameda County Schools Insurance Association, December, 1989
- de Waal, Edmund. A Ceramic History: Pioneering Definitions 1900-1940 The Studio Pot. File retrieved February 10, 2007.
