Ayumi Horie – Crit

  • Ayumi Horie spent two days at Sheridan this week.  I got to hang with her at the Gardiner and the ROM – we spent some time trying to find a pre-Columbian pot that she’d seen 15 years ago that she wanted to revisit, and headed for the bat cave.  I learned a lot about “being” and being a potter – her life philosophy of trying to infuse a little joy into your life – just kind of soaks its way into your general being by osmosis.  On Tuesday I had 20 minutes with Ayumi’s undivided and asked for her response on my Anima series. Ayumi’s gut feeling was that the ash glaze doesn’t work since it’s competing with the energy of what I’m trying to do.  I don’t necessarily agree – my feeling around the ash glaze pieces is that they scream “FIBROMYALGIA” ouch, achy, old, trying to move ecstactically – but then I didn’t get into that with Ayumi.
    She also felt that if I’m going big – GO BIG! i.e. – really fat bands around the base and building up.  [Aside: Tony just talked me into trying the extruder for these - which I will, maybe build some pieces for the wood kiln.]  One of the ways of being that found its way into my crit was that Ayumi encouraged me to quit banging my head against a wall by trying to make the clay seem flawless – “don’t fight against the clay’s tendency to pick up information.”  I love that part of her work, the thumb and hand prints in the slip – it reads hand made.
    The other piece of advice Ayumi gave me was about smoke and raku – both techniques for which I’ve been intending to spearhead revivals.  Her take: it’s passe, done, frowned upon in the current cutting edge gallery world.  Again, I’m not convinced – I believe her – everyone’s saying this – but I think it’s going to work for my work.  TRY IT AND SEE – is the only way to go.
    She also really encouraged me to check out the work of Annabeth Rosen.


    January 26th, 2012 | Heidi McKenzie | No Comments |

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