The Pottery Workshop

Hellllloooo! Here I am in China living the artistic dream. Life is not always this peachy, but this is why we have dreams and chip away at making them happen. If you dont dream it, it aint gonna happen.

I always knew I would end up making art in China, ever since I read the children's book "The Story about Ping" when I was little girl. Here I am.

I am in an artists residency in a land far, far away. It is exotic, mysterious and the food is delicious here. I have been away from Australia for 7 weeks now. The first 4 weeks was spent travelling far and wide through China attuning my artistic eye to new experiences, eating lots of incredible banquets and breathing in all that is oriental and beautiful. In my travels I went to Beijing, Zhongwei, Xian, Tenneger Desert, Chengdu, Kunming, Lijiang, Zhongdian, Dali, Shaxi and Shangri-la.  Basically I went from the far north of China, down through deserts, mountains, rivers, cities... all the way down to the boarder of Vietnam. An extraordinary trip I assure you, and you will see influence my work for years to come.

For the last 3 weeks I have been here in Jingdezhen at the Pottery Workshop having a crash course in porcelain. The Pottery Workshop is an hour and a half south of Shanghai by plane.

Alas I haven't done any blog entries since getting to China as the Great Fire Wall was too far and wide for this little black duck to fly over, however I have now climbed it and am back. I am not sure where to start- so much has happened, my mind is so full of memories and my hard drive so full of photos! I have 2 more months here so I have plenty of time to fill all the details in about what I have been thinking about.

Being a jeweller (in a ceramics residency) I was shocked at the complexity of the things I needed to learn just to make one little thing!

Here are some photos of the studio here:

My colour test project

My flower project

My workspace

My porcelain greenware