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POTTERS
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COLUMBIA
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Making Ceramics in China ay suzu Matsuda

This past May my husband Larry Cohen and I participated in a
residency program at the Art Institute of Sanbao in China about 10
kilometers from the city of Jingdezhen. The city of 1.6 million has
been known as the “porcelain city” since the Song Dynasty and has
a history of porcelain making that spans 1000 years. Large porcelain
vases and ceramic ware of many sizes and shapes line some streets of
the city, and the poles of street lamps and stop signs are covered with
painted ceramic.

‘The road to Sanbao takes us into the country: lush with greenery,
flanked by mountains on both sides and a river running along the side
of the road. The Art Institute is a complex of buildings that look like
the China of the past. The main building has rooms for residents, a
restaurant, a gift shop, a bar and an administration office. Antiques
and ceramics are a part of the environment; pottery shards are
incorporated in walk ways and walls, and posters of ceramic exhibits
are on the walls. Many come to visit this site for a delicious meal and a
look around; everyday there were guests taking pictures and enjoying
the ambiance. The building is beautiful. Our room was light and airy,
and we would wake up to the sound of geese and chickens below us
and the sight of mist on the mountains.

Master Ceramist Jackson Li in collaboration of his sister Wenying
(Wendi) Li envisioned a residency program for artists from all over the
world. They come to make art and ceramics and sometimes work with
students and artists of China. When we arrived, there was a group of
students and their teacher from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay,
Ontario. They were making ceramic sculpture. They also had a small
exhibition with some Chinese students of ceramics. Shortly after they
left, a group of master ceramic artists from Delft, the Netherlands,
arrived. They made their own work and worked along-side ceramic
artists from other parts of China later in their stay. They were to have
an exhibition in Shanghai in the fall of 2012 and later show the work
in Delft.

Larry and I worked in large studio space a short walk from the main
building. I worked on a second floor throwing ware with one of the
many Shimpo wheels using the area’s famous porcelain clay. Larry
hand-built pieces on the third floor in a beautiful spacious studio. We
had our work bisqued, spray glazed, and fired in a propane-fired kiln by
specialists, who loaded the kilns, glazed our pots, and fired the kiln.

Across from our studios was the workshop of Jackson Li, a beautiful
wooden building with a river fowing past. At the time we were there,
Jackson was producing artisanal-style stoneware, tablets of clay with
relief to be fired with a celadon glaze, and very large platters with
copper red under glaze paintings. He had many people working with
him: Mashifu, who threw his ware and fired his kilns; an over glaze
painter who painted detailed intricate designs on bisque ware; Xiao,
who glazed pots and loaded kilns, and a person who was making
brushes out of bamboo. On the ground level of our studio space there
were three gas-fired kilns, several electric kilns and a wood-fired kiln.
‘There was always lots of activity in the studio area, and I enjoyed
watching how things were done.

‘The city of Jingdezhen has many resources related to ceramics. There
is a glaze street with many shops selling pre-mixed glazes of every
colour, and there are stores that sell tools for making ceramics, and
brushes and supplies for painting on ceramics. We visited a sculpture
factory with studios for those making ceramics, and endless markets

Ceramic stop light in Jingdezhen. Photo by Suzu Matsuda.

and small shops where ceramics were sold—some very beautiful, and
some very ordinary. There is a district where clay tiles of almost every
size were made for painting. We watched them make perfect 2’ x 4
tiles, which they painted with traditional blue under-glaze, covered
with a clear glaze and loaded into the kiln. Public kilns were available
for a per-square-inch price. Jingdezhen is to ceramics as Detroit was to
the automobile. Evidence of ceramics was everywhere we went. It was
an exciting, inspiring, and unforgettable experience. @

Suzu Matsuda and Larry Cohen have been involved with ceramics
since the 1970s.

ta el =

Jackson Li’s Studio. Photo by Suzu Matsuda.

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter « July/August 2012