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Paul Mathieu, continued

KO) If sou don't [tke clry why do you wse it,
rather chan other materials?

PM, Clay is really central to my work. [

started working with ceramics when [| was
13 years old. I'm faithful co char meaterial,
bur at the same time [ don't really care for

clay. Most people working in ceramics have

an obsession with clay -they adore it and

they lave co work with ie, 1] don't really like

to work with clay. I'm more of a ceramic
person, if you catch the ditference. What |
really like about what! do is che kind of
objects that ] make, and how these objects
relace co other objects [ make, and how
these objeces in curn relate to other objects
and other activities: how they speak to us
and how chey relate oo domesticiry and
culture. The fact char [ use clay to make
these objects is rather irrelevant. [fT could
do it with anocher material | would, but [
can’t. | never uae clay as aa medium for
purely fermal reasons, most clay people use

icin a very formal way, stressing its material

qualities.

KO. Algheagh your ceapors really seem ta
scress the plasriciry and imitative qualities of
elay.

a

PM. Yes, it's not something that ] aveid,

either. Those teapots that you are referring

to relate to fabric as much as they do to
clay, but again, that’s a formal quality of
clay, that it imitates other materials. But

my interest in these teapots is the inventive

shape that technique permits me to da and
the colour. Plasticity isn't central co it,
unlike the work of, aay, Peter Voulkos. [n
my teaching [ do stress the importance of
experiment through the acquisition of
techniques, the underseanding of tools and
materials, in the transformation of the
physical world. This process can best be
described as the embadimence of thought

KO. Whar do you cuink of Topagraphies (the
AC show at the Vancouver Art Gallery}?

PM. | noticed right away when I saw the
show thac all the First Nation artists used
craft in their work. And chen you go inco
the European section and you don't have

any of char. So chere is a clear demarcation
of materials and how they are used. [ asked

ome of che curators if one needed co be a
first Nations artise in order to show

work in craft? Because that's the message
Taot He hadn't even thought about it,
and then he said that it wasn't an issue
and mot part of the curarorial discussion.
It wasn't relevance! | chink chat ac is an
msue. You so rarely see craft practices
represented in any major museum or
gallery.

Ki. Your place sesings are well known. Is
it important to you thet people use them, or
do you see chem more as works for display?

PM. What [ find fascinating about
ceramics is its complexiry. You can
remove one characteristic, like function -
which a lot of people have done, now and
in the past. | prefer co add something, to
make ir even more complex, so [ find it
interesting to make plates that are about
form because of the way that they are
stacked, and are abour surface because of
the images on them. And they are also
about decoration, not just image making,
buc all sorts of issues of pattern, beaury
and colour. [have made a point of always
keeping function in my work -not as an
obsession, if [ feel [ don't need it | won't
cling to it. | ery to keep a positive,
inclusive outlook, rather than a negative,
exclusive one.

I de have some problems with the ides of
a non-functional pot, even chough [ want
to be clear that the non-functional vessel
goes back co the very beginning of ceramic
history. [t's just moc somveching chat I'm
interested in, but ] can understand people
that are. But, having said chat, my own
work isn't very practical! | don't chink
anyone has ever used my settings for a
meal. ddy work

isn't so much abour uciliry so much as it is
about function; the fact that they are
functional makes you relate to chem
differently. Mind you, 1 wouldn'c mind
using them, but they have become rather
precious because they are pricey.

Price is weird, People always say that my
work is 40 expensive chat nobody would
dare use it, but these same people are
driving around in $30,000 cars. They can
have an aceidenc at any Gime, and mast
people actually do. But they don't say
"Wo, [ can’t use my car, tc's coo
expensive!” So why can't they use a
theuwsand dollar place? What's the big
deal! | chink it is a question of culrural
mores, it's okay to use $30,000 cars, bur

not okay to use $30,000 plates. 1 chink
there is something very wrong with that. |
would have no problem using chat plate!
But the idea of paying chat much money
for a car, now that’s 4 whole other story...

So we have co educate people in that
sense, there is still an immense amount of
eduearton to be done, especially in
Canada. In the USA clay is shonin in
high-end galleries and museums, not juse
sold in craft shops. People say co me "I
can't afford your work, it's too expensive.”
[say to chem "Well, that's not crue. Your
house is full of junk thac you don’t want
and never use. [E you were to sell all that
erap you could buy any piece of my work.”
But their priority is not to have

one of my pieces, it is to have 4 fondue
sets! “That's che way consumerism works,
But my work is not expensive, almost
anyone in the Firse World can afford it,
it’s just a matter of priorities.

I realize thar my work does sell for a bot of
money. Everytime | price something [ ask
myself how does this relate co any kind of
reality? Then I just go to any department
store and look arc all the garbage they sell
and | quickly realize that [ almost give my
work away.

KO, Whar are the fistonical sources of your
work?

PM. The work that got me started on
highly decorative surfaces is the work of
Ogara Kenzan, the 17ch cencury Japanese
potter. When I saw his work as a young
studenc it showed me possibilities other
than chose of the brown stoneware pots of
Bernard Leach, Which is funny, because
Leach was supposed to be Kenzan the
Thirteenth! He certainly didn't live up co
the tradition... [ve also very much
admired the work of Bernard Palissy, ['m
very aware of history, any bowl chat pou
make is connected to the first bowl ever
made and all the bowls made since.

This cbsession with originalicy and
uniqueness that Western art seems co
carry is not so critical in certain
disciplines, like ceramics. A bowl is
always a bowl! If you present any bowl to
anyone who has ever lived on this planet,
they'll know right away what it is, and
whar it is for. ‘With most other art, if you
lack the culewral background, its meaning
is unclear.