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My Days in Fuping
Daphne Corregan
The Beginning
After having worked on this
project for over a year with I-chi, looked at dozens of images, listened
to detailed descriptions by I-chi again as well as the four former residents,
I still didn't quite imagine where, how and with whom we would be working
during our stay in Fuping. 
New and Strange
We were picked up at the airport
and drove the hour through highly cultivated landscape, rather flat
with mounds that we were to learn were the tombs of the emperors whose
buried terra cotta soldiers Xi'an is so famous for, to Fuping. We crossed
the gate into the complex named the International Pottery Village, were
whisked off to a brick house near the hotel where the seven of us were
to spend the next three weeks. We visited the park with its fountains,
ponds and brick lanes leading to the orchards and museums. At least
50 people were working on the French museum in discussion with M. Xu
and M. Fu responsible for the project along with I-chi. From there,
we walked the back way towards the museum through mountains of stocked
waste waiting to be ground into glazes, grog or clay, fantastic cemeteries
of grinding stones and tall stone pillars that have been collected over
the years from surrounding villages used to decorate the compound and
finally to neatly arranged masses of every kind of brick you can imagine
in every tone of clay possible. Some are crated, others wrapped in cord,
a styrofoam netting or simply piled up forming sculpture after sculpture.
That first visit was totally overwhelming and mind goggling. Each building
is consecrated to a different technique: extruding, molding, press-molding,
trimming, remodeling, glazing and firing. Every alley is filled with
drying bricks, tiles, and all sorts of animals copied or inspired from
the Tang dynasty. We were finally led to the studio we were to share
along with the 6 or 7 other workers from the factory specialized in
molding and modeling architectural elements. Nothing was really prepared
for us but everything seemed possible.
We Supposed to Start to Work
The following day, worktables
were carried in on pushcarts, bats, stools, electric fans and a new
set of tools for each of us. After the experience of the first three
residents, a few tons of clay had already been prepared for us probably
expecting that we'd also want to experiment the Tang three color glazes
which turned out not be our intentions at all aside from Kristin who
was determined to do so. Therefore, we needed new clay mixed chosen
from the fantastic choice of possibilities leading to everyone, of course,
asking for something different! Once most of our questions were answered
and while the clay was being prepared, we were finally confronted with
ourselves. I was totally out of my own element...different temperatures,
different kilns, clays, glazes and slips. I don't think any of us knew
or had planned any definite project before they arrived hoping to react
directly to our surroundings, materials available and the different
possibilities used there. The first three days were quiet and intense.
One could almost breath our thinking. Most of us began with small pieces,
feeling out the clay, trying to figure out what some of the strange
materials brought to us in buckets or sacs might possibly be and rapidly
sticking everything into the dryer and tunnel kiln to see how they fired.
We Were Getting Somewhere
Slowly, with the results coming
out of the kilns, a growing familiarity with everything, including the
heat, noise, fantastic food we indulged in three times a day in order
to taste everything and our surroundings, ideas began to immerge. At
least one of us would visit the growing museum daily and report his
or her feelings as to whether they'd possible finish on time or not.
I was doing work so unfamiliar to me and with a faint Buddhist consonance
that I began getting a little nervous as to whether I'd have some thing
worthwhile for the opening date approaching too rapidly for any comfort.
I decided to slip back into a more familiar terrain but was determined
to take advantage of either new materials or skills proper to the factory.
In retrospect, I suppose it was obvious that I'd eventually turn to
the woman specialized in engraving floral patterns who worked in the
first room. I'd already seen and admired images Nicolas had shown me
of his own apprenticeship with Miss Meng and was curious. My own work
is so often covered, as if wrapped, in patterns and in the past, floral
engravings, that it seemed natural to conceive new work with her collaboration,
which she fortunately accepted immediately. I had intentions of asking
her to cover parts of my pieces with peony patterns engraved through
a white slip on a darker clay and to eventually use the Tang green over
that in contrast to the more primitive coiled mat surfaces juxtaposing
the sophistication of her designs but after the first firings, the delicacy
of the buff colored clay with the white lead me to think and work differently.
We were never in total control of the tunnel kiln, placing our pieces
between tiles and bricks on the carts ready to fire never quite knowing
if the kiln was programmed for a reduction, oxidation or very heavy
reduced results which could dramatically change our expectations. We
eventually used the smaller gas kilns available to us as well in order
to account for that.
More Confidence
Those first ten days were
just as exciting as frustrating. We were by then well into projects
for the museum having no time to loose, let alone pieces. Everyone was
as cooperative as possible and Yenling, our interpreter, was learning
every technical term imaginable. We were exploring what it meant to
work with other people, of not being in total control, language difficulties
and diplomacy, along with experiencing a new culture, different ways
of dealing with things, working as a group, making decisions in new
contexts and trying to be aimiable and understanding. At the same time,
our work was taking form, new ideas were visibly developing and we were
all anxious to be on time and install our new pieces in the museum we
by now knew very well would be finished for the inauguration. No one
could possibly be tranquil until enough good work came out of the kilns
to assure the museum show and reassure our egos.
Limited Outing but Fruitful Results
Our only outings were to Fuping
a few times to the market and in the evening for a change of pace and
to the terra cotta warriors and the mosque in Xi'an the first week.
Gilles fortunately pulled us from the studio while most of our work
were in their respective kilns for a fascinating and inspiring day trip
to a pottery village in the mountains, Chenlu, specialized in celadons
and white and blue. This nerve racking state continued until the very
last day when we opened the kilns and were satisfied with the results.
We were tired, it was hot, and we slept poorly because our minds were
so full, but we all would return in a minute! I'd never worked so long
with other artists and in such an intense situation but I think we were
a strong and solid group working side by side, observing each others
ways of dealing with the situation, watching the work grow and helping
one another. We were treated like kings, met fabulous people, were served
feasts daily, laughed, absorbed, admired, compared the incomparable,
took in as much as we could but know very well that we only touched
the surface. As we worked on the finishing touches, gluing and metalwork
as far as I was concerned, selecting stones, piling elements etc. we
watched the steel windows, wooden bases, and metal and wood tables,
all made on site, pass our workspace on their way to the museum. Most
of my pieces were soft oranges, grays and whites, so different from
my normal blacks and dense reds and yellows. Our last feat was to carry
everything over to the museum approximately 500 meters away .The workers
were at our disposal until midnight loading the work onto cart after
cart and pushing them in the rain to the museum, accompanied by each
artist walking alongside and trying to participate.
Finally the Opening Day
The 31st of July, probably
everyone involved in the project were ecstatic and relieved. The hotel
filled as planned with artists, journalists, the museum architect and
other officials while we were installing the show the night before.
At ten o'clock, the red ribbon was cut, the firecrackers lit and speeches
proclaimed.
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Kristen's Script
Kristen
McKirdy
In arriving
at Fuping Pottery Village, I wanted to incorporate both the Chinese element
as well as the numerous possibilities offered by the ceramic materials
at hand: clays, bricks, tiles, molded forms. After some experimentation,
I decided to make forms familiar to me and incorporate molded elements
that were available at the factory.
I chose to use the 3-color glazing
technique because of its historical importance in ceramic tradition and
also because it differs so greatly from my usual controlled approach to
glazing.
The Fuping residence proved
to be both challenging and rewarding. There were many technical hurdles
to overcome, as well as a great language barrier. This called for a constant
interaction and dependance on the factory staff, which was a very enriching
cultural experience.
Our group was very fortunate
to have a Chinese artist present for a week of our stay and I think this
interchange was very positive
Three weeks was an absolute
minimum for a first-hand encounter in order to get aquainted with the
clays, glazes and firing methods. On subsequent visits one could be productive
on a shorter stay and futher explore the initial experiments.
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Studio Notes: July - August 2005
Agathe
Larpent
Sunday
10th July, Arrival in Fuping
What a surprise to arrive
in Fuping to find such a large hotel complex, surrounded by ponds, a
garden, rockeries, terracotta sculptures?We were immediately welcomed
by Mr Xu Dufeng and Mr Fu Qiang. Mr Xi took us to visit the various
parts of the complex. You can really sense the immensity of China: the
museums already built in the middle of the orchards, the grandiose dome
of the exhibition hall, and the win tubes? as well as the Scandinavian
museum ,and the French museum where at the moment only the walls are
standing. But it gives you a sense of truly experiencing reality to
think that they are going to finish building the French museum in the
next three weeks. They aim to make quick progress -- the work is moving
at a cracking pace. They have a lot of people and they know how to get
things done.
Monday 11th July
I get up early in the morning,
and wander all around the complex, like an animal getting used to its
new habitat, casting a fresh eye on the details. I know that the first
day is important for what I encounter, what strikes me, who makes an
impression on me? I am collecting the treasures of the voyage.
I see various different places,
some welcoming, some playful, some functional: the gardens; the orchards;
the new museum, a hive of activity, as busy as an anthill; the other
museums which are being swept and tidied.
But its the factory, with its vitality, which draws me in. I enter,
feel intimidated; there are smiles; I carry on. A vast hangar, corridor,
warehouse. I look into everything, locate things, continue. I am attracted
to the noise of the kiln, the heat, the smell, the vibration, the light
in its depths.
I pass groups of workers, coming
and going. I am in their space -- I want to understand, to observe little
by little, not to disturb, to stay in my corner.
It's difficult to leave the noisy and dusty shade.
Each workshop has its function: casting, stampage. The studio where
we will work is a little further away; it's a bit of a squeeze to fit
ourselves in here. We all be pushing it a little to fit ourselves in
here ˇ
This evening the last members of our group arrived. There are two people
I don't know. So we will be working as a collective-- something I'm not
used to.
Tuesday 12th July
The others are settling in now,
the process begins, each person with their own territory.I really need
space so that I can make several pieces at the same time.
Today I feel fragile. I move away from the others, closer to the noisy
group of Chinese workers who are busy working at the end of the room.
Capture the place! I am in China, breathing
Chinese air, with Chinese earth in my hands! And what earth it is, and
what a kiln! There's no need to start right away -- trial and error,
we'll see how the pieces turn out.
Wednesday 13th July
So this is it. Working means isolating
oneself with clay, entering into a dialogue with it. Firing means meeting
the others from the studio, and the staff of the factory. It's a pleasure
to understand each other through a craft without knowing each other's
language.
Image: the crossing of paths -- carts passing each other skilfully on
transverse routes.
I returned very early this morning and brought back various types of
material -- pieces of iron, pebbles, glass, clay and other shards, to
create the universe of my work table.
Temple of the moon
A rusty grill inspires me,
a mixture of materials to incorporate, the clay is red and brown and
heavy, and strange too. I adopt it -- making and thinking -- firing
-- globality.
Thursday 14th July
Tunnel kiln 1150 degrees centigrade.
After the drying kiln, I have felt the circuit, especially because it's
a mono-firing, think colour with the hands.
This is what travelling is all about, changing one's habits.
The dragon is already creeping in?
I am on the pillows of a dream, carrying me into the clouds.
For the 14th July they organize a marvellous party with fireworks and
the Marseillaise...
Friday 15th July
Stubborn to the end, a blockage created by a piece which was stuck,
now it's gone for another turn. At the top of the tunnel kiln I caught
the eye of a horse.
We have dinner in the street in Fuping, the local town, we are truly
in China, the smells, the tastes---
When we return to the factory, I pass by the kiln (of course!) before
going to bed?and restart two works.
Saturday 16th July
Already in the studio, meet others too.
I look at the kiln, its rhythm, its temperature, its moods, reduction,
it really looks as though it's getting hotter -- just like I am!
Then I tidy up my work table a little, and my thoughts I continue
with the pieces I was working on yesterday, is it the continuous kiln
which is inspiring me to make circular pieces?
It would be useful to have a dictionary of symbols, so that I could
understand better the moulds of animals or flowers they are making here,
and really get into their culture. I get them to write a few words in
my notebook. At the dinner table in the evening I need to relax, to
laugh.
Sunday 17th July:
The box has come out of its box; mountain and water.
The black box has come out of the kiln; the dragon has appeared.
The others are busy too. I am into the swing of the work now, and can
look around more calmly. Each person is bent over their work table,
or kneeling over their work. We start to exchange information -- what,
why, what is that?
I have chosen a type of clay and am sticking with it -- we’ll see what
happens!
With the horse I can already see -- it’s become weak in its legs. I restart
The kiln is like the barrel of the Danaides -- never empty -- greedy;
things are continuously emerging from it, a constant surprise.
The kiln is dictating the rhythm of my days here.
Time for a break; a massage; relax a little, listen to the others talking..
Monday 18th July
Before we leave for Xi'an I pass by the kiln, of course.
There are no words to describe a terracotta army.When we return I go
to inspect the kiln again. Rings of clay and other tasks are waiting
for me. I have to see about the installation. Everyone is beginning
to get themselves sorted out; there's a rich variety in the works.
Tuesday 19th July
I am still filled with impressions from the exhibition in Xian; can
only think about completing the horse, start again.
-- with the moulds,a desire for inscription, for writing, for characters
more than for language.
One tower will do it, and will become the base of the horse.
The group is concentrating on what each person requires, in the light
of what is and is not possible in the factory, trying to make ourselves
understood.
Wednesday 20th July
A little tour of Fuping:
I envy their material, their brooms, their tools, all the things which
no longer exist back home. -- little jobs.
Fuping black glaze, designs for waves on big plates.
Thursday 21st July:
I go early to the museum. It's incredible but true they building it
at the same time as we are making our works!
It's nice to meet friends at breakfast time.
Stones, developing clay, circular clay, the wheel turning.
Friday 22nd July
Clay revolving; spheres on my work table; passed in; engraved by my
fingers.
It's becoming necessary to take a siesta.
The work of the others is also becoming clearer -- Daphne is busy writing
characters with Mme May. Patrick and his sculpture.Daniel and his column;
Kristen and her 3 colours; Gilles and his tiles.
Saturday 23 July
I work on the horse and its column/ tower.
Learn about some words and characters with Amelie.
There is an inscription on each surface I observe the tools which Mr
Xi uses to do the engraving.
Sunday 24th July
The architect and Mr Fu.
So fast -- he's continuously drawing, and is full of ideas.
Where can I fit myself into this -- I like things to mature gradually.
But the Chinese go very fast-- they don't even allow their fruit to
ripen.
The horse flies lightly, like a swallow.the tunnel kiln from above.
Through Daniel we experience the factory from above .
Fascinated by the view of all kinds
Look, chopsticks, before my eyes they will be glazed for the exhibition.
Monday 25th July
How to orientate the installation
As a representation/ function ? of the fruits ? of the firing?
I feel trapped by time -- have to make do with what I have.
Haichen arrives; she is going to Shanghai!
Relaxing massage this evening.
Tuesday 26th July
I'm moving ahead without looking back. I do better using some of the
things which are already there, rather by deciding everything at the
beginning. My hands act first, my head follows.
In the studio all of us are different. I encounter the difference of
the others more. We must find harmony as a group, for the exhibition.
The glazes run, problems with the kiln. Have to make do with what worked
at the beginning.
Wednesday 27th July
Pieces in almost all the kilns ¨C we have to wait.
But it's chaos. A cart is derailedˇ
The tension is growing a little, Patrick is filling in the cracks.
It's normal-?there's anxiety -- for everyone
who is going crazy?
Thursday 28th July
A good relaxation in Chenlu village:
Cave houses, A dream-like village, marvellous gate
Scaffolding-he terrace made of pots.
It's normal, man has always used what he had to hand
Friday 29th July
Two carts stuck
The tunnel kiln stopped. A blockage
Daniel is transporting the pieces of his tower to the upper tunnel kiln.
The museum is being laid out.
Saturday 30th July
The last gas kiln firing.
An image of a kiln base in motion
A raft on which the last works are taking their place, bound for I know
not where.
The little gas kiln, the electric kiln.
The studio is almost empty, everyone is somewhere else.
Finishing firing -?selecting -?isolating.
Everyone is working individually, their works juxtaposed in the museum
space.
And as always, by some miracle, everything finds its proper place.
The hard work is this evening -?or rather tonight!
Sunday 31st July
Up early in the morning; last magic stick
IT'S DONE!
We all look lovely for the opening ceremony, underneath our straw hats!
The venue has put on a new skin -- just as we have done.And there’s certainly
a lot to see. It incredible just how much we have explored in our work,
the seven of us, along with the various people, from the factory, and
the three artists who were here before us.
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My
Intensive and Productive
Days in Fuping
Anne Rochette
My Surprise and Chllenge
It was with
real pleasure and expectation that I came back to China for an intensive
period of work. During my previous two stays, I became aware that China
was a place which opened possibilities and pushed me to discover new areas
within my own self and within my work. Arriving a month ago in Fuping,
at the Futo Factory and Fuping Pottery Village, was at first quite a shock.
I had not expected such a large factory, as an artist I am more familiar
with working studios than with factories; I was both impressed and made
slightly anxious by the scale of the facility, the scale of the kilns,
the numbers of forms being produced at once, the number of people laboring
at all levels, day and night... It was a mixed feeling of excitement,
so many possibilities of handling clay and glazes were suddenly available
to me, and of worry, as I did not know how I would adapt to such a different
way of working. Not only different culturally, with the added difficulties
of not having a common language with the people working around me, but
also different in process as a factory environment is mostly designed
for serial production, and I always work on singular objects which rarely
answer to any logical planning... So, within the first twenty-four hours
of my arrival, I jumped into it, basically with my eyes closed, feeling
that I would either swim or drown but that I would give my best try!
My Intensive Efforts
I began playing with various
clays and glazes, throwing stuff in the tunnel kiln without being aware
of the rhythm of production which involved cycles of reduction or oxidation
firings. I trusted my impulses as well as the know-how and habits of the
workers here. Some things came out better than I expected, others worse,
I learned and began to feel a little less blind within a week; I also
began to have a sense of what I was interested in making here. Most of
my work evolves intuitively, out my dreams or semi-conscious states of
the days or nights. The images and forms I made here came out of my being
in China, and of dealing with the reality such as I felt it, and transformed
it. One work is made of three similar forms, which I call heads, even
if they are much undefined, with just vague indication of eyes, nose and
mouth. They hang upside down, like balloons, and I believe that this image
had to do with the feeling of being lost, of allowing my knowledge and
habits to be turned upside down in order to meet a different reality.
Being here, I tried to make myself as open as possible to what surrounded
me, even if that meant turning my head upside down! Another piece evolved
out of the image of a belly, inspired by Buddhist sculpture - I am as
interested in the Chinese art of the past as I am in the reality of contemporary
China - but with two navels; here was the desire to make two different
beings or realities into one, not to make them the same, but to have them
be in a close relationship, be that the relation between a man and a woman
of between two such different countries as China and France. I called
it Two in One...Two other pieces explore the image of a "cloud-mountain"
or "mountain-cloud"; again they are linked to Chinese art to
the past and to its special relation both to mountains and to clouds.
But they also try to give a form to my sensation that reality is so complex
that one can never encompass it, nor fix it in one image. This is true
everywhere, but one is more aware of it when immersed in a foreign land
and language. I tried to find a shape that felt like it was changing with
the wind, like a cloud would, but also had the mass of a mountain...
My Productive Results
Finally
I worked on a column of four stacked pot-like forms, very primitive, which
I made with the roughest clay available, brick clay. I wanted the simplest
shapes in the most common material, and in to adorn it with many small
shapes, resembling flowers, or fruits, which I meant as gifts to that
primitive column. The small shapes are made with the more refined three-color
technique, and with light-colored clay. This work carried for me both
the sense of power and even brutality of the Chinese contemporary world,
and the generosity, gentleness and delicacy of its inhabitants. While
I was here, I worked on a few more pieces, which did not survive the kilns,
which is part of the experience, and always to be learned from!
At the end of my stay
in Fuping, as I write these words, I feel that this stay here gave me
all and more than I expected. I learned both about my limits and about
the limits of the situation I arrived in. I found different paths into
my own world, and allowed specifically Chinese knowledge, processes, and
images to transform my work. I do feel proud of the pieces I made here,
and very grateful to all the people I met, who made this experience not
only possible but also very rewarding, in all their different ways.
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Daniel's Script
Daniel
Pontoreau
Dimanche 24 juillet
Deux semaines que je suis a Fuping. Travail intense
de 6 heures du matin a 20 heures. Parfois plus.
Usine immense, Des hommes des femmes De la terre, des briques, des carreaux
partout.
De l'mail, des machines Tout nous est ouvert, donne.
Comme un present pour creer, pour poursuivre mes recherches habituelles.Pas
simple.
Je veux trouver un sens a des relations des formes, de matieres dans un
espace: architecture du paysage,Des contrastes, des contradictions.
Essayer de faire surgir des formes simples, brutales, tres physiques Une
certaine legerete de l'sprit.
Oscillation du physique au mental, donner une qualite a l'space environnant
Je desire que les formes que je produis entrent en relation avec le vide
qu'ly a autour.
La lumiere.
Pas simple: transposer ses preoccupations personnelles a ce lieu si singulier.
Experience exceptionnelle que je vis au milieu de mes camarades venus
de France: Agathe, Anne, Kristin, Daphne, Patrick et Gilles, et de mes
nouveaux amis chinois, Mr. Xu,.Mr. Fu, Mr.Si, Mr. Hu et Melle Liu, et
tant d'utres. |
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