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Wali Hawes 1952 - 2014 |
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Wali Hawes Potter's Diary |
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Encuentros por la Ceramica en Orito, AlicanteFederico Garcia Mongars "Titi"is a teacher at The Ceramic School in Pinoso, Alicante. He visited Japan last year and in conversation suggested we do something in Orito,(where he lives) related to ceramics. I had never been to that part of the world and so was a little bit in the dark about it all. Still, in what can only be seen as an amazing sleight of hand the I Encuentro por La Ceramica came to fruition on the weekend of the 14th-15th April. I was invited to demonstrate the construction and firing of five different kilns under the title of "cocciones aleatorios" and Ito Atsuko also from Japan gave a demonstration of coild built ceramic furniture-mainly chairs. We drove down from Girona setting off at around midday. By eight we were in L`Alcora where we had a meeting with the organizers of ARTAlcora-Ceramic Festival that is held in the town of L`Alcora in the province of Castellon. The meeting finished at 1am in the morning and we didn`t get to Orito till 3am!. Arrival at the site could not have been more depressing. It was just after Holy Weeek and the campers there had left a really unholy mess all over the place. What is more it rained all week. Seeing that Alicante is a semi-desert and gets rain on average five days a year!Still, the flowers that bloomed set the scene for a repast in paradise. We were also looked upon by San Pascual Bailon who lived in a cave up on the hill. However with alot of local support the scene was transformed into a stage fit for any event. A deep pit had been dug for the pit firing, dead pine trees were cut, an old 2CV car moved into place and all the material necessary for the event delivered on time. The pit firing used local cobustibles like vine branches, almond husks and pine. Pieces were treated with various metallic salts and terra sigilatta. Other kilns were a Paper Kiln, Drum Kiln Felipe II, A Car Kiln and The Wall. Many potters from the local area participated which allowed me an excellent opportunity to see their work and understand what was happening there ceramically speaking. Federico was truly inspiring in setting up an Art Space, an installation with a profusion of mannequins all covered in clay and an area for kids to try out the wheel and also Raku. A small section also had pottery for sale. A bar provided us with an excellent service that remained uniterrupted till it ran dry! Saturday night saw all the kilns fully ablaze and this was followed by the film "L`Arbre du Voyageur" by Gerard Le Kraz and a documentary on the work by Miguel Barcelo. An opportunity to get to know the local gastranomy was taken up with a great deal of enthusiasm-Gazpacho in this part of the world has nothing to do with cold tomato soup!. On Sunday we spent the time unpacking the kilns and a Raku Firing was done with some really great results. Unfortunately the Pit Firing was still on fire and needed more time. A great event and alot of thanks to Federico and all the potters in The Levant plus the Ayuntamiento de Montfort, Museu de Agost and various other entities. 20/05/2002
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