Lisa Hammond Catalogue - 2016 - sample pages

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LisaHammond

goldmark

Price £10

Lisa Hammond

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Lisa Hammond

Michael Tait

Speaking Without Words

goldmark2016

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Clay

For clay takes men (women)And teaches themThe craft, the skill The knowledge The life within The force beneathThe parent earthWhere power Is in the clayAnd all we do Is snatch a littleOf the glory

John Chappell.

1. nouna long-tailed, medium-sizedbird, typically with a grey orbrown back and barred orpale underparts. Manycuckoos lay their eggs in thenests of small songbirds.

2. informal nouna mad person.

3. adjectivemad; crazy.‘people think you're cuckoo’.

Cuckoo /ˈkʊkuː/

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Cuckoo Too

I think this description might fit meperfectly, perhaps without the bit about theunderparts!

In this show I have laid my eggs in manykilns—many of my own kilns over the lastthree or more years—carefully selecting thebest pots from each firing.

Other times, not finding any to select!Last year, whilst I was the invited resident

potter for seven weeks at Mashiko Museum,feeling like a cuckoo, my pots were placedin five kilns of others. All were placed verycarefully in the nests and nurtured; needlessto say not all of them hatched. From somekilns rare beauties emerged; sadly, fromothers many were lost.

In particular, the kindness and care offellow potters and ‘Song Bird’ Ken Matsuzakiensured that I came home with somebeautifully fired pots.

Madness?I do not put my pots in an electric kiln, flip

the switch and walk away…!

Lisa Hammond 2016

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Entering an exhibition of Lisa Hammond's work you are instantlyoverwhelmed, not only with sheer pleasure at the range of colours,forms and textures but by the multiplicity and mastery oftechniques. Black and red clays with tan slip then with white shino,crackle slip and clear over glaze, ash on shino and her now classicsoda, fired in natural gas kilns with soda. Pots are thrown, carved,faceted, their shapes altered off the wheel then glaze and slipapplied with pours, drips, drenches, scrapes and swipes, alwayswith an easy, natural open hand. Any one or two of thesetechniques brought to fruition would satisfy many potters butLisa remains always attentive, relentlessly investigating andpushing her work forwards. Intuitive and sensual, her workemerges from constant motion, incessant inquiry in practise.

'Many people don't understand that my work isn't pre-planned,it's technique-led. I'll try things, they won't work but I'll seesomething that feeds a new way of working. It comes throughthe making, paying attention and noticing little things. . .'

This is apparent in a new development since I'd last seen Lisa'swork. She's experimenting with a red clay body with an over glazethat is reacting with the soda in her kiln to create pots, sometimeswith a quiet serene depth and sometimes explosive yellows, bluesand greens. She's still exploring the new technique but I see herfamiliar inquisitive focus at the possibilities. On the next studiovisit there will be a glittering array of work revealing the potential

Speaking Without Words

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of these materials in all their dimensions. By then of course, she'llhave revealed more surprising leads and have set-off already onnew journeys of discovery.

Closer inspection of the broad sweep of her work reveals theunique character, specific motion of fingers, a way with tools anddecoration, movement and gesture expressed-into, upon andthrough the material. Great swiped parabolae and careful dripsand pours of slip, drenches of glaze that metamorphose,combining with the character of the clay in the mysteriousunpredictable atmosphere of her vapour kiln, in the wood andgas kilns she has fired-in to realise an extraordinary array of surfaces,textures and colours. Pots are never over-dressed, glazes and slip-work communicate with the body of the pots to accentuate themotion that made them. As you make a deeper study of the workyou're rewarded with glimpses of a subtle psychophysicallanguage, to trace a unique exploration through the pots relatingone to another and each to the whole. An exhibition for Lisa is astill moment in multiple journeys of inquiry, a chance to gatherand reflect on where creative and personal paths have led andwhere to go from here. Pots are never endings, they arepunctuation in an ongoing story of making and being, thosewords separate as written but only one thing in experience. Lisa'spractise reflects and renews her, identifies and nourishes her, givesher life momentum, direction and purpose.

The easiest imperfect analogy for the working practise of thefinest potters is the way we use language at its best, in writingand speech, indicative of our origins and histories, our mood and

ChawanBlack clay. Half dipped white shino7.5 x 12 cm

106. (previous page) TsuboTan soda slip with finger wipes33 x 31 cm

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apprentice, between potters, collectors and enthusiasts, gallerists,exhibitions and museums. This story is about pots but also abouta quiet, unspoken knowledge slipping through hands, led byexample, inspiring and guiding new personal explorations.

Some lead the way and within that community there are a fewfigures like Lisa who bind us, direct and shape us, offeropportunities, gather us up and make of us something more thanwe can be as individuals.

The pot of a maker who is a master of her art is expressive ofher character. Lisa's pots are thrown with an easy, open andgenerous style and form. There is no hint of pretension, artifice,or overreaching conceptual ambition. Her work is authentic, aproduct of experience, close attention and relentless practise. Itinvites the art of serving tea, of giving and sharing food and flowers,of looking carefully and reflecting. Lisa's work is the art of her lifeoffered to enrich our own, a reminder of hands and heart, of doingand being, the knowledge not contained in what we think andwhat we say but suffusing the sensual realm, so inexpressiblyricher. Each pot is a concrete transmission of one life to anotherthat transcends the confines of language. A gift indeed, to thoseblessed with the spirit to receive it.

Michael Tait 2016(Michael Tait is a Commissioning Editor for The Guardian, a writer,

film-maker and former student in Lisa's classes at Maze Hill.)

TeapotTan shino slip with hakeme 13 x 21 cm

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Large MizusashiRed clay. Finger wiped shino, soda fired26 x 20.5 cm

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Leaning JugCrackle slip, hakeme28 x 15 cm

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Handled TsuboIron clay. Black slip. Blue nuka with hakeme mark22 x 11.5 cm

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Selected Exhibitions2000 Solo show, Gallery St. Ives, Tokyo, Japan

2000/2/3/4 Crafts Council, Chelsea Craft Show

2003 Museum's Mino Ceramic Park, Misunami Museum, Japan

Nagoya Japan, Gallery St. Ives, Tokyo, Japan

2005 Axis Gallery, Ropongi, Tokyo (Crafts Council)

2005/6 Tokyo Dome Tableware Exhibition

2005/6/7 Table Manners Touring Exhibition, Crafts Council

2006 Solo show, Oakwood Gallery, Nottingham

Solo show, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham

2007 Solo show, Mashiko Messe Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan

Solo show, Keio Gallery, Tokyo

Solo show, Contemporary Ceramics, London

The Pot, the Vessel and the Object, Aberystwyth

2008 ‘Collect’, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2008 Ceramic Art, London

Shino Symposium and group exhibition, Toulouse, France

2009 The Potters of Maze Hill, Harlequin Gallery, London

Ceramic Art, London

Tea Bowl Festival, Mungyeong, Korea

Solo Exhibition, Goldmark Gallery, Rutland

‘Collect’, Satchi Gallery, London



Solo Exhibition, Redbarn Gallery, Cumbria

Selected Group Exhibition, Gallery Besson, London



Potters Tea Party, International exhibition, UK

Potters and Painters, New Ashgate Gallery

2012 Harlequin Gallery at Winchcombe, Potters of the South West

Tea Bowls, Gallery St Ives, Tokyo, Japan

Teaware from the Edge, Cavin Morris Gallery, New York

Solo show, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham

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Leaning JugBlack clay. Red soda slip27.5 x 15 cm

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Iga VaseBlack clay. Poured red slip21 x 10.5 cm

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2013 Solo show, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Ceramic Art, London

Leeds City Gallery

Tea bowls exhibition, Taiwan

2014 ‘On The Wheel’, Contemporary Ceramics, London

2015 Solo show, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh

Three month residency at Mashiko Museum, Japan. Five works

selected for permanent collection.

Commissioned Work1999-present 15 ceramic works commissioned by sculptor Roger Hiorns

Exhibited in many galleries both in the UK and overseas notably

The Jerwood Gallery, London; Covie Moria, London; The Tate,

Liverpool, ‘The Secret Life of Clay’; Tate Britain, London

2005 Caravaggio exhibition, The National Gallery, London

2011 Large commission to USA for collector

2011 Large commission for Tom Aikens Restaurant, London

Other InformationSince 1995 Has trained 12 apprentices at Maze Hill Pottery

2008 Founded ‘Adopt a Potter’, charitable trust. Set up to raise money

to fund student apprentice potters

2010-2013 Various masterclasses and workshops with Rizu Takahashi. Shozo

Michikawa, Ken Matsuzaki, Svend Bayer.

Tall JarTan slip, shino & hakeme with carbon trapping30 x 9.5 cm

Tall JarBlue shino soda with hakeme30 x 9.5 cm

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goldmarkUppingham, Rutland, LE15 9SQ01572 821424

Text: © Michael Tait, 2016Pot photographs: © Jay Goldmark / Vicki Uttley Location photographs: © Jay Goldmark Design: Porter / Goldmark

ISBN 978-1-909167-30-8goldmarkart.com

3 Small Carved BoxesVarious glazes6 x 5 cm

155. 154. 153..

1 Phil Rogers, 2005

2 Clive Bowen, 2006

3 Lisa Hammond, 2006

4 Mike Dodd, 2007

5 Ken Matsuzaki, 2007

6 Svend Bayer, 2007

7 Jim Malone, 2008

8 Phil Rogers, 2008



11 Mike Dodd, 2009

12 Clive Bowen, 2009

13 Svend Bayer, 2010

14 Nic Collins, 2011


16 Jim Malone, 2011

17 Mike Dodd, 2011

18 Anne Mette Hjortshøj, 2012


20 Svend Bayer, 2012

21 Jean-Nicolas Gérard, 2013


23 Takeshi Yasuda, 2013

24 Nic Collins, 2014

25 Phil Rogers, 2014

26 Ten Japanese Potters, 2014

27 Clive Bowen, 2014

28 Lee Kang-hyo, 2014

29 Jean-Nicolas Gérard, 2015

30 Mike Dodd, 2015



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GOLDMARK CATALOGUES

1 Phil Rogers, A Passion for Pots, 2005

2 Ken Matsuzaki, Elemental, 2009

3 Svend Bayer, Potter, 2010

4 Nic Collins, Potter, 2011

5 Jim Malone, Potter, 2011

6 Mike Dodd, Potter, 2011

7 Anne Mette Hjortshoj, Paying Honest Attention, 2012

8 Lisa Hammond, A Sense of Adventure, 2012

9 Jean-Nicolas Gérard, The Potter's Potter, 2013

10 Takeshi Yasuda, Made in China, 2013

11 Phil Rogers, Drawing in the Air, 2014

12 Clive Bowen, Born, Not Made, 2014

13 Lee Kang-hyo, Onggi Master, 2014

GOLDMARK FILMS

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Lisa Hammond Catalogue - 2016 - sample pages