The Sweet Life_Ceramics: Art & Perception

7/29/2019 The Sweet Life_Ceramics: Art & Perception

1/4Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 91 20120

A Review by Blair Schulman

Chandra DeBuse, Jana Evans

Jenny Gawronski and Courtney Murphy

The Sweet Life


2/4Ceramics: Art and Perception No. 91 2012 0

The livelihood of an apprentice and craftsmanshipthrough years of study was threatened. And theywere right. Over the decades, however, as moderndesign became the norm and industrialisation madeeveryday items readily available and more afford-able to a greater number of people, a return to one-of-a-kind objects became the zeitgeist.

The attitudes associated with mass production,coupled with more leisure time stemming from theease of industrialisation, became an unforeseen prob-lem and were somewhat linked together. Dovetailed

perfectly with the ease of food preparation over thedecades, these attitudes presented a tertiary conun-drum that fed directly into this culture. There aremultiple medical and psychological studies thatreconcile the balance between obesity and the itemsused to serve food.

A 2008 article in Preventing Chronic Disease, a peri-odical published by the CDC (Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention), Eating as an AutomaticBehavior by Deborah A Cohen, MD, MPH andThomas Farley, MD, MPH, cite this concept as con-tributing to the growth of an obesity epidemic in

Western culture. Automatic behaviours are thosethat occur without awareness, are initiated with-out intention, tend to continue without control andoperate efciently or with little effort. The response

Facing page: Chandra Debuse. Green Treat Server with GoldSpoon. 2011. White stoneware. 6.5 x 9 x 7 in.

Image courtesy of the artist.Above: Courtney Murphy. Sugar and Creamer. 2011. Earthenware.

6 x 4.5 x 4.5 in. Image courtesy of the artist.L

inen napkins, good table manners and pretty

confectionary treats are all that is needed tocomplete the tableau found in The Sweet Life,

an exhibition at Red Star Gallery in the Belger Art

Center, Kansas City, Missouri, US. Featuring ChandraDeBuse, Jana Evans, Jenny Gawronski and CourtneyMurphy; their elegant and simple designs present asurface imagery that is reminiscent of a polite soci-ety seemingly long gone. Aesthetic accomplishmentsachieved, these delicate objects also construe deepersocial mores that are both subliminal and textural.

To get a further understanding of the meaningsbehind their works it is important to take a lookback. One of the more notable transitional periodsof design is the 1851 Great Exhibition of London whenBritain was at peace and Queen Victorias husband,

Prince Albert, wanted to put on display the won-ders of industry and manufacturing from aroundthe modern world. The Crystal Palace was erected,a vast multi-story building of cast iron and glass thatepitomised the Industrial Revolution; the Exhibitionpresented more than 100,000 objects by more than10,000 contributors that covered more than 10 milesof exhibition space and was viewed by more than sixmillion visitors.

It was this moment in history that marked a depar-ture from the handmade object to the mass-produced.In opposition to this tidal wave of modernisation,

a small unnamed, but vocal group opposed theeffects of industry on design and artistry. This groupbelieved that mass production would eliminate theneed and desire for hand-crafted items in daily life.


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to this suggests the focus should revolve around re-shaping the food environment. Hence, the impor-tance of presentation is imperative in the behavioursof adults and the way that they consume. Factors suchas visibility, salience and the ease of obtaining food,combined with a small, but impeccable diversity,tend to extract better behaviours than being handedfood items in a paper sack or a Styrofoam container.

By creating an ambience, one is reassured that everybite or sip counts. Artisans such as DeBuse, Evans,Gawronski and Murphy forge an understanding ofthis theory. An intimacy is created for the user.

A handling of their works adds to our under-standing of the questions that each piece infers. Asensual physical pleasure is awakened within us,highlighting an awareness of proper etiquette thatmight be lost, but introduced to us again. We bringourselves closer to its maker when utilising theseobjects. Desserts, teas, fruits and the like, along withthe amounts we serve ourselves and the way they

are consumed from these vessels are dictated by anelevation of experience.Gawronskis pieces focus on the ritualistic acts

of eating desserts that speak to this heightened

experience in consumption. Her ligree-styleserving tray references some of Sevres simplerporcelain creations from an era that speaks tomore elaborate adornments. Its orid shape andclean design could easily be used as the basis foran inlay of an insanely elaborate 18th century icecream cooler or some other beautiful, but useless,accoutrement. In another era, the lichen greencolour and delicate presence would cry out forelaborate gold leang. But in its present form,

the pattern is derived from the shape itself and todecorate it further would remove the understatedelegance and distract users from its composure.To quote an unknown artist from the Le Corbusierera Modern decorative art is not decorated.As mentioned earlier, this primal connectivity

between user and object imparts a behaviouralcompass on the amount of food one takes and theway it is eaten.

In the series that Murphy creates she also examinesrituals involving collaborative cooking and sharingof food that posits collective memories. Murphy

scratches into her clay to draw the images that have afeel of the 1930s when home life, by design and oftencircumstance, was more streamlined. Any hangoverof Art Deco or Art Moderne is not observed here but,

Jana Evans. Teapot. 2011. Porcelain. 10 x 7 x 6 in.Image courtesy of the artist.


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Based in Kansas City, Missouri, US, Blair Schulman is an artwriter/critic and Editor ofCupcakes in Regalia (www.cupcakesin-regalia.com). His writing has appeared in Art Focus Oklahoma, ArtPractical, Juxtapoz and The Kansas City Star. Schulman also com-pleted the 2012 Oklahoma Art Writing & Curatorial Fellowship,presented by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC) (www.

blairschulman.com).The exhibition The Sweet Life was held from 3 February to 24March, 2012.

instead, appears to be replaced by the simplicity ofdaily routine. The originality of each piece is accom-plished with variation and its difference, howeverslight, becomes unique to the new owner when itleaves her studio. Familial values, with their moresand rituals, are incorporated once the pieces beginits life in a new environment.

DeBuse and Evans nd similar linear composi-tions in the work of Josef Hoffmann, the 19th20thcentury Austrian architect and designer of furniture

and consumer goods. DeBuse naturally integratesher lines with more naturalistically realised shapes.Tree rings come to mind and the implied naturalessence of the form imparts texture. Her functionalpottery incorporates narrative imagery, patternand form to elicit a sense of play. Its functional-ity reects a pattern of make-believe as well. Onecan see elements that might reference story-telling;imagining 18th century romanticism of deep forestswith unending mossy pathways leading to thatch-roofed cottages. Bouncing lines, candy-like coloursand low-relief contribute to this sense of fantasy.

Jana Evans works here are reminiscent of JuttaSika, another Viennese artist similar to Hoffmann,who is remembered for stencilled decorations ofavant-garde shapes. Her spare decoration presagesthe reductive trends of later modernist designs.Evans tactile objects, on the other hand, lend them-selves to some of these same values; easily discernedpatterning that make themselves known right away,

but appear hand-drawn. If Sikas decoration is boldand direct, Evans designs are a reductive examina-tion with their gentler, softer decoration.

The work discussed here has relationships to

Western European ideas and American medi-cal theories; however, it holds a relationship toAsian practices as well. In Japanese culture, theKaiseki is a traditional meal consisting of several

courses and literally means stone in the bosom ata time when Zen monks would ward off hunger

by placing warm stones in the folds of their robes.Evolutionarily, the term has come to mean part of atasting menu and refers to certain plates and serv-ers that allow the diner to, almost subliminally, rec-ognise tastes and avours.

With these four artists, the works impart a condi-tion to which one must react which is something

that comes to the surface once we view or han-dle a piece as it is intended. There will come withthis observation and handling an anticipation of apleasant experience with how comforting or tasty afood will be even before it reaches our mouths. Inthat sense, the work from these four ceramists, inwhatever small role they might nourish the largereating habits of a culture, serves as a bridge to oursenses and tastes. They bring their work to a mod-ern age, acknowledging the tastes of our past in ameaningful way.

By prosaically showing us all facets, they provide

an updated respect of how meaningful the simplic-ity of a service vessel can be to the user. The way itis placed in the home or set on the table provideseveryone who encounters these pieces with a richunderstanding of historical meaning, standing side

by side with contemporary desires that are effective,useful and beautiful.

Jenny Gawronski. Double Saucer Cup and Dome Setting for Two.2011. Cone 6 stoneware. 34 x 10 x 8 in. Image courtesy of the artist.

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The Sweet Life_Ceramics: Art & Perception