2015 Warren MacKenzie Award Progress: Stuart Gair

I recently received the 2015 Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award through the Northern Clay Center which has allowed me to travel across the country in order to view collections of art that influence my own work. Seeing the pieces in person as opposed to on a computer screen or in a book has allowed me to engage with the work on a much more intimate level and has already begun to change the way that I view my own work. Additionally, I have been able to travel to a number of major cities along the east coast where I have come across many new and intriguing architectural lines and patterns that will inform new surface designs on my work. I look forward to the next couple of weeks in which time I will be taking a workshop at Watershed Center for the Arts with John Neely and David Peters; I will use an iron rich clay and learn about the reduction cooling process.

I have been looking at this particular Korean jar form for sometime now. Seeing one in person at the Philadelphia Museum of Art has sparked a renewed interest after being able to view subtle details in person such as lid fit, size, and treatment of the foot. I look forward to attempting my own rendition at Watershed Center for the Arts.

A detail shot of an intriguing architectural composition along the Highline Walkway in Chelsea, New York. These are the types of patterns that really catch my eye and inform the surface of my pots.

This Korean Buncheong wine bottle in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston was one of my favorite pieces of the trip. It is a form that I have been working on lately and seeing it in person helped me understand nuances of such a piece that required me to be in its presence. 

Pleased to come across this piece by Chuck Close at the new Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. 

The best collection of Korean ceramics I came across was at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Not only did it have the largest collection of wares, it included a series of informative videos that explained and demonstrates how the wares were produced and fired.