Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

Course Ceramics BA(Hons) W232Nigel EdwardsAssignment Title: Summer Project: Level 5. Part1. CollectionsIssue Date: 3rd September 2018Submission Date: 17th September 2018

Collections

Collection Definition:

nounnoun: collection; plural noun: collections

1. 1.the action or process of collecting someone or something."the collection of data"o a regular removal of mail for dispatch or of refuse for disposal.

"withdrawal of the Sunday collections"o an instance of collecting money in a church service or for a charity.

"a collection is to be taken up for the Ecclesiastical Students Fund"synonyms: donations, contributions, gifts, subscription(s), alms; 

informalwhip-round"a collection for the poor"

o a sum of money raised during a church or charity collection.synonyms:

offering, offertory, tithe"a church collection"

2. 2.a group of things or people."a rambling collection of houses"synonyms: group, crowd, body, company, troupe, assembly, assemblage, gathering, throng;Moreo a group of accumulated items of a particular kind.

"a record collection"synonyms:

hoard, pile, heap, stack, gathering, stock, store, stockpile; More

o a book or recording containing various texts, poems, songs, etc."a collection of essays"synonyms: anthology, selection, compendium, treasury, compilation, miscellany, miscellanea, pot-pourri; More

o a range of new clothes produced by a fashion house."a preview of their autumn collection"

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

1.Visited CollectionPottery- North America: The Pitt Rivers Museum

The museum was founded in 1884, when Lt. General Pitt Rivers gave his collection to Oxford University. He was an influential man in the research of archaeology and the history of anthropology. Archaeology and anthropological evolution from around the world are major issues determining the classification of the collections in the museum: the collection of North American Pottery is no exception; the works are classified by geography,age and the Communities that made them, such as Hopi, Cochiti, Tsia, and Zuni.

What did the collection communicate?The pottery in the collection is from the

southwestern United States where there is a strong continuity in pottery tradition, such as patterns from prehistoric times have been reworked and are evident in present day forms..

What characteristics did the objects share?:Many of the objects in the collection were

made for preparing, carrying or storing food, but some of the forms had ceremonial purposes The collection displays pottery that was made in pueblos, or villages , each village having its own secret source of clay. Pueblo pots were coil pots made by the women of the village, the decoration was painted free hand which was demanding on large forms without the aid of a wheel.

Would the objects communicate a wholly different meaning if placed in a different order, context place or time?

The objects are displayed under the collection heading of “Pottery- North America” and within the display they are categorised in terms of age and the people who made them. The order could be arranged differently, and individual object could fit into other collections with a different context such as native Indian designs. The collection of North American ceramics characterising history, the evolution of ceramics, their designs and purpose, focuses attention to communicate the culture, personality and life style of the North American people and their development.

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

2. Historical Collection

The Victoria And Albert Museum Ceramics CollectionThe V&A’s ceramic collection is a vast collection of collections larger than any other collection in the world. The collection is encyclopaedic containing items from all over the globe with ceramic production spanning from circa 2500 BC to present day.

Within the V&A’s ceramic department there are collections of International Contemporary Ceramics, European Porcelain from 1500 onwards, collections from China; Japan; Middle East; Italian Renaissance maiolica; Chinese Porcelain.

What is the Collection Communicating?I consider that the taxonomy of each collection

is to display iconic works of a particular era, geographical and cultural reasons of production, seminal production techniques and evolution, artistic movements and statements, but over all I think that the philosophy of the V&A collections is to make definitive representations of many genres throughout history, and to record, inform and educate. This world of ceramic collections also informs about the history of trade and cultural interaction.

Conical, coffee cup and saucer designed by Clarice Cliff 1929-31

Bowl, Lucy Rie. Circa 1979

What characteristics did the objects share?:Because of the diversity of the collections within the V&A Ceramics collection it is difficult to define a common theme or atribute apart from the philosophy of education and reording. The ceramics collection is unparalled in terms of size, diversity, scope, quality, and number of artist’s work from all around the world, possibly these are the only shared characteristics of the objects.

TSIA Traditional bird design. Blackwood coil 1939

Bowl. Stoneware. Hans Coper circa 1955

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

Bottle from the” Turiang” shipwreck. Late 14th Century. Thailand

Would the objects communicate a wholly different meaning if placed in a different order, context place or time? The V&A’s Ceramic collection is unique and vast. The museum has the infrastructure and facilities to care for its collection as well as to display, curate and educate from this collection and resource. The access for research and information is comprehensive; therefore it is difficult to imagine the collection being in any other environment apart from an academic based museum or gallery, as the objects would not communicate a message of learning and definition in a less established and respected environment.

Plate, Maestro Jacopo. Italy 1510

Vase. De Morgan 1895

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

3. An Artist who References Collections in their work

Edmund de Waal. (b. 1964)

Edmund de Waal is a contemporary writer and ceramicist noted for his large-scale porcelain vessel installations. Throughout De Waal’s work in ceramics he has taken inspiration from craft traditions extolled by Leach and Shoji Hamada, as well as architectural modernism from movements such as Bauhaus. I feel that his artworks of large-scale porcelain vessel art installations demonstrate iteration, and collection, using repetition craft ceramic throwing, and therefore the taxonomy of the collective is the melding both craft and art classifications as one. I am particularly inspired by the diverse genres in art, craft, and design that he draws upon for his work, requiring an understanding from the viewer.

Edmund de Waal. On White. The Fitzwilliam Cambridge.

Edmund de Waal. Signs and Wonders

In 2005 De Waal, whose beautiful porcelain forms in creams and celadon glazes had by then made an impact on British ceramics, gave a paper at Harvard on Oriental and Japanese ceramics. At the after dinner he recounted his personal story about a collection of miniature ivory and wooden sculptures that he had inherited from his great-uncle Iggie He asked himself why he was recounting this to a group of historians, who asked, what are you going to do with this story? also why had he not written this story down? De Waal realised the importance of the story to his own life, so during the following five years, whilst simultaneously preparing two of his life’s most important installation works, he started writing “The Hare with Amber Eyes”. The book became a prize winning, best selling sensation. This came as a complete surprise as many considered that there would be little demand for the story of a Jewish family set around 264 Japanese kimono toggles carved in the form of animals.

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

'The Hare with Amber Eyes': the Netsuki sculpture that inspired de Waal's 2010

memoir 

What does De Wall’s Collections Communicate?I find De Waal’s work engaging and aesthetically pleasing. His

installations formed by collections of porcelain communicate many issues including history, cultures, art forms, and his own circumstances. He and his family have a history of wealth and diaspora which he acknowledges in his work, this acknowledgement was inspired by a collection of Japanese Netsuke toggles handed down to him through his family. De Waal describes “The Hare with Amber Eyes” as being "about loss, and the dispersion of Jews beyond their homeland, and about the survival of objects". He says it began with the netsuke – "small, tough explosions of exactitude" – but "eventually I realised it is actually about identity: what do you know about who you are? And what kind of stories do families tell about themselves?" This has influenced his installations of collective ceramics.

What Characteristics does his object share?The collections within his installations share the use of

porcelain and there is a certain respect of truth to materials in the rawness of the vessels. Many singular objects collected together make a whole piece could be interpreted as being inspired by his Jewish history, possibly the strength of the piece and what is says is made by the many and not one singular form. Through the realisation of his story telling and history of his family, he puts his self into the uniqueness of his work. I find it interesting that the installations of “Sign and Wonder” and “On White”, have a similar message; that of obfuscation, demanding of the viewer to explore the piece due to parts of the works being obscured or almost hidden. De Waal seems to want the viewer to participate in movement causing interaction and thought; he does this in a different way in his work “Atmosphere” where he encourages the viewer to look upwards.

Would the objects communicate a wholly different meaning if placed in a different order, context place or time?

De Waal’s collections are art installations of his own work partly influenced by an inherited family collection of Japanese Netsuki, he places the installations in a very exact and calculated way: Much of de Waal’s work is also influenced by music, architecture and literature. Describing one of his installations that he created, which was of a wall of hundreds of porcelain vessels, he said”There are rhythms in that wall that completely come out of Baroque music” In his installation “Signs and Wonder”, (2009), De Waal again refers to music, stating that the pieces in the collection were installed in three sections and within those three sections, they were built like musical interludes; particular things were repeated, there are also pauses and themes. If the order were to be changed the artist’s intention, and the integrity of the collection would be impaired.

De Waal’s work needs to be viewed from many angles, so the viewer needs to be able to move around his work, installation of the collection is therefore important, meaning and interpretation would be lost if the work was not displayed within adequate space with an artistic context.

I feel that his work has is born out of his personal sense of his history and of his ancestry; it is contemporary work that has an

Edmund de Waal.Details of Breathturn IV. 2013

Edmund de Waal. “Atmosphere” at Turner Contemporary.

Edmund de Waal. “First Light” 2013.

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

4.Unconventional Collection

Treatment of Dead Enimies: The Pitt Rivers Museum

Would the objects communicate a wholly different meaning if placed in a different order, context place or time?

De Waal’s collections are art installations of his own work partly influenced by an inherited family collection of Japanese Netsuki, he places the installations in a very exact and calculated way: Much of de Waal’s work is also influenced by music, architecture and literature. Describing one of his installations that he created, which was of a wall of hundreds of porcelain vessels, he said”There are rhythms in that wall that completely come out of Baroque music” In his installation “Signs and Wonder”, (2009), De Waal again refers to music, stating that the pieces in the collection were installed in three sections and within those three sections, they were built like musical interludes; particular things were repeated, there are also pauses and themes. If the order were to be changed the artist’s intention, and the integrity of the collection would be impaired.

De Waal’s work needs to be viewed from many angles, so the viewer needs to be able to move around his work, installation of the collection is therefore important, meaning and interpretation would be lost if the work was not displayed within adequate space with an artistic context.

I feel that his work has is born out of his personal sense of his history and of his ancestry; it is contemporary work that has an

The Pitt Rivers Museum houses a diverse and perhaps sometimes unconventional range of collections. There are many archaeological and ethnographic objects collected from all over the world and from many different eras in history. The classification of this collection is very specific displaying cultural trophies from different ages and civilisations.

Decorated heads from Nagaland India

What characteristics did the objects share?:Although the collection displays the way in which different cultures

treated its enemies throughout the ages, there is obviously a common macabre and shocking theme of ritual killing and the practice of mutilating and displaying the dead as trophies.In the densely forested Upper Amazon between Peru and Ecuador, men were traditionally encouraged to take and shrink enemies’ heads to avenge death of relatives and to prove their manhood. The heads of the enemies were paraded as trophies on ceremonial occasions. The heads were shrunk by removing the brain and skull and heated with hot stones for hours. English explorers collected shrunken heads or Tsantsas, because they were seen as exotic and curious.

What did the collection communicate?:The collection of the treatment of dead enemies

examines cultures, including our own, of the taking of heads from enemies. The act was a socially approved practice with religious and cultural meanings. In English history the heads of executed traitors were publicly displayed to deter others from such crime. The practices often involved elaborate rituals in the killing of the victim and the display of the head.

Would the objects communicate a wholly different meaning if placed in a different order, context place or time?The practice of taking the heads of enemies and treating them by shrinking, for example continued in the Upper Amazon region until the 1960’s; this collection is both curious and shocking to our culture today, however if it were to have been displayed in certain areas of South America within living memory, the viewers reception would possibly very different to what the collection communicates to contemporary British society.

Tsantsas- Shrunken Heads. from the Upper Amazon

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

5. A Collection in your own home.

Frank Thrower Collectionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSrti6uSN5s (short version of film)

Frank Thrower. Chief Designer for Dartington Glass. 1932- 1987

I have admired and collected the designs of Frank Thrower for Dartington Glass for many years. I made a produced and directed a film about his life and work, that was broadcast several times on “SkyArts” The method of classification that I have applied to the collection is straight forward; anything that Frank designed for Dartington Glass, this is further made easier as he was Dartinton’s chief designer from when the company was founded in 1966 until his death in 1987. The company was set up in Torrington, North Devon by the Dartington Trust to provide employment for the young people of the area. Torrington by coincidence is the home to my paternal family. Frank was trained by the great British Glass designer , Ronald Stennett- Wilson who was the Managing Director of the Scandinavian glass importers J. Wuidart & Co. Ltd.

What does the collection communicate?:The collection displays the diversity of Frank’s understanding of design from early English goblets, to progressive Scandinavian designs of the 1950 and 60’s. The collection also communicates his innovation, capturing the imagination of people in the 1960’s and 70;s by combining uses of a single design, such as the glass candle stick that was also vase,(FT141). His designs were not only aesthetically elegant but also practical and original and of their time.During Frank’s 20 year tenure at Dartington Glass as the only designer and Sales Director, he won two major design awards and received an MBE. He designed over 500 popular and acclaimed designs.

Some of my collection of Frank Thrower’s designs for Dartinton

Glass.

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

FT 15 Ships decanter. The FT is Frank’s initials and the 15 is the

fifteenth design for Dartington Glass

FT 115 The Sharon Service

FT 1 14 oz. Commemorative Tankard

FT 141 & FT 143 Candle holders.

FT 115 Beer glass from the Complete Imbiber Range

What characteritics do the objects share?:Apart from the whole collection being

made by Dartington Glass in Torrington, and all designed by Frank Thrower, the glass itself is unique to Frank’s designs and is shared by all his work in this collection. The closely guarded secret formula for the brilliant lead crystal glass was made by the Scandinavian glass expert, and Managing Director of Dartington Glass, Eskil Vilhelmsson.

Would the objects communicate a wholly different meaning if placed in a different order, context place or time?

This is by no means a unique or definitive collection, throughout the world people have admired and collected Frank’s designs to use in their homes. The glass is decorative in aesthetic and practical by design. Because of the nature of these objects being fundamentally craft items, I consider that their meaning is universal, independent of order, place or time. The collection communicates the design attributes, material, and practical function of everyday items recognised as being ubiquitous.

Nigel Edwards. Course: BA(Hons) W232. Summer Project: Level 5. Part 1. Collections

BibliographyBooks:De Waal. Edmund. Design Sourcebook Ceramics. New Holland Publishers(UK) Ltd. 1999.London

Wilhide Liz and Hodge Susie. The Great Pottery Throw Down. Pavillion Books Company Ltd. 2017 London

Thrower Eve and Hill Mark. Frank Thrower and Dartington Glass. Mark Hill Publishing2007 London

Websites:The Glass Encyclopedia. Frank Thrower Glass. No date.http://www.glassencyclopedia.com/Frankthrowerglass.html [accessed 7th September 2018]

Pitt River Museum. Explore the Collections. No date.https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/pittrivers [accessed 6th September 2018]

Pitt River Museum History of the Museum and its displays. No date.https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/pittrivers [accessed 6th September 2018]

V&A Museum. A-Z of Ceramics No datehttps://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/a-z-of-ceramics

[accessed 6th September 2018]

V&A Museum. Art Deco: Clarice Cliff. No date. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/art-deco-clarice-cliff [accessed 6th September 2018]

V&A Museum. Shipwrecked ceramics. No date. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/shipwrecked-ceramics [accessed 6th September 2018]

V&A Museum. Serch the collections. No date http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/? listing_type=imagetext&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=1&extrasearch=&q=de+Morgan+lustre&commit=Search&quality=0&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&before=&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch [accessed 6th September 2018]

Googgle .com Dictionary. No date. https://www.google.com/search? q=collection+definition&oq=collection+de&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.10881j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 [accessed 5th September 2018]

Art Aurea. Edmund de Waal.http://artaurea.de/profiles/waal-edmund-de/ [accessed 23rd April 2018]

Artfix Daily . The 17th Edition of New York Ceramic & Glass Fair ended On a Positive Note with Healthy Sales. February 2016. http://www.artfixdaily.com/artwire/release/7631-the-17th-edition-of-new-york-ceramics-and-glass-fair-ended-on-a-p [accessed 23rd April 2018]

Crafts Council Edmund de Waal’s Atmosphere 17th April 2014 http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/articles/edmund-de-waals-atmosphere/ [accessed 23rd April 2018]

V&A Museum .Ceramics. No date.https://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/ceramics [accessed 5th September 2018]Phaidon Edmund de Waal donates to the Fitzwilliam.http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2014/january/30/edmund-de-waal-donates-to-the-fitzwilliam/ [accessed 17th April 2018]

Shelly Davies Edmund de Waal November 4th 2013. http://shelleysdavies.com/edmund-de-waal-2/ [accessed 17th April 2018]

The daily beast. The writer and potter: Edmund de Waal on his New York debut.https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-writer-and-the-potter-edmund-de-waal-on-his-new-york-debut [accessed 17th April 2018]

The Daily Norm. Breathturn. https://daily-norm.com/tag/breathturn/ [accessd 23rd April 2018]V&A Search the Collection http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1192588/signs-wonders-installation-waal-edmund-de/ [accessed 23rd April 2018]

The Guardian . Edmund de Wall: A life in arts. 12th February 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/12/edmund-waal-life-profile-interview [accessed 23rd April 2018]

The Telegraph. Books. Edmund de Waal: potter,writer,alchemist. 22nd September 2015.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/edmund-de-waal-interview/ [accessed17th April 2018]

Audio Visual:

Artnet New. Video: Fieze Masters talk with Edmund de Waal 18th October 2014https://news.artnet.com/market/video-frieze-masters-talk-with-edmund-de-waal-124581 [accessed23rd April 2018]