Readers may be interestd in this online talk hosted by the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society on 9 June (20.00 hrs, Singapore time) by Alan Lacovetsky. Please email seacs.secretary@gmail.com for the Zoom link.
In this talk, our speaker will discuss ancient Southeast Asian pottery from the perspective of a practitioner. “For a young potter, Southeast Asia was the place to go. I went through several countries in 1980 and have returned many times. Throughout the countries I have been to—with all their rich culture and history—I have seen clay being used and fired in ways I thought not possible. It has been amazing to stand on ground where some of the most important ceramics were made and to have held in my hands pots that were made hundreds of years ago.”
“I am a practicing potter. I can answer technical questions more easily than anything else although the influences on my work are from a wide range of cultural, historical and aesthetic traditions. Folk pottery, the use of simple materials and processes are at the heart of what I do and what I have researched. My pots are made on a foot-powered wheel and fired in a wood burning kiln.
“Sustainability is important and was originally a key factor in deciding to make pots back in 1974 when I was living off the land on a fairly secluded island in British Columbia, Canada. There was no electricity or running water. As a result, I became interested in the philosophy behind Mingei and the new studio movement sweeping the west due largely to Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Soetsu Yanagi and many of their student/apprentices.”
Amongst the experiences Alan will share with us was his attempt to reconstruct a Khmer-era kiln based on archaeological research from Phnom Kulen, the site where Jayarvarman I had himself consecrated cakravartin in 802, launching the Angkor Period.
