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Essay about Fragments
by Betty Ann Jordan.
"In our "point and click" world, the sense
of touch has been removed from many
processes of making, learning and knowing. Running counter
to this disturbing
trend, the artworks in Fragments are extensions of a millennia-old
tactile
continuum. Opulent and gorgeous, they could easily be ceremonial
vessels and
sculptures for a ritual space dedicated to revitalizing
our fading haptic
sense. (I'm thinking of something halfway between a temple
and a gallery.) The
archaic looking vessels, similar in their form and decoration
to ancient
Chinese bronze libation vessels, are especially rich. Horned
Arch Cauldron has
bronze side-handles with a dark, aged patina yet the tips
have been rubbed to a
golden brightness implying repeated use. (Cast from a twist
of wax, they're a
clever visual pun on the animal horns that figured in the
rites of earlier
cultures.) Similarly in Arched Fragmented Glasstop, the
ridges on the dark
bronze handle have been rubbed to a shiny brightness suggesting
more than
passing familiarity with the human hand.
Glimpses of subterranean gold in these and other works
reiterate that that
which is most precious lies beneath the surface. However,
in human terms,
getting to the heart of the matter can be painful. Evoking
the vicissitudes of
physical or even mental stress, parts of Moonrise Nimbus's
surface have been
eroded as if by acid. A beautiful underlayer glistens through
the ravaged
surface in this dramatic metaphor for the process of destruction
and
reconstruction that leads, ultimately, to wholeness.
In their myriad forms and textures the works in Fragments
speak volumes about
the mutability of materials and, by implication, people.
Glass appears in many
guises: softly bulging like dough pressed through wire overlays
in the Pressure
Vessels; as lens or portal in Sky Nimbus and, most sensuously,
as a rippling
vertical etched glass panel like a linen runner cascading
down from the heavens
(God airing his linens) in Moonray and Seeking Balance.
Cast bronze is equally
protean: strong and flexible it mimicks organic materials,
especially textiles.
True to nature, clay is honest and earthy in Blue Morning
Arch Basin which
bears the deep ridges impressed by a modelling tool as the
base was thrown on
the wheel. But elsewhere Powning puts it through its paces,
dressing it up in
iridescent raku glazes in the tour de force Arched Fragmented
Glasstop where it
also simulates the textures of orange peel, blistered skin,
burnt milk and
leather.
Collectively these works generate a sense of high purpose
more commonly related
to the ritual objects of Pharaonic Eygpt or Shang Dynasty
China than the high
hills of New Brunswick. Emblems of healing and regeneration,
they also attest
to Peter Powning's remarkably firm grasp of the metaphysical
purposes of art."
copyright Betty Ann Jordan
Betty Ann Jordan is a freelance writer specializing in
art, craft and
design with monthly gallery columns in several Toronto magazines.
As an
offshoot of those columns, she offers art tours of Toronto
through her
company Art InSite. email bajordan@artinsite-toronto.com;
website:
www.artinsite-toronto.com
Artist's Statement~ FRAGMENTS
Peter Powning
I work in clay, bronze and glass.
All of these materials involve transformation by fire which
may be what drew me to them. Since I work mainly with raku
as a firing technique in my ceramic work, I'm used to being
right in there with the piece when it's glowing hot, tormenting
it to try and wring out some particular colour or texture.
Pouring glass and bronze are both exhilarating experiences
each in its own way: the bronze very liquid with lethal
potential; the glass much more laid back and sensuous, folding
out of the crucible like honey. I love the dance of the
process. I think my connection with the process helps to
infuse pieces that are successful with some sinuous quality,
some shade of the firing/casting hot step.
Working with my hands gives me a
sense of connection not only with others doing similar work,
but with generations of predecessors who lived by the skill
of their hands. Those of us who produce work by processes
we try to understand and control, by hand from beginning
to end, maintain a vital link to an essential aspect of
our humanness. It is an aspect of our species which has
evolved over millennia and that many who live typical contemporary
western lives are quite distanced from. For those people
we form a link. I believe there is an innate human ability
to recognize and appreciate the hand made, the object imbued
with the power of the skilled and thoughtful hand.
A good deal of the work I have been
engaged in over the last few years deals with metaphor based
on ideas concerning balance, fragmentation and transformation:
of the body, heart, mind, spirit, nature, language &
culture. The work involves a process parallel to what it
represents. First an object is created and to some degree
finished. It is then broken; comes apart. The parts are
transformed; some into new materials, others by more processing
- ordeals by fire are involved. The resulting pieces are
brought together again to form a whole, similar to the original,
but which is itself transformed. Some work is surrounded
by what I call a "nimbus" a sort of unifying ground.
The work is meant to have the feel
of the artifact: an emotional artifact made solid, a cultural
artifact from some future/past, reconstructed or guessed
at. Some parts are original, some new, others are assumed.
I have thought of: "falling apart", "pulling
myself together", "the whole being greater than
the sum of its parts", cultural fragmentation, the
beauty of the spirit that has been tried and survived, the
diaspora of the "modern" family, homeostasis (the
optimistic notion that the body tends towards equilibrium
once knocked off-kilter emotionally or physically).
These concerns inform much of my
work either very deliberately or often in some subtle, even
unintentional way.
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