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CELEBRATE: 25th Anniversary of
1st Craft Potters Association Trip to CHINA
&
1,000 years of Porcelain Production in Jingdezhen
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Workshops, Participation, Demonstrations and Visits to
Contemporary potters, museums and kiln sites
Travelling overland through central China to
Jingdezhen (porcelain), Xian (northern celadons &
the terracotta army),
And centres of Jun and Cizhou ware production before arriving
in Beijing
The Forbidden City and the Great Wall
Join
us in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the
Craft Potters Association first visit to China in
1978.Jingdezhen,, the home of porcelain, is itself
celebrating more than 1,000 years of porcelain production.
Known throughout the world not only for its blue and
white wares but also for the beautiful ch'ing-pai
(ying-ching) porcelains of the Song Dynasty.Although
I have visited Jingdezhen several times since then,
most of my trips have had a greater emphasis on archaeology
as little appeared to be happening on the contemporary
front. I was very excited on my last visit there four
years ago to see an exhibition of students from the
local ceramic art college and hear about the beginnings
of the Jingdezhen Sanbao Ceramic Art Institute which
is now host, not only to local students, but also
international potters as well. It is there that we
shall spend our first week visiting studios, participating
in demonstrations and workshops and sharing in the
life of the local potters. One of the high points
of an earlier visit of mine, and scheduled for this
trip, was a visit to the ancient town of Yao Li, walking
past the rice fields and climbing up into the hills
to visit the old clay mine of Gaoling (kaolin) Mountain.
An early departure from Jingdezhen, half-way through
our journey, will take us westwards through ever changing
scenery towards Jiujiang where we cross Poyang Hu,
one of the largest inland lakes in China, and where
it flows into the Chang Jiang (Yangtse River) which
we then follow all the way to Wuhan. An overnight
train will take us to Xian, home of the terracotta
warriors and visits to the Yaozhou kilns and museum,
where the northern celadons also of the Song/Jin/Yuan
Dynasties, were produced. A visit to Chenlu in 1985,
was the first by a foreign group and it is still extremely
difficult to visit. At that time they were producing
some celadons but mainly a blue and white folk decorated
ware on a under-glaze white slip. Travelling eastwards
along the Huang He (Yellow River) valley emphasises
the change in scenery from the lush rice fields and
green vegetation of the south to the sandy loess plateau
which stretches north from Xian towards Mongolia.
Windswept brush and trees somehow manage to cling
to the soil. Terraces are chiselled out of the soil
for cultivation and many houses are cut out of the
surrounding loess, which provide for coolness and
shade in the summer and a warm, sheltered home in
winter.
Both Wuhan and Zhengzhou are maritime crossroads,
being situated on the two major rivers, which from
earliest times were the main method of transportation
from the interior of China to its coastal regions.
The Grand Canal linked these with other subsidiary
canals and rivers as at Jingdezhen. Zhengzhou today
is the crossroads for the rail network linking the
northern capital, Beijing with the southern capital,
Guangzhou (Canton). Here three and half thousand years
ago was a capital of the Shang Dynasty. A walled city
with some houses cut out, as they still are today,
from the loess. Excavation from settlements outside
the walled area have shown that pottery, metalwork,
textiles as well as wine were produced. The Provincial
Museum has an important bronze and ceramic collection,
including if I remember rightly the most stunning
collection of Han Dynasty houses.South-west of Zhengzhou
lies the village of Sheng Ho, where chun wares are
still produced today. Chun wares were produced over
a wide area and are closely linked to the Northern
Celadon and the Ru kilns. On my first visit to Handan
with Rose Kerr, from the Victoria and Albert Museum,
we discovered that some of the early kilns lie close
by those still in production today. The various styles
of Cizhou wares produced today still illustrate the
techniques used by the early potters including scraffiato,
painted, painted and incised, rouletted and cut- glazed
type as well as the polychrome lead glazed wares.A
morning train draws us towards the end of our journey
to Beijing. In visiting the Forbidden City do not
miss the side halls with their collection of ceramics
and paintings. The Great Wall, the antique market
full of pots and paintings both contemporary and old
- sometimes difficult to distinguish, the Beijing
Opera and Beijing Duck Farewell Party will bring to
an end - perhaps new beginnings - an incredible journey
of shared experiences and knowledge exchanged.
COST: Approx. £2,875
LAND PRICE: (not including international flights)
£2,275
DATE: May 20th - June 14th 2003A few under-graduated
scholarships of US$1,000 (Approx.£700) are available. |
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mail@christineannrichards.co.uk
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