From left, Large Pot, and Child Within
Norma Rodney Harrack, Contributor
THE CERAMIC exhibition Mud and Fireman by Walford Campbell now on at the Mutual Gallery features a series of vessels that are both traditional and contemporary. While all the work is united in simplicity and purity, the pieces contrast beautifully through the colours that result from Campbell's use of classic glazes blushing reduction pinks, grey/green celadons and iron rich tenmokus, all of which form part of a coherent whole.
My immediate response as I walked round and looked at the richly decorated vessels in this exhibition was one of reassurance by a sense of familiarity. Without having to venture a closer look, it became clear that Campbell had not in any way abandoned the intensity of his preoccupation with the archetypal vessel form he had been accustomed to making, for barring a handful of sculptural works, the exhibition is wholly vessel-oriented. The gallery space displays a range of pots: huge jars, vases, bottles, teapots, candleholders and bowls, almost all rounded forms supremely well thrown. The smooth symmetry of their rounded curves and delicately inflated bodies are silent and refreshingly assured. Closer examination revealed subtle changes in the work, a slight shift of emphasis in his concerns and interests. The work appears more measured, there is a detectable change in tempo, a sense that he is taking stock and moving on.
His latest symphony of work remains in harmony, they are honest, the forms are simple and made to a high standard with skill and ingenuity. Here there is no authentic bending of rules, no post-modern persuasion; the work is consistent and fluent throughout. Instinct, discrimination and precision combine and govern this fine production. Throwing enables the repetition of form. Campbell is an assured thrower whose ease and familiarity with the process lends confidence to his pieces. Mask Vase is a blue and white wheel-thrown work embellished with figures that conjure up African influence. It shows a simple but effective use of the graffito technique (carving through coloured slip while the clay is still moist).
HAND-BUILT
Smaller pots are thrown while the larger ones are hand-built and laboriously worked to a smooth, if not, a preferred textural finish with definable hand-formed facets. Campbell's Pot Form springs to mind here. It is a large pulsating textured pot, glazed in a pale semi-matt green. It stands alone, there is no other like it. It is dignified and reinvigorated. The smaller pots tend to cringe a little in its mammoth presence. A single slab-constructed oblong container simply titled Mask, registers departure from the familiar rounded forms. Its four sides are flat and symmetrical and it is adorned with deeply etched mask-like faces. The employment of the vessel as a host of figurative imagery has a long tradition in Western ceramics.
Despite all the developments within contemporary ceramics with the move towards more sculptural and conceptual form, many potters continue to be concerned with the vessel both as an object in its own right and as a metaphor for a variety of meanings. The vessel may serve as a container but may also evoke ritual and even mythical uses. The teapot is one such vessel that is tied to ritual the ritual of tea and it continues to engage potters both for its central role in social and ceremonial situations.
This domestic icon is still considered a complex form in the potter's art. Campbell has a penchant for engaging the teapot, with a taste essentially for the more classical and conservative types. His porcelain teapots in this exhibition are exquisite, they make effective use of colour, form and function, their decor befitting their grace and elegance. There is no doubt that Campbell's concern is fully grounded in the vessel as it relates to the purpose of function, even when it becomes obvious that he has made a slight shift into a new territory with the construction of a few large works, and ventures off into sculpture in suggestion of a modernist approach.
In the sculptural genre one is immediately drawn to a rather large figurative form titled Child Within. This work is the embodiment of an image that is personal to the individual potter rather than ordinary conception from real life. The work unravels a narrative when at first glance we may merely see a pregnant figure but a closer look evokes other sensations and experiences. The figure is pregnant with sensorial and emotional feelings. In other sculptures there are 'openings' which seem to suggest their purpose of function even when that purpose may not be so apparent.
STONE-LIKE QUALITY
Mystic #4 is the title of a large, coiled, terra-cotta sculpture with a black semi-matt, glazed surface. It has a stone-like quality and a wide, flattened stance, bringing to mind the work of twentieth century sculptor, Henry Moore. It is rendered conventionally around the human figure almost to the limits of abstraction, and is concerned with the sense of balance and structure evoked by natural objects such as pebbles. There is a challenging diversity in scale with these new works, one standing 80 centimetres high commands a strong presence.
Conceptually we clarify the new in terms of the past, declaring that all art was modern once, yet sometimes we fail to recognise that a traditional form can present new ideas. It in no way disappoints to see a combination of resolved and experimental work. Surely any maker with ability has to be able to reinvent himself from time to time. The ability of Walford Campbell is not in doubt.
The potter has demonstrated a healthy awareness of some of the decorating techniques that have become standard. His brush-decorated surfaces lend visual quality and harmony to the work. The artist has a remarkable sure-touch in his free-flowing strokes from a loaded brush. This spontaneous use of the brush along with other forms of decoration such as fluting have a sense of rightness. Notwithstanding that some overly decorated pots border on painting, they are not paintings as the clay re-asserts itself the moment you handle it. The colours, however, are not flamboyant and in some cases subdued with attention paid to tonal value and gestural marks.
The pottery exudes serenity, yet they speak not with a quiet voice, nor are they shy or retiring; rather the rich blacks and iron rich tenmoku tones echo loud and strong, each vessel having its own personality while also relating to the company around it.
Whilst this show does reverberate with Campbell's assertive energy, it marks an interesting point in the development of his work with the quiet emergence of new thoughts that in part are a synthesis of earlier pre-occupations. I found this an immensely satisfying exhibition.
