John Walters Personal Statement

John Walters Personal Statement

I have been creating a body of work exploring the technique of porcelain slip dipped recycled objects. These consist of soft furnishings,clothing,plush toys, knitted and crocheted objects. This gives a glimpse of contemporary life in Australia. By careful selecting my subject matter I am able to give a sample of society's activities through our fashion, the toys we purchase not only for ourselves but also for our children, leisure activities and stories we grow up with.

Growing up in a family of craft people, not only were our clothes hand made but also most of our toys and furniture. These skills over time have diminished to such a degree that today few exist. Most things are mass produced in China for various companies in various countries. With globalisation these objects find there way into our homes and lives, eventually ending up as landfill. Over time some may end up as fossils, but more likly they will produce toxic waste.

By slip dipping and firing the objects to stoneware I am able to create an image of the object which is only a façade, similar in features but it noway relates to the original function of the object. They become a memory, an instant fossil of contemporary society. Just like Pompeii frozen in time recording a history of everyday objects and activities. Destined to last much longer than the original.

All these objects in our past history would have probably been made by women, seen as a duty of being a good mum or wife. The skills being passed from generation to generation and classified as crafts. For thousands of years this existed but now due to the ever increasing demands by society, technology, the industrial age and globalisation the skills are no longer being used.

Ceramics like other skills in most cases is thought of as a craft and is diminishing. By marrying clay with other objects which would have originally been classified as craft, I hope to be able to develop a body of work which directly relates to todays society. Reflecting our lives, recording our likes and creating art from crafts and mass produced objects.

Artist's Statement and Haiku for Exhibition 1

Late in 1998 I entered a large group exhibition under the pseudoname Pam Tsu-Lih. I purported to to have been through the Cultural Revolution and to be living as a recluse on Magnetic Island. The point of the exercise was to deceive one of the local arts aficionados about my identity. It worked. Why I wanted to do that is not important here. What is important is that nothing in the artist's statement is factually untrue. It can be read as the statement of someone who had indeed been through the Cultural Revolution, or someone who had come to adulthood in 1960s Australia. The haiku that follow the artist's statement relate to Exhibition 1 in the pictures of Twogreytoes in Flickr. View the photos in reverse order on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7899872@N08/sets/72157600111843393/

PAM TSU-LIH
I was born into a society hellbent on repudiating its past, and grew up ignorant of all but a parody of ancestral wisdom and the culture it mediated. While studying science, however, I became aware of the paradoxical nature of the world as revealed by the new physics, and recognised intriguing parallels with various ancient wisdoms. Two particular notions converged: every particle occupies the space of the whole universe; and the boundaries of objects are illusion. I saw the non-sense of forcing naive meanings out of these statements, but chose to experiment with imagery in which more than one object or event appears to occupy the same space.

THE WHOLE YIELDS THE PARTICULAR
1A
WILD RIGOUR THRIVES AND
FINDS ITS VOICE YET THE SILENCE
IS UNDIVIDED
1B
SILENCE YIELDS WHEN WE
REACH BACK AND FIND A STORY
LESS THAN WHOLY FORMED
1C
TO SEE THEN NOTICE
FOR THE FIRST TIME THEN AGAIN
DEEP PROSPECTS BUDDING

THE PARTICULAR BECOMES SELF AWARE
2A
SEEING TWICE AT ONCE
DRAWS ME INTO WHOLEINESS
I DANCE YOUR INCREASE
2B
WHO I AM EXTENDS
THROUGH ALL THINGS BACK TO SILENCE
SINGING WELLBEING
2C
THE MORE I FIND OUT
THE MORE WHOLEINESS BECOMES
THE STORY I LIVE

SELFAWARENESS PUTS THE WHOLE AT RISK
3A
AWARENESS LINKED TO
THE SIGHT OF THINGS NEEDS THE THOUGHT
IT IS I WHO AM
3B
FROM THE SILENCE CAME
WAYS TO ANCHOR AND TO SOAR
WHICH BECAME KNOWING
3C
I NOW SELF AWARE
PUT EVERYTHING AT GREAT RISK
FOR MY OWN BEAUTY

UNSELF REACHES BEYOND THE OBVIOUS
4A
AS THE STORY GROWS
THE WORLD IT GIVES ACCOUNT OF
EMERGES ON SITE
4B
SILENCE UNDERWRITES
OUR CONSTANT RE CREATION
IT BECOMES DREAMING
4C
SUCH IS THE DREAMING
THAT ALL THINGS MERGE AND EMERGE
IN CO-CREATION

CONVICTION OVERCOMES BOUNDARIES
5A
ILLUSION DIVIDES
LIKE A GREAT WALL THAT ENDURES
EFFECTIVE DEMISE
5B
UNIQUE FORMS BLOOM YET
EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING
THERE ARE NO BOUNDARIES
5C
SILENCE LIBERATES
SO WORDS AND THE THINGS THEY NAME
CAN MERGE AND EMERGE

THE TRANSPERSONAL EMBRACES THE WHOLE
6A
UNSELFCONSCIOUS TILL
BEAUTIFUL AND SELF AWARE
I AM WHO I AM
6B
I AM WHO I AM
SHAMELESSLY SELF RELIANT
TILL FINALLY WISE
6C
WISE TO ILLUSION
FINALLY WE ARE UNSELF:
CONSCIOUSLY AT ONE.

THE PARTICULAR KNOWS THAT IT IS THE WHOLE
7A
IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME
MY DANCE OF RE CREATION
IS MANY RHYTHMS
7B
THE TAO IS THE DANCE
DIVERSITY'S CHANCE TO BE
FULLY CREATED
7C
THE RITES OF INCREASE
PROCEED TO THE DANCE OF DEATH
WITCH DANCE CONNECTS LIVES

THE WHOLE IN DIVERSE AWARENESS OF ITSELF
8A
ROADSIDE GATHERINGS
KEEP OUR STORIES EVOLVING
TILL SILENCE RESUMES
8B
SPINNING DIVERSE YARNS
FROM THE FIBRES OF DREAMING
WE CLOTHE OUR SPIRITS
8C
OUR STORIES WEAVE ROUND
SILENCE THE SEAMLESS ROBE OF
ICONOSPHERE

EPILOGUE: EVOLUTION AT A GLANCE
9A
SET A COURSE ENGAGE
BE WHAT NONE HAVE BEEN BEFORE
WHO YOU REALLY ARE
9B
WAVES OF HOPE COLLAPSE
TOWARDS UNCERTAIN OUTCOMES
AND CERTAIN FREEDOM
9C
I AM FREE TO CHOOSE
MY RESPONSE TO THE OUTCOME
OF MY ENGAGEMENT