Judith S.Schwatz(THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

Have you ever seen a work of contemporary art and imagined how or where it was produced? What sort of environment shaped it ? What the technical considerations that influenced its being and how did these considerations influence the artist’s vision? These, to me ,have always been intriguing questions and whenever I can , I try  to arrange a studio visit .
    While shelter is basic to human existence, artist’s studios are special places. They often reflect a sense of privacy, demonstrate family interactions(especially when the studio is part of the home) and frequently suggest the sense of serenity or turmoil within which the artist chooses to create.
    House tours of the rich and famous are a favorite pastime and are often and are often used as fund-raisers for charitable organizations. Indeed, whether we peer into private living rooms throuth magazines, books, televiseion shows-or first hand, we can’t  help but imagine the life style of the occupants and may even fantasize ourselves living there.
    Artist’s studios, however, have often eluded the curious perhaps because such spaces were never thought to be relevant to art history or criticism, or the artist himself wanted to keep his special environment removed from public scrutiny.
    I remember viewing the Jackson Pollack retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and being struck by the painstaking reconstruction of his Long Island studio. Every piece of weathered wood had been taken apart  and reassembled, to show us the environment in which he had worked in the early 50’s .Every inch of the paint-encrusted floor was there to show ,first hand, the layer upon layer of paint build up .
    Connecting to Pollack’s actual setting created, for me ,a deeper understanding and appreciation of  his work, you could feel his energy and imagine him pacing as he dripped paint onto canvas. New perceptions were exposed when Iwas able to contrast the sparseness of the surrounding to the complexity of the paintings .
    Gerry Williams, Editor of Studio Potter magazine ,has rewarded his readers for years with articles that peer into the artist’s private world . Tours of artist studios from around the country can be found in virtually every issue of the magazine and ,in mo small measure, contribute to the continued success of this publication. I, for one, when reading Gerry’s magazine, try to discern the books on the shelves, the objects collected ,the paintings, drawings or announcements on the walls. What tools were placed on the worktable ,and how was the wheel positioned? What sort of kiln was in place and ,of course, how large was it? We look for a new technique , which might be revealed in the photograph to explain a special surface try to discover if there is a spectacular view out a back window. The light, scale, location-the ambience or “feel”of  the space might just provide new insight into the work and ,more often than not, plays a significant role in helping us understand the artist’s contribution more fully.
    While writing an article on the artist Bean Finneran, I asked her to clarify the source for the thousands of arc-shaped coils of clay that constitute her installations. She explained that  she and her husband live aboard a houseboat in the midst of the grassy marshes surrounding San Francisco Bays ant that her arc coils are reflections of blades of grass.
    We often have seen photographs of Peter Voulkos studio space known as the “Dome”in  Oakland or of Jun kaneko’s colodssal Industrial space in Omaha, Nebraska-both of which inform and suggest the possibility of monumentality in scale of work.
    often, the studio helps form the artist.
    This is particularly true when studio spaces are about compromise. Within the constraint of having to work within a space that must fulfill multiple functions, we want to see how the artist has been able to handle that constraint to make a space reflective of a personality and supportive of its creativity.
    The studio is a place where countless obsessive hours of hard work and devotion take place, day after day, where ideas are born and ideas fall flat and fail .The studio is not only the arena, the playing field, the laboratory, and the kitchen…the studio is a special sanctuary where the artist reveals himself to himself… where truth, meaning, and ultimate questions are raised, and labors of love are ongoing.
     While it is a Pleasure to offer an introduction to a book which attempts to shine a spotlight on the studios, art and artists who work in clay, it is even more significant that the author, Bai Ming, takes us on a global journey to view international diversityes of expression. His interviews of artists from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America are printed in English and Chinese to reach the broadest possible audience.
    His interviews force us to think internationally about this important sculptural  material and provide insights into the worldwide international ceramic art community. Today, artists share a common ground –as the number of museums, galleries, biennales, and journals devoted to the ceramic arts continue to increase and expand throughout the world. At the same time, the Internet reinforces a global  perspective.
     His interviews force us to think internationally about this important sculptural material and provide insights into the worldwide international ceramic art community. Today, artists share a common ground-as the number of museums, galleries, biennales, and journals devoted to the ceramic arts continue to increase and expand throughout the world. At the same time, the Internet reinforces a global perspective.
     Equally important is that this book connects artist’s sensibilities that illuminate the diverse feelings, Passions, and intents of artistic expression. Politically, it is also significant to consider that although ceramic production flourished in China for centuries, technicall knowledge was often cloaked in secrecy, Bai Ming shows us that the studio has moved from the control and supervision of the ruling class and the court to the studio which is an open environment –where skill is shared and ideas and knowledge are freely exchanged.
    I know this book will stimulate our thinking and put a new perspective on the quality and intensity of ceramic art making.