|
When I first became
interested in Studio Pottery in the 1980's one of the first pots I bought was
a round full- bodied jar with lugs by Svend Bayer.
At that time Svend was still decorating some of his
work in the manner of Michael Cardew, who was responsible for giving Svend his start in pottery at Wenford Bridge in 1969. He spent
over 3 years with Cardew and the painted birds and fish, which originated
from that time, had become a kind of trademark. However, the piece I bought
was undecorated, except for a build up of fly ash around the neck. I didn't
know it at the time but this type of work has become a favourite of mine over
the years and so it is only natural that Svend
should be returning for his second solo exhibition in my time at the
Harlequin and his third in total.
Even when Svend first exhibited at the Harlequin in 1994, the
painted decoration had gone and as Svend states, " I make pots whose surfaces have been decorated by
their interaction with complex kiln atmosphere, ash and ember-laden flames of
a five day firing". Svend has always fired
exclusively with wood but in the past, as I mentioned in my newsletter before
his last Harlequin show, he hated the firing process. He now has a 300 cubic foot and a 130 cubic foot kiln that gives him
greater flexibility than when he was using an 800 cubic foot kiln. Although the
firing is now longer this has become "a more relaxing and less torturous
experience". This longer firing period is essential in order to reduce
sufficiently, to melt the wood ash and to burn through the clinkers. The
paradox in Svend's work is of course this apparent
random decoration and the contrasting precise forms that make his work stand
apart from other wood-firing potters in this country.
In recent
years Svend has been invited to give more and more
workshops around the world and, as a result has been responsible for five
large kilns being built in the United States. Since his last
Harlequin exhibition Svend has also spent a three
months residency at the Sturt Pottery in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia. This workshop was
originally established there in 1953 by Ivan McMeekin,
an Australian potter, who spent time working with Michael Cardew at Wenford Bridge, although some
twenty years before Svend was there. During the
residency Svend made sufficient pots to have two
firings of the pottery's anagama kiln. Most of the resultant work was
exhibited in the extremely successful show entitled "One Hundred Pots at
Sturt Gallery".
|
