Polfyntjies vir die Proe

While I was in Basel,

Anthony created the work for an Exhibition

at the Breytenbach Centre

inspired by Leipolt's recipe book

Click here to

Read more about the Exhibition

Surreal Shop Window

Louis Vuitton and other shop windows were very inspiring when I
was in New York a few months ago. Little did I know that we will be doing work for a shop window in the very near future. . . !

Andrew and Marianne from

Pure Publishing & Design asked us to "translate" their concept for a new shop – the Jeweler, Adara - into a ceramic installation.



~ Salvador Dali Atomica Series ~



Inspiration from the

Salvador Dali Atomica Series

dictated the contradicting

strong movement,

frozen it time.

 

Display Themes in the shop are Wedding, Celebration, Engagement and Fashion all had to be incorporated into the display boxes inside the store and the two large shop front windows.

The scale of the pieces in the front window are hugely exaggerated – the Champaign flutes are 40 cm tall.

 
 

Celebrate with a bottle of  bubbly; popped with a big animated splash, a tray of large cup cakes, balloons and a tray of glasses tumbling and spilling liquid on the floor.

 

An exciting challenge to "capture" everything in clay for this glamorous new shop . . .



~ Fabric dipped in slip - the beginning of the "Splash" ~



~ Making the "liquid" spilling out of the glass ~



~ Three of many attempts at making the "Splash" out of the bottle ~



~ Bubbly "Splash" out of the Bottle ~



~ Bubbly "Splash" out of the Bottle ~

Colour Wrap Up: 2013 Plascon Colour Forecast

VISI Magazine asked us to make pieces for four Mandalas

where they could use the colours from the four Plascon Palettes

Simplicity, Dare, Contrast and Pause

 

~ Ceramic Leaves, Worms and Frog - Ceramic Matters ~

  

~ Ceramic Mice, Flowers, Leaves, Shells – Ceramic Matters ~


 

~ Ceramic Asparagus, Cutlery, Marie Biscuits – Ceramic Matters ~



 Photos by

Tina-Marie Malherbe and photographer Dirk Pieters -

inspired by the Mandala art of Kathy Klein



~ Ceramic Matters Installation - Da Vinci Hotel ~

 

One more New York shop window – Mannequin clad in spoons . . .

Knick-knacks in the making . . .



~ Ceramic Bugs - Ceramic Matters ~



I enjoy making intricate, fragile pieces . . . sometimes.

These were made for a photographic shoot for a paint company.

Some are made and dried on the kiln shelf; can be handles after the Bisque firing.

~ Prickly Pear Leaves and Seed Pods - Ceramic Matters ~





~ Mice - Ceramic Matters ~






~ Assortment - Ceramic Matters ~

 

visual lies

followimg our designs of the “inflatable ceramic” range

~ our concept, to turn a visually soft and tactile object into a ceramic form, still having the appearance / illusion of the original ~

ceramic 'ball and claw' stool

detail of  'padding' - ceramic stool

detail of 'padding' - ceramic stool



related to these ideas are the following examples of our "knitted and crochet" ceramic work - what do you think?

ceramic 'crochet blanket' wall panel

ceramic 'crochet' platter

ceramic 'crochet' bowl

can / should we always believe what we see?

________________________________________________________________________



Skull and Cross

1985 ceramic sculpture

We have both been interested in Nature and all its facets since we were students. The fascination with anatomy might have started in figure drawing classes, but the beauty and brilliance of nature and these amazing machines, we call our bodies, are still as captivating and impressive as always.

Growing up on -, and owning our own farm for 9 years taught us to respect the course of nature and the cycle of life. A skeleton (which most find macabre) is also a celebration of the continuous cycle of life. The exquisite genius with which it has been created is awe inspiring.

The Sedlec Ossuary ( Kostnice Sedlec) is a Roman Catholic Church in Sedlec, The Czech Republic, famous for its unusual, organic decorations. The site is considered very sacred because soil from the “Holy Land” was scattered before the church was built in 1218.

According to this web site the bones were from surrounding cemeteries; The Duke of Schwartzenberg ordered / hired the famous Czech woodcarver Frantisek Rint to arrange the heaps of bones in order.

I have found other sites that maintain that many of the bones were as a result of the “Black Death” and other plagues that claimed so many lives; there was no space to bury all the corpses and the monks saw this as a solution. Also, in Portugal, the church Capela Dos Ossos - decorated with human remains.

wood fired ceramic skulls

"inflatable" ceramic skull

Having seen photos and being totally fascinated with the concept of the Czech woodcarver, to arrange the bones as he did, I prefer our choice to make use of the form and texture, but made in ceramic!

Mentioned in a previous post our ceramic animal trophies replaced the authentic. We have used the shape of bones in many of our sculptural pieces over the years. Some of my work dates back to 1985 as seen in the photos.

More current this range of ceramic skulls; a vehicle for expression. A journey of discovery.

reflection

fine art fair - 2009

XVIII - materialization of matter

I grew up on a farm with my grandparents. The women cooked and sewed and the men worked the land. Living on the farm was great, but for two experiences:

1. Now and again there was a problem when my grandfather’s sheep fell prey to a jackal or two. This meant the neighbors all came together late one afternoon and while the women cooked and busied themselves at the house, the men would hunt for the culprits. I had to go with . . .

2. My Grandfather had a herd of Blesbuck (a purplish antelope with a distinctive white face and forehead). Once a year, during winter, family from the city and special friends, would all come to the farm. A big day when they would slay a cow, pig, sheep and a Blesbuck.

photo - blue forest safaris

The animal trophies were displayed on the big old veranda wall.

photo - how stuff works

I am proud of my family history, but could not follow in the footsteps with the practice of slaughtering and eating meat.

However the sculptural shapes and colors of these trophies and bones – some much older than me – has always fascinated us both.

It is evident in most of our work that nature always plays a prominent role in our inspiration.

We designed and made a range of ceramic trophies as substitutes for the real thing.  

The Kudu Horn - Seam lines are left to emphasize the sculptural qualities

These include a Kudu Horn – the first Kudu Horn we made was designed and ultimately cast in stainless steel and chrome, as a Trophy for Vodacom sponsored - African Challenge Soccer.

Ceramic Wildebeest Trophy

Ceramic Springbok Trophy

Ceramic Nature Study - Snails and Succulents

The silhouette and outline of the form becomes an important design element

The illusion to make an object in clay to look like something else.