[Studio Potter Magazine] January 7, 2003, Newsletter

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Studio Potter Magazine Newsletter
January 7, 2003



  ISLAMIC CERAMIC TRADITIONS

  In July 2002 the Ceramics Program of the Office for the Arts at 
Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts held a three-day symposium on 
Islamic ceramics. It featured scholars and artists presenting slide 
lectures and master classes on technology, history and aesthetics. 
Presentations from the symposium are appearing in the next issue of 
Studio Potter Volume 31 Number 1.

Nancy Selvage, director of the program, said she was sobered by the 
9-11 attacks and  decided to celebrate and explore the rich culture and 
history of ceramics in Islamic art and  architecture. Among the 
important lectures that were presented at the symposium were those  of 
Alan Caiger-Smith, an acclaimed English potter specializing in 
tin-glaze earthenware and  reduction lustre; Henry Glassie, folklorist 
and author of  books on Turkish and Bangladeshi  ceramics; Neil 
Forrest, professor of ceramics at the Nova Scotia College of Art and 
Design;  and Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, world-renowned lecturer on 
Islamic intellectual heritage and  professor of Islamic Studies at 
George Washington University.

Dr. Nasr pointed out that ceramics is related to every aspect of 
Islamic art, including  geometric, arabesque, calligraphic and abstract 
art. "The art is very much alive, and  represents the living Islamic 
civilization of today."

Alan Caiger-Smith spoke of the history of lustreware. He said: "It had 
an emotional power beyond the merely decorative...You don't so much 
look at it as look into it." As in Persian poetry, he pointed out, "the 
physical and the metaphysical are intimately blended....Lustre is 
essentially reflected light...It is born of a sense of those secret 
relationships which enclose life in a network , design and context in 
an attempt to communicate with forces lying beyond it." Under 
Caiger-Smith's direction, participants in the symposium were able to 
lustre-fire a kiln and experience what he was talking about.

Walter B. Denny, professor of Art History at the University of 
Massachusetts, described excavations of the late 15th century as 
revealing the extent of Iznik ceramics and their high-quality wares 
made for the court utilizing an artificial white body composed of 
kaolin, pulverized flint and frit and covered with a pure-white slip. 
"Today," he said, "Iznik ceramics still stand as perhaps the most 
perfect congruence of painting and ceramic art in history, as they 
continue to fascinate potters and to draw the admiration of 
connoisseurs and museum curators alike."

These and other articles in the forthcoming issue of Studio Potter 
present a valuable source of practical, historical and archival 
information on Islamic ceramic art, and give  rich visual and 
intellectual context through the words and pictures by leading scholars 
and artists.