Monday

Takeshi Yasuda's throwing demonstration drew audiences (and panel members) from all over the conference.

I was interested to note that the theme that emerged from this conference was the ethics of making within the globalized economy. With so many Australian potters visiting Jingdezhen we are faced with an ethical dilemma about using the skills and resources of other, cheaper countries to fulfill our creative vision. This issue emerged in several of the panel discussions and was addressed by many of the keynote speakers.
Robyn Phelan talking on her residency at Jingdezhen. (photo coutesy of Renee Ferguson)
Janet de Boos, Bruce Mc Whinney, Virginia Scotchie, Shannon Garson, Elaine O Henry, Kim Dickey and Marek Cecula on the education panel chaired by Owen Rye. (photos coutesy of Renee Ferguson)
Janet de Boos made the interesting point that the ANU distance Education course uses a combination of real life teaching in the form of Summer and Winter schools and video resources of in the form of teaching films and that this has been a most effective method of teaching skills.

And the last word....

must go to Takeshi who talked about the power of language and made the point that by using the language of the visual arts ceramicists are doing themselves a disservice. Takeshi posited that we need a new language to express the peculiar mix of the tactile, psycological, political and visual that ceramics encompasses he said "When you think about design you have to forget about old languages....We have to develop our OWN language"

The next Australian Ceramics Triennale will be held in Adelaide in three years time.