Exhibition at Koru Gallery, Dunedin

Porcelain amphora with flowing glaze. Wheel thrown and modified.

Thursday 16th October was a busy day for us. Two of the pots that were at the exhibition opening at Koru Gallery that evening were unloaded from the kiln first thing in the morning. I don't like cutting things as fine as that, but I also was having to produce pots for a local craft show in Palmerston that I had to deliver on Friday, and I am already producing work for another exhibition, so was under a lot of pressure.

We met up with Rhonda and Mark at Koru Gallery in the early afternoon and set up the exhibition. The opening was for 5.30 in the evening, and it was a happy one, and we do appreciate our friends who faithfully turn out to these events. Openings are always a bit stressful for the artists who are showing their work, and a few familiar faces and encouraging smiles help a lot to bolster the self esteem!

Sadly, none of us managed to take photos of the opening. I think we were all too busy!
Rhonda and Mark made a brave attempt to take photos in the gallery the next day, but it was difficult in the limited light.

Here are some photos of some of the work that we have at the exhibition. Some are photos that I took in the studio before the exhibition, and there are a few that Rhonda and Mark supplied that they took in the gallery.

Porcelain vase with flowing glaze.

The "flowing glazes" are really crystalline glazes used over a tenmoko glaze. I like the extreme fluidity of crystalline glazes, and sometimes make use of them just for the way they can madly run and transform a more conventional glaze when applied over it.

Porcelain vase with cobalt and manganese coloured crystalline glaze.

Porcelain vase with copper, iron and manganese coloured crystalline glaze.

This green glaze has lovely tiny secondary crystals packed in around the large primary ones. I coloured the glaze with copper, iron, and manganese, but I have no idea of how much of each! I had several bottles of crystalline glaze with the same base recipe, but coloured with different oxides. I combined them intuitively like a chef!

Detail of crystals.

Inside the vase were some lovely waterfalls and constellations of gold coloured iron crystals where splashes and runs of the crystalline glaze had modified the dark liner glaze.

Porcelain vase with reduction fired copper red crystalline glaze.

Detail of crystals.

This reduction fired crystalline glazed vase, and the one that follows it, were the two pots that were unloaded from the kiln on the day of the exhibition. I was delighted with both of them.

Porcelain vase with reduction fired titanium coloured crystalline glaze.

Porcelain Jar with lid, cobalt coloured crystalline glaze.

Porcelain Teapot.

Here is a selection of paintings that Laura did for the exhibition. People often ask "What are Laura's paintings about..?" But she hardly ever talks about them or attempts to explain them!  They are what they are! I suspect that the paintings the paintings have a lot in common with dreaming, and they have many layers of meaning.

"Musician" by Laura. Acrylic on board.

"Life is a Circus" by Laura. Acrylic on board.

"Sunflower" by Laura. Acrylic on board.

"Dahlia" by Laura. Acrylic on board.

Here is a little section of photos that Rhonda and Mark kindly supplied. The light was difficult, but they do give an impression of the gallery and its location. The garments are all by Rhonda, and the clocks are by Mark.

Koru Gallery, Dunedin with some of our exhibition visible through the window.

Koru Gallery is opposite the Dunedin Railway Station, which you can see in this photo from inside the gallery.

Yes... well! Exhibition night! Mark on Right, and... something more frightening on the Left!