Australian ceramics has experienced an exciting evolution over the past 60 years, when ceramics was first offered as a full-time course at RMIT in 1947. At that time, the “high priests” of pottery were Shoji Hamada o f Japan, and Bernard Leach in the UK, who shared similar philosophies and aesthetic values. Leach wrote “The Potters Book” which was to become the ‘bible’, or text of choice for the many tertiary institutes around Australia who were opening up ceramic courses to satisfy the growing demand for training in what was seen to be an alternative career path in Australian arts during the post WWII years.
From this Leach foundation the first generation of Australian potters went forth, amongst whom the more notable were Anne Dangar, John Perceval, Arthur Boyd, Peter Rushforth and Ivan McKeekin. Rushforth is a much celebrated traditional ceramicist, and who then went on to teach at East Sydney Technical College (now known as the National School of Art) for 25 years, and who remained faithful to the Hamada/Leach philosophies all his life. One of his students, Alan Peascod went on to challenge many widely accepted techniques, developing his own innovative, unique and deeply explorative series of work.Looking through the Analytical Frameworks, Leach had a strong personal philosophy, and in his teachings he referred to “ethical pots”, advocating simple and utilitarian forms that are “naturally shaped”, and look hand crafted, as opposed to “expressive or fine art pots” which promoted aesthetic concerns rather than function.
This is in contrast with Alan Peascod’s innate sense of expression through the use of elegant adornment, and forms that were designed to be beautiful, not necessarily functional.However, like Leach, for most of his career he retained a utilitarian form (the ‘vessel’) as the basis of his artworks. Leach saw pottery as a combination of art, philosophy, design and craft. Function gave his pottery a sense of purpose, with the materials and processes dictating individual character to each pot, rendering his ceramics as meaningful art. “It seems reasonable to expect that beauty will emerge from a fusion of the individual character and culture of the potter, with the nature of his materials”.
(Quote by Bernard Leach in ‘A Potters Book’, 1940, Faber & Faber,London ).In this regard, Peascod shared Leach’s philosophy, writing “For me, it is the spiritual objective that has become the generator of artistic pursuit. ” (extracted from Janet Mansfield, ‘Alan Peascod: Technical Innovator’ - Influences and Dialogues, Faculty of Creative Arts – Papers, 2008). His personal belief was that “it was the role of the artist to be true to himself only” (extracted from Graham Oldroyd, ‘Alan Peascod: Magician’ - Influences and Dialogues, Faculty of Creative Arts - Papers, 2008), and true to his belief he was not driven or dictated by contemporary art trends.From this perspective, Peascod appears to have shared the Hamada/Leach philosophy. The formal aspect that frames Leach’s work shows he favoured the potter’s wheel for the construction of his ceramic work, but often incorporated slab and coil techniques that gave his work a distinctive hand-crafted appeal.
Peascod also used the potter’s wheel, often employing the technique of assemblage of several wheel thrown components, and adding generously proportioned pulled handles and spouts of great character to create a sense of visual balance.The construction techniques and vessel foundations appear to be the only points of similarity, however, as the element of form divide the two styles: Leach maintained sensible shapes where function dictated form, and his wares are firmly planted on wide bases emitting a sense of heaviness; Peascod’s vessel forms, by contrast are exquisitely balanced, seemingly weightless on delicate bases with perfectly proportioned, impossibly elongated necks, and fluid appendages. Surface treatment was another point of departure for these two artists. Comparing surface decoration is akin to comparing a cottage with the Taj Mahal.Leach glazed his pots with either natural ash glaze from the wood-fired kiln, or the traditional Japanese tenmoku, chun, celadon and shino glazes. Decorative accents consisted of rustic representations of symbols inspired from nature using oxide brushwork , scraffitto, or slip trailing.
In contrast, Peascod’s creative surface repertoire range from the rich tones of tactile blues, purples and greens that dance around his vessels, singing Islamic secrets, to the multi-fired glossy black vessels decadently adorned with rich gold luster reminiscent of the arabesque calligraphy and architecture that Peascod found so inspiring.One can almost see the Turkish mosque rooflines that are symbolic in much of his work. His elegant and seemingly simple forms belie the complexity of technique, and the melding of form and surface is visual poetry. Whereas Leach retained traditional firing techniques suited to his range of domestic ware, Peascod had the ability to develop and design the new technologies needed to “precisely match his aesthetic and expressive ambitions”. (Owen Rye, article in Pottery in Australia, “Tribute to Alan Peascod”, 2007).
He pushed firing techniques to their limits, and would build and rebuild kilns until they performed exactly how he needed in order to achieve a certain glaze effect. He was an adventurer, an innovator and a pioneer of modern times, leading the way and influencing a whole new generation of ceramic artists in Australia. Having said that, there is evidence that Leach also identified with the wholesome, rustic character of medieval English pottery. This fusion of Japanese and English aesthetics and attitudes was also embraced by early potters in Australia, filtering through to some of Peasod’s very early works when he trained in the Anglo-Eastern tradition under Rushforth at ESTC then under Les Blakeborough at Sturt Gallery Studio.
However in the early 1970’s time spent in Egypt established in Peascod a lifetime love-affair with the ancient forms, colours and luster techniques found there.This passion and natural affinity remained evident in Peascod’s work throughout all his productive life. From a contemporary perspective, current ceramic artists might challenge that Leach’s domestic wares were categorized as craft, and this is an age-old debate that has gained momentum since the 1980’s when ceramicists began producing work which “questioned the categories and boundaries of art and craft and claimed ground for the sculptural and conceptual in ceramics ……… declaring(ing) the right to continue a tradition of contemplative and emphatically non-utilitarian ceramic forms”. Yet, the question of how artworks of the past might take on new or different meanings in the context of contemporary ideas and issues is probably best illustrated by Gwyn Hanssen Pigott’s simple utilitarian ceramic forms which are borne of a deep belief in Leach’s ‘truth of form’, but when viewed as a Morandi-inspired still life arrangement in the modern gallery context they serve to provoke the art-Vs-function dichotomy.
Such arrangements allure to new meanings in terms of expressing time, movement, diversity, rhythm, travel, and possible musical interpretation.Raised on a plinth in a museum, a simple Leach bottle might also be viewed as art, but filled with wine on the dining table it takes on a different meaning in the domestic context. In stark contrast, Peascod’s exquisitely proportioned forms ooze with a regal spirituality that doesn’t require a gallery setting to be appreciated. Each piece is an artwork, a monument filled with meaning and significance, and the timeless beauty defies contemporary labels.In later years, a residency at Gubbio in Italy offered Peascod a chance to study 16th Century majolica techniques in which Peascod could further explore a new on-glaze technique, which enabled him to express his imaginative and artistic thoughts.
The results are an expressive amalgam of Islamic and Renaissance inspirations, with contemporary human stories reflecting a rural idyll in his unique and recognizable style. This new passion for the tradition of majolica sparked a new artistic adventure, and through this medium he blended cultural boundaries to form his own visual language.From a contemporary perspective, the mid-90’s saw Peascod produce figurative ceramic ware that explored the human condition - satirical in nature, and political in message. These sculptures were Peascod’s response to his environment, and to contemporary social attitudes, exposing “the worst manifestations of greed and duplicity, ambition and injustice he had seen in academia”, (extracted from Owen Rye, ‘Alan Peascod: Richness and Beauty’ – Influences and Dialogues, Faculty of Creative Arts – Papers, 2008).
These figurative works are a departure from the Leach philosophy, as the messages conveyed were aimed at a very different ‘grass-roots’ level. Leach would never have presumed to enter into political commentary with his art. Both ceramic artists (Leach and Peascod) shared a philosophy of truth to ones-self, using their mastery of their medium to create their own visual language. From this common base each artist has, however, pursued quite different aesthetics, and told their stories in very individual ways.
Each one also has very different chapters in their stories, with their respective creative journey’s taking very different paths. Peascod departed traditional functional ware to explore expressive ceramic artforms, then evolved further to explore a more sculptural means to convey a message, whereas Leach remained faithful to functional ceramic domestic ware throughout his life, with little evidence of any artistic deviation.In this, the aesthetics of their respective styles can undeniably be interpreted as based in a personal truth, which serves to illustrate the divide between ancient traditions, and the contemporary context. Although his work retained elements of a utilitarian form, Peascod departed the Leach philosophy in terms of adornment, and was led by his passion for Islamic ceramic forms to develop new technologies with dry barium glazes, and perfected the art of reduction lustres, creating complex works that became a source of inspiration for a whole new generation of ceramic students.
