A ceramic bird is a symbol of freedom captured in stoneware.
A contradictio in terminis? I don’t think so, but I’m a ceramist with a soft spot for ceramics and birds.
In my opinion, clay, birds, ceramics and freedom are inextricably linked. And I’m not alone. Ceramic birds are a popular subject of artists and ceramists of all time.
I’d like to take you this new spring into my world of thoughts and birds .
Ceramic bird
Birds of ceramics, I go to bed and get up with them…. Well, not literally, in this season we’re waking up with our garden friends. It’s springtime, before the sun is up, several whistles sneak in through the open window.
At this time of year we are awakened by a blackbird who sings its serenade every day, groups of flying geese, whizzing oystercatchers skim by and flirting blue tits fluttering in the apple tree (or are they quarreling?). These birds are not like stone, but hyperactive.
Clay is earthly, a prisoner of gravity. It falls, it flows and it rolls, but it certainly can’t fly, can it? On the wheel, the blobs of clay cheerfully fly in all directions. On the wheel, clay is fast, mobile and almost as fluttering as the blue tits in the apple tree.
A ceramics tradition of more than 3,000 years
I like the smooth movements of the clay on my wheel. Clay that slips through my fingers and listens to every movement of my hand. But clay has also a life of its. It doesn’t submissive obey what’s in my head. Clay follows its own path, as it has been doing for thousands of years. I want to seize that freedom, capture it in stoneware.
These shapes that emerge are quirky and free, as are the birds in their flight. A story I want to record. Not a parable in a literal sense, but a feeling, a thought, an emotion. A combination of ceramic, shape and bird. I’m not the first, and I will certainly not be the last.
Classical vases, jugs and pots have a similarity in shape, movement or stateliness with birds. I can see that now and ceramists all over the world have seen it, for example in ancient Iran, about 3,000 years ago. But also modern artists like Picasso and Chagall to name just a few.
Celebrate spring
What better way to celebrate spring by being inspired by our birds in balcony, garden or park. For me at least, it is an inexhaustible source for making ceramics.
Do you want to brighten up your house or garden with a ceramic bird? Take a look at my webshop on this site. This spring I’m going to add a lot of new ceramics, including birds.
After all, a ceramic bird in your hand is worth two in the bush 🙂
#StaySafe
Daniel
Also interested in those two birds in the bush?
Join nature and bird protectors in your area. So we can all continue to enjoy our nature this spring and in the springs to come.
Birdlife International has a wonderful website with all kinds of information. Take a look and learn more about our birds!
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