vitrifying the virtual

There was some contention at EDGE,the 1999 International Ceramics Conference in Perth WA, about virtual ceramics being called 'ceramics'. The irony here didn;t escape me at the time as I had't heard anyone mumbling any objections to unfired clay objects being called ceramics. Ceramics by definition is so called because of the firing process. All that aside, the name for the conference, EDGE, clearly carries with it conotations of the latest inovations in ceramics. I certainly would not have come to virtual ceramics without my deep seated background in ceramics. It was the 'lath tool' as analogy for the potters wheel that seduced me into deviating into the realm of the virtual form. The exhibition "Craft is Daed; Long Live Craft" travelled to Perth for the Conference. A number of artists including myself delivered papers on their involvment in Virtual Ceramics during the week. My paper "Vitrifying the Virtual - From Computer Screen to Ceramic Surface" outlined my personal history that allowed me to bring the creations I had produced for CID:LLC and turn them into ceramic tiles with screen printed on glaze decals. This history covered my early decal experiments, my obsession with the panorama, my involvment in computer software and annimation, and the technical skills involved in turning a virtual pot into an image on a ceramic surface. The images I present here are stills from annimations that I produced especially to support my presentation at EDGE.

craft is dead: long live craft

The bowl both holds and offers up. The bowl in animated suspension makes that offering more elusive. If a vessel is a subconscious container of secrets, then the secrets of virtual vessels may never be unlocked but paradoxically, in a moment, may also be universally transmitted.

Hobart has been my home for the past year and is a great distance from the familiarity of the far north coast of NSW. In a new place one can see the magic that passes as mundane for the familiar observer. Through photography I collect images of the 'everyday' and compose an order out of those random moments to use as surfaces for the virtual vessels that I create. From the interplay of city lights and water surfaces, reflections occur that are real, metaphorical and profound.

My earlier work utilised compositions created from heavenly bodies, images available from the Hubble space probe, the universe is a big place, it interests me.

The work is neither art nor craft. Somewhere within the creation of images I hope to unravel some of the secrets that hold me apart from the universe. Its a personal journey that may be of interest. There is no meaning.

Ken Ford Hobart, Australia May 1998

Above is my artist statement for the exhibition Craft Is Dead; Long Live Craft at Craft Victoria in May 1998. My contribution to the show was a set of large format inkjet prints. "Reflective States I - IV" Ken Ford 1998

10/4

artfa artsake

Artfa Artsake is one of my manifestations as an artist; it is also the name of my Larnook studio in Far Northern NSW. It is through this name that I produced my first experiments in the virtual realm. Revolving around the world of the potter's wheel is that metaphor of finding the center or being centered. Like the sun in our solar system perhaps. SunPlate artfa_artsake 1996

In parallel with my experiments in 3D modelling was an investigation into free published astronomy images. In the mid 1990s the Hubble Space Telescope was hurtling outward to the edges of the solar system beaming back images far clearer that any before taken from inside the atmosphere of our blue planet. Keeping up with the latest Hubble photos was my initiation into discovering the internet. VenusBowl artfa_artsake 1996

3D modelling software utilises a device called the lath tool which turns a profile into a virtual object. The similarity to the potter’s wheel for me was overwhelming seductive. I discovered that I could create images of 'pottery' along the similar lines to the storage jars that I had been producing for 20 or so years. Not only could I 'make pots' without having to get my hands dirty but infinite possibilities were being realised in what 'surface' these virtual ceramics could wear. OurOwnBowl artfa_artsake 1996

Our Own Bowl for instance has a surface that is borrowed from a real piece of ceramics that I had made around the same time. The piece was made using a complicated system of 3D printing that I had developed in my stoneware studio using plaster moulds and slips coloured with stains. These are my earliest experiments in the virtual realm and in retrospect reflect the simple approach I had to the software and the potential for outcomes. Just the same I see them as relevant to the history of my Virtual Ceramics.

The climax of this body of work was an animated work that had a number of virtual bowls seen to be revolving around black reflective column over surface once again borrowed from that same real 'jug'. I have here 3 stills from the animation.

10/4 (aka ArtfaArtsake)