First International Contemporary Ceramic Art Symposium & Show ‘Returning and sail-setting’, July 2015, Dehua, China

First International Contemporary Ceramic Art Symposium
From 10 July – 21 July 2015 I was honoured to be able to take part in the First International Contemporary Ceramic Art Symposium in Dehua, China. Art China and WanQi Art Museum/Centre invited 28 artists from 12 different countries to participate in this symposium. The international and Chinese artists inspired each other and worked with ceramics and showed their work at the Show ‘Returning and sail-setting’.

More information on the First International Contemporary Ceramic Art Symposium in Dehua

Show ‘Returning and sail-setting’
Opening July 2015, permanent show WanQi Art Museum, Dehua, China.

The ceramic work which I made for the show ‘Returning and sail-setting’ is called ‘Three people traveling’. The work is inspired by Confucius who is to have said, “When three people travel together, one can learn from the others. Choose to follow the strengths of others, and use their shortcomings to reflect upon ourselves”. My ceramic art is inspired by my upbringing in the East (Indonesia) and my adult life in the West (The Netherlands). It is about the philosophical differences, the similarities, the values and the way people interact with each other. In my work at the International Symposium of Ceramic Art at the WanQi Art Centre in Dehua organized by Art China I investigated the way I can connect both the East and West. By discovering ceramic through knowledge of others and materially experimenting with combining ceramic with plastics I made works which connect the East and the West. With ceramic, in addition to the art videos and video installation, I have found a new way to create, express, reflect and make improvements where necessary. ‘Three people traveling’ (East), shown in China, has a twin work ‘Three people traveling’ (West) which will be shown in The Netherlands in November this coming year.

中国文化三人行
我将我展示的陶瓷艺术品命名为“中国文化三人行”，我的创作灵感来自于儒家孔子的名言，“三人行，必有我师焉；择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之（别人的言行举止，必定有值得我学习的地方。选择别人好的学习，看到别人缺点，反省自身有没有同样的缺点，如果有，加以改正）。我的艺术作品的灵感来自于我的成长背景：我出生并成长在东方（印度尼西亚），成年之后回到了西方（荷兰）。我的作品展示了两种文化在处世哲学、价值观和人与人之间互动方式的异同。在由艺术中国在德化万旗艺术中心举办的国际陶瓷艺术研讨会期间，我通过与其他艺术家交流，以及把塑料与陶瓷创作相结合的尝试，探索了将东西方文化结合起来的方式。在我的陶瓷艺术品，艺术短片，以及我其它艺术品组合展示视频中，我探索出了创造艺术，表达艺术，反映艺术，以及完善艺术的新形式。“中国文化三人行”艺术创作品将在中国展示，与之对应，“西方文化三人行”艺术创作品将在今年九月份在荷兰参展。

Three people travelling – East

‘Escaping my skin’
The physical skin, being the warm tense border of a person and always the subject to manufacturability was inspiration for the project “how do you escape your skin”.

“Dutch artist Nicole Donkers also ended today in Dehua with ceramic art, and her philosophy is the escape of the skin, she hopes to break the limitations, out of themselves, from other people’s point of view to observe things, feel things, understanding things. Nicole is Dutch but grew up in Indonesia, so she personally experiences the blend between different cultures, collision, combined. The works in the exhibition, Nicole main use of these two elements pink and plastic, plastic slippers, plastic hangers, plastic cups and plastic.”

荷兰艺术家Nicole Donkers在今天也结束了在德化的陶瓷艺术创作，而她这次创作的理念是escape the skin，她希望打破局限，跳出自身，从其他人的角度来观察事物，感受事物，理解事物。Nicole是荷兰人却在印度尼西亚生活长大，所以她自己能够切身体会到不同文化之间的交融，碰撞，结合。在此次作品展览中，Nicole主要运用了粉色和塑料这两个元素，将塑料拖鞋，塑料衣架，塑料杯子，以及塑料手套这些日常生活用具与作品完美的配搭起来，将生活中的实用与美结合起来，生动形象的诠释了艺术源于生活，生活创造艺术。

Ceramics ‘Escaping my skin’