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Matthias Ostermann (1951-2009) was a Canadian potter, artist and author.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2023) |
Matthias Ostermann (1951-2009) was a Canadian potter, artist and author.
Matthias Ostermann was born in Wangen Im Allgäu, West Germany in 1951 and immigrated to Canada with his mother, Lila Ostermann, in 1953. [1] Ostermann spent his formative years in Toronto, Ontario. In his late teens, noted German-Canadian potter Isolde Rest introduced him to the ceramic arts. [2]
He formally launched his career as a potter in 1974 and travelled extensively in search of learning and inspiration – living and working in Ireland, West Germany, Italy and Australia. [3]
In the early 1990s, inspired by its creative energy and vibrant arts community, Ostermann relocated to Montreal, Québec, where he lived and worked until his death. Ostermann died at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal on April 19, 2009, following a battle with HIV-induced lymphoma. [1]
As a young man, Ostermann’s desire to perfect his skills as a ceramicist led him to spend a year as a thrower in a domestic earthenware pottery at Shanagarry in County Cork, Ireland, where he made hundreds of pots a week. [4] This apprenticeship enabled him to refine his technical skills, as well as his understanding of high-fired stoneware production pottery. [5]
From 1981 onward, Ostermann specialised in low-fired tin-glaze techniques for functional domestic wares, sculpture and architectural wall tiles. [3] Despite an initial focus on earthenware production, [6] he later began to explore Asian high-fire glazes. [7]
Ostermann’s skills in drawing and painting led him to experiment with surface decoration, [3] and he eventually became known for his maiolica [5] [8] and copper sgraffito. [9] This leaning towards painting and narrative work could be attributed to a love of stories, myths and legends, [10] [11] a legacy from his mother who was a professional storyteller in Germany. [12]
He also gained acclaim for his teaching skills, [13] as well as his knowledge of the history and techniques associated with the ceramic arts. [6] [14] Over the decades, Ostermann exhibited, lectured, and taught in Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Scandinavia, New Zealand, the United States and Brazil, as well as the UK. [15]
Ostermann authored three books on ceramics, The New Maiolica: Contemporary Approaches to Colour and Technique (1999), The Ceramic Surface (2002) and The Ceramic Narrative (2006), published by A&C Black in London and the University of Pennsylvania Press in Philadelphia, and contributed to a number of others. [16]
His final body of work, a series of multimedia pieces under the broad name of Boats of Passage, dealt with his diagnosis of HIV-related lymphoma in 2008. [17] In his artist’s statement on the works, he stated:
“Boats of Passage is not necessarily about confronting the fear of dying but rather deals with the examination of important inner changes necessitated by the coming to terms with my own mortality, my relationships and the sometimes loss of autonomy in the face of helplessness.
My use of the boat image as a metaphor is by no means novel; it has been used by past and present artists throughout history to symbolize the concept of a vessel carrying us along the river of life (to continue the metaphor) and even beyond into the afterlife [...].
In this body of work I have drawn as always from my love of human figure dramas and mythological references to create both human and anthropomorphic figures that interact, are movable and seem to contemplate and question as passengers on a boat. Other figures enact their little dramas as drawings on vessels and on paper.” [17]
Ostermann's final exhibition, Boats of Passage, was held in 2008 at Prime Gallery in Toronto, Ontario. [2]
In addition to the reference works he authored, Ostermann’s work can be found in permanent collections such as those of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, [18] the Musée des métiers d’art du Québec, the Landesmuseum Württemberg in Germany, [1] the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, [19] the Victoria and Albert Museum [20] in London, and the Royal Ontario Museum [1] and Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art [21] in Toronto.
In 2010, he was posthumously made an Honorary Member of the American National Council for the Education of Ceramic Arts. [2] In addition, Ostermann and his Boats of Passage were dramatized in a 2016 play by Montreal playwright and author Marcel Pomerlo, titled Matthias Ostermann ou Le dernier petit bateau. [22]
In 2023, the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery opened an exhibit, The Decorated Surface, intended in large part as an homage to Ostermann and his work. [19]
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery. The definition of pottery, used by the ASTM International, is "all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products". End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitary ware, and in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware. In art history and archaeology, especially of ancient and prehistoric periods, pottery often means only vessels, and sculpted figurines of the same material are called terracottas.
Raku ware is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of chawan tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low firing temperatures, lead glazes and the removal of pieces from the kiln while still glowing hot. In the traditional Japanese process, the fired raku piece is removed from the hot kiln and is allowed to cool in the open air.
Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue or as delf, is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands was the major centre of production, but the term covers wares with other colours, and made elsewhere. It is also used for similar pottery, English delftware.
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below 1,200 °C (2,190 °F). Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ceramic glaze, and such a process is used for the great majority of modern domestic earthenware. The main other important types of pottery are porcelain, bone china, and stoneware, all fired at high enough temperatures to vitrify. End applications include tableware and decorative ware such as figurines.
Faience or faïence is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major advance in the history of pottery. The invention seems to have been made in Iran or the Middle East before the ninth century. A kiln capable of producing temperatures exceeding 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) was required to achieve this result, the result of millennia of refined pottery-making traditions. The term is now used for a wide variety of pottery from several parts of the world, including many types of European painted wares, often produced as cheaper versions of porcelain styles.
Pottery and porcelain is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Types have included earthenware, pottery, stoneware, porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of ceramic production. Earthenwares were made as early as the Jōmon period, giving Japan one of the oldest ceramic traditions in the world. Japan is further distinguished by the unusual esteem that ceramics hold within its artistic tradition, owing to the enduring popularity of the tea ceremony. During the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1603), kilns throughout Japan produced ceramics with unconventional designs. In the early Edo period, the production of porcelain commenced in the Hizen-Arita region of Kyushu, employing techniques imported from Korea. These porcelain works became known as Imari wares, named after the port of Imari from which they were exported to various markets, including Europe.
In different periods of time and in different countries, the term majolica has been used for two distinct types of pottery.
Islamic pottery occupied a geographical position between Chinese ceramics, and the pottery of the Byzantine Empire and Europe. For most of the period, it made great aesthetic achievements and influence as well, influencing Byzantium and Europe. The use of drinking and eating vessels in gold and silver, the ideal in ancient Rome and Persia as well as medieval Christian societies, is prohibited by the Hadiths, with the result that pottery and glass were used for tableware by Muslim elites, as pottery also was in China but was much rarer in Europe and Byzantium. In the same way, Islamic restrictions greatly discouraged figurative wall painting, encouraging the architectural use of schemes of decorative and often geometrically patterned titles, which are the most distinctive and original speciality of Islamic ceramics.
Maiolica is tin-glazed pottery decorated in colours on a white background. The most renowned Italian maiolica is from the Renaissance period. These works were known as istoriato wares when depicting historical and mythical scenes. By the late 15th century, multiple locations, mainly in northern and central Italy, were producing sophisticated pieces for a luxury market in Italy and beyond. In France, maiolica developed as faience, in the Netherlands and England as delftware, and in Spain as talavera. In English, the spelling was anglicised to majolica, but the pronunciation usually preserved the vowel with an i as in kite.
Studio pottery is pottery made by professional and amateur artists or artisans working alone or in small groups, making unique items or short runs. Typically, all stages of manufacture are carried out by the artists themselves. Studio pottery includes functional wares such as tableware and cookware, and non-functional wares such as sculpture, with vases and bowls covering the middle ground, often being used only for display. Studio potters can be referred to as ceramic artists, ceramists, ceramicists or as an artist who uses clay as a medium.
Bennett Bean is an American ceramic artist. Although commonly described as a studio potter, some would characterize him as a sculptor and painter who works primarily in studio pottery. Bean resides in Frelinghuysen Township, New Jersey. Bean is best known for his pit fired white earthenware vessels, especially his collectible, non-functional bowls and teapots. His ceramics works are often asymmetrical, non-functional, and fluid looking.
Tin-glazing is the process of giving tin-glazed pottery items a ceramic glaze that is white, glossy and opaque, which is normally applied to red or buff earthenware. Tin-glaze is plain lead glaze with a small amount of tin oxide added. The opacity and whiteness of tin glaze encourage its frequent decoration. Historically this has mostly been done before the single firing, when the colours blend into the glaze, but since the 17th century also using overglaze enamels, with a light second firing, allowing a wider range of colours. Majolica, maiolica, delftware and faience are among the terms used for common types of tin-glazed pottery.
Joan Takayama-Ogawa, is an American ceramic artist and educator. She is sansei (third-generation) Japanese-American, and a professor at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California. Takayama-Ogawa's heritage since the 15th century of Japanese ceramic art influences her work, that usually explores beauty, decoration, ornamentation and narrative while also introducing a dialogue that rejects the traditional role of women in Japanese culture.
Ceramic glaze, or simply glaze, is a glassy coating on ceramics. It is used for decoration, to ensure the item is impermeable to liquids and to minimise the adherence of pollutants.
Alan Caiger-Smith MBE was a British ceramicist, studio potter and writer on pottery.
This is a list of pottery and ceramic terms.
Tin-glazed pottery is earthenware covered in lead glaze with added tin oxide which is white, shiny and opaque ; usually this provides a background for brightly painted decoration. It has been important in Islamic and European pottery, but very little used in East Asia. The pottery body is usually made of red or buff-colored earthenware and the white glaze imitated Chinese porcelain. The decoration on tin-glazed pottery is usually applied to the unfired glaze surface by brush with metallic oxides, commonly cobalt oxide, copper oxide, iron oxide, manganese dioxide and antimony oxide. The makers of Italian tin-glazed pottery from the late Renaissance blended oxides to produce detailed and realistic polychrome paintings.
Gzhel is a Russian style of blue and white ceramics which takes its name from the village of Gzhel and surrounding area, where it has been produced since 1802.
Lead-glazed earthenware is one of the traditional types of earthenware with a ceramic glaze, which coats the ceramic bisque body and renders it impervious to liquids, as terracotta itself is not. Plain lead glaze is shiny and transparent after firing. Coloured lead glazes are shiny and either translucent or opaque after firing. Three other traditional techniques are tin-glazed, which coats the ware with an opaque white glaze suited for overglaze brush-painted colored enamel designs; salt glaze pottery, also often stoneware; and the feldspathic glazes of Asian porcelain. Modern materials technology has invented new glazes that do not fall into these traditional categories.
Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take varied forms, including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is a visual art. While some ceramics are considered fine art, such as pottery or sculpture, most are considered to be decorative, industrial or applied art objects. Ceramic art can be created by one person or by a group, in a pottery or a ceramic factory with a group designing and manufacturing the artware.
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