Fine porcelain at the Courtyard

Press, 24 July 1986, Page 19

Fine porcelain at the Courtyard

Porcelain by David Brokenshlre and Tui Morse; birds by Jean Pollard — an exhibition of ceramics at the Courtyard Pottery, Rutland Street, until July 2». Reviewed by Barry Allom.

An Auckland potter, Tui Morse, whetted our taste at the New Zealand potters’ annual exhibition in Christchurch in May with two succulent little morsels. Though tiny, those two fine porcelain pieces were two of the “gems” of the national exhibition. We are now given a chance to savour more and indeed, buy, some of her stylish and appealing porcelain in this exhibition at the Courtyard Pottery.

Tui Morse’s work bears some resemblance to that of a fellow Aucklander, Beverley Luxton. Like the well established Luxton, she is able to conjure stylish and delicate shapes and forms from her porcelain and complement these with a nice sense of design and exquisite decoration.

Her pots, though tiny, have a large impact on the viewer. For me her best piece in this exhibition is the lovely rectangular box with a landscape design on the lid, partly replicated inside for those who choose to peek. In bowl No. 49 the design is used again but, because it is less neatly executed, it is less effective. Two fine little bowls, Nos. 53 and 54, succeed because of their simplicity of line and the lovely colour of their centres.

Another trio share a delightful, whimsical, music-inspired motif. Of these the tiny, roundlidded box, No. 45, and

the simple bowl, No. 28, succeed best. A delicate whispish bowl, No. 43, with folded edges is a highly accomplished piece with its cut out tree forms and foliage of gentle gold lustre and mother of pearl.

Tui Morse shares this exhibition with Christchurch’s own specialist in porcelain, David Brokenshire.

• Over recent years David Brokenshire has developed a highly sophisticated way of working porcelain into sculptured forms quite unique in New Zealand ceramics. He achieves a fineness of edge, remarkable even in porcelain and the brilliance and liveliness of his glazes contrast with the intensity of the white body.

In the national exhibition in May, among all the other innovative shapes and colours, it may have been possible to miss the one Brokenshire piece to

survive the selectors’ cull. That piece itself was surprising because it pre figured a new style from this highly professional potter. Now we have a chance to see more of this smoked porcelain, as black as earlier work was white, in richly fluted textures sweeping to fine-as-ever edges and filled with pools of glaze of varying depths and intensities of colour.

It is well worth a visit to this exhibition to see David Brokenshire’s development into the new mode. But the new dark pieces are supported by many fine flat and deeper forms in the more familiar white porcelain style. In fact, one of the finest pieces in this exhibition is a slightly assymetrical bowl, No. 22, entitled “Winter Flight.” This is a simple but superb statement in porcelain, blushed with abstract colour.

The plate form, “Dawn

Flight,” is another engaging pot with a suggestion of ducks in flight, the subtle glaze colours evocative of early morning light Of the smoky pieces No. 3, “Wind Bowl,” is noteworthy. The clay is drawn up in folds by the sucking wind, the jagged edges reaching the sky behind. But I found a small pot No. 14, the most satisfying of the smoked work. The colour is gentler — the outside is quite grey — and the inside reveals lovely folds of muted, merging colour. I found the pools of blue glaze in many of the smoked pots rather heavy. In pot No. 14 it was as if the pool had been prevailed upon to evaporate into the atmosphere leaving only a delicate residue of colour. The smoked theme of this exhibition is extended by including a selection of Jean Pollard’s handmade sawdust fired birds. Quite ordinary in themselves these ornamental birds rely on their gregarious nature and postural and spatial relationships. It seems that it is the interaction of the birds rather than the birds themselves that is important. This is illustrated in No. 74 where the impact comes from the juxtaposition of the two necking subjects. You have until July 29 to see this worthwhile and varied exhibition.