I’m home! I arrived back in Winnipeg on Friday evening and am just now getting over the jet lag. I taught my first class at the university yesterday and have another one today.

I’m happy to report that my lantern turned out successfully and it was quite exciting to see it lit up on the last night of the festival, along with all the other lanterns that managed to make it to the finishing line. They all looked really great! I never did put that wooden backing on and am glad I didn’t. It seemed quite sturdy enough once I reinforced some of the bracing in the back.

No time to elaborate at the moment, but I do want to thank everyone back home for their unflagging support and encouraging words. I’m sorry I didn’t have the time to write personal emails, but I really appreciated everyone’s messages and comments. I look forward to seeing you all real soon. And thanks to all my new friends in Taiwan — I miss you all and hope to see you again!

Bye for now, Grace

Just wanted to let everyone know that my lantern fired nicely (whew!) although, like every other piece, it didn’t come out completely unscathed. Most of the bracing I had built into the back cracked in an unusual manner but the front of the piece looks good. In fact not bad at all considering the piece is once fired (due to time pressures and worry about stress on this delicate clay body). Needless to say, I’m very relieved. I didn’t get to see my piece until Tuesday of this week when a number of us headed back to Tainan for one last time. It was nerve wracking opening the kiln! Talk about Grace under pressure!

So, tomorrow is the big day — all the lanterns will be lit up for the evening concert at the festival (the only day the festival is open late). I’m quite excited about it and know we will all feel that the enormous effort and difficulty was worthwhile.

Tomorrow I have to adhere my piece to a wooden backing, something that was recommended because I lost most of the bracing and also because the fired clay is still quite weak. I’m reluctant to combine wood and clay together permanently, but the wood has been sealed and I’m assured it will be okay. It should certainly help the piece enjoy a longer life. In any case it will be shown during the Lantern Festival in a gallery in downtown Taipei in February. This means I will be in two shows in Taiwan at once at that time. Probably calls for a trip back!

The festival has flown by and I can’t believe we only have two days left. What I really can’t believe is that I’ll be home in one week with -19 temperatures! It will be a complete shock as will the fact that Christmas will only be about one month away — virtually no trace of it here.

I’ve had a nice offer to stay in a hotel in downtown Taipei for a really good discounted rate (thanks to Taiwan’s famous ceramic artist Ah Leon whose friend owns the hotel). My time in Taipei will also fly by and then I’ll be home before you know it. So far, we have managed to get to Taipei twice, once to the night market and once to go to the National Palace Museum (amazing — I found the jade to be especially inspiring!).

Tonight we celebrated the 60th birthday of one of Taiwan’s famous master potters and had an incredible meal which included black chicken, quail’s eggs, and a special birthday dish which had noodles, pig’s feet and boiled eggs dyed red.

Firing large work is nerve-wracking because any miscalculation or an act of God can cause warping, cracking, or other kinds of destruction. But Grace is an expert here — I just hope to hear how it went very soon.

I’ve updated the weather box to display data from Chiang Kai-Shek Airport near Taipei, and the map link now points to Yingge (Ying-ko).

Yes, I’m still here. It’s been so long since I’ve had a chance to make an entry, I can’t possibly remember all that has happened over the past two weeks! Since I last wrote I’ve had so many new experiences I surely can’t recall all of them right now, but here’s a few anyway.

In the last two weeks I have eaten Taiwanese Aboriginal food including fried crickets and bees (yes, can you believe it!), I’ve been on the deck of the 17th floor of a department store in Kaohsiung to see a spectacular view of the city, including Taiwan’s largest building, I’ve been to Sun Moon Lake, the Snake Kiln at Shui-li where some of us stayed in tree houses (yes, real ones) and visited an absolutely huge jade market in Taichung, Taiwan’s 3rd largest city (I think?). We went to see the largest Buddhist temple in Taiwan which is still under construction and is truly awesome (words cannot describe it!) and last night I tasted both lavender and pine vinegars which are supposed to be excellent for your health! The sauna I had in a huge ceramic pot at Shui-li didn’t hurt either!

It’s hard to believe that we managed to fit all this in when we have been working so extremely hard to finish our lanterns. We leave for the Yingge Ceramics Museum on Thursday and our lanterns are at varying stages of completion. The idea is to put the finishing touches on at the festival. I am very happy with my lantern so far and hope that it fares well through the firing process. It ended up relating very closely to the Chinese cut out windows that I see all around me (these are based on the traditional Chinese wooden windows which I find very beautiful!). I like it when these influences enter my work quite subconsciously. It was one of the students who pointed it out to me!

I don’t have time to write more at the moment, but will try to post another entry soon — not sure what my computer access will be once I’m at the festival in Yingge.

Hope this finds everyone well. The weather here continues to be perfect!

Bye for now, Grace

Things have been extremely busy here in the east! It also continues to be hot, but fortunately less humid. Gorgeous really, 30 degrees today! I’ve been working hard and of course my piece has become much more elaborate than intended. Surprise! I’ve encountered some technical difficulties with the clay, so have been spending too much time doing tests. The piece is coming along well though, but too slowly. The pressure is on!

I have been profoundly influenced by the exotic surroundings here, in particular the tropical vegetation. My piece reflects this and I find it interesting that I don’t feel at all compelled to incorporate both the growth and the decaying part of the life cycle, the duality I would normally be obsessed with. There is just such a profusion of growth here and the entanglement of vegetation has found its way into my work in a way that hasn’t happened before. It’s exciting but also stressful, as the piece has become more and more complex!

Mostly things continue to run smoothly, but we are beginning to encounter some of the tensions that are standard with this kind of a situation — some personality conflicts, some territorialism and a lot of anxienty about drying time, glazing and firing and most of all, kiln space! The kiln schedule is filling up fast and we all have to finish our pieces by the same deadline. This always creates problems, especially when everyone is firing at different temperatures. Should be interesting! My assistant has been away since Friday, but will return on Tuesday. She was setting up her show in Taipei. I will be happy when my “beautiful moon” returns (Mai-Yue). She is very helpful and so sweet!

Friday was a national holiday in Taiwan (National 10th Day) — sort of like our July 1st. We went into Tainan for a special tea ceremony (kind of like a wine tasting session, but with tea — the tea leaves for each tea were passed around for us to sniff before the tea was made) and stumbled upon a celebration at a small temple later. We tried to discreetly sneak in but, before we knew it, the MC stopped the orchestra (all traditional instruments) to announce our arrival — everyone clapped and welcomed us, then they gave us some chairs and some cold tea to drink. The Taiwanese are pretty relaxed about us white folks, but they do go out of their way to make us feel welcome. When we arrived back at the college that night, we were all so wired from drinking all that tea (we also got sweets), we all ended up working until 2 in the morning! Maybe I should be drinking more tea! It’s a big thing here — whereas we have water coolers, they have machines everywhere that dispense hot, warm and cold water (with LED temperature read outs for each one). You wouldn’t want to make tea with water that isn’t at boiling temperature! Still haven’t figured out what the warm water is for (about 50 degrees).

I’d better get back to work. Still lots to do! Hope you are all doing well and staying warm.

Bye for now, Grace

Just checked the Winnipeg weather. Yikes! It’s 30 degrees here today! It’s going to be a huge adjustment when I back to the Peg! Michael, please bring a parka and boots to the airport with you — I’ll be in sandals!

Well, it’s week 2 and time is speeding along. Although I always love the time warp that occurs when you’re travelling. Time seems to have little meaning to me over here. One day merges into another as we’ve all established a routine of non-stop work — we have to finish building our large lanterns by Sunday, so things are pretty “full on” as the Australian would say!

My piece is coming along well, but we are all experiencing the anxieties that come with unfamiliar clay, new glaze materials, new kilns, fast drying times and the general angst that working at a large scale in clay brings! Things pretty much have to work out since our pieces are to be displayed at the Yingge Ceramics Festival which opens on October 31st. The President of Taiwan will be there to open the festival. The pressure’s on!

I’ve been working hard since I last wrote, but we did manage to fit in a trip to Tainan to go to the hardware store. I’m afraid our concerns are rather practical right now, as we try to figure out the electrical needs of our individual lanterns and the hanging and display hardware required. I’m keeping mine pretty basic.

I also went to a Taiwanese night market on the weekend. Incredible — I shopped a lot (great deals on clothing, sun glasses, jewellery, etc.) and I saw a python swallowing a chicken whole! I was so stunned, repulsed and fascinated, I completely forgot to take a picture. You have to see it to believe it!

Also went to a wonderful concert last night here on campus — traditional music with a woman playing the zheng and a student orchestra playing all sorts of Chinese instruments, including the ur hu (I have no idea how to spell this).

I just noticed the time and have to dash to get to the cafeteria on time. I’ve discovered that they have daily specials (I’m tired of the buffet already) and it’s always a challenge to figure out what the special is and to order it — I’m never sure of what I’ll be getting — surprise! So far, so good!

I’ll write again soon. Oh, by the way, I just heard today that my work has been accepted into Taiwan’s first ceramic biennale — oops — I just may have to return in February!

Bye for now… take care everyone.

Grace

I can’t believe this is my 5th day in Taiwan already. The flight over was long and uneventful (just the way I like it) and we were served two substantial but mediocre meals. I didn’t even use a whole Gravol pill, which tells you that the flight was unusually smooth. When I arrived in Taipei on Sunday, I was packed into a cab with all my stuff and off we went for a 4 hour cab ride to Tainan College.

I have been checking the weather reports in Winnipeg everyday and hesitate to tell you that I’m struggling with the heat and extreme humidity here. The nights are starting to cool off nicely, but during the day, the heat is still stifling. I know I shouldn’t complain — I’d better absorb as much of it as I can. Fortunately nearly every space is air conditioned, except for some reason, not the washrooms. Toilet paper is scarce and I’m really glad I thought to bring some with me! So far, I’ve managed to avoid the squat toilets, but I marvel at how fit and agile everyone here must be.

So far I am enjoying the workshop and everyone in it. There was a bit of misery and angst at first because many of the supplies we requested were not available when we arrived. It wasn’t until one of the participants flipped out that we started to get some action. We all have a student assistant (we are working at a graduate level college) and mine is totally sweet and hard working. Her name in English means Beautiful Moon. She keeps me on track, giving me deadlines for glaze testing and kiln firings. The school is relatively well equipped and seems to have most of the materials I need; however, I haven’t seen the results of my glaze tests yet, so we’ll see how they compare with things back home.

Everyone is experiencing anxiety about the Taiwanese clay bodies (there are 2 to choose from) and for those of you who me, you may be shocked to here that I chose the red clay! My assistance has been busy pugging paper pulp into the clay to make it easier to work with. And, oh yes, did I happen to mention that when I arrived I discovered that our ceramic lanterns had to measure 2 metres in at least one direction. Yikes! Somehow I missed that little detail. Had I known — perhaps it’s best I didn’t. I had to make a quick change in plans — it’s certainly going to be challenging, but I guess we’re all in the same boat. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Other than settling in and working, we’ve made one trip to the market in Tainan, which is the largest city near us. It’s hard to describe the experience — the heat, the humidity, the smells, the people, the scooters (everywhere!) and all the exotic fruits, vegetables and meats — well you had to be there. It’s amazing! We will also be treated to a whole series of concerts played on traditional instruments here at the college, since the college has a large music program. On the weekend we are hoping to take a little break and get back to Tainan. It’s about 20 minutes from the college.

Anyway, time to get back to work. We have to finish constructing our pieces by October 12th. Then they dry, while we make some extra pieces for a show in Tainan (they just sprung that one on us). During drying week, they will also be taking us on a tour of eastern Taiwan, which apparently is the most beautiful part of the island. Can’t wait! Then back to the college to fire our pieces. This is an extremely tight schedule for such large works! Wish me luck.

Hope everyone at home is doing well and not shivering too much. I am doing fine. Finally getting over the jet lag! There are some amazingly talented people here — a fun and inspiring group. It should be good! Bye for now.

Please check my web site for future entries.

Grace

Grace spent four weeks working at Tainan National College of the Arts, near the southern city of Kuantien in Tainan County [map].

map at MSN.com

Then she spent a week at the Yingge County Ceramics Festival, and Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, about an hour’s drive from the capital, Taipei [map]. Yingge is pronounced “een-geh”. You may also see it spelt “Ying-ko”.

Official web sites: Taiwan, Tainan City, Taipei, Taipei County. The Tourism Bureau has lots of photos — click on “Taipei County” for some ceramists at work.