WORD OF HONOR

Pilar González: "If you are not centered, you do not center the work "

19/03/2008

BY JOAQUIN CARBONELL She exposes ceramics enameled with ashes of plants, a hardly known Chinese technique, here in the Caja Rural of Teruel (Bilbao corner P° Pamplona), until the 31st of March.

-“From chaste it comes to the greyhound”, as the pretentious ones say

-Yes, pretentious ones and the chaste.  When my father worked in the Diputación of Zaragoza, in 1962 he was proposed to recover some crafts of the area. My father, who did not have anything to do with the art, verified that the ceramics of Muel had been lost for some many years and he decided to get them back. He went away to look for pieces in the region…. i.e. a potter in Maria (a close village to Muel) and other places,  he  also went to Paris to search in the national library…

-To Paris? …

-Yes, he was looking for the national library documents; the history refers to the cashier of King Felipe II. The cashier, who was Dutch, wrote, pointed up and related all kind of curiosities in books. When being in Muel he described with certainty the formulas, the best lands or territories required for the elaboration of the grounds, enamels and for the production of ceramics. That is what my father looked for, studied and recovered.

-That’s fantastic ..

-This is how my father reproduced all the art of ceramics just as it was made traditionally and from the beginnings in Muel.  In any case and despite his careful and well done work, once he retired, all this authenticity was lost.  Today the traditional Arab furnaces are not used any longer, neither the right type of ground.  Nowadays the ground is bought and taken well packed from Valencia, the same as the enamels which today are industrialized…

-Now let us go on with you and your work.

-I was living during a year in a French monastery where I learned the techniques from China about enamel elaboration with ashes. As far as I know nobody makes this in Spain.

-The use of this technique makes any difference?

-Each plant produces its own chemical composition, and therefore its own enamels.  The results are then different according to the plant used.

- What is for you the ceramics?

-I answer with a popular song: “Noble and gallant Job, being from them all, the first/ since in the industry of mud / God was the first potter/ and man the first earthenware pot ".

-You have not answered to me…

-For me ceramic objects represent an image of life and death: you have a mud piece, when turning and making the piece it can be spoiled or broken, the same as life. But the mud itself can be turned again to create a new piece. And the ash is the latest left over when everything else has finished.

-Your pieces are used?

-That is what they are made for.  They serve mainly to decorate, though, for contemplation. But those all have a hollow in the center to contain, so that they can be used. I love popular ceramics because they express, they give information about the one that makes them.   You always get the track, the hint…

-The track?

-Look, if the ceramist, the author, is not well or doesn’t feel good when turning on a lathe, he cannot make up or achieve the piece.  You do not center the pot unless you are centered (in balance with yourself)