Minna Resnick​

In the summer of 2007, I attended a weeklong ceramic workshop specifically for printmakers at the Jingdezhen Sanbao Ceramic Institute in China, facilitated by Jianseng (Jackson) Li, founder of the institute.  We worked with traditional cobalt transfer decals of our own images, which were then applied to porcelain ware supplied by the studio.  With two full time technicians and a translator, we were able to produce work that extended our ideas from printmaking to ceramics. 

 

This was the first event of this kind in China – an intensive workshop at the Ceramic Institute in conjunction with an international printmaking exhibition (which I curated), a daylong symposium at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, and travel throughout China.  There were thirty international artists participating in the print exhibition from the United States, Canada, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Australia, Switzerland, Estonia, and Egypt.  Fifteen international print artists attended the workshop and symposium and traveled through China, presenting lectures at three art academies and meeting with professional artists, faculty and students. The group also visited papermaking, ceramics, woodworking and tie dying workshops, as well as numerous cultural and religious sites.  It was a rare opportunity and transformative experience for all participants.

 

Sanbao Ceramic Institute provided a unique opportunity, in an open atmosphere, for artists to explore new methods and directions, to use skills not common to them, and to work in a space outside of their own environment and culture.