Part of a valued legacy

Mirek Smisek - 60 Years 60 Pots. Suter Gallery to March 28

There's a photo on the wall of the exhibition showing Mirek Smisek unloading one of two huge beehive kilns at Te Horo, north of Wellington, in the early 1980s.

The tapered German firebricks for the kilns were shipped from Golden Bay, where they had been reclaimed from the disused ironworks at Onekaka.

The remains of the wharf at Onekaka are almost the only sign of this early industry.

Greg Barron, one of Smisek's students in the early 1970s, settled in a small house on the road to the ironworks, just opposite the Onekaka Hall, and built a replica of Smisek's kilns, which was preserved for many years by subsequent owners and may be there still.

Smisek is best known for his salt-glazed work, but one of his two kilns was used for more conventional glazed stoneware. The exhibition shows both strands.

As might be expected in a collection spanning 60 years, some of the work now seems old-fashioned and lacking in sophistication, but it was of its time with preoccupations such as truth to materials and techniques that may not seem so important now.

In the selection there are many small, simple, functional forms, such as mugs, goblets and yunomi (Japanese drinking containers).

These were shapes Smisek would have made in their thousands, and it's interesting to wonder what elements of form and glaze made these the ones to be chosen to represent such a vast output.

What are most impressive today, as they were at the time of their making, are the large salt-glazed crocks and bowls displayed in the centre of the exhibition space.

Because of their size, these would have been stacked at the top of the kiln.

It's a characteristic of the firing process that at the height of the firing, at white-hot temperatures, the salt that is introduced volatilises, the vapour settling like steam on a mirror, not just on the pots but on the props, shelves and the interior of the kiln itself, making it into a magic glazed cave with buildups of glaze which themselves begin to drip and flow during the firing.

The large pots under the crown of the kiln reap some of the more or less fortuitous drops of historic glaze in addition to the normal buildup from the firing in process.

Some of these "snots" are visible on the large pots at the Suter, as are dribbles of accumulated salt glaze over the slips of iron, cobalt and other elements that are applied prior to the firing.

The influences from Europe and Japan, which are explained in the accompanying text, are visible in the pots, but so is the accumulated skill of Smisek's working life.

So much drama, so much knowledge, so much integrity in following a path for a lifetime.

This exhibition is a wonderful legacy from one of New Zealand's most revered craftsmen.

- © Fairfax NZ News