Chester Nealie
Wood-fired Large Jar
Wheel-thrown stoneware body. wood-fired, saltglazed tenmoku showing hares’ fur effect and shell marks. 640 x 400 mm.
This majestic jar is a particularly fine example of Nealie’s mastery of both throwing, glazing and wood-firing. This is the jar’s first public showing, Chester having reserved it for his private collection until now. A similarly glazed floor pot is in the Powerhouse Museum collection.
Chester Nealie is a New Zealand potter now living and working in Gulgong, NSW, Australia. Born in Rotorua, New Zealand. Chester began potting in 1964 after instruction in New Zealand from Shoji Hamada, Takeichi Kawai and Michael Cardew.
His wood-fired pots show the effects of prolonged firing at high temperatures on raw clay surfaces, using an anagama kiln. Although the pots have a basic classical form, their individuality is present in the freedom and joy in hand making combined with the magical spontaneity of flame.
He has lectured, built kilns and conducted many firings in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, USA, Korea and Norway.
He has held numerous one person exhibitions in New Zealand and Australia; and participated in many group exhibitions in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, USA, Canada, UK, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Germany
Representation
Nealie’s work is represented in a wide range of public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum, the Shepparton Art Gallery and the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in Australia; the Auckland Museum, the Te Papu Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, the Otago Museum and the Otago Museum in New Zealand; and in public collections in Korea, the United States and Germany.
Chester Nealie
Artist Statement
I began my life as a wood-fire potter in 1964 after instruction from Shoji Hamada, Takeichi Kawai and Michael Cardew in my native New Zealand. Although my pots have a basic classical form, their individuality is present in the freedom and joy in hand making combined with the magical spontaneity of flame, showing the effects on raw clay surfaces of prolonged firing at high temperatures in my anagama kiln.
I built my first anagama type kiln at my country home in New Zealand, and have built many since that time. The most recent is at on our 100 hectare property near Gulgong, NSW. All the wood I use in firing are Australian natives and come from the property, including Black Cypress.
My work begins as classically inspired vessels, but is altered in the making to produce an irregular profile, redefining classical proportions. As products of a wood-fired kiln the work evokes the prodigious sensibility of pottery making and the aesthetics of historical wood-fired ceramics. Uncluttered by tradition I have the freedom to explore the fired surfaces, creating a visual interpretation of natural phenomena in my environment.
My love of collecting evidence of both man-made and natural history is important to me and my work. Digging up old bottles, collecting scraps of weathered driftwood from the mangrove swamps or absorbing visual delights in fossils and artefacts in mucky museums are often stimuli behind my work. My shapes are a synthesis of an emotional link I feel with past objects and the accidental play with clay in its making. I like to use a slow turning Leach style kick-wheel with a minimum of water so that all the honest marks of the making remain to be seen.
April 2006
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