Bruce Lenore Memphis Mount Fuji Signed Original Raku Pottery Sculpture

About The Artist: Bruce Lenore (b, 1955, American)

Artist's Statement:

• "My ceramic works are constructive-neo-decorativist vessels. I use hand techniques to create forms that present a stance, or posture and use patterning and glaze layering to create illusionary space and visual puns. In October 2004 I traveled to Japan as part of a group of 200 teachers on a Fulbright Memorial Fund Fellowship. This trip was an incredible experience and an amazing opportunity to learn..."

• Bruce Lenore, BFA, Hartford Art School; MFA, Ceramics, RISD (Rhode Island School of Design).
• He studied with Paul Soldner, Robert Turner, and Robert and Paula Winoker.
• In 2004, he was honored with a Fulbright Fellowship to study Art and Culture in Japan, as part of a group of 200 teachers on a Fulbright Memorial Fund Fellowship.
• He currently teaches at Smithfield High School and at Rhode Island College, and his work is held in museum and private collections throughout the country.
• His work is pictured on page 279 of AMERICAN CERAMICS The Collection of Everson Museum of Art (Rizzoli Publications, 1989)
• His work is also featured throughout Richard Horn's definitive work MEMPHIS: Objects, Furniture & Patterns (Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, PB ISBN 0671620118).
• FOR MORE EXAMPLES of the artist's work, including but not limited to sculptures, wall murals and ceramics, please see http://campus.digication.com/artmonkey/lenoreart .
• FOR MORE INFORMATION on the Memphis period, see Richard Horn's definitive work MEMPHIS: Objects, Furniture & Patterns (Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, PB ISBN 0671620118).

About The Memphis Style

• The Memphis style was a deliberate and quite conscious attempt to break away from Modernism and to include the archetypal technical and cartoon elements emerging in a post-World War II world culture. Most Memphis designers see their creations not as objects, but as political and cultural statements; their sculpture is as existential metaphor and visual poetry, and a very deliberate challenge to classic notions of design.
• The Memphis style emerged from Modernism, in both America and Europe , and from Italy in particular. The Pop style introduced new cultural interpretations of post-World War archetypes but the style contained an irreverent twist , and it did not endure. The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan, Italy ; the designers included, but were not limited to Ettore Sottsass, Jr. , Matteo Thus, Marco Zanini and Aldo Cibic, all trained architects and industrial designers.
• These talents formed the core of what is now referred to as The Memphis Group ; they became, and have remained, a tremendously influential Italian design and architecture movement .
• The Memphis style is noted for its' use of odd and striking combinations, particularly the use of a classic construction method to depict , in a practical and very usable form, an almost surreal interpretation of an image one can only see in the modern world.

About Raku

• Raku-yaki , Raku Yaki , Raku , or Raku ware, is a type of Japanese pottery that is traditionally and primarily used in the Japanese tea ceremony in Japan, most often in the form of tea bowls.
• It is traditionally characterized by hand-molding of the clay as opposed to turning it on a potter's wheel, resulting in each piece containing individual variations, thus being unique and one of a kind.
• The technique uses lead glazes and low firing temperatures that result in a fairly porous body.
• The technique requires the removal of pieces from the kiln while they are still glowing hot.
• In the traditional Japanese firing process, the fired piece is removed from the hot kiln and either plunged directly into water or allowed to cool in the open air.
• Raku techniques have been adopted and modified by contemporary potters worldwide.
• The term raku is derived from the site where clay was dug in Kyoto in the late 16th century.
• The kanji character for the term literally means "enjoyment" or "ease."
• For 15 generations it has been the title and seal used by a lineage of potters whose work formed the central tradition in Japan.
• This lineage believes that 'raku' refers to the potters who use the technique, not the technique itself.
• The use of a reduction chamber at the end of the raku firing was introduced by the American potter Paul Soldner in the 1960's to compensate for the difference in atmosphere between wood-fired Japanese raku kilns and gas-fired American kilns.
• For more information on Raku, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raku_ware

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