THREE MONTHS IN JINGDEZHEN: A JOURNEY INTO THE MEMORY OF THE EARTH

• Pınar Baklan from Turkiye was one of the guests of the three-month artist residency program "Migratory Birds" at the Taoxichuan Art Center in Jingdezhen, known as the porcelain capital of China. The artist wrote about her impressions of Jingdezhen for Seramik Türkiye.

PINAR BAKLAN

Being invited to and participating in the three-month Artist Residency program at the Taoxichuan Art Center in Jingdezhen, known as the world capital of ceramics and porcelain, between May and August of this year, was a very special and transformative experience for me. And actually, being able to create here was something I had dreamed of for a long time.

Before going to Jingdezhen, I certainly knew about the city's place in the history of ceramics. But when I arrived, I was very impressed to see that ceramics were not just an art form, but a way of life in the city. In this city, which has been one of the centers of porcelain production for centuries, there is almost no moment when you don't encounter ceramics. It is possible to see traces of ceramics in the streets, workshops, kilns, factories, small shops, and art centers.

As with every artist residency program I've participated in, producing work in this atmosphere for three months in Jingdezhen was both a great workspace and a continuous learning opportunity for me.

During my residency at the Taoxichuan Art Center, I had the chance to work alongside artists from different countries and disciplines. This diversity allowed me to look at my own work from an outside perspective. Observing the working methods, the relationship with materials, and the thoughts on art of artists from different cultures was as valuable to me as my own work.

During this process, I created a large-scale public sculpture that was acquired for the collection and is permanently displayed within the large campus of this art center. It was very exciting for me to realize such a large-scale work at the heart of China's ceramic production tradition. I also produced numerous hand-shaped porcelain sculptures that were included in the museum's collection. I had the opportunity to reflect and study more deeply on the delicacy of Chinese porcelain, its whiteness, its relationship with light, and its transformation in reduction kilns at very high temperatures. With the aim of bringing together the blue and white of Chinese porcelain culture and the blue and white tradition of Turkish tiles in my modern abstract sculptures, I incorporated cobalt blue lines into my works using brush dejore and sought to make this special decoration even more valuable by using gold.

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One of the most impressive aspects of producing art in Jingdezhen was the constant rediscovery of the limits of the material. Especially the extremely translucent and super-white porcelain… Here, ceramics are not just clay and kiln; they are a vast field of knowledge and experience accumulated over centuries. The coexistence of traditional methods and contemporary productions gave me the opportunity to re-evaluate my own art practice. I believe that one of the most valuable aspects of art production is precisely this process. To be able to work with hundreds of different materials in a diverse and high-quality material paradise, to respectfully allow the material you are trying to discover to surprise you, to escape your control, and to teach you something new…

Jingdezhen reminded me of this once again.

Here, I not only produced artwork; I also lived within a different culture that I had experienced before, met new people, saw new production techniques, and closely experienced the history of porcelain and contemporary ceramic practice. As an artist, it was a period in which I questioned, developed, and enriched my own artistic language with new ideas.

I received very important career offers from galleries in China. When I returned to my country at the end of three months, I carried with me new ideas, new questions, new friendships, a different perspective on my art practice, and many new experiences.

My time in Jingdezhen was not just about successfully completing an artist residency program. It was also a very valuable journey where I could re-examine myself as an artist, my work, and porcelain.

I started this journey with great excitement about creating, and I completed it with great inspiration and gratitude.

Now I have returned to Turkiye. I am very curious to see how the experiences I gained in Jingdezhen will be reflected in the new works I have produced and will produce.

Because some journeys don't really end when they are over.

They continue by merging with the earth, the porcelain, and the art.