From the ground up

Published in the Telegraph Journal on Saturday November 21st, 2009

Potter Darren Emenau’s work is not consistent in the sense of symmetrical shapes or homogenous glazes.What is predictable, though, is that his work will look alive and rustic, that each piece will be unlike any other. These qualities are shown to great effect in Alchemy, Emenau’s current show at Handworks Gallery in Saint John. The exhibition demonstrates his expanding palette in terms of both the colour and texture of his finishes. Natural, lichen-esque glazes in bright hues have become an Emenau trademark. Form is important, he says, but the glaze, “that’s the icing on the cake.”Some pieces have a chunky finished created by layers of glaze. There are sculptural teapots and pouring vessels, wonky little tea bowls, larger asymmetrical vessels and decorative ladles crusted with turquoise glaze. New are the flasks he made this fall, some oblong and curved, others rounded and squat. ”I thought it would be nice to have a little nipper.” The flasks’ clay and cork stoppers are connected to the body with sterling silver chains made by Saint John jewelry designer Jeneca Klausen. It’s the first time Emenau has collaborated with another artist, and he’s really pleased with the results, how Klausen took the polish off some of the chains to better complement a flask’s natural finish. Many of the works in Alchemy were fired in Emenau’s new wood kiln, which he built from bricks from Fredericton potter Joan Shaw’s old kiln. It was a lot of work – much more than he’d expected – to build the double-layered kiln, including carting untold trailer loads of the heavy bricks from Fredericton to his creek-side home in Central Greenwich, near Brown’s Flat. Pottery isn’t just about making bowls, he says. Every step, including building the kiln, is part of the end result. Instead of working exclusively with processed clays and glazes from a supply house, Emenau made many of the pieces in the show from native clays and minerals. ”I wanted to get away from the factory,” he says. ”I really like the idea of going back to basics and rediscovering the local materials,” including earthenware clay and a white kaolin clay from Norton that is tricky to work with but can yield lovely results. ”To maintain the spontaneity of the work, I have to keep reminding myself to not be in control of every little bit. I have to take chances.” That’s why he sometimes leaves rocks, which can cause cracks, in the clay. ”I’m trying to work within the material’s range.” For glazes, he uses local limestone and granite, while a friend who works at the mine in Sussex supplies him with salt and different types of potash. ”I kind of like the process of doing everything myself from scratch. It’s the whole thing of digging the lay, getting the wood, cutting the wood. ”It’s full circle.”

- Kate Wallace, Telegraph-Journal