Somluk Pantiboon / สมลักษณ์ ปันติบุญ

STATEMENT

As a full-time potter, I am aware of the fact that my life, my clay works and nature are inseparable and interdependent. The surrounding nature sustains me and my work, with essential natural materials for pottery-making-clay and glazes. Clay comes from nearby mountains or rice paddies where farmers dig to make a fishpond. For glazes I use locally available ashes (wood ash, rice straw and husk ashes or ashes from any vegetation around) and red clay from the grounds of my studio.

I incorporate traditional Thai methods and techniques to my contemporary works, for example, for forming and designing, a pounding method still used by village potters in Southeast Asia. I also deliberately make and use celadon and ash glazes which were unique to the Suwankalok style, the highlights of Thai ceramic history, during the Sukhotai period, about 700 years ago.

To me, clay is like a canvas and glazes like paint, inert until put into use. It is the task of a potter to produce art objects from these materials. In my view, it is not the glaze formula or the method of making nor the temperature that makes a good pot. It is the potter's vision and development in pottery-making that results in the effective use of materials and the creation of a good pot. When potters know through experience how to use the natural materials around them, there is an unlimited opportunity to produce creative works with clay.

CONTACT

PO Box 57
Chang Rai 57000 Thailand

T:+66 53 705291
W: http://www.dddpottery.com