Chuck Joseph 2010
            I love the stories ceramics can tell. From Lapita shards to the fingerprints on a pleated Chinese teapot, from William De Morgan to Ernie Shufflebottom, from European
            porcelain to Len Castle, every piece describes a time, a place and a person. In spite of its resources Aotearoa, to my frustration, had no ceramic record until the industrial
            age, but this I also find exciting. We are, even now, inventing and laying down a record in a truly pioneering way. In my "Where the Birds came from" I incorporate my
            story with a prehistory. These thrown eathenware forms represent the water gourds of Tama Manapuna, (the Birdman). Legend tells us that Tama was given the task of
            bringing water on the Great Migration to Aotearoa. There was no room on the voyage for the many birds of this homeland and so he etched their images onto the gourds
            used for storing water. When he reached Aotearoa he broke the gourds and released the birds.
            These forms bring together the ongoing themes in my recent work; conservation of bird species in my "Without the Birds, Where is the Beauty?" series, the incised
            decoration of scrimshaw and the importance of integrating graphic surface decoration into the ceramic form. Looking across the group I see stylised natural forms and
            a flock of birds.  
                             

"Where the Birds came from"  ©   Chuck Joseph        Thrown earthenware forms, glaze painted and fired to Cone 4   (approx 320mm h.)
    

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  A tear was shed
my grandma said
when the last Huia died.
He died alone in bed.
His heart was broke
His race was run,
He lost his mate
to the Hunter's gun.
No more feathers
for the chief's head,
the feather makers
                                                                                                                                                    are now all dead.                                                C Joseph 2009                                                                 

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Oil paintings and painted ceramic from "Without the Birds, Where is the Beauty?" series by Chuck Joseph

                                                          Gunslingers     © Chuck Joseph                         (200 to 250mm h.)