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At CIRCLE we champion aesthetically engaging art and craft for the contemporary environment. This year we are giving a bi-monthly Zine slot to individual works which reference the history of art, culture and society.
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HERE WE SEE A SIMPLE AND POETIC SHALLOW BOWL BY POTTER JOSEPH BULL
- AT ITS CENTRE LIES A SCALLOP SHELL.
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The understanding of the word scallop nowadays is synonymous with its meat - cheffy seafood,but the ribbed shell has been steeped in symbolism and iconic branding since the time of ancient Greece. In fact the earliest record of scallops is from the Triassic period, over 200 million years ago.
The scallop shell is symbol of light associated with the Goddess Aphrodite - Venus to the Romans.
In the Roman era, the scallop was a symbol of the sea, fertility and pilgrimage. The sea goddess Venus was carried to shore on a scallop shell and it was this mythological image that inspired Sandro Botticelli to Paint the most famous scallop shell in the history of art The Birth Of Venus.
The Birth of Venus was painted in the mid 1480s. It depicts the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown. The painting, commissioned by the Medici family is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.
In Christianity, the naked goddess Venus symbolises the purity of the Madonna.
‘Once draped in earthly garments she becomes a personification of the Christian Church which offers a spiritual transport back to the pure love of eternal salvation. In this case the scallop shell upon which this image of Venus/Eve/Madonna/Church stands may be seen in its traditionally symbolic pilgrimage context. Furthermore, the broad expanse of sea serves as a reminder of the Virgin Mary's title stella maris, alluding both to the Madonna's name (Maria/maris) and to the heavenly body (Venus/stella). The sea brings forth Venus just as the Virgin gives birth to the ultimate symbol of love, Christ.’ - wikipedia
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In Celtic Europe Aphrodite became the Celt goddess Bridgette who’s shrine at Santiago de Compostela in turn became the Christian shrine of St James. Due to its shape, the shell was used to scoop food and water as this was easily carried along the trail. Today the Camino pilgrimage is more popular than ever and pilgrims wear the scallop badge as a sign of salvation
or more profanely ‘been there got the T shirt.’
Interestingly, symbols of scallop shells are connected to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi “born from the churning of the ocean.” It is not surprising that the humble scallop weaves through time, religion and mythology as not only does the scallop date back to the earliest millennia, it inhabits every ocean on the planet.
The scallop continues its symbolic life in modern art. Maggi Hambling’s huge steel sculpture Scallop (2003), sits on a shingle beach near Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The sculpture is a tribute to composer Benjamin Britten who lived in Aldeburgh and walked daily along the beach. The edge of the main shell is pierced with the words, "I hear those voices that will not be drowned", taken from Benjamin Britten's opera 'Peter Grimes'.
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Perhaps the most widely recognised scallop image of all time is the commercial logo for Shell-pic. This logo is known as the 'pecten' after the sea shell Pecten maximus (the giant scallop.) The yellow and red colours used are thought to relate to the colours of the flag of Spain, as Shell built early service stations in California, previously a Spanish colony.
Josephs bowl with its deep sea green glazes, alludes to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus
but also speaks of the humble pilgrim, simple and functional.
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New Arrivals: Joseph Bull
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Joseph Bull, Wood Fired Bottle Form with natural wood ash glaze, 2021£ 480.00
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Joseph Bull, Wood Fired Bottle Form, Tien Mu Shan Glaze, 2020£ 300.00
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Joseph Bull, Wood Fired Bowl with Tien Mu Shan Glaze, 2021£ 280.00
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Joseph Bull, Wood Fired Bottle Form, Glazed in Beech Tree Ash, 2020Sold
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Joseph Bull, Wood Fired Porcelain Beaker, Tien Mu Shan Glaze, 2021£ 60.00
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Joseph Bull, Japanese Style Porcelain Beaker, Tien Mu Shan Glaze , 2020£ 70.00
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Artist Profile
Joseph Bull likes to call his narrow necked containers bottles; pilgrim bottles, Korean bottles and tear drop bottles - they could be flasks, carafes or pitchers but pottery bottles and bowls suggest plain functional ware which underplay Joseph’s luxurious aesthetic.
Joseph Bull has wide-ranging interests which converge in his porcelain and stoneware vessels. Following a BA in literature, he decided to study ceramics under studio potter Michel Francois in Falmouth and the Leach pottery in St Ives.
Bull’s enthusiasm for ecology manifest in his use of tree ash and iron oxide glazes - the results are random and beautiful like abstract expressionist paintings. Joseph is part of a research group at Oxford university who use anthropological methods of to investigate creativity in wood fired contemporary-hybrid Japanese inspired ceramics. The focus is on the preservation and protection of our natural woodlands through visual arts and craftsmanship. Joseph experiments with individual tree species and their unique glazes - which are evident in his work on show at CIRCLE.