After a successful MIX Unplugged 2024, we’re returning with another theme-free exhibition. The Museum of the Great Southern will host MIX Artists Inc in a pop-up gallery. Artists will rotate times, ensuring fresh artwork throughout the event. Visit again to see new pieces from different artists!
The soundscape for the 100 Chawan exhibition is a compilation of 6 parts, representing elements identified by Linda Chambers and Collyn Gawned as significant to their art practice.
Being invited to create a soundscape and directed by Linda and Collyn‘s strong vision for the completed ceramic works to be underpinned by the ‘feel’ of the exhibition space, I began with recording in their studios.
Artist studio. The place where creative work happens.
This video combines a part of the soundscape made for “100 Chawan” with video of taken Collyn Gawned working.
Part 5 ‘Collyn Making’ – Collyn moves around his space with an enquiring mind. A work always in progress. The music he plays (reversed in my editing) the different wind chimes, the water dripping off his roof to be collected in a bucket, the patting and forming of a chawan. Linda whisks matcha (Green tea) at the end of our session. I looked for a flow in editing the sound into a form to end with the breath and relief at the end of creating.
Part 2 ‘Linda Making’- recorded in Linda’s studio mainly working on the electric pottery wheel. The summer insects form a backdrop to the kneading of clay with rhythmic breath. Handling the clay before centering using her body with the mechanics of the wheel to form the clay into a circular vessel. Running her fingers around the rim and over the bisk fired chawan.
Part 3 ‘Tea’ combines male and female chanting with the ritual of making tea, including the whisking of matcha. Recorded in the studio of ceramic artist Collyn Gawned, also his home, the process of making tea is a part of the creative process and underpins the esthetic.
The first edit I posted was reworked to consider the place it sits within the entire soundscape and the flow required within the exhibition space.
Linda Chambers & Collyn Gawned: 100 Chawan
10 April – 8 May 2025 | Vancouver Arts Centre
100 Chawan (tea bowls) is a collaborative installation reflecting the studio based practices and common interests of Albany ceramic artists Linda Chambers and Collyn Gawned.
With reference to historic and cultural use, the tea bowl became their inspiration for individual exploration into form, surface decoration and functionality.
They have worked the elements of earth and water, firing in gas, electric and wood-fired kilns, to create unique and considered pieces for this exhibition, complimented by an original soundscape meditation compiled by Albany sound designer, Nat Rad.
Dates: 10 April – 8 May 2025
Days: Monday- Friday
Time: 10am – 4pm
Location: Vancouver Arts Centre, 85 Vancouver St, Albany
Translating from a video still, these works represent the complexity of layering sensations into one space. The images below begin with the still and documents the layering of paint to the final work
Nat Rad Artist + Artsworker 