Clay, Color and Fire - An international ceramic collaboration created for the T. M. Berry International Friendship Park, 2003
Winner of the Post-Corbett Award 2004 for Outstanding Individual in the Arts

The diversity of the Clay, Color and Fire artist team grew out of Cincinnati's Sister Cities program, including one African, three Asians and three Europeans. Prior to Clay, Color and Fire, no artists network existed among these cities, so research and internet communications were the first steps.  After a call to artists and jurying of applicants in Cincinnati, invited artists responded to design direction documents by creating color paper models of their ideas for mosaic design.  Full-sized digital enlargements of their designs were awaiting them upon their arrival in Cincinnati.

In the course of one month, the artists made thousands of handmade ceramic mosaics to cover the columns of the Friendship Pavilion. Over 100 Cincinnati volunteers supported the workshop as art technicians, host families, sponsors and friends.

The workshop overcame substantial language barriers through a common knowledge of clay and the ability to sketch and describe ideas pictorially.  A brace of dedicated volunteer interpreters filled in the understanding gaps!  The artists met the public not only in formal lecture and informal workshop settings, but also at picnics and open studio events.  Eight months after their departure from Cincinnati, the artists returned for a reunion to view the installed mosaics and to continue their relationships with each other and the creative community.
The master ceramists included Steven Lin (Taiwan), Marjorie Wallace (Zimbabwe),  Jan Brown Checco (Cincinnati /project director), Vladimir Shapovalov (Ukraine), Ikuhiko Shibata (Japan), Philippe Pasqualini (France), Kirk Mayhew (Cincinnati, workshop manager), Eva Sperner-Zernickel (Germany), and He Zhenhai (PR China).
Above left: Columns by Steven Lin and Marjorie Wallace, neighbors to David Nash's "Seven Vessels Ascending, Descending."

Above right: Phillipe Pasqualini's column

Left: The hearth is flanked by Eva Sperner's columns, "Yes" and "No." Scattered between the columns above the mantle are dozens of tiles made by the Cincinnati public, featuring words that describe those conversational opposites as well as many degrees of temperament between them.

The frame around the virtual hearth's inset is also created with public-made tiles which express ideas about friendship and nature.

Below: The Double Phoenix was designed and fabricated by a team of Cincinnati artists led by Jan Brown Checco and Kirk Mayhew. This artwork was created as an expression of all that was observed and learned from the seven visiting master ceramists, and includes onlays of glass mosaics and stones brought from our seven sister cities.