Haakon Lenzi Ceramics

Broken Record

2011-09-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Once again there hasn't been much happening on this blog. My studio in Brooklyn didn't pan out... However, as of today I will be starting an independent study at Teachers College, which will provide me with studio access 24/7. Getting into the studio may be a challenge as I currently work upwards of 85 hours a week running my name sake bar Haakon's Hall on 119st and Amsterdam ave. here in NYC. Working 12-17 hour days will make it tricky to get into the studio, but it's a challenge that
I'm up for.

NEWS FLASH: NEW STUDIO IN BROOKLYN... I AM MAKING WORK

2011-03-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

So I know that there hasn't been a whole lot going on in this blog for the past couple of months. I've been busy managing my family owned restaurant here in my home town of nyc. And while I am still busy managing my restaurant Haakon's Hall, I have secured a studio space in Brooklyn and put in two pretty good days last weekend, throwing, trimming and attaching handles.

That being said, I should get some studio shots up by the end of the month. However, it might be some time before i have any finished work. I'm in a process of total upheaval. Going from high fired atmospheric stoneware and porcelain to low fired terra cotta. At the moment i have access to kilns but no raw materials to speak of. So once i get that sussed out i can start running tests and maybe get somewhere.

As Jaco Pastorius would have said, "I got some fresh ideas"

CERAMICS MONTHLY 2010 UNDERGRADUATE SHOWCASE

2010-08-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

So here is the link to my page on Ceramics Monthly.

4 YEARS OF THROWING MY LIFE AWAY... IT'S A PUN.

2010-08-04T22:40:00.000-07:00

HAAKON LENZI 2006.......... HAAKON LENZI 2010

HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE HAAKON?

2010-07-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

So you don't know how to pronounce my name, that's understandable. Now anyone can with this audio file!

A FEW PIECES OF POTTERY

2010-07-16T01:35:00.000-07:00

CERAMICS MONTHLY 2010 UNDERGRADUATE SHOWCASE

2010-07-14T18:36:00.001-07:00

Be on the look out for a picture of this pot with my name next to it in the September issue of Ceramics Monthly!

I also have a show coming up in the middle of August... I'll post the info soon.

WARES NOT WAR!

2010-07-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

I DID NOT MAKE THIS POT

This piece was fired somewhere around 750 A.D. made in the Sancai tradition during the Tang Dynasty. Over the last two years I've found myself coming back to this image over and over again. Visually, it has everything I'm drawn to in piece. Rich and luscious polychromatic surfaces pushed up against sharp voluminous forms.
The Sancai pottery of the Tang Dynasty is a perfect example of aesthetic diffusion in ceramics. The form itself is influenced by the Hellenistic style while the pattern is indicative of Iranian Luster Ware originating around the same time. Sancai influenced Luster Ware and Luster Ware in turn influenced Sancai.
This excites me. Ceramics is a history of culture: a history of cultural diffusion.

ARTIST STATEMENT: UBIQUITY OF PATTERN

2010-06-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Ubiquity of Pattern.

Working within the realm of functional pottery, I feel the need to be attentive to both its history and its role in society. Drawing from antiquity, I employ familiar themes such as lattices and arches, so that my work may open a dialogue between all cultures. Rather than making a historical document, I strive to create objects that embrace as well as expand on tradition .

Pattern itself is ubiquitous. Throughout culture themes of geometry, symmetry, and repetition have created a visual vocabulary. Operating as language, it exists as a means of communication and expression.The relationship between ornament and utilitarian objects are based on a shared function. In the same way a hand tool may serve one particular role, as well as several others, ornament can serve as decoration as well as a means of disseminating ideas.

Form should speak to its function, as functional objects exist through use. The language of the cup and saucer is that of the contemplative. The decision to employ a saucer is the decision to remove oneself from our culture of immediacy and enter a realm of contemplation. Similarly, the language of the jar is that of containment as well as the stationary. Fixed in its place, it remains, disappearing into the visual identity of our day to day. Yet with every passing, new elements are revealed as the surface fluctuates through the illumination of daylight to the incandescent light of the evening.

2010-06-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

BFA Thesis

2010-06-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

Riding the dragon

2010-05-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a wild ride this year, the last three weeks in particular.Last Saturday i had my BFA Thesis exhibition with painter, Maxwell L. Davis. The show went really well. The dialog created between the two bodies of work was at the very least exciting. SO... i'll have some shots of the installation up soon, along with somestudio shots of my most recent work.
Oh yea and i graduated from college today. Needless to say everything is flying by pretty fast. I've never been more energized to make new work and play around with all the new ideas i got out of that last kiln.

Igloo

2010-05-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

This Igloo was constructed during last winter vacation, over the coarse of two days, logging over 20 hours of igloo building. Designed by Haakon Lenzi, Maxwell L. Davis, and Alex R. Williams. Special thanks to Andrew Johnson, Griffin Sherry, and Austin Richards.

March25-April 9

2010-05-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

The following images represent two weeks of work beginning in the end of March and the beginning of April. The work was then soda fired to cone ten in a neutral atmosphere. The surfaces are a comprised of colored slips, wax resist etching, and wax resisted polychromatic glaze patterns. Photography by Mike Fleming

Random pots from 1st Semester

2010-04-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

Mid-Term Crits

2010-04-21T18:34:00.000-07:00