Johnston Fischer

Artist Statement

Johnston Fischer is the partnership and ceramic studio of two architects, Stephanie Fischer and Ian Johnston, who work in ceramic and mixed media instead of bricks and boards. Getting a second life out of materials and objects is the idea that brought this team together. They met at the Bauhaus in Germany where Ian was teaching in the early nineties. They were both working with found objects and materials in the context of international/interdisciplinary workshops. Although their work is more Japanese in style, the Bauhaus principles of simplicity in design are evident in the unusual functional and sculptural objects they create. They are known for the meticulous quality and craft of everything they make. All of their work is hand built in their Nelson, British Columbia studio.
Fischer who studied architecture in Berlin initiated the studio shortly after her arrival in Canada in 1995. Johnston joined her later after an assignment teaching design at Kootenay School of the Arts where he continues to teach. In the summer they are joined in the studio by students from the Kootenay School of the Arts Clay Studio.

Eliza Vase Ceramic with Checker Glaze Three sizes, 13, 18 & 22 inches Other glazes red sand and mauve	Eliza Vase Sand Glaze Three sizes, 13, 18 & 22 inches Other glazes red sand and mauve

Aero Vase Sand Glaze Three sizes, 14, 17 & 21 inches Other glazes red sand and black	Aero Vase Red Glaze Three sizes, 14, 17 & 21 inches Other glazes red sand and black

Porcelain Clocks 11 x 3.5 inches Other glazes red, sand yellow and white $39

Tea Light Houses Three Shapes, rounded, square, long Two heights, 5 and 6.5 inch Removable roof	Tea Light Houses Three Shapes, rounded, square, long Two heights, 5 and 6.5 inch Removable roof

Darted Eye Vase Red Glaze Two sizes, 14 & 18 inches Other glazes green, periwinkle.	Glaze Colours

Review By Bettina Matzkuhn, Sept 2000 Craft Association of British Columbia, newsletter.

Begin with 'the lump'. A lump which has no memory, context, history or inherent form. Give this lump to two people who approach it with curiosity, a sense of adventure, diligence and a respect for the rich context and history of ceramics, and remarkable things appear. Ian Johnston and Stephanie Fischer, or JohnstonFischer of Nelson, B.C. are both fascinated with the potential of 'the lump'.
Johnston and Fischer both come to their work with backgrounds in architecture. This is reflected in the architectural references and three-dimensionality of JohnstonFischer's forms, for example: ceramic boxes on wooden legs, tiny houses on even taller legs and vessels that recall grain hoppers or a chimney left standing after the house has vaporized. They met in Germany while working at the Bauhaus, the school which became famous in the 1920's for the equal celebration of craft and art, and also the spare, functional designs which have survived into this new century.
Bauhaus philosophy has also influenced Johnston and Fischer in the sense that their work resists categorization, nor do they concern themselves with fitting into any particular pigeonhole. Craft, at the Bauhaus, was the basis of everything: if the craft was not perfected, the workmanship or technique called attention to itself rather than allowing the overall piece to speak. Johnston maintains that expert craft should be 'silent' and utterly seamless the way a great performance is, the viewer being aware only of the transmission and ultimate effect. He says that today the Bauhaus serves more as a research institute, dealing with issues of urban planning and architecture, but that the breadth of interdisciplinary experience he received there has been invaluable. Fischer also worked in a number of capacities including video, installation pieces, town planning and the development of a cultural community centre. Her work still reflects the simplicity and formality of the original Bauhaus aesthetic.
Fischer says her work is about making clay stand up. Her Eliza Vases are vertical and stately, inspired by Elizabethan dresses but pared down to their most abstract forms. The surface is engaging, a negative impression of raindrops on a surface, or of hail falling through a thin sheet of chocolate. Others have a checkered pattern that folds around the corner, visually softening the rigid forms. The Hopper Vessel series are also tall, like overturned funnels. Her Eye Vases are indeed shaped like an eye when viewed from above, but from the sides look more like imposing, monolithic skyscrapers. The scale makes them return to a human grasp and the detail of inscribed window-like lines is faintly uneven, reassuring. Putting a great bunch of tulips in them might suggest that the modern city can be amenable to spring, to beauty, to fantasy.
Johnston, on the other hand, pursues more organic and whimsical shapes, in an attempt to make clay "wiggle". His Lip Vases do stand up albeit in a wiggly way and their surfaces are inscribed with undulating lines. He cites abstract expressionism as an inspiration in its embrace of the intuitive. Once fired, 'the lump' becomes fixed, but a sense of spontaneous gesture remains. The Tea-Light Houses acknowledge a fondness for the wiggliness of Dr. Seuss, but also for European architecture. They have many rows of windows in their diminutive 5 or 6 inches and swell out at the peaked roof, as if slightly inflated by the heat of the candle inside. They evoke "gemutlichkeit", a word lacking an equivalent in English, which translates as snug or cozy. It also implies sociability, the closeness and comfort of friendship or community. The townhouses and apartments which I pass by daily, don't seem to exude the same cheer. Perhaps Johnston's houses bear similarity without uniformity, a mark of the handmade object. The pair has an enviable working relationship in that they offer each other feedback and encouragement. Occasionally they collaborate on work such as the elevated boxes: Fischer built the ceramic box and Johnston the wooden leg structure. Fischer works steadily in their studio which is at their house. She is glad to work at home as she says clay "needs to be babied continuously". She develops glazes and techniques, meticulously recording her experiments. Johnston teaches design part-time at the Kootenay School of the Arts. He does the bulk of the business correspondence, develops promotional material which includes doing photography and graphics, organizes their gift/trade show itinerary, and settles in to his own work in between. He is a self-confessed pack-rat, gathering both ideas for future projects and used building materials, in an accumulation of mental and physical debris.
Debris, undeniably, is a source of creative adventure. Johnston describes how one of his houses was broken accidentally and, after living with it for almost a year, he began to work with the remains. The result is the opposite of gemutlichkeit. Exploring the Void has wooden beams exploding the house from within, shooting through the windows, pushing sections of walls out. Metaphors of internal strife, domestic violence and out-of-control support structures come to mind. Johnston's response to something that ordinarily would have been discarded is important to JohnstonFischer's commitment to sustainability and creativity. A discovery made on one's own is more rewarding than one that is passed along. Fischer describes her disappointment at the bubbles on a glaze she was working on. After picking away at it, she discovered the crater pattern underneath and now uses it regularly. Both Fischer and Johnston describe making 10 or 15 prototypes of something before they're satisfied.
All they have learned about clay and running a small business has been gained in a sharp curve over the last 5 years, since moving to Nelson. They have enormous gratitude for their various teachers and mentors, and describe the art community around Nelson as an invaluable source of support. While the recent years have been hectic and the ongoing demands of production/promotion keep them busy, they say they are on the verge of subsistence. The feedback from various shows is positive and confirms the viability of the work which gives them the momentum to continue. Whether functional or sculptural, their work is spare, imaginative, at times even mysterious, but not inaccessible. They look forward to experimenting with combining clay and a variety of other materials. 'The lump' which lands at JohnstonFischer seems to be in very good hands.