door poem project

The Chen family around 700 CE lived in the same village for 16 generations. The rumour was they were so close-knit, they ate together every night. The oldest dog was too old to eat in the courtyard. A young dog brought him food. Only when the young dog returned, nodded his head, did all 99 dogs and 3000 people eat. 

Fearing disloyalty, the emperor ordered the family disbanded. The rice pot which cooked 3000 bowls of rice was shattered into 297 shards, each small family unit was given a shard, and was scattered to the far reaches of the empire. There are now 40 million Chens all around the world. Our one shard is now 13 villages and it is time to write a new poem to name the next 16 generations. This is the Door Poem Project. 

The second ancillary project in support of the Door Poem Project is travel and research in the Archives in Shantou, Guangdong PRC to examine the paper checks or qiaopi, which is a record of family members who left china and sent money home from 1500-1911. After locating family members in the Diaspora, in Jamaica, visit and film the first encounter and invite them to the Conclave to write the next Door Poem. 

Collect recipes of Chinese cooking outside of China to write a cookbook, The Calendar of Feasts-Diaspora, one feast per season, country by country as a companion to The Calendar of Feasts-China, province by province.

Anthropologically, not only will the province of origin and the country of destination will affect the recipes with the inclusion of local ingredients, but also the date of migration. For example, Szechuan cooking is famous for spicy chilli, however, if the migration occurred before global trade established contact with the Americas, this ingredient would not be in the recipes prior to the 1500s.

The art projects for the feature include the remaking of the rice pot that cooked 3000 bowls of rice. Find a kiln that can fire a 6-foot diameter stoneware pot and then smash the pot into 297 shards. The reassembled shards will be scanned with laser tomography and the negative space is 3D printed and cast in bronze or aluminum. The replica bowls and shards will be distributed to participants of the conclave. 

Wooden name plaques need to be carved once the names are discovered, to be placed in the shrine. Some people do not speak Chinese and do not know their ancestors names. 

All participants will be photographed with medium format silver emulsion film for contact prints for a yearbook. Film is archival so the images and documentation are available in 400 years at the next conclave.

The New Door Poem will be written in Chinese calligraphy in ink.

Project Summary:

I am recreating a 6 ft diameter rice pot which cooked 3000 bowls of rice to be distributed during the filming of a documentary of the conclave of 13 villages in China to write a door poem to name the next 16 generations of children for the first time in 400 years.

Project Background: 

At the fall of the Empire in 600 CE/AD, the village where the Chen family of 3000 people lived for 16 generations. The Emperor fearing revolt ordered the family to disband. 

The rice pot which cooked 3000 bowls of rice was destroyed and smashed into 297 shards. They were scattered into 297 families across the empire.

The original 297 shards were distributed in 600 AD and have been lost. I am reconstructing the pot to give to the door poem conclave participants. 

The shards will be distributed at the conclave when we write the poem to name the next 16 generations of children 

Project Goal: 

To learn kiln firing to recreate the rice pot.

Technical Studio:

Two rounds of bisque and glaze firing. Loading and unloading kiln shelves. 

Studio maintenance, clay recycling, batting and wedging rounds or 600lbs of clay.

Glaze and production of test tiles.

Community Service:

Intern training to engage the public and instruct how to make slab construction and stamps at 5Parks Westmoreland Ju;y 23, 2022 and engaged 27 pieces made by members of the public.

Made 100 bisque pieces for glaze workshop for future 5Parks events and identified artists to participate in the August Program. 

Studio Practice:

Collaborate with Swanson Studio Resident Artist, Jonathan Scollo on technical criteria of creating and kiln firing 6ft diameter pot. Established program for construction, mould making and firing as well as budget and schedule contingent on, winning a grant or private funding, for continuing the project. Informed me of artists who do large-scale work, in slab, coil and wheel fired in ceramic blanket pop-up kilns.

Project Report:

Method to create deconstructed pot shards to be reassembled after firing. The negative space will be laser tomography scanned to generate a 3D printed model to be cast in bronze.

Progress Report:

20 bowls and platters

6 types of construction- Shard construction and assembly

3 small scale 2 ft diameter prototypes with a keystone piece in sections

1 Scale model of one of 8 sections

Keystone piece - radius 3 feet, Arc length 2.36 feet, 3' x 2.5' slab with 38 shards, Fire and glaze tested 

Project Future:

Collaboration with a master ceramicist to make a 6 ft diameter 300-400lbs clay pot. We have figured out how to fire it, now we need to build a 6ft plaster mould.

5Parks Program: 

No current programming for Camilla William Park. Created and shot a video of a tribute concert to Camilla Williams, first African American singer to be contracted with a major American opera company, by singing highlights of her career. Identifying the spiritual she was invited to sing at the March of Washington, Puccini's Madame Butterfly and a Chinese folk song because she was the first African American invited to teach at the Beijing Conservatory of Music