Vietnam is a cornucopia of fresh fruits and vegetables.
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| A shopper at a local market selects fresh picks. |
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Delicious and colorful dragonfruit entice the eye.
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While farmers have harvested and fed the country for ages, ceramicists have produced and supplied clay vessels for food.
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Recently made clay pieces drying outside a studio in Bat Trang, a pottery village about 12 km, south of Hanoi, along the Red River.
Bat Trang's narrow alleys and streets have housed pottery studios since the 14th century, and I was fortunate to work and study with some of the master potters here. |
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| Walking through the historic narrow throughways of Bat Trang. |
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| Large ceramic urns drying outside a potter's home in Bat Trang. |
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| Finished pieces transported in town. |
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| And displayed for sale. |
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| A ceramic store in Bat Trang. |
Local potters I spent time with were extremely welcoming.
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| Vicki working with a master Vietnamese clay artist in his Bat Trang studio. |
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| The entrance to one potter's home atelier. |
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| Where he tirelessly works at his vast production of ceramic wares. |
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Including clay bottles.
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| Preparing them to be fired in his large gas kiln. |
While most potters in Bat Trang work in large scale, often using clay molds, some artisans continue to make pieces individually by hand, or even by foot.
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| A local potter uses his feet to compress clay into flat tile forms. |
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He then creates impressive scenes on the clay.
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| Forming large wall hangings. |
Others continue to use their hands to manually turn wheels upon which clay vessels are made.
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| Teamwork involved here, with one man sitting and turning the wheel so that his standing partner can work and build up the wall of this large vessel. |
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| A gorgeous finished piece completed at this Bat Trang studio. |
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Teapots drying outside.
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| Completed ones, in the Bat Trang signature blue glazing on sale in a shop. |
Potters work meticulously and arduously over individual pieces.
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| A master potter laboring on his form made on an electric potter's wheel. |
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| He uses a saucer to smooth and compress the clay. |
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Work drying in his studio.
At the end of a long day at the studio, sports provides some fun and unwinding. |
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A local evening volleyball game.
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The historic town of Bat Trang is not the only ceramics production site in Vietnam.
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| A Bat Trang alley. |
Unique styles of ceramic production are seen throughout the country.
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| A few kilometers from Hoi An town, in a small pottery village, a woman stands and kicks a potter's wheel while she simultaneously prepares (wedges) clay to be used on the wheel by her colleague, who crouches and works clay into a finished form on the wheel. |
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| In the same town, a woman carves clay forms into lanterns. |
While new clay pieces are being produced for use every day in Vietnam, old vessels have been transformed into architectural structures.
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| In a monastery outside of Hue, this structure is comprised of pottery shards. |
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Close-up of remnants of clay vessels in one of the columns.
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| Another segment of a nearby structure at the monastery. |
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A detail of broken plates, cups, and bowls used in the construction.
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Hue, an earlier capital of Vietnam, is strewn with historic sites that use shards as building material.
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The impressive Tomb of Emperor Khai Dinh, built from 1920-1931.
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The Emperor Khai Dinh is interred inside beneath his statue, in an immense, ornate room adorned throughout with segments of past ceramic pieces.
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| Inside the stunning, ceramic-covered tomb of Khai Dinh, whose likeness sits atop a throne beneath which he is buried. |
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Columns in the tomb, designs all created from clay shards.
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| Detail of pottery segments combining to produce this dragon motif. |
