Arts & Entertainment

Dildo-making workshop plan sparks rift in Wellington ceramics community

Sydney, Australia, Dec 4 (efe-epa).- A proposal for a ceramic dildo-making workshop to be held by a Mexican artist in New Zealand has sparked controversy and upended the top ranks of the capital’s potters community.

The reaction to the plan has caused the resignation of the president of the Wellington Potters’ Association, and the workshop, which was scheduled for the end of November, was canned.

“I find it strange that this proposal has caused such a big scandal since I have presented it before in Mexico,” artist Iza Lozano told EFE this week, adding that her intention was not to “polarize or cause conflict in the community.”

“But I think freedom of expression is important and I also find it scandalous that people are outraged by a personal choice or personal taste… [of] another’s pleasure and of their own,” she added.

The controversy began when the now former president of the Wellington Potters’ Association, Nicole Gaston, presented the group’s committee with a proposal for Lozano to hold a workshop to create their own ceramic sex toys using techniques such as wheel-throwing and hand-building.

“As a thermal, hypoallergenic, easy-to-sterilize and resistant material, ceramic sex toys are fun, beautiful, safe and suitable for all bodies,” a flyer for event read.

But some of the association’s committee members felt that the workshop was too “provocative” or “inappropriate” for a pottery club, while others expressed concern about “how it would be taken by the membership at large,” Gaston told the New Zealand news website, Stuff.

Gaston added that she felt the committee was underestimating the open-mindedness of the association’s membership and cited a “big generational gap” with older people “afraid of what it will mean for them.”

Lozano said that Gaston, a well-known ceramicist who won an award two years ago for her work entitled “Vagina Teapot,” “stepped down from her position due to all the disagreements and conflicts as well as the attacks that arose from the proposal.”

The Mexican artist said that the source of the conflict was the challenge of addressing sex-related issues.

In general, “we are used to making teapots, teacups and plates,” said Lozano, adding that “the dildos are likely to shock some people, not only because of the subject matter but because they have to talk about sex, masturbation and sexuality.”

Lozano, who has conducted similar workshops in Mexico and explores the intersection of ceramics and sexuality in the context of contemporary art, plans to present dildo-making workshops and others in New Zealand in the future.

“On the basis of this controversy, I have been offered spaces for my workshop,” she said, adding that she hopes to take her proposal to the city of Auckland “later when the situation calms down a bit.” EFE-EPA

wat/pd/tw

Related Articles

Back to top button