I was still feeling unsettled about how I had felt after visiting CAL and the ceramics at the V & A and it has really made me question whether I want to pursue clay as my only material for making sculpture. My overall sense of this just not being the right fit for me had me questioning what I was doing.

I remember walking around CAL and enjoying seeing the work, but apart from a handful of makers, most of the artists I had seen before at Potfest, I had hoped for and expected to be wowed by the space, the style of the event and the range of exhibitors given that CAL is considered the top ceramics show to be in, but I just wasn't, it just felt like Potfest in the Park on a slightly bigger scale but in a more clinical setting.  I was far more excited and animated by the sculptural work I had seen in the "When Forms Come Alive" exhibition at the Hayward Gallery which I decided to go and visit whilst I was in London.

I do love the materiality and tactile nature of clay as well as it's versatility, but I am not sure whether it will end up being the only material I work with. 

Above: Eva Fabregas Installation at The Hayward Gallery. The sculpture vibrated and made sounds, it was very bodily, like intestines or giant versions of mycelium sending signals between plants and trees. 

After the trip I did feel stimulated and started to research forms and shapes that were similar to those I had seen at the Hayward Gallery. Not all of this research would necessarily  be used to inform what I would make for my MA  but it was good to charge up my brain and get the creative ideas flowing again as I had started to feel a bit stuck and definitely disillusioned.

The below piece really fascinated me, and it got me thinking about a different way that I could connect and show my ceramic forms. The piece is made of wax and is by Margaret Humeau.

I loved the way the wax pieces looked connected but were randomly layered and did remind of the way fungi grows on a host tree trunk and I began to explore ideas about how I could develop this within in my own work.

In truth I was so fed up of making circles and ovoids I needed to do something different! I had been thinking about Chicken of the Woods, this is a highly sought after species of fungi that is meaty and tastes of chicken but it's hard to find. It's often found growing on old oak trees and you have to catch it at just the right moment or it becomes too tough to eat. It's a big, bright bold bracketing fungi, so I think that this is what I was thinking about when I made this piece. It didn't get any further than being bisqued because it broke!

Below an image of chicken of the woods growing in woodland.

Above is the finished piece before firing, I had used a new clay body called Lila, it had a very interesting toasty gold colour when fired to stoneware.I had built it on a round saggar, I was trying to create the idea of fungi growing on a substrate and it was fired on the saggar. One of the fluted segments blew off in the firing, I think I had omitted to create a small hole to allow moisture to escape so it hadn't dried properly.

Despite the breakage I did quite like the overall effect but I did wonder whether I was tipping over into making fungi that was too derivative of the an actual variety so I did not continue with this piece. I wouldn't completely abandon the idea but again it needs more experimentation and I was mindful that this was another potential distraction.