Strange Clay January 2023
This was the first ceramics specific exhibition I had gone to London specifically to see, I really wanted to see the work in this show because my research for my first assignment had left me wondering about where ceramics actually fits within the fine art/contemporary craft continuum. The answer I found from seeing this show was a resounding Fine Art context, everything had sophisticated and complex narratives. Materiality was a strong part of a number of works, there was also humour, religious and political themes as well as some challenging works where construction and quality of workmanship was hard to ignore and there were some pieces that in my personal opinion were downright ugly!
The highlights for me where the porcelain installation pieces by Rachel Kneebone, her narrative pieces express the connections between nature and the body and despite the purity of the whiteness there is a visceral quality to the work which is very striking.
Salvatore Arancio’s strangely surreal works look like an alien has landed in the exhibition space and laid some weird eggs or pods that are bursting out from the rock face. There is something fantastical about the pieces, a sci-fi Ernst Haeckel type of sculpture that wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi comic book.
I enjoyed looking at the forms of Ken Prices sculptures, they have a very organic quality but I found the metallic, painterly finishes and the colours used too distracting and busy like one was competing with the other.
David Zink Yi put a giant squid on the floor of the gallery, it grabbed loads of attention and was very striking but the very best work for me was Lindsey Mendick’s installation, it was just fabulous. Funny, dark and relatable, her work uses humour to deal with her own and many of our own deepest fears and anxieties, a snail chariot pulled by white mice, an octopus in the toilet and slugs getting drunk on beer, the detail is fantastic.
Below are some pics I took of the exhibition.
This was the first ceramics specific exhibition I had gone to London specifically to see, I really wanted to see the work in this show because my research for my first assignment had left me wondering about where ceramics actually fits within the fine art/contemporary craft continuum. The answer I found from seeing this show was a resounding Fine Art context, everything had sophisticated and complex narratives. Materiality was a strong part of a number of works, there was also humour, religious and political themes as well as some challenging works where construction and quality of workmanship was hard to ignore and there were some pieces that in my personal opinion were downright ugly!
The highlights for me where the porcelain installation pieces by Rachel Kneebone, her narrative pieces express the connections between nature and the body and despite the purity of the whiteness there is a visceral quality to the work which is very striking.
Salvatore Arancio’s strangely surreal works look like an alien has landed in the exhibition space and laid some weird eggs or pods that are bursting out from the rock face. There is something fantastical about the pieces, a sci-fi Ernst Haeckel type of sculpture that wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi comic book.
I enjoyed looking at the forms of Ken Prices sculptures, they have a very organic quality but I found the metallic, painterly finishes and the colours used too distracting and busy like one was competing with the other.
David Zink Yi put a giant squid on the floor of the gallery, it grabbed loads of attention and was very striking but the very best work for me was Lindsey Mendick’s installation, it was just fabulous. Funny, dark and relatable, her work uses humour to deal with her own and many of our own deepest fears and anxieties, a snail chariot pulled by white mice, an octopus in the toilet and slugs getting drunk on beer, the detail is fantastic.
Below are some pics I took of the exhibition.
York Art Gallery May 2023
My first visit to this gallery and there were so many amazing ceramics to see, the wall of women celebrating a history of phenomenal female ceramic artists, the Yorkshire Tea Ceremony collection which showcases the collection of ceramics bequeathed by Bill Ismay to the gallery and the temporary exhibition showing a huge range of piece’s by the late Gordon Baldwin. It was absolutely fab and I found the work of Baldwin so inspiring, his forms are seemingly simple but the construction, use of colour and marks as well as the narratives behind his pieces are fascinating and complex.
Below are some of the works I took photographs of during my visit.
My first visit to this gallery and there were so many amazing ceramics to see, the wall of women celebrating a history of phenomenal female ceramic artists, the Yorkshire Tea Ceremony collection which showcases the collection of ceramics bequeathed by Bill Ismay to the gallery and the temporary exhibition showing a huge range of piece’s by the late Gordon Baldwin. It was absolutely fab and I found the work of Baldwin so inspiring, his forms are seemingly simple but the construction, use of colour and marks as well as the narratives behind his pieces are fascinating and complex.
Below are some of the works I took photographs of during my visit.
International Ceramics Festival 30/06/2023
This was the first ceramic festival I had ever been too, it was a brilliant experience, such a great variety of things to see, do and watch and a chance to mix with fellow ceramic artists and potters, everyone there wanted to chat about pots, it was great!
There were wood firings, lots of different demonstrations, lectures and presentations and a chance to talk to key speakers and artists about their practice. I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture by Greek artist Theodora Chorafas, she combines performance, sculpture and functional pieces into her ceramic practice. Her approach is gentle, purposeful and spiritual, with a desire to reconnect body and mind to the earth, her works are a combination of intricate sculptural pieces sometimes incorporating animal bones or larger delicate forms that work more as an installation. I loved how she spoke about her practice and how it is deeply enmeshed in her life and the place where she lives.
I was fascinated by the weirdly organic plant/alien like sculptures made by Canadian artist Toni Losey, her work is made on the potters wheel and she assembles different rounded pieces together to create these strange forms, she then decorates the surface with several layers of underglaze and glaze that she sprays on and fires repeatedly to create some depth and texture in the surface.
I also really enjoyed the demonstration and lecture by Sharon Griffin, there is a rawness and deep emotional relationship between Sharon and her work, her honesty about her life and where her thoughts and ideas come from was both emotionally evocative and striking and relatable to many people but I feel especially women. There was something both reassuring and brave about how she approaches her practice, on first encounter it may seem chaotic and purely intuitively driven, but there is a complex and sophisticated depth of research that both informs and inspires her work, she uses sketch boks both as a way to jot down thoughts and ideas but also as a journal and I found this very interesting, she is very open about the content and they are available to look through at her shows and events.
It was great to see people who really love the alchemy and excitement of different types of firing, wood firers were seen darting in and out to check the progress and top up the ovens and the raku performance witha giant dragon was full of drama, the whole weekend was very fun, busy and I learned so much.
This was the first ceramic festival I had ever been too, it was a brilliant experience, such a great variety of things to see, do and watch and a chance to mix with fellow ceramic artists and potters, everyone there wanted to chat about pots, it was great!
There were wood firings, lots of different demonstrations, lectures and presentations and a chance to talk to key speakers and artists about their practice. I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture by Greek artist Theodora Chorafas, she combines performance, sculpture and functional pieces into her ceramic practice. Her approach is gentle, purposeful and spiritual, with a desire to reconnect body and mind to the earth, her works are a combination of intricate sculptural pieces sometimes incorporating animal bones or larger delicate forms that work more as an installation. I loved how she spoke about her practice and how it is deeply enmeshed in her life and the place where she lives.
I was fascinated by the weirdly organic plant/alien like sculptures made by Canadian artist Toni Losey, her work is made on the potters wheel and she assembles different rounded pieces together to create these strange forms, she then decorates the surface with several layers of underglaze and glaze that she sprays on and fires repeatedly to create some depth and texture in the surface.
I also really enjoyed the demonstration and lecture by Sharon Griffin, there is a rawness and deep emotional relationship between Sharon and her work, her honesty about her life and where her thoughts and ideas come from was both emotionally evocative and striking and relatable to many people but I feel especially women. There was something both reassuring and brave about how she approaches her practice, on first encounter it may seem chaotic and purely intuitively driven, but there is a complex and sophisticated depth of research that both informs and inspires her work, she uses sketch boks both as a way to jot down thoughts and ideas but also as a journal and I found this very interesting, she is very open about the content and they are available to look through at her shows and events.
It was great to see people who really love the alchemy and excitement of different types of firing, wood firers were seen darting in and out to check the progress and top up the ovens and the raku performance witha giant dragon was full of drama, the whole weekend was very fun, busy and I learned so much.
