This is the official last week of term, though I am returning on Tuesday for one more week of tidying up & making use of the library.
My overwhelming feeling is how fast the year has gone, it has been a tremendous experience, I have met many wonderful and talented people and feel lucky to be part of a very special College. Regarding my project, I feel somewhat daunted by the amount of work required to complete it by this time next year. The past 9 months have been spent finding out how to conduct research, developing a context for the project and attempting to produce work in response. The practical part of the project hasn’t moved as fast as I would have liked, partly for technical reasons – learning new techniques takes time, and for the practicalities of working in a studio with very little space which is often cluttered up.
Tuesday:
Arrived to find that the kiln I had booked for tomorrow was empty and very hot, so let it cool for a while then loaded the first of 2 pieces. They are difficult to handle and I broke a small section off the internal rim, more or less ruining it. The second piece had its internal & external cones separated at the rim, with bridging pieces inside. I managed to load it, then left the kiln to cool further, allowing the pots a pretty hot drying period.
At 5.00 I had a tutorial with Martin to discus the writing of the thesis. I had prepared a draft contents page that Martin had asked me to develop into abstract length sections. It had been an interesting exercise, making me realise the importance of writing it in the correct order. For instance I started to write the introduction, then went onto the first section ‘Sensing the Container’, soon beginning to realise that I was duplicating myself and that the ideas were far better expressed in that part than the intro. Martin had a lot to say, plenty of sound advice and didn’t actually say that my efforts were dismal. I felt pretty daunted by the task, though I have found that the writing, when I work at it has improved and is an enjoyable experience. I think that Martin’s main advice is to justify every statement and to write clearly in my own voice.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday:
Attended the Atoms to Art 2 conference held at University College. Though there was an impressive range of speakers from science, ceramics and glass the attendance wasn’t what it deserved. I must admit to cherry picking a little as some of the subjects were either incredibly specialist or potentially interesting, but not relevant to my work at the moment. Besides, on Wednesday I had to cycle back to College to unpack the kiln and discover that rushing things definitely does not pay off. Both pieces had cracked, they should both have been lifted off the kiln shelf, loaded into the kiln when it was cooler and allowed to warm through for much longer. One of them can possibly be used as a mould for vacuum forming so perhaps all is not lost.
Meanwhile, back at Atoms to Art 2 I was very impressed with Marek Cecula and his approach to ceramics. He showed images of work he has selected for a forthcoming exhibition in Toronto. The makers/artists/designers chosen don’t often have a ceramics background and their approach to ceramics is very fresh. Of the work shown many were utilising ready-mades, over-layering or creating contemporary and sometimes political imagery. I think he would make a valuable contribution at the RCA and I plan to put his name forward as a visiting lecturer.
I am writing this, as usual on the train home, hoping that this journey isn’t a repeat of last week’s diversions and delays due to flooding. I finally got home at 12.15 a.m., three & a half hours late. But I was dry & warm and the house wasn’t flooded.
Saturday 30 June 2007
Sunday 24 June 2007
Week ending 22.06.07 -Sensing the Container
Since my brother’s wedding, I have continued to work with the flat cone 01 mould that had dried out well whilst I was away. Martin worked with me, demonstrating how to smear the surface of the mould with soft clay then build up another couple of layers until it is the correct thickness. We added a coil around the inside of the base to strengthen and stop it from distorting. When the piece was taken from the mould it needed relatively little fettling and appears crisp. However, I was a bit disappointed that the lower, internal rim is higher than I had anticipated, so I threw an insert with a smaller diameter to form a false base.
Later I had a meeting with Martin to discuss the preparation for starting the thesis. I had prepared a draft Contents page that Martin has now asked me to flesh out to abstract length. Since then I have spent some time working on the Introduction and the beginning of the first section dealing with the perception of the ceramic container. I have tried to make it engaging and straightforward, but writing doesn’t come easy to me, so it’s not the easiest part of this project. Having said that it does focus the mind on what the practical work is designed to articulate. I’ll include some of the first draft below, if anyone actually reads it with interest please let me know!
Sensing the Container:
I have made thousands of mugs, cups and saucers, bowls of different sizes- ceramic containers of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Function and aesthetics were the main concerns in their gestation. The mug for instance, is a humble, everyday pot but one of the most difficult for a potter to successfully make. Being practiced and attuned to subtle differences will determine its success. Fingers should fit the handle comfortably, there should be a sense of balance when lifting it, it should hold the preferred amount of liquid and the mug is almost unique as it is often in intimate contact with one of our most sensitive organs- the lips.
So we use sight and touch to perceive the mug, sight, touch and smell to perceive the contents. Hearing plays a part in the experience when the tea is poured [and my youngest daughter hates anyone to slurp his or her tea].
We analyse and respond to all that sensory information just to have a cup of tea and we are barely conscious of the complex processes involved. If we stop awhile to look again, what do we see? Firstly, the fabric- decorated red earthenware if I made it, yours may be stoneware or porcelain. Each of these materials has a particular quality that will affect your experience. Then there is the form- it could look like a small bucket, a barrel or a can. It has an interior and an exterior surface, is that one surface or two? A barrel shaped mug will make you think of two surfaces, an open form will be more ambiguous. The rim is the dividing line, but pour a cappuccino and the rim doesn’t restrain the contents, it foams outwards to the ‘exterior’. So where is the dividing line between the inside and outside space?
I like to drink Darjeeling tea, it is a golden translucent liquid and if the interior surface of my mug is pale I can still see its form. If I was to fill the cup with water, I can have the best of both worlds, something to drink and I can still apprehend the interior.
The empty mug is actually full; air is made of matter and energy in the same way as tea, but our perception of it is liminal. However, looking at my empty mug isn’t a lot different than my experience of looking at it when filled with water.
The container actively frames and shapes the matter around it.
That’s as far as I’ve got for the time being, I’m hoping to add to it over the weekend before my next meeting with Martin on Tuesday.
Going back to the mould- it is made of 2 sections, the outer cone and the inner, which is removable. This allows me to make variations of the inner cone, enabling me to produce a series of related forms. I made a second inner cone, deeper than the first and dried it overnight. Since then I have made 2 variations from it, in the first the cones are joined, whereas the second has a gap between the inner and outer cone. I plan to raise it of the surface so that when it is filled with light all three rims will be defined.
We have 2 Swedish post-graduate students on an exchange from Kontsfach in the department. They haven’t been around much, but I spoke to them for the first time last week and they described how they collaborate on installation projects that deal with material, space and object. I asked them if they would make a presentation to the research students so at lunchtime with cakes provided by Heike they showed some photographs of their recent graduation installation in Sweden. It was comprised of a series of ‘rooms’, some bright, white and airy, others very dark with scorched wooden walls and polished concrete floors. The objects ranged from a group of white porcelain teabowls to glazed earthenware ‘mirrors’ and free blown glass container suspended from the ceiling slowly leaking water onto the floor. They describe their work as a desire to connect the viewer with a calm contemplative environment, something that is in short supply for most people in the busy modern world.
Later I had a meeting with Martin to discuss the preparation for starting the thesis. I had prepared a draft Contents page that Martin has now asked me to flesh out to abstract length. Since then I have spent some time working on the Introduction and the beginning of the first section dealing with the perception of the ceramic container. I have tried to make it engaging and straightforward, but writing doesn’t come easy to me, so it’s not the easiest part of this project. Having said that it does focus the mind on what the practical work is designed to articulate. I’ll include some of the first draft below, if anyone actually reads it with interest please let me know!Sensing the Container:
I have made thousands of mugs, cups and saucers, bowls of different sizes- ceramic containers of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Function and aesthetics were the main concerns in their gestation. The mug for instance, is a humble, everyday pot but one of the most difficult for a potter to successfully make. Being practiced and attuned to subtle differences will determine its success. Fingers should fit the handle comfortably, there should be a sense of balance when lifting it, it should hold the preferred amount of liquid and the mug is almost unique as it is often in intimate contact with one of our most sensitive organs- the lips.
So we use sight and touch to perceive the mug, sight, touch and smell to perceive the contents. Hearing plays a part in the experience when the tea is poured [and my youngest daughter hates anyone to slurp his or her tea].
We analyse and respond to all that sensory information just to have a cup of tea and we are barely conscious of the complex processes involved. If we stop awhile to look again, what do we see? Firstly, the fabric- decorated red earthenware if I made it, yours may be stoneware or porcelain. Each of these materials has a particular quality that will affect your experience. Then there is the form- it could look like a small bucket, a barrel or a can. It has an interior and an exterior surface, is that one surface or two? A barrel shaped mug will make you think of two surfaces, an open form will be more ambiguous. The rim is the dividing line, but pour a cappuccino and the rim doesn’t restrain the contents, it foams outwards to the ‘exterior’. So where is the dividing line between the inside and outside space?
I like to drink Darjeeling tea, it is a golden translucent liquid and if the interior surface of my mug is pale I can still see its form. If I was to fill the cup with water, I can have the best of both worlds, something to drink and I can still apprehend the interior.
The empty mug is actually full; air is made of matter and energy in the same way as tea, but our perception of it is liminal. However, looking at my empty mug isn’t a lot different than my experience of looking at it when filled with water.
The container actively frames and shapes the matter around it.
That’s as far as I’ve got for the time being, I’m hoping to add to it over the weekend before my next meeting with Martin on Tuesday.
Going back to the mould- it is made of 2 sections, the outer cone and the inner, which is removable. This allows me to make variations of the inner cone, enabling me to produce a series of related forms. I made a second inner cone, deeper than the first and dried it overnight. Since then I have made 2 variations from it, in the first the cones are joined, whereas the second has a gap between the inner and outer cone. I plan to raise it of the surface so that when it is filled with light all three rims will be defined.
We have 2 Swedish post-graduate students on an exchange from Kontsfach in the department. They haven’t been around much, but I spoke to them for the first time last week and they described how they collaborate on installation projects that deal with material, space and object. I asked them if they would make a presentation to the research students so at lunchtime with cakes provided by Heike they showed some photographs of their recent graduation installation in Sweden. It was comprised of a series of ‘rooms’, some bright, white and airy, others very dark with scorched wooden walls and polished concrete floors. The objects ranged from a group of white porcelain teabowls to glazed earthenware ‘mirrors’ and free blown glass container suspended from the ceiling slowly leaking water onto the floor. They describe their work as a desire to connect the viewer with a calm contemplative environment, something that is in short supply for most people in the busy modern world.
Wednesday 13 June 2007
The Great Exhibition 2007
Royal College of Art Summer ShowKensington Gardens and the RCA Galleries
15–28 June
2007 is the 150th birthday of all the great South Kensington cultural and educational institutions, from the Victoria and Albert Museum to Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, all of which were born in the wake of the Great Exhibition of 1851.
To celebrate this birthday in style, the RCA is holding an even more spectacular Summer Show than usual. In homage to the original Great Exhibition itself, we have erected a huge, custom-designed tent in Kensington Gardens located near the site of the original exposition.
Across the road, the College galleries will be open as usual, meaning that for the first time in living memory we are showing the work of all our graduating students at the same time. Fine Art and Applied Art postgraduate students are exhibiting with Design, Architecture, Humanities, Communications and Fashion and Textiles – the art and design of the 21st century coming together in a radically contemporary take on the spirit of 1851.
Previous Shows have been described in the press as showcases for ‘the cream of young artists’ and a chance to ‘discover big names of the future’. With 385 students from over 36 countries and 20 courses exhibiting their work, this year promises no less.
Friday 1 June 2007
Week ending 01.06.07
Monday:
It was a Bank Holiday so didn’t teach at Cumbria Institute of the Arts.
Tuesday:
An extremely busy train took me back to London, and more or les immediately into an interim exam feedback session with Martin Smith. All appears well, so now I have to concentrate on putting together the Contents page of my thesis. Martin gave me a couple of recent ones to look at. We also discussed the prospects of upgrading to Ph.D. Does the project have “wheels”, as they say, which means will it make “a unique contribution to knowledge”? There is also the major question of funding, etc. etc.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:
The rest of a tiring week was spent re-making my flat cone 01 mould, as my first attempt wasn’t accurate enough. I had rushed the preparation & making in the hope that I would have had a piece ready for my interim examination. That will teach me a lesson.
This time the discs for the model were made from acrylic, cut out on a router then the edge sanded smooth. When it came to mating the two sections of the mould together, Stephan, our patient plaster workshop technician pointed out that they weren’t perfectly round and should have been turned on the lathe! However, this mould is a great improvement on the previous one, I have learnt some valuable lessons so next time things should be easier.
Meanwhile, preparations for the Great Exhibition of 2007 are well underway; the second years are putting in the hours and it’s good to see some exciting finished work being moved around. The show should be spectacular, so if anyone reads this and can get to London it will be well worth it. See the RCA website for details.
There will probably not be an entry next week as I’m going with my youngest daughter Grace to my brother’s wedding in Austria.
It was a Bank Holiday so didn’t teach at Cumbria Institute of the Arts.
Tuesday:
An extremely busy train took me back to London, and more or les immediately into an interim exam feedback session with Martin Smith. All appears well, so now I have to concentrate on putting together the Contents page of my thesis. Martin gave me a couple of recent ones to look at. We also discussed the prospects of upgrading to Ph.D. Does the project have “wheels”, as they say, which means will it make “a unique contribution to knowledge”? There is also the major question of funding, etc. etc.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:
The rest of a tiring week was spent re-making my flat cone 01 mould, as my first attempt wasn’t accurate enough. I had rushed the preparation & making in the hope that I would have had a piece ready for my interim examination. That will teach me a lesson.
This time the discs for the model were made from acrylic, cut out on a router then the edge sanded smooth. When it came to mating the two sections of the mould together, Stephan, our patient plaster workshop technician pointed out that they weren’t perfectly round and should have been turned on the lathe! However, this mould is a great improvement on the previous one, I have learnt some valuable lessons so next time things should be easier.
Meanwhile, preparations for the Great Exhibition of 2007 are well underway; the second years are putting in the hours and it’s good to see some exciting finished work being moved around. The show should be spectacular, so if anyone reads this and can get to London it will be well worth it. See the RCA website for details.
There will probably not be an entry next week as I’m going with my youngest daughter Grace to my brother’s wedding in Austria.
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