‘Beginnings’
In the background:
Growing up, my scope of ceramics was solely eating from mass-produced functionalware and occasional porcelain piece one may stumble on in a charity shop - stereotypically uniform in size, shape and rooted in tradition. Completely floating in the background of life without real recognition or appreciation
A current & resounding belief is ceramic wares should elevate the relationship with our food, drink, experience and enhance our reception to our sensory interaction of sight & touch.
Tradition is tradition for a reason, but holds particular value in time of human existence that can sadly, at a point, can lose itself. Function being function - the way a fork touches the glaze, how a spoon can gather from the centre of the piece to the lip of the piece, how much the vessel holds - but there needs to be more to the piece than pure function. Objects need to speak. Some of the most beautiful don’t need to shout, even a whisper is enough.
One Image:
This is really the spark that ignited the fire. Stumbling across this image, I was instantly & utterly captivated by a body of work by ceramicist Paul Philp.
These forms stood side by side, flowing with a muted & understated composition of colour, texture and abstraction - objects that look to be aged, with an obscurity in shape with such depth of character and layering. This was the image that gripped an intrigue into what can be attained with clay.
The First Piece:
Covid-19 was looming and the threat of lockdown was on the horizon. Perusing through art supplies as a way of burning time on a lovely day in sunny London, catching a glimpse of bags of air-dry clay hiding on a bottom shelf of one of the aisles, just moments before lockdown was put in place.
Overwhelmed with anticipation at the prospect of finally putting hand to clay - No pressure. No time restriction. Losing myself in the material and see what the journey takes me to an outcome.
It was April 2020 and was naturally drawn to learning ancient, traditional techniques from the start. Drawn to the coiling method with slow consideration to build the vessel higher and blending each one to see what it would take me. Building the piece unintentionally formed a ‘tall & narrow’ moon jar shape.
Content with the form that had taken shape, I was confronted with how to elevate raw clay surface without a kiln. Art supplies scattered all over the dining table as a daily occurrence, the instinct took to coating white acrylic all over the jar but the aesthetic turned instantaneously superficial. The surface had slight texture from marks, blending layers of coils, and tools scraping surface, and one day took to burying the object in the garden and burnishing soil on the piece from an area close by. The object developed an enhanced depth and bringing a sense of earthy rustic colour palette and texture that sparked a sense of completion.
Today:
5 Years later. Classes, memberships, studios and relentless experimentation, the first piece I made still unintentionally still speaks true to my approach to this day. Toying with glossy, thrown pieces and venturing into rich, heavily complex glaze combinations and compositions, I still come back to using layering toned slips with a final white slip.
They say never get rid of your first piece - happily so.