Back with a vengeance…..

So it was my first week back after working in Delft for the past 2 months. It’s good to be back in the MA saddle………. Calmness has been restored, as calm as I get.

Though I have to say I am feeling a little stressed and worried, that the way I earn my money, takes me away from all of this for weeks at a time. I think I am going to have to look into alternatives; it is just too much time away from everyone and everything. It really breaks up the flow and coming back and seeing other folks’ work makes me feel more nervous. Time to focus……..

So having to pull out of the Health & Wellbeing Option, as I missed the deadline, I have been working on a Negotiated subject. Initially I wanted to expand on the ideas from the   Health & Wellbeing project, which investigated connection and engagement, from the view of a practitioner working in clay. I want to be able to understand my own making methods and my relationship with the material. Researching into my own ‘Clay Experience’.

Unfortunately living in a hotel for 8 weeks did not give me the possibility to explore the subject. So after discussions with my tutor via Skype and looking to expand my own width and breadth of research, I have turned to researching how makers themselves record and document.

How then do makers document their practice and processes? How do they write about their work? As a maker what is being recorded? Are we using writing as a tool? Is it reflective or documentary? Why do we record? Is it necessary? How is the documenting affecting the making process? What format is the documenting taking?

Essay writing….

This was actually a really good use of long evenings spent in a hotel room, when it’s raining, snowing and generally wintry outside. There was lots of reading and researching.

So I have spent the past week trying to turn the research into a 1500 word essay………. easier than it sounds. I had a tutorial on Thursday, this really helps me to gather (though I want to say wrangle, is that a word?) my thoughts and to decide what goes in what box and under what heading. My tutor Helen (Felcey) has a way of being able to help me herd my thoughts and ideas (not an easy task) or will ask why I have chosen to highlight that particular subject, which in turn helps me question my own thought process. This is something that I have to teach myself, to critically engage with my thoughts and ideas. I tend to get so excited about everything that I want to talk about it all, but loose all sense of order. I think that the Blog is helping me to create that order in allowing me to reflect on the process.

Glaze board, photograph courtesy of Louisa Taylor.

 I have had some great support and input from Louisa Taylor (Potter & University of Brighton) and Jane Webb (MMU). I am always blown away when people are so generous with their time and knowledge. Many thanks to both of them.

I have also begun to look into subjects that were very unexpected, Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography. It has been a real revelation looking into diverse subjects and finding connections between them and my own ideas and practice. Dare I say that I am beginning to enjoy this research malarkey, though it does not come naturally and I am constantly trying to find my way through the masses of reading. I have begun to edit and to engage with the research in a different way, I try to look at the surface to decide what is relevant and or interesting and dive deeper when I find something that ticks the boxes.

The Book pile grows….

I am also finding that this research is beginning to feed my practice in regards ideas about methodology and working processes. I am genuinely excited to be back and to bring the research and my making together.

Though I do have x2 1500 word essays to complete…….The second Essay is a Critical Reflective Summary about my MA journey so far. For this one I have just bought together some general thoughts and feelings, it has no structure as yet. We have an MA review next week so I am hoping that this will help put some meat on the bones.

Now that general calmness has returned I begin to realise that Delft was an inspirational trip. It made me realise that I have to find some kind of solution between making money and MA-ing, but it did give me the opportunity to focus and re-group my thoughts. After all said and done it was great to be back in Delft after 8-9 years, it is a beautiful little city I can highly recommend a visit. Some photo’s of Delft……

    

 

Nobody Panic………..Too Late!!

I am currently sitting in my hotel room here in Delft, darkness has fallen and the blue and yellow sign outside that shouts IKEA! Shines bright against the dark black, blue of the sky. It’s been a quiet day, grey, cold and wet, so I thought I would take the opportunity to read and rather proudly I managed to complete an entire book and enjoying it so much, I now want to take some words, ideas and meanings from it. (‘Dirt on Delight – Impulses that form Clay’. Click here.)

But now I am having a small panic attack as I have no note book in which to do this. Yes I could use my laptop, though writing helps me to remember my thoughts, yes I could use the one that I use for my ‘Reflective Notes’ and yes I have the one that I have been using for my ‘Option Research’, oh yes and there is also the one I use as my general ‘to-do’ notebook………. Soooooooooooo much anxiety over a notebook, What is wrong with me? And now I’m beginning to wonder if I am MA-ing all wrong and that I have no methodology or process and I am generally feeling very lost in it all. I procrastinate so much that I am fixating about a notebook??????? What is my problem? Calm down Bev-ley……..deep breaths.

I have now been away for 5 weeks, sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours or more everyday, I think it is taking its toll. I know I am getting paid for it and the majority of the time I love my job (though not as much as I love my clay) but I am exhausted. It feels as though the job is such a huge distraction from the clay and all things MA. Of course I give 110% when I am there and of course I have to earn money. Balance between my MA and needing money, when the job that I know and makes me that money takes me away from everything, it is not going to be an easy road. What to do? What is a ‘wanna be’ potter going to do?…..

Looking for that ‘Work – Life’ balance……

 

Health and Wellbeing ideas……

At the moment I have a couple of ideas for the Health and Wellbeing Project. Though both are manifested in different ways the principle behind both of them is the same.

In an initial meeting we introduced ourselves to the group. I began to try to explain my love of Clay and all things Ceramic. During the presentation I made the statement, that the experience of the material ‘made me happy…’. This statement was followed by the question what exactly is this happiness? What does the experience actually mean to me?

Trying to formulate an answer I began to analyse and really consider, probably for the first time, what it is about the material and the processes that connect me with it in such a strong way, not only physically but also emotionally.

When on the wheel throwing, I am completely lost in the moment, in the connection between my hands and material. To have the ability to express yourself through working with your hands, embracing the material whilst exploring your imagination and searching for possibilities is, freedom.

It is this moment of engagement and connection that I would like to bring to the therapeutic situation. When one is being asked to perhaps confront their emotions, rather than face what seems to be the largest box of tissues ever……. a way of being distracted and to focus on something other than the emotion or an aid to help describe a feeling.

One option is a group of morphed forms that can be held and have a soft quality. They can also work as a group of shapes making larger forms or could be used as props in a story telling situation.

The second are round forms that have a tactile quality. They have sound so the form reveals itself in an intimate way, building on the connection between the interaction with the form and person.

    

At present test pieces of both ideas are heading towards a Bisque Firing so we wait to see how they survive.

Porcelain Master class……….

This week we had a Porcelain Master Class run by my tutor Helen Felcey. I have been throwing with some Parian Porcelain which is a complete joy, though I have to say my throwing skills have not quiet tamed it just yet……..practice, practice, practice!!! Helen had bought along some examples including some of her own work, which was great to see. It is always very inspirational to see a tutor’s work, for me it always gives the learning experience more depth.

We started by Slip Casting with some plaster moulds. It has been a long time since I have been casting, I think my next induction will have to be mould making. I am not being distracted by shiny things honest, but instead adding another tool to my toolbox.

We then spent some time simply exploring and manipulating the material. Rolling, stretching, impressing, cutting and tearing. Taking time to handle and test and try.

I had a mixture of results, though at the moment they are in a bisque firing so things may change. Some of the forms I rolled small slabs and then draped them over a rolling pin. These felt a little forced not making the most of the porcelain.

However some pieces I rolled into slabs but creased the fabric underneath so that the porcelain would take on the impressions of the fabric, mixing the delicate porcelain and fabric texture. I then tore some strips and also cut some shapes, rolling some of the porcelain to a thinner edge. Some of these I impressed using my small Glaze test pieces. These results I could see some possibilities. The forms reminded me of blades, knives or possibly some kind of tool. The impressed pieces I can imagine as stands or bases for some of my thrown forms, which would make a really strong contrast between the strength in the thrown with the fragility in the base.

 

To My Suprise…….

On my way home from a morning romp up Helsby Hill I notice that the house with the beautiful Strata still has no garage built. So I return with larger containers and my spade…….

This time I decide to excavate a larger quantity of material from the Strata surface as that garage will be built at some point and all this beautiful surface will be hidden. I decide to take some more close up piccys of the surface, every time you look at it you see something different.

      
I also decide to concentrate on the three main colours a deep red, lighter beige and rich yellow, managing to get some larger pieces.

Looking at different methods of recording I have bought some test tubes and different sized chemical containers so that I can keep a visual record.

My plan is to combine these materials with some of the clays that I use and experiment with some glazes. The idea being that I introduce elements and traces of my own history into my work. The Quarry being my Present. I have returned to the Art School since the  tutorial discussions and though I will not take materials from here fundamentally this is where my creative journey started. The Art School is a major chapter in my history. I am unsure about the buildings future but it would be a great location to use as a photographic backdrop for the work, if it remains standing? I do have a thought to perhaps use some transfer images on some of my forms and incorporate these with the material from the Quarry, Past and Present.Though initially my focus will be using the materials from the Quarry.

 

 

 

 

 

Another good week………

A very unexpected weekend……I was on my way to the Quarry (Helsby Quarry) to take some piccys and to excavate a sample or two of possible materials. As I turned the corner I noticed that one of the properties was having some building work, as it was Sunday so there were no workmen around.

As Helsby Hill rises some of the houses are built into the rock and the building work had exposed a wall of Strata…….YUMMY!!!!! So with camera in hand I begin to snap away outside the property boundary. To my surprise a wee head popped out of a downstairs window and asked “how I was enjoying the Strata???” And before I knew what was happening of I go, explaining how I am a local Potter looking at using some local materials in my work and would they mind awfully if I had a wee dig and took a sample or two of the exposed rock. Help yourself was the reply, so excavating I went.

The closer I looked at the rock the more detail you begin to notice, the finest threads of different colours winding through the face, just beautiful. Though what they are ??? More research into the Quarry and it’s history is needed. Leaving with several small pots filled with, what looks mostly like sandstone, it feels like the adventure has begun.

On Tuesday we had a talk from Kevin Hunt, a Sculptor and Curator.
The images of his own work that he showed where not so inspiring, though looking on his web site there were things that did interest me. The columns and use of totems within environments, made from the everyday, how something so mundane can take on a whole new meaning by some very simple manipulation.

But it was his curatorial ideas that I connected with more. To define a space, place items, objects within it and then to invite the public into that space. Giving them some basic instructions and letting them create and alter the architecture of the space. Thus allowing the sculpture to develop and inhabit the space.

Kevin Hunt, Empty Space (detail 1), wood soaked in ink. Courtesy the artist and Kettle’s Yard. (Contemporary Art Society)

I particularly felt that this idea could be translated into a project for the Health and Wellbeing group. To allow people to express themselves without the boundaries of failure. To let go of the everyday shit and to be fully absorbed into something that they would never have imagined, very exciting. Visit his website here.

This was followed by our seminar with Dr Jane Webb ( Director of Studies: Design)
“Ways of observing, exploring, designing and reflecting”
The seminar was an exploration into how we document and to explore with both visuals and text, to try and get us to think in a broader context. The way that Jane lectures was very accessible, in terms of language used and the visuals that supported the lecture. Truly inspirational, to be exposed to ideas around process, how to connect process with the ideas.

It began by looking at collage as a way of recording and then onto how the ‘Artist’ used the media. We also covered drawing, photography and ethnography. I am a little in love with the idea of being a ‘Flaneurs’ a city stroller that wonders through society, accessing all areas, recording modern life and yet not being effected by it’s grubby undercurrents. 

                 

We then went to the library to examine some of the items from the ‘Special Collections’. The archive includes major collections of objects and books, some of which were collected when the Manchester School of Art was created in 1838. As well as historical pieces there is a collection of contemporary work .Visit the website here.

On Wednesday I had my Ceramic Workshop Induction…………YIPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! At last I can now officially get my hands dirty. Now week 7, I initially felt that I had to wait to long for the induction to happen. But actually in all honesty I think that making would only have distracted me from getting to grips with what the MA is and what it means to me. But I am not convinced that it is up to us as individuals to push for Inductions, they should sit as part of the first project………Rolling up me sleeves and purchasing me clay as we speak.

Happy as a Pig in mud ……..    Thursday was PECHA KUCHA Day……… Fortunately for me it was for Full time and 2^nd year Part Time MA’ers, so I was part of the supporting audience. It was really very interesting; I have never been presented with this form of presenting at all. PechaKucha or Pecha Kucha (Japanese: ペチャクチャ, IPA: [petɕa ku͍̥tɕa], chit-chat) is a presentation style in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each (6 minutes and 40 seconds in total). The format, keeps presentations concise and fast-paced.

This was really the first time that we had an opportunity to see fellow students work and understand a little about their thinking and practice. It was a mixed bag of subjects, thoughts, ideas, materials, research and creativeness. Some presentations were a real eye opener; some people were very brave and honest about themselves and their work. Some cast new light on a topic or were looking from a different perspective. They were mostly very inspirational and actually I would think that it was a process that really helped to focus your ideas and thoughts………maybe I should go through the process myself, I think that it may help me clarify some ideas.