Direction and reflection- a rationale for my pottery in 2020....

So it's a new year, a new decade and time for some well earned self reflection. I guess 22 years in to this career, you could call recent times challenging. I've reached a mid point where for once, I'm not sure quite where I'm going or why I'm doing it.

Personally and financially I find it problematic to attend as many ceramics fairs as I'd like to, the cost of exhibiting is prohibitive, the competition gets tougher and tougher- there are so many talented potters out there! It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario....Gallery owners need to see your work in real context rather than online, cold calling rarely works....so it feels a bit like like exhibiting opportunities are growing fewer and fewer in recent times.

Another factor is probably changing times and design trends. My work is part sculpture...informed by function but not necessarily all about function! (Yes that old curates egg- sorry to keep on harking back to chickens...) I would say- and with good reason - that craft skills and functionalism are back on the agenda and perhaps with good reason. In this day and age, do you really have space in your house for anything non functional, unuseable,,,,and expensive! It seems positively wasteful....Trends change and you either follow them, but in my case I know it's folly to try and chase them, It's not my bag- and I have to continue to plough a lonely furrow.....or it could just be I need a new focus, impetus and inspiration and stop worrying!

Whatever the reasons for this mid career slowdown I will continue to explore work in Raku and I have enjoyed developing new textural chawan and yunomi style vessels . I want to pursue larger sculptural forms. I want to make my Opus! I will still exhibit at my regular galleries in Southwold and at Builth in Wales, the art and craft markets locally in #Colchester- #Firstsite and #theminories....and of course online with #Handmadeinbritain and #Artintheheart.

I hope to continue showing you progress as my journey with clay continues....

Comments

Making and firing Raku tiles

I have just had in one or two orders and enquiries concerning Raku tiles. Making them can drive you to despair- what with their tendancy to warp, crack and shrink! It's amazing how something so simple is in actual fact so hard to make. It's also very difficult to lift a flat object out of the kiln with tongs from a red hot kiln. Well, with some prior experience, I've developed a firing system for tiles now which is now working pretty well. Quite simply, I lay each tile on a flat bed of ceramic fibre. That way each tile is raised slightly off the kiln shelf- and it's then easy to grasp the tile with tongs and drop into your reduction chamber/smoking bin. I stack two or three kiln shelves and can pack in about 20 tiles in one batch - depending on size. I do let the kiln cool slightly before carefully removing each shelf of tiles. I back off the gas- get each shelf of tiles out- then power back up to temperature and repeat till they're all safely ...

Early days with volcanic and crater glaze part 2....

I glazed a couple of volcanic/crater glaze tapered bowls recently. They almost "half" work- but I'm still not convinced I've got it right- although it's promising. I layered combinations of glaze but I'm having a slight problem with the thick layers of silicon carbide glaze crawling. Sticky fingers maybe? Lots more to come over the next few months, probably with the next recipe- Pinnel Strontium Crater - with a variety of glaze stain additions . It's a pretty reliable recipe so fingers crossed.

Mo Jupp

My connection to Mo was as a student at Middlesex University in the dog days of the ceramics course during the 90's. He was my personal tutor for four years. Diminutive of stature and blinking in the funny way he did, we all came to love him as a tutor. Middlesex then, had a reputation for slip casting and mold making, and I was awful at both! Instead I had more of an interest in sculpture rather than functional tableware. Mo seemed to take an interest in my progress. He was very perceptive of individual students' abilities and offered guidance without ever dominating the discussion. He could be critical of course, but in such a way that was constructive and not "dead ended." At times he played down his reputation ,when we first year students twigged what a great artist he really was. He simply claimed that he was a big fish in a small pond unlike his heroes - Giacometti or Modigliani. Modestly he said his income nearly all came from teachi...

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