The week of 19 March...

On Monday I cleared the majority of my work from my Chatham 216 studio space and photographed the vessels before boxing them up. By the end of the week the space was full of new work.

In the process I placed more wrapped thread forms on springy wire on wood bases

along with a less successful springy object of plaster-covered paper and dried reeds.

I created more plaster-covered paper shapes to work with, some of which I didn't photograph in the drying cupboard. The first large form below is plaster-covered heavily inked black recycled printmaking scrim. 

I'm hoping to get more height from the additional paper-covered forms joined together with more plaster. I was pleased to discover a number of discarded plaster molds I can use as bases.

 With a definite nod towards Arte Povera, I layered these bits of plaster-encrusted scrim.

I re-glazed and re-fired a number of less successful previously glazed pots but only the recycled terracotta below was made more interesting.

As the feel of the ceramic pots is so important to me I began a project of photographing fellow students holding a pot of their choice.

The recycled printmaking scrim continues to intrigue me. Next week I'm going to re-make the form below which is on a chicken-wire base.

I also discovered new places to scavenge recycled materials in the metal and laser cut workshops to create more strange juxtapositions, the most successful below made with recycled metal tubing, wood and printmaking scrim.

There has been a move toward simplicity in my ceramic pots this past week. The ivory stoneware pot below was built around crumpled newspaper and only bisque fired. It has a chalky finish similar to plaster that I like.

Three new vessels below made with recycled ivory stoneware clay formed around crumpled newspaper finally went into the kiln two with white engobe and zirconium glazes, and another tiny vessel with a new rutilate glaze I made.

Two bisque fired recycled terracotta pots formed around paper. Still thinking about these... 

A so-far unsuccessful experiment inserting glass into a recycled ivory stoneware vessel. I thought the glass fragments would drip more in the bisque firing. I  doubt if the next stoneware firing with glazes will improve it but I want to see what happens next.

Yet I am quite pleased with the three pots below made with the new feldspar and rutilate glaze I made. The rutilate produces fabulous erratic crystalline formations. 

On Friday I had the first of two inductions into hot glass which confirmed the rightness of my extending the MA over two years. Gemma is going to offer a glass sand casting induction soon which I believe will be relevant to me and I will do the next available lampwork induction.

I'm going to see When Forms Come Alive sculpture exhibition at the Hayward Gallery and Unravel: the Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican this Friday and on Saturday I have a ticket to go to COLLECT at Somerset House.

An archive of over 40 years of my selected artwork and writing:

Artwork and Writing