Looking for Inspiration

I am going to make a tall sculptural vessel for my bedroom as there is a big bald patch in our room. I have been looking for inspiration, so I returned to Karl Blossfeldt, I seem to come back to his stuff quite a lot. I am always drawn to natural forms; however I would like to add a bit more of a contemporary twist to my work. I am aware that nature as a source of inspiration is the oldest card in the pack. I mean what else was there before old Mother Nature herself? I look around at all the amazing ceramics being done, which looks so fresh, and I wonder if my work looks a little stiff. I would like to inject my work with some life, give it something different. I have spent a long time building my technical skills, now I would like to work on the themes that I explore through my work.

I love sinuous curvaceous shapes, and nature does these so well. I am going to start where I know how, making observational drawings and looking at my favourite and most inspiring artists and designers and going through my sketch books and research. Then I will try to develop my designs leading them away from the original drawings and research into something new and original. I am interested in the big bold designs seen on some contemporary paper and wallpaper designs. I would like to develop a chintzy design into the surface of my piece. With this I think about how ceramics and wallpaper are both considered quite domesticated. I think it would be interesting to explore these themes further and look closely at the role of ceramics. There is an assumption that because it is clay it should have a function. A few weeks back I was teaching some year eights clay and when I introduced the topic the students wanted to know what we would be making, they assumed immediately that it would be a bowl or a plate or a vase. I would like to challenge the assumption that all clay work should be functional through my work. The first thing I need to do is stop making vessels!!

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Julia's pot mark II

I have re-made Julia's pot! A couple of weeks ago the pot I made for my friend Julia died a horrible death in the kiln....I have made it bigger and better. The only problem with this is that Julia wanted it for her husband's desk...it may be too big for that now.

Please excuse the quality of some of my photos I take them on my mobile when I don't have my camera.



The one on the right is the new improved model. You can't see in this photo what happened to mark I of Julia's pot. If you go to the blog called 'disaster' you will see the damage in all its inglorious glory! http://annbolinaceramics.blogspot.com/2009/12/disaster.html

Archway ceramics

My studio is in Mile End, East London and is called 'Archway Ceramics' I have been there for nearly five years. It has been a Ceramics studio for many years, before that I have been told that it was a stable for taxi cab horses. It is not what you would call state of the art, this time of the year (jan) it is pretty damned cold. To the point of not being able to feel your hands and feet after several hours work...









The studio is shared with several ceramisists some full time, some part time. Daniel Smith who more or less runs the show and has been there for around 13 years. He is an international ceramicist and has featured in Ceramic Review and exhibited all over the world.

Mo Jupp who is a granddaddy of British pottery and considered by many as 'a legend in his life time'. This figure is an example of Mo's current work. His career spans decades, he taught Daniel and lots of students who went on to be successful ceramacists.

Alice Mara has a contemporary approach to ceramics making hand thrown and slip cast pieces which are a take on the traditional kitsch souvenir, but much cooler. She also has a website you can check out, and buy online.
http://www.alicemara.com/index.php

Victoria Jardine creates large coiled sculptural vessels; she has been a rare site in the studio of late because of a young and growing family. These pieces are carefully crafted and take many weeks to create. http://www.victoriajardine.com/

May Ayres is another full timer at Archway, her work is much more art based. Much of the work produced at the studio is based around design and urban studio pottery. May on the other hand produces very political work with a strong and powerful message. I will not try to explain what I do not fully understand. Looking at the images would be a good starting point. 

That is a brief outline of what goes on between open studios at Archway Ceramics. You may have gathered from my report that I am the newbie at the studio, the least experienced amongst some pretty weighty hardworking and influential ceramicists. Working amongst these people keeps me on my toes, its hard to be complacent when you work next to people who are in a studio with no heating in sub zero temperatures, during a recession some living almost on the breadline in order to get their work out there.

New work

OK so after last weeks disaster I managed to rustle up this pot relatively quickly, which made me feel a bit better about blowing up my last pot. The shape is a nod to the shapes used in ancient Greek pottery. The design was drawn free hand and carved afterwards to make the impression deeper and was based on some patterns and designs that reoccur quite often in my sketch books.

Inevitably because of the Christmas holidays I have not been in the studio over the past few days, I plan to go in tomorrow and start to re-make to pot that was tragically lost before the holidays. I will report back tomorrow with my progress....

Disaster!

After working on the pot for my friend Julia for several weeks, I returned to the studio yesterday to view the results of the firing I put on the night before....firstly there were several smaller items in a nasty blue colour which were supposed to be 'rusty crystal' they were more like melted plastic navy blue...yuk. However beyond those at the back of the kiln was Julia's pot looking immaculate, I unloaded the kiln and lifted up Julia's pot...Disaster the guts of the pot fell out of the bottom. Destroyed and utterly un-salvageable.

Anyway this is the life of ceramics, when it goes in the kiln you give it up to the fire. I personally think it was mainly my fault. I didn't let the pot dry out properly in my haste to get it finished in time for Christmas in order for Julia to give it to her husband on the big day. So I have to start this pot again today....I have aslo started a couple of other peices and bought some rather exciting new glazes, the results of which will be posted here in good time. (hopefully not too long)