Britain's Next Big Thing

I (like an army of artists I imagine) am watching 'Britain's Next Big Thing' and if you're not, I urge you to check it out. It covers an area of fear for me. The Pitch. Pitching your work seems like an inhuman thing to ask an artist. That's why they're in the visual arts, they can't talk. Or maybe I'm projecting...

Things to keep in mind when pitching? Don't pitch to someone who doesn't sell what you make. So for me that means, don't try and sell mugs to clothes stores.

Give room for people to ask questions was a criticism of one judgey panel member but I think MORE important would be- know the answers to those questions.

I learnt more lessons than that but lets just revel in the loveliness of Thomas Hopkins Gibson wood-grained porcelain for a minute.

He was successfully chosen by Liberty and Daniel and I saw his work when we popped in to London for Eileen's mother's day present. She got a candle, not one of these lovely delicate things. I didn't buy any ceramics in London after having a hideous bus ride home from Stoke with bags full of lovely Wedgwood and palpitations at every jolt on the road.

If I'm honest, Gibson's work isn't really chunky enough for me. If you forced me to buy some clay at the moment it would be from Jonathan Adler, his gorgeous figurative vessels and sculptures make me happy. I've spent a while in my work trying to make things that are all about being calm and subtle and I've learned that a bit of humour and 'maixmilism' has it's place.

Hope I never have to explain that in a pitch though...

Makin' Babies

So in March I wrote a brief to do with tea and rebellion. The only idea I came up with was to host a tea festival, with an actor playing guide. I wanted to (tenuously) play on the aspect of giving people tea as nurturing and mothering so the guide would be preggo. She would have a ceramic baby up her jumper than would fall out and smash.

This is that baby.

I named her Diana, after Wonder Woman, a famous mud baby. I got carried away with her, I’ve never modelled a person before so lots of lessons got learned. Like, let them dry out massively or they will explode in the kiln. Sad face.

So before I knew it, I was making baby number two. Lilith. Not an homage to me, but to the Jewish first woman. The myth of Lilith came about through a desire to unite some disagreements in the story of creation. In story number one, Ev

e was made of dust, i.e. she was Adam’s equal. But by story number three Eve was made of Adam’s rib i.e. she was his leftovers. So the obvious thing to do is make Adam another wife, so Lilith was believed to be Adam’s first wife made, like him, from dust, with whom he did not get along with for a number of reasons, one of them being that she wouldn’t take the submissive position in sex. Lilith spoke the name of God and there are arguments about what happened after that. Either she spawns thousands of demons, preys on young boys before they’ve been circumcised or becomes the paramour of God. Either way, she’s pretty kick ass, no? Here she is.

On her side...sorry bout that. So, needless to say, I’m no longer looking at the tea ceremony.

Coffee Mourning

There were two parts to my Japanese wood block inspired piece, this is much better than the other one. I may accidentally drop the other one down a long flight of stairs and into a skip.

This piece was meant to reflect how if something is lovely, then you don't consider yourself to be manipulated. So these pieces were chained down to an antique tea trolley to see if the participants would challenge the status quo.

As you can see, the jasmine tea stained them really weirdly. The glaze was a bit thin so I think there was a bit of a reaction with the body itself. So we all gathered round to drink yummy jasmine tea out of pearly tea bowls that had our names carved into them and not one of these free thinking, raidcal artists undid the copper wire tying bowl to chain. They politely said thank you and put down their cups and left.

Some say this has something to do with the very nature of tea, that it makes people more aware of social rules because there are certain rules they have to follow. I think it might have something to do with how nice my colleauges are. (Read 'nice' as 'pansy-ish').

Jar Head

I've just finished a module on print in glass and ceramics, this, is the end product-




It's based on a combination of things, the Nag Hamadi jar which was believed to contain lost gospels which were permanently lost after the people who found it in the 50's burnt them for heat. It has a lot to do with time capsules and Indiana Jones since if you owned it you would become it's guardian.




I tried to harness the type of images you would see on post or on your tax return to give it a bit of international symbolism and seriousness (totally a word). The text on the side isn't very readable due to it being in sharpie but it reads;

'Not to be opened until- race is no longer an issue.'

You're not gonna find out what's inside unless you make racism a thing o' the past, so serve you're curiosity and give peace a chance.

Or give me a lolly-pop and I might be persuaded to let you in on the secret.

First Day Back

Tomorrow is Monday the 10th AKA the first day back. I wish I had new stationary and new clothes and a clue of what I had intended to do over the holiday to become a better student because odds are- I aint done it.

Wish I could have one of these bad boys-


For all my notes of glazes and firing times, information seems to leak out of my head. I was supposed to invest in a hard waring tech journal ages ago but haven't found one I can see myself committing to for the rest of my life. It's supposed to be a reference of all the things I've learned, all the stuff I've learned is scattered around my life/brain. Surprisingly I'm quite good at collating visual image diaries for quick reference inspiration.

Speaking of inspiration- today I bought two silhouettes one of a Captain Michael Pendragan and Miss Rebecca Treganow. I can tell you but not show you the wonderful-ness of Capt. Michale Pendragan's nose. It's a thing of beauty. I love Tynemouth market and thanks to Stacey Whittle I got to see it all at a leisurely pace rather than being dogged by my wonderful beau who had already gone round three times and bought 8 books by the time I've finished with my first stall.

Hope everyone who's had to return to work/study is feeling more confident and excited about the prospect than I am. I'm enrolling on a short course with my old tutor to teach myself to throw again, because that's not what University is for. Evidently. Or I'd be surrounded by hand made teapots rather than wonky mugs.

But hey- holds tea alright.

Raku

Found a fuzzy-ass picture of some raku I did last year, it's the only thing intact from the now long deceased camera, Sandy (so named because sand was almost definitely the cause of death). I like raku, it's a really instant way of glazing something in a truly beautiful way. You get imperfections, shiney bits where you never intended to get shiny bits and lovely textures all through using the kiln as a tool rather than a process. As a fan of salt-glazing and wood firing kilns I totally get this, fire shouldn't be seen as something we've already mastered. It's elemental. Thus it is an element, aint it?


I'm doing some more raku of thrown things this Thursday, if they're any good I might put em on the next stall we have if not, my gran will love them.

One of my lecturers is giving a talk on Korean and Chinese hand-building techniques so since the wheel has left me cold and bitter I might get my slab-builing on.x

Like a reindeer without a bicycle

It's Christmas time! My to do list is so long it's making me feel like Santa. Today I'm turning the vases I made yesterday but I've already mashed two up so I think it's time to give it a rest. When the going gets tough the tough check their emails and all that. I made some really lovely reindeers to sell at the stalls we've been having to raise money for our end of year show, the idea (an inspired one) was to glue twigs to their heads for antlers, cute, no? But they keep snapping off before anyone can buy one. I'm thinking of using copper wire instead though it might not be as festive as I'd like.
I'm off to Broomhill this weekend as is dictated by tradition. Last year it was all frosty, maybe this year it'll snow. I snapped this photo last year when it was all crisp and lovely.



My Grandparents house was my first home, so just thinking about being there makes me feel cozy. We'll have the dog this year, which means no loafing around after the Queens Speech but long wintery country walks followed by mugs (not tea cups, no matter how much I love em) of hot milky tea. Cannot wait.

Maybe I'll get a camera for Christmas if I'm really really good and take more ceramics photos, you'd never know I have a desk full of clay-y goodness to look at this blog.